EMILIE CHARMY

Frieze Masters  – The Regent’s Park, London.

11 – 15 October, 2023

The gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of Emilie Charmy’s rarely displayed works at Frieze Masters in Modern Women curated by Camille Morineau and AWARE. This exhibition is an opportunity to rediscover a singular artist, one of the most original voices of modern art in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. She was celebrated by many writers and critics of her time. Her paintings were part of the major artistic movements of the period leading up to the First World War. Although she did not belong to any specific movement, the particularity and provocation of Emilie Charmy’s work laid in the fact that she seemed to escape the artistic expectations of her time. Critics were unanimous in finding virile qualities to her expressive, physical and rough style, however also reacting to her treatment of subjects, particularly the nudes and self-portraits, some of which display complex sexuality.

Charmy’s success continued into the 1930s, until the Second World War wiped out most of her personal networks. She continued to develop her work, in solitude, espacially with self-portraits that present a curious and fascinating fusion of introspection and masquerade.