Cet ouvrage fait suite à la tenue d’un colloque international pluridisciplinaire organisé les 19 et 20 septembre 2019 au Centre Pompidou et au musée d’Orsay, à Paris, en partenariat avec l’association AWARE (Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions). Intitulé Faire œuvre. La formation et la professionnalisation des artistes femmes aux XIXe et XXe siècles, le colloque entendait dresser un état actuel de la recherche sur l’accession des artistes femmes aux structures d’enseignement, en France et à l’étranger, qu’il s’agisse des ateliers, des académies privées ou des écoles publiques.
A major hub of the French capital, the Académie Lhote, which operated from 1925 to 1962, was open to men and women alike, although its predominantly female attendance made it the subject of frequent mockery. A number of renowned artists studied at the academy, including Tarsila do Amaral, Anne Dangar, Charlotte Perriand, Aurelie Nemours, Nancy Spero, Pierrette Bloch, Louise Bourgeois and Dora Maar, alongside many other lesser-known or anonymous figures, whose careers are yet to be discovered. The teaching methods and written correspondence between Lhote and his pupils of various nationalities provide us with valuable information on these women’s experiences in France and abroad, as well as accounts of their everyday lives and of the way they shared knowledge and were taught their métier.