The Fashion Designer - Coco Chanel

Born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel in 1883,  Coco Chanel would become one of the most important female fashion designers of the early 20th century.  Chanel was born in Samur, France to a poor, at the time, unwed couple.  After Chanel's mother died, her father sent all of his daughters to a nearby convent.  There Chanel was educated and learned how to sew.  At 18 Chanel had to choose between joining the religious community or making her own way in the world.  She chose to leave.

Chanel found work as a seamstress, but would also sing in a cabaret often. She gained her nickname "Coco" because of her version of the popular song "Ko Ko Ri Ko".  Much of her early life Chanel did not care to recount and sometimes she would even make up stories of her past or deny certain facts about her past.  After her aspiration of a stage career failed, Chanel met one of her first lovers, Balsan.  She lived with him for about three years and was introduced to wealth and luxury for probably the first time in her life.  In 1908 she began her affair with Balsan's friend Arthur 'Boy' Capel.  They were together for nine years and Capel even helped finance Chanel's first shop.  He died in a car accident in 1919, a devastating event for Chanel.  Chanel would have other relationships in her life, but these initial affairs launched her into the next stage of her life.

Chanel's first shop was a boutique in Deauville.  She sold luxury casual clothing made from cheap jersey.  In 1916, after success in Deauville, Chanel opened another boutique in Biarritz.  Three years later in 1919, Chanel was registered a couturier and was able to establish a maison de couture.  Chanel enjoyed continued success and made the acquaintance of many important people including Winston Churchill.  During World War II, Chanel closed her store.  During this time she lived at the Hotel Ritz and even had a relationship with a German officer.  It is even believed that she worked as a Nazi agent for a time during the war.  She reopened her fashion house in 1954.  Chanel died at 87 years old in 1971.  I definitely skipped over certain parts of Chanel's life because it is very well documented and I could probably write five more paragraphs just on her biography!  Chanel is a heroine for women because as she said herself "[She] freed the body" from the constraints of corsets and other unnecessary or over the top elements of female attire in the years before.  She brought new things to women's fashion, daring things like the "Chanel" suit or the little black dress.

Learn more about Chanel at these links!

Coco Chanel - Voguepedia

Coco Chanel wikipedia

The Sculptor - Camille Claudel

Camille Claudel was a French sculptor and artist born in the winter of 1864.  Much of her childhood was spent moving from place to place with her family in the northern France countryside.  Her father worked with mortgages and banking.  In 1881, Camille went with her mother and younger siblings to live in Paris.  Her younger brother, Paul Claudel, would eventually become a poet and diplomat.  Camille and her family were living in the artistic Montparnasse area of Paris.  

During Camille's childhood, in the Villeneuve-sur-Fère region, she was inspired by the landscape and became passionate about stone and working with stone.  Camille began studying at the Académie Colarossi, an academy founded by an Italian sculptor.  There she was mentored by a sculptor named Alfred Boucher.  Boucher was well loved by his students, but he passed on their instruction to Auguste Rodin.  In 1884, Camille began working in Rodin's studio and she became his muse and lover.  Their intimate relationship ended in 1892 when Rodin refused to end his relationship with his wife.  Camille's mother did not approve of her daughter's involvement in the arts so Camille moved out.  Claudel was successful even after breaking things off with Rodin.  She did not need a man's influence of help to get attention for her artwork.

Camille began to appear mentally ill around 1905.  She was destroying her own sculptures, disappearing randomly, and appearing paranoid.  She was even known to accuse Rodin of stealing her ideas for new pieces of work and of plotting her death.  Soon after her father's death in early 1913, Paul had Camille admitted into an asylum.  Camille lived the last thirty years of her life in the asylum at Montfavet.  Reports from the asylum stated that she suffered from systematic persecution delirium based on false interpretations and imagination.  Over the years the staff at the asylum asked to have Camille released because they did not think that she was mentally unwell enough to be living there, but her family refused to have her released.  Her mother only allowed Paul to write Camille letters and when Camille died in 1943, Paul was the only member of her family who could be with her when she passed.

At least ninety of Camille's sculptures and drawings survive today and Camille's life has inspired a few plays/ballets and movies.  I am unsure as to why Camille is a heroine of France.  Her life seems very interesting and probably the most heroic thing she did was to study art during a time when women could not even study art at the École des Beaux-Arts.  She is surely inspirational for other female artists of that time.

More about Camille Claudel here!

Camille Claudel Wikipedia

Early 20th Century Women - St. Therese de Lisieux

This week I am presenting St. Therese de Lisieux to my class so since I don't need to journal on her I will post some pictures and a few YouTube videos!

Some links to more info about St. Therese!

Society of the Little Flower

Therese de Lisieux Wikipedia

Early 20th Century Women - Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette was a prolific and acclaimed French writer of the early 20th century.  She has been proclaimed one of France's greatest female authors with about fifty written works attributed to her.  Colette was born in the Burgundy region of France in 1873.  During her childhood, Colette played piano and did well in school.  One of Colette's most well known works is her novel Gigi.  Published in 1944, Gigi was adapted into film and even into a play and Broadway musical.  Interestingly, Audrey Hepburn was chosen by Colette to play Gigi in the 1951 play adaptation.

In 1893, twenty year old Colette married her first husband Henry Gauthier-Villars, who was also a writer.  Henry published his work under the pen name "Willy".  The couple published the Claudine series together.  Colette left her first husband in 1906 and went to live with her friend, and lover, Natalie Clifford Barney.  Colette and the American expatriate salonist Natalie had a short lesbian affair and remained friends afterwards.  During this time, Colette worked in the music halls where she worked with and became intimate with Mathilde de Morny, a fellow performer.  In 1912, Colette was married for the second time.  She and her husband had a daughter named Colette de Jouvenel.  Sadly, Colette did not spend much time with her daughter.  During World War I, Colette wrote a ballet for the Paris Opera.  She also opened up her husband's estate to wounded soldiers.  For her "hospital" she was awarded the Legion of Honor.  In 1924, Colette divorced her husband after her affair with her stepson was discovered.  She would marry again in 1935.  Her third husband, Maurice Goudeket, wrote Colette's biography.  Her post-war works include Gigi and Chéri, two of her most famous novels.  Colette died in 1954.  Her books were surprising because of their often intimate themes, but they were clever and people enjoyed reading them which is why she became such a well-loved French author.

More about Colette here!

Colette Wikipedia

Project Gutenberg - Works by Colette
Colette: The Grit and Grandeur of a Paris Style Icon

Heroines of the 19th Century - Marie Curie

Marie Curie was an extremely important woman of science during the 19th century.  Marie was born in Poland when it was under Russian occupation.  Under Russian occupation, it was difficult for young Polish people to get an education that was not corrupted or influenced by the Russian regime.  So, Marie had to begin her studies in Warsaw's secret underground university, often called the Floating or Flying University.  The Flying University defied Russian occupation with its pro-Polish curriculum and its admittance of women in its classes.  Marie and her family struggled monetarily through most of her early life.  She took a position as a governess so that she could earn money to support her sister's studies in Paris.  While earning money to pursue her own studies, Marie educated herself further by reading and writing letters.

In 1891, Marie moved to Paris to stay with her sister while studying at the University of Paris.  Marie studied physics, chemistry, and mathematics.  After earning one of her degrees, Marie began her career when she decided to investigate the magnetic properties of metals.  She soon met her future husband, Pierre Curie, who was also a scientists and a teacher.  They began working on various projects together and eventually fell in love and got married.

Pierre and Marie Curie

In 1895, X-rays were discovered by Wilhelm Roentegen and then in 1896 , Uranium was discovered to display X-ray like emissions. Marie was very interested in these studies and decided to work with uranium.  One of her first uranium discoveries was that the element could conduct electricity in the air around it.  This led to the important discovery that atoms are divisible from each other.  This initial work with uranium led to further research on the radioactivity of different elements and minerals.  Unfortunately, Marie and Pierre did not know about the risk they were taking by handling extremely radioactive elements without proper safety equipment.

The Curie Family

In 1897, Marie and Pierre's daughter Irène was born.  Marie got a position to teach at the École Normale Supérieure.  Her job as a teacher helped support her family as well as her research.  Marie and Pierre used a shed near the School of Physics and Chemistry as their laboratory.  After making her discoveries, Marie quickly published her work, knowing that if she did not somebody else would get the credit for doing similar work by publishing their findings before her.  In 1898, the Curie's published there discovery of polonium and radium, two radioactive elements, but it wasn't until 1910 that the Curie's successfully isolated pure radium.  The couple published many papers on their work.  One interesting paper was about how tumor-forming cancer cells, when exposed to radium, would die off faster than healthy cells.  In 1903, Marie earned her doctorate and she and Pierre were invited to give a presentation in London about radioactivity.  Unfortunately, because Marie was a woman she was not allowed to speak during the presentation, so Pierre had to do all the talking.

In 1903, Marie was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics for her research on radiation, making her the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize for her scientific work.  The next year Marie and Pierre had a second daughter, Ève, but in 1906 Pierre died after being struck by a horse-drawn vehicle.  After Pierre's death, the University of Paris granted Marie her husbands professorship position making her the first woman professor at that university.  During World War I, Marie was involved in the Red Cross Radiology Service and helped provide mobile X-ray technology.  After the war, she toured some parts of the world to raise funds for future radium research.  Marie died in 1934 from aplastic anemia, a disease often caused by exposure to radiation.  She and Pierre were interred in the Panthéon in Paris.

Visit these links for more on Marie Curie!

Marie Curie Wikipedia

Marie Curie Nobel Prize Bio

Heroines of the 19th Century - Flora Tristan

Flora Tristan was a French social and feminist activist in the early 19th century.  Flora was born in Paris in 1803.  Her father was a Spanish colonel and his family had a great deal of influence in Peru.  Flora's father died when she was four years old, but due to legal technicalities, her deceased father's lands and wealth were confiscated leaving Flora and her mother destitute.  Flora went to Peru in 1833 attempting to get her father's property back.  Though she was unable to get back her rightful inheritance,  Flora was certainly inspired by her stay in Peru.  She wrote a travel diary about her time there and published it with the title Pérégrinations d'une Paria.  Flora married a man named André Chazal in 1821.  Their marriage was a failure and Flora felt that she was enslaved by marriage.  She sought to separate from him, this separation was not granted until after her husband shot her.  Her experience of marriage and her travels to Peru and other countries helped fuel her desire to write about social issues and to take an active role in trying to fix the problems in society.  Her last work written in 1843, The Worker's Union, is a good example of her social and political activism.  Flora connected the working class's struggles with the struggles of all women.

"In the life of the workers, woman is everything.

  She is their providence.  If she is missing, everything is missing." 

-Flora Tristan

In 1844, Flora contracted yellow fever and died.  There is an association for women in Peru named after Flora Tristan.  It is called Centro de la mujer peruana Flora Tristán.  They have a website written in Spanish, but I believe that they provide legal help to women who may be suffering from domestic violence.  They also have an online library and their website can help direct those who wish to have an active role in social change get more information about what they can do to become involved.

Here are some links with more info on Flora Tristan!

Flora Tristan Wikipedia

Flora Tristan - The Woman Messiah

Centro de la Mujer Peruana website

Self-rescuing Princess Society - Flora Tristan

Heroines of the French Revolution - Madame Roland

Madame Roland was born in Paris in 1754.  She was very well educated, studying literature, music, and dance.  Roland had some schooling in a convent, where she was influenced by reading the work of Voltaire and Plutarch.  In 1780, she married the philosopher Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière.  This husband and wife team both became supporters of the French Revolution and were leaders of the Girondins.  Interestingly, Madame Roland and her husband had first identified with the Jacobin Club before defecting and creating the Girondin party.  Most of Roland's influence came from her "tweaking" of her husband's political letters and pamphlets.  Roland also had a salon at the Hotel Brittanique in Paris.  In 1793, during the Reign of Terror, Roland and other Girondins were arrested, their crime treason.  During her imprisonment, Roland wrote her memoirs and had them smuggled out of prison by her visitors.  Roland helped her husband escape Paris and was eventually guillotined in November 1793.  Her memoirs were published posthumously, allowing Madame Roland to continue influencing the formation of the French Republic.

More about Madame Roland can be found here!

Madame Roland Wikipedia

JSTOR Article on Madame Roland

Another JSTOR Article on Madame Roland

The Book of Days - Madame Roland