Code: 6088
Dimensions:
A beautiful mid 20th century oil on canvas portrait of a lady with a sketchy background, by Madeleine Massonneau.
The fine and attractive work is inscribed "With deep affection and gratitude to Mr. R. Collard" upper left, signed and dated August 1951 and located at Fontainebleau.
This charming work, by an very interesting female artist, is in lovely condition and ready to hang.
Artist: Madeleine Massonneau (French, 1901-1989)
Title: Portrait of a Lady
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 25.5 x 21.5 inches (65 x 55 cm)
Madeleine Massonneau was a French painter, who is most famous for her portraits and frescoes.
Madeleine was born in New York City to French parents, Louise Belaud and Fernand Massonneau, who were living in the United States at the time.
The Massonneau family returned to France shortly before the First World War and settled in an apartment in Levallois. Her father was mobilised for four years during the war.
In the United States, young Madeleine began learning the arts (music, singing, painting) and sports (including cycling). She continued these pursuits in France. Later, she was encouraged to focus on painting.
A student of Louis-François Biloul, Paul Baudoüin, and Ferdinand Humbert, she was admitted to the painting section of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1923. She was a finalist for the Prix de Rome in 1928.
Madeleine Massonneau also remained very athletic: in 1931, she became a member of the Cercle Féminin de Paris as an international cross-country runner; she won the Suzy Cup and finished second in the French long-distance cross-country championships.
She exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1925 to 1932 and then at the Salon des Indépendants until the 1980s. She created several works acquired by the French state and numerous frescoes in Saint-Nazaire, Pornichet, Fontainebleau, Saint-Gratien, and Paris.
In 1958, Madeleine moved to Fontainebleau to live with her in-laws. She died in 1989 in Boissise-la-Bertrand.
