Gigi of Montparnasse
Is it only great beauties who can become the darlings of artists?
Is it only a girl with a slender body who can be tucked into a size 0 dress who deserves to be called an artist's muse?
Gigi's appearance tells us that beauty is not in the skin, and even an illegitimate daughter who comes out of a poor family can become the queen of Montparnasse!
Out of the dust
On October 2, 1901, Alice Enestine Prin was born into this world. She was born in Burgundy-Franche-Comte, France, to a typographer mother and a road weaver to her maternal grandfather. No one knew who her father was, because she was an illegitimate daughter. Shortly after her birth, her mother went to Paris to work, and Alice was raised by her maternal grandmother.
The family was poor, and my grandmother raised Alice and 5 other aunts and cousins, and lived on only her grandfather's meager income. He was wearing patched clothes, and if he could eat enough black bread one day, it must be the happiest day. Alice had grown up stumbling in this environment, and her maternal grandparents did not love her, but the enormous pressure of survival was like the sword of Damocles pressing over her head, and people who did not have enough food did not deserve too much warmth.
Gigi in 1921
When Alice was 12 years old, her mother took her to Paris to live with her. The little girl was very happy, Paris, which is the top bustling place in France, where there is probably endless bread and beautiful dresses, right? But when she actually came to Paris, she realized that the people at the bottom were on the bottom everywhere they went, renting in cramped attics, still wearing worn-out clothes and living on odd jobs. She worked as a bakery maid, a private maid, but was stripped of her salary and thrown out for rebelling against the rude rebuke of the shopkeeper... Alice, who returned home without any consolation from her mother, picked up the rattan and beat her fiercely, and then said in a desperate tone: "Behind your heels always stands mud, dirt buns, you are now a dirt bun, and always a dirt bun!" ”
Gigi who is a model
Alice wanders the streets of Paris, she can't find a job, and to fill her stomach, she works as a nude model. Even today, nude models are still looked down upon, but as a 13-year-old girl who has only been to school for one year, Alice does not have many options. She was hungry, and the feeling of hunger burned from her stomach pouch and burned to the point of dizziness, and she could not bear the fact that this act was almost equivalent to prostitution at the time, and easily undressed in front of the artists in exchange for a full meal. When she was spotted by her mother when she was modeling for the second time, the angry mother swept her 13-year-old daughter out of the house, claiming to have severed ties with her.
The Woman in the Sitting Blue Dress, 1918, Amedio Motilani
A 13-year-old girl began making a living on the streets of Paris.
She and the tramps huddled under the bridge hole for the night, ripping open their clothes for people to see, for as long as 3 francs ...
Many years later, when Alice, who became Gigi, became famous, she still described the deep imprint of hunger on her growing up in her autobiography, "Love Is Like This: Gigi of Montparnasse".
From Alice to Gigi
Wandering from this café to another, Alice lives off as a model and hangs out with artists. At the age of 16, one of Alice's patron painters, Chaim Sudin, fell in love with her and gave her a temporary residence. Since then, the doors of the art world in Paris have gradually opened to her. The head of the Jockey Club took a fancy look at Alice's seductive figure and beautiful voice and invited her to sing on stage in the nightclub. Alice sang an erotic minor tune with her lingering tone and seductive eyes, which won the applause of the audience. Audiences preferred her best-in-hand play: the handstand, as she usually wore only a pair of long black stockings inside. Gigi described his life during that time this way: "If I were a little bit like a prostitute, how much benefit would I get!" Every night, a palatial sedan waited for me at the door of the Jockey Club... Do this for the money! In those carnival nights, the only thing I didn't defile was love! ”
Self-portrait of Moys Kisling
She admits that her life is rotten, but it is all for money, she has never loved anyone, so love is sacred and not defiled. Then the painter Moise Kisling appeared, who gave Alice a new name "KIKI". Although the two people did not spend a long time together, because of the hot personality, they quarreled every day for various reasons, but Kisling painted hundreds of portraits of Gigi, each of which had large eyes, and her face was pale and delicate, and her expression was gentle.
Gigi of Montparnasse in a Red Dress, Moise Kiesling, 1933
Then, with a naïve, outgoing and lively personality, Gigi, with a girlish simplicity and obedience, won the favor of many artists. Painters have used her as a model to create, and they all seem to be able to find different shining points in Gigi. She is not a beauty in the traditional sense, with a baby face, a plump and rounded body, but she has a different meaning. Kislin painted for her, Andiji Fujita made her the protagonist of the painting, and even Modigliani and Picasso hired her as a model. It is normal to be a muse of one person, but being a muse of everyone can only show that Gigi has an extraordinary charm in him.
Moyce Kisling's Gigi
Gigi wrote in his autobiography: "I finally found a place that suited me. The painters accepted me; I was no longer sad, and although I was still often hungry, the laughter made me forget all about it. ”
Man Ray's lover
Photo of Man Ray and Gigi
Gigi's encounter with Man Ray is dramatic. In a small café in Montparnasse, Gigi quarreled in public with the waiter, who was wearing no hat and short, pretty hair. The waiter, believing her to be a prostitute, stopped Gigi out of the door. At this time in Paris, if a girl did not have long hair flowing and did not wear a beautiful hat in public, she would be considered not a noble woman. Gigi was furious, and she shouted at the waiter, "Not only do I not have a hat, but I don't have pants yet, but I have charm and I don't trade this for money!" This is a café and not a church! She deftly stepped on the chair and jumped on the table, then gracefully jumped back to the floor like an antelope.
Man Ray was sipping coffee in the café and observing the girl with interest, his photographer instinct capturing Gigi's beauty. So he stepped forward and secretly stuffed the waiter with a $1 bill to calm down. Then he saluted Gigi, "My name is Man Ray, can I invite you to a movie?" ”
The tall gentleman impressed Gigi, and she recognized at a glance that the man must be an artist.
They went to the movies together, and Man Ray said he wanted to paint a portrait of Gigi, but was afraid that the painting would not be good. Gigi lit a cigarette, with a smile on his face, but spat out a cold word in his mouth: "My portraits are everywhere, Sudin, Kisrin, Fujita, Modigliani..." Every time he said the name of a painter or sculptor, Gigi held out a finger, "Oh, there are not enough fingers, but I haven't counted them yet." ”
Man Ray was reluctant to give up: "My painting method is different from other people's. I'm going to take a picture of you, it's a momentary assignment. Gigi was even more interested, "I have more pictures than portraits, and I'm no longer interested." ”
Man Ray continued to argue: "I'm different. I take pictures like I paint. ”
Photographer Man Ray
Maybe it was his sincerity that touched Gigi, or maybe in that instant, she unconsciously fell in love with the man, so she made an appointment to go to his studio to take pictures. The trip was out of control, and Gigi ended his cohabitation with Kisling and moved to Man Ray to live with him. It was the beginning of an eight-year-long love story, during which Man Ray photographed countless works featuring Gigi, in which Gigi showed a different side than ever before: quiet sadness. I don't know if Man Ray captured the unknown side of Gigi, or if Gigi slowly suffered from loss in this love, becoming no longer like she was, she loved Man Ray hard, but couldn't help arguing with him, fortunately, she didn't need to wander for the time being.
Gigi who modeled for Man Ray
No longer looking for a place to live, Gigi finally had her own free time, and she began to learn to paint, with strong support from Man Ray. She had no foundation, but the colors she painted were very bold, the powerful lines were full of tension, the pictures were very imaginative, and when she held a solo exhibition in the gallery in 1927, it was a great success. People call her a rising star in the art world, which makes Gigi a little complacent. Perhaps in addition to "scratching her head" in front of the painters, she can also go out of other ways.
In 1929, Gigi's career reached its peak. She wrote a memoir, which the Paris Tribune described her signing as follows: "For 30 francs you can get a memoir signed by Gigi, but you have to pay the price of nine hours in line... Men forget their significant others, forget their dates... Just to get in line. ”
The preface to this memoir was completed by Hemingway, who gave Gigi a very high evaluation: "The woman who wrote this book was never a lady, but a queen. There is no doubt that Gigi had more control over this era of Montparnasse than Queen Victoria over her own kingdom. ”
However, at the peak of her life, her love affair with Man Ray came to an end.
Wandering love
Gigi used to treat other men with an ambiguous attitude, and she was also an artist who was good at appreciating good things. And Man Ray quietly appeared next to a female model, Lee Miller, whom she called the teacher, affectionate and affectionate. This girl emitted the smell of inedible fireworks, and was as beautiful as a runaway princess. And myself, in my mother's words, my heels are always stained with mud. When Man Ray bought her a delicate and beautiful women's suit, Gigi finally broke out, she fiercely cut the expensive women's clothes with scissors, and shouted: I am a from the country. ”
Lee Miller
Gigi under the fence took his luggage and ended the love affair. For the rest of her life, she rarely mentioned Man Ray, either because of the depth of her love or for other reasons.
The 29-year-old Gigi was tired and tired of moving from this place to that place, so she married a loyal fan, Henry Broca. Henry had some small money, he ran a newspaper in Paris, he also liked to draw, and asked Gigi to come and model for him. He has been in love with this beautiful and unrestrained girl ever since, and he helps Gigi hold an exhibition and bravely proposes after she leaves Man Ray. Perhaps Henry himself did not expect that he could marry the goddess of his heart.
Tsuguharu Fujita
Fujita's Yoshiyoshi
There was also a good time, but soon Gigi grew tired of such a life. She may never have loved Henry, and marrying him was only due to a momentary loss. When she regains her excitement, Gigi, who is brave and loyal to herself, is determined to divorce Henry.
Divorced, opened a tavern, named "Gigi's Home", Gigi finally has his own home. She changed lovers, wandering from one bed to another... She did not become a female painter after all, and her talents were consumed in alcohol and love.
Teresa Tays, Fujita, Gigi and the poet Robert Desnor at La Rotonde Tavern, 1950
Her ex-husband Henry became mentally ill, and his mother was mentally stimulated by her abandonment by her lover, and Gigi's life gradually slid into hell. She circulates in the nightclubs of major nightclubs, dancing and singing to earn money. The money earned is either spent on alcohol or on travel expenses. She went to the mental hospital to visit the mad Henry, and then took the train to take care of her mentally manic mother. Very tired and tired, but life always has a head. However, when she performed in a foreign country, her mother suddenly died. Gigi stood on the streets of Berlin, weeping, and then used the money earned to pay for the burial. She wrote in her autobiography: "She was the only relative I depended on, she was my home, she was gone, I had nothing left. lover? No, can't compare. Mom she's still your mom until she dies. And lover, one day, he will leave you... Or, you abandon him. ”
Before she could calm down, Henry Broca died. The man who had once stood behind him forever, the lover she had abandoned, was dead.
The Queen's Ending
It was the darkest time of Gigi's life. Her mother and ex-husband died quietly in the hospital, but the wound was engraved in Ji Ji's heart and could not be recovered for a long time. She drank heavily, took drugs, then tried to quit drugs, and then relapsed... She gradually became the person depicted in her satirical cartoons as "addicted to spiritual comfort". She had a new lover, André Laloc, the man who was the pianist and accordionist in her tavern.
Gigi with her last partner, André Lalok
At the end of her autobiography, she wrote that she had just returned home from a drug rehabilitation center accompanied by her lover, and she said: "Now, I am happy, very happy, and I have strength again." I live, I breathe, I believe in the future. I have a lover who loves me and I love him and we will be happy. ”
She then stopped updating her autobiography and continued to perform around to make ends meet. She was still an alcoholic and addicted to drugs, and we can finally find out about her fate: on April 29, 1953, Gigi died of complications from alcoholism and drug abuse at the age of 52.
Gigi received little higher education, but she openly declared: "Except for poets, artists and dramatists, I do not want to see other ordinary people." And this is true in her life, except for the early years of difficult food exchange with her body, all the men who interacted after that were inseparable from the above three types of people.
Tsuguharu Fujita yoshiyoshi
Gigi is like a wild thorn rose outside the rose garden, dazzling and debauched. After all the world's events, she is so simple and lively, smart and cunning and brazen.
Gigi, Queen of Montparnasse
The gentle and affectionate Gigi, the most affectionate Gigi, the humorous And Funny Gigi, the hungry Gigi. Perhaps it is because of her boldness and indulgence that the fallen woman is so beautiful. She has appeared in the works of countless artists, giving them unlimited inspiration. Gigi is like a gypsy girl in literature, unrestrained, free, and loving. When she falls in love with you, she can cut her heart and lungs for you, but when she doesn't love, no one can keep her steps.
How to define Gigi? Prostitute/Mannequin/Movie Actor/Painter/Singer/Artist's Muse/Nightclub Queen?
Her tombstone reads: Gigi, 1901-1953, singer, actor, painter, queen of Montparnasse.