ABOUT
This small memorial museum permanently exhibits the works of the French artist Marianne Crouzeau,
the furniture she loved and used in her daily life, and her personal library.
It was founded with the support of Marianne’s friends, who wished to have her works shown in Japan.
It is like a “private atelier” where you can view the works on display and read books on art, culture, and literature.
Marianne Crouzeau Memorial Museum
41-1 Honenin-cho, Shishigatani, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8421 Japan
At the moment, we are open on an irregular schedule.
We kindly ask that you contact us at the address below before your visit.
080-4646-7360 (Michiko Tanaka) / 090-2199-6495 (Hitoko Ohtake)
Director: Michiko Tanaka
Administrative Director: Hitoko Ohtake
Curator: Aiko Tanaka
Marianne Crouzeau – Brief Biography Timeline
- Born in Le Vésinet, a suburb of Paris, as the second child of Henri Crouzeau and Yvonne.
- Exhibits at Galerie Devambez in L’Exposition de la Victoire; sells a painting for the first time.
- Receives her first lessons in watercolor from her father.
- Encounters the world of gouache at a Georges Lepape exhibition and abandons watercolor and pencil drawing.
- Her father is appointed director of the Musée Galliera, and the family moves into the museum. He also becomes the first president of a ciné-club.
- Produces many works that reflect a happy youth spent surrounded by art.
- Enters the École des Arts Décoratifs (l’Union centrale des Arts Décoratifs) and studies perspective.
- Takes part in the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts.
- Together with her elder sister Marie-Rose, forms the “Galliera Club,” enjoying a vibrant youth in the company of Dora Maar (Picasso’s companion), Jacqueline Lamba, Charlotte Perriand and others. Produces and exhibits more than one hundred pastels and gouaches.
- Spends a year at Maurice Dufrêne’s studio “La Maîtrise.” Decides to become a painter and enters André Lhote’s academy.
- Solo exhibition at Galerie Charpentier in Paris; receives favorable press coverage.
- Also active in fashion design alongside Jacques Heim.
- With the outbreak of the Second World War, moves to Niort, her father’s hometown. Despite shortages, paints small landscapes and scenes of rural life in gouache.
- Exhibits prints at Le Salon de l’Imagerie. Her creative activity increases even under harsh conditions.
- Holds a solo exhibition focused on portraits at Galerie de Berri in Paris.
- At the request of Henri Lefebvre, begins illustrations for Francis Jammes’ “Trois contes,” taking her first steps as an illustrator of limited de luxe editions. Her father passes away.
- Participates in six exhibitions in addition to “One Year in Vaucluse.”
- Produces prints based on poems by Paul Verlaine, issued as a limited edition.
- Begins working with ceramicist Paul Pouchol on ceramic figures and reliefs.
- While continuing to create prints for de luxe books, starts illustrating children’s picture books; 85 titles are published by 1975.
- Self-publishes a sumptuous de luxe edition of the “Song of Songs of Solomon.”
- Self-publishes a de luxe edition of “The Metamorphoses of Jupiter,” illustrated with woodcuts.
- Self-publishes a de luxe lithographic edition of Paul Valéry’s “La Jeune Parque.”
- Produces a de luxe edition of Louise Labé’s “Sonnets and Elegies,” engraved with a burin.
- Creates 31 etchings for Colette’s “Letters from Algeria and Morocco” and 20 prints for a de luxe edition of “Letters of a Portuguese Nun.”
- Paints 50 gouache illustrations for Mistral’s “Mireille,” completed in stencil.
- Holds solo exhibitions in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Nantes and Lausanne (Switzerland).
- Studies mosaic and begins work on large-scale pieces.
- Begins creating abstract collages. Uses monotype prints to develop images inspired by fairy tales.
- Exhibits metal models of birds and mermaids at Galerie Strafohr in Paris. Her mother dies at the age of 91.
- Returns to oil painting for the first time in 32 years. Holds solo exhibitions in Barcelona (Spain) and Lausanne (Switzerland).
- Awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier). Resumes working in pastel.
- Large retrospective at Giulio Balzacchi Gallery in Paris, covering works from 1918 to 1940.
- Second retrospective at the same gallery, featuring a wide range of works from the postwar period to 1985: prints, ceramics, mosaics, pastels, oils, drawings, metal sculptures, collages and monotype prints.
- Gallery Asuka organizes solo exhibitions in Osaka and Kobe.
- Major retrospective of more than seventy years of artistic activity held in Niort, France. Commemorative book “Musicienne du silence” (“Musician of Silence”) is published.
- Awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Officier).
- Publishes a de luxe French edition of Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” produced using stencil techniques.
- Publishes a de luxe Japanese edition of “The Little Mermaid,” also using stencil techniques, and a de luxe edition of Ronsard’s “Love for Cassandre.”
- Passes away at the country house of her niece Dominique in Les Hermites, near Tours.
- Solo exhibition held at Kyoto Saga University of Arts.
- Marianne Crouzeau Memorial Museum opens in Kyoto.