The Farmhouse in Provence, Laundry by the Haystack, Ca 1935, French Woman Artist Oil on Canvas

Like every great figurative artist, Alice Kohn (1902- 1990) makes you see the world through her eyes.

In her landscapes, she takes us with her on her travels across Southern France. Her sensibility and curiosity are our guide. Take this painting: it has a lovely holiday sky: translucent blue, like stained glass lit up from behind. And doesn’t the sun make the colours of the hay and the spread-out laundry pop!

I love how the eye is drawn to the path that leads down the hill, past the olive tree – how wonderful it would be to be able to go and explore the surrounding provençal countryside!

Born into a provincial middle class Jewish family in 1902, the resolutely unconventional Alice painted and exhibited while moonlighting as an actress and singer on stage and on the radio, modelled for Picasso and fought undercover in the Resistance durning WW2!

Alice initially studied with fellow woman artist Madeleine Plantais before enrolling at the École des Beaux-Arts from Lyon. She exhibited as early as 1926 at the Salon de Sud Est as well as at the Galerie Pouillé-Lecoutre and Galerie des Archers.

She became friends with René Dumas, Pierre Pelloux, Antoine Chartres, and Henri Vieilly with whom she created the group “Les Nouveaux”: the New Ones!

“Les Nouveaux” first exhibited together in 1931 at the Saint-Pierre gallery. Critics greatly praised Kohn’s works shown at the 1931 Salon d’Automne in Paris and at the Salon du Sud Est. The Galerie Saint-Pierre in Lyon organised her first solo exhibition in 1933.

In 1936 Kohn met Pierre Bonnard and Fujita and modelled for Picasso.. In 1941 she exhibited at “Galerie Roger” in Lyon.

For undercover operations in the French Resistance, Alice changed her name to “Marie-Claude” and worked as the secretary for the Regional State Major of Combat. After the war, Alice ceased to paint, which makes her work rare. Our oil on canvas is signed at the lower right and measures 50 x 65 cm. The overall size in its original frame is 61 x 78 cm.

Nous parlons français, und wir sprechen auch Deutsch! Paintings may be viewed in Norwich and in Paris, as well as in London and Cambridge by appointment. Please contact us if you would like further details and images of an artwork.