Rosa Bonheur & Anna KlumpkeSouvenirs de ma vie

Anna Klumpke (1846-1942) came into the life of Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) in 1889. She served as an interpreter – Anna Klumpke was American – for a New York admirer who was visiting France. Rosa Bonheur was so well known in the United States that her painting The Horse Market was hung in the Metropolitan Museum, and children were given a doll in her likeness.

Nine years after this first meeting, A. Klumpke returns to By Castle, Rosa’s home. A deep affinity develops between the two women. Anna came for a few weeks and ended up staying. Admiring, enthusiastic and attentive, Anna had no doubt that the world would be fascinated by Rosa Bonheur’s testimony. She would turn it into a literary and historical work. Throughout their interviews, Rosa Bonheur evokes her origins, her education as well as her personal life, including those years spent together with Nathalie Micas. It is a question of feminism, of women’s rights, of the status of women painters in France and across the Atlantic. She talks about official recognition – she was the first woman artist to be made a Chevalière de la Légion d’honneur – and the success of her paintings on the art market which gave her financial independence. It is about the personalities of the time that she rubbed shoulders with and appreciated, such as Buffalo Bill, the Duke of Aumale, the Empress Eugenie and many others.

This book thus paints a picture of an artist to be rediscovered that covers almost the entire 19th century. Natacha Henry has edited these interviews.