Jeanne Marie BARBEY

(Paris 1876 – Bagnolet 1960)

Born in Paris from a humble Breton family, Jeanne-Marie Barbey she specialised in painting genre scenes, still lives and landscapes.

She was the pupil of Désiré Lucas and Edouard Cuyer, two naturalist painters, but later was to be heavily influenced by her friend Paul Signac.

In 1919, she creates the Armor Painters Society, whose yearly exhibitions gather many artists inspired by Britanny. She exhibits at the French Artists Salon, at the Autumn Salon, at the Independents Salon from 1911 to 1939 and at the Salon des Tuileries in 1924 and 1925.

Jeanne-Marie Barbey stayed regularly in Morbihan, from where she bought back drafts and pictures, which were the basis of her painted and drawn work. She looks for intimate atmospheres and low-key effects, which she organizes in elaborate compositions. She uses the photographs she takes with her brother’s help to prepare her future painted works.

She depicts genre and domestic scenes, portraits of mothers and children and Breton scenes, which she transforms with her mise-en-scène of colours and light

Her work is represented in the museum at Vannes.