Rachel BAES (1912-1983) - Lot 35

Rachel BAES (1912-1983) Little model girls, 1950 Oil on canvas Signed "Rachel Baes" lower right, handwritten "Rachel Baes - 1950 "Les petites filles modèles" (titled by Jean Cocteau)" on reverse 92 x 73 cm This work will be included in the catalog raisonné currently being written by Marie Godet, PhD in art history. PROVENANCE Jean Cocteau's legatee grandson EXHIBITION This work was presented as part of the exhibition "La femme et le surréalisme" at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, November 21, 1987 - February 28, 1988. BIBLIOGRAPHY - This work is reproduced in "Rachel Baes", Empreintes vol.9, 1951 (ill. p.35) - This painting appears in "Portrait de Rachel Baes", a Belgian television program: https://www.sonuma.be/archive/portrait-de-rachel-baes NOTICE Belgian surrealist painter, son of artist Émile Baes, she was initially influenced by Flemish Expressionism. In 1929, she exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon des surindépendants, and in 1945 met Paul Eluard, who prefaced one of her exhibitions. She began to take an interest in Surrealism; during these years, she met Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Paul Léautaud and Jean Cocteau, who titled the work we are offering for sale. In 1947, René Magritte painted her portrait entitled Schéhérazade, now on display at Belgium's Royal Museums of Fine Arts. With the support of André Breton. Marcel Lecomte, Paul Colinet, Louis Scutenaire and Irène Hamoir comment on her paintings at exhibitions. She settled permanently in Bruges in 1961 and continues to exhibit regularly in Brussels and Antwerp. Curator Xavier Canonne describes Rachel Baes' painting as "(...) quite violent. She painted with a knife and very contrasting colors. You can feel her rage to paint! Considered one of the most important exponents of feminine Surrealism, Rachel Baes maintained a duality typical of the "surrealist woman", both muse and creator. From the mid-1940s onwards, she was known and recognized by surrealists in both Brussels and Paris, and it was as such that her work graced the walls of several private galleries in both capitals.