Marthe Donas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marthe Donas
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| Born | October 26, 1885 Antwerp, Belgium
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| Died | January 31, 1967 (aged 81) Audregnies, Belgium
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| Nationality | Belgian |
| Education | Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Abstract art, Cubism |
Marthe Donas (born October 26, 1885 – died January 31, 1967) was a Belgian artist. She was known for her abstract and Cubist paintings. Many people see her as one of the most important modern artists. Donas used different names for her art, like Tour d'Onasky, Tour Donas, and M. Donas. These names didn't show if she was a man or a woman.
Contents
The Life of Marthe Donas
Early Years and Art School
Marthe Gabrielle Donas was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on October 26, 1885. She grew up in a wealthy family who spoke French. When she was seventeen, Marthe decided to enroll at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.
However, her strict father did not want her to be a painter. He stopped her from going to drawing classes and art shows. He also didn't let her meet other art students. At this time, Marthe mostly painted still life pictures and portraits of her family. In 1912, she went back to art school to study with Frans Van Kuyck, even though her father didn't approve.
Starting Her Art Career in Dublin
When World War I began in 1914, Marthe's family fled to the Netherlands. Soon after, Marthe decided to live on her own. She moved to Dublin, Ireland, with one of her sisters. There, she kept practicing her drawing, painting, and print-making skills. She also took a class in making stained-glass art.
By late 1915, she started working at a stained-glass studio called An Tur Gloine. She made three large stained-glass windows for churches, plus some smaller pieces. In 1916, political problems during the Easter Rising in Dublin forced her to leave. Her sister went back to their family, but Marthe chose to go to Paris. At that time, Paris was the center of the art world.
Moving to Paris
Marthe moved to Montparnasse in Paris at the end of 1916. She rented an art studio. In Paris, she learned about the newest art styles. She continued her art education at the Académies de la Grande Chaumière and Ranson. In January 1917, she discovered the work of André Lhote and Cubism. This art style really inspired her. Donas soon became Lhote's student and began painting in a Cubist way.
Working with Archipenko in Nice
Marthe didn't have much money. So, she accepted an offer from a wealthy lady to go to the South of France. In return, Marthe would give her painting lessons. In spring 1917, she moved to Nice. There, she met the Ukrainian sculptor Alexander Archipenko. They worked very closely together on their art and became very good friends.
Marthe's paintings from this time show how cleverly she used ideas from Archipenko's sculptures. She painted completely in a Cubist style. She also developed an amazing way with colors because of Archipenko's influence. Her favorite subjects were female figures and still life pictures. She used curved inward and outward shapes, mixing round, sharp, and blurry parts. This made her paintings feel energetic and show movement. Her art became more and more abstract. In Paris, she had tried making collages. In Nice, she often used materials like cement, sand, fabric, lace, sandpaper, and wallpaper in her art.
Becoming an International Artist
After World War I ended, Donas went back to Paris. She rented a studio that Diego Rivera had used before. Piet Mondrian also had a studio in the same building. Donas joined an art group called Section d'Or. This group started again after the war, led by Archipenko.
Through this international group and with Archipenko's help, Donas's work was shown in many important art magazines. These included the Dutch De Stijl, the Dadaist magazine Mécano, the German Der Sturm, the Italian Noi, and the Belgian Sélection. During these years, Donas started using names like 'Tour d'Onasky', 'M. Donas', and 'Tour Donas'. She did this to hide that she was a woman. At that time, Cubist and abstract art were often seen as too serious for women. Using a male-sounding name helped female artists get more respect and better chances to show and sell their work.
Her connections in Nice and Paris helped her show her art in a major exhibition. This was the Exhibition of French Art 1914–19 in London. She had seven paintings there, alongside famous artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Archipenko kept promoting Donas's work around the world. This led to her own shows in Geneva in 1919 and at the famous Der Sturm gallery in Berlin in 1920. The Berlin show was one of the most important in her career. The gallery owner, Herwarth Walden, likely bought many of her pieces. This meant she was recognized by a very important art dealer.
She also showed her work with other artists like Albert Gleizes and Fernand Léger in Section d'Or exhibitions. These shows were in Paris and then in the Netherlands. Theo van Doesburg, a close friend, organized the Dutch shows. Donas visited him in Leiden in 1920 to help with the art and attend an opening. After that, she visited her parents in Antwerp. She painted portraits for Jewish family friends to earn money. She also took other art jobs, which she painted in a traditional style. In late 1920, she went to London to connect with the art scene there.
Her relationship with Archipenko ended around this time. Her art became even more abstract. She was influenced by the ideas of Amédée Ozenfant and Le Corbusier. She learned about them through the magazine L'Esprit Nouveau and through Van Doesburg.
Donas returned to her Paris studio in autumn 1920. In December 1920, she showed her work in Belgium for the first time. This was at the Sélection gallery in Brussels. From December 1920 to January 1921, her art was part of a Section d'Or group show in Geneva. This big international show aimed to present all the new art movements. It was an important event for networking and led to another Section d'Or show in Rome in 1922.
Walden organized more group shows at the Sturm gallery. In January 1921, he included twenty-four of Donas's paintings. In April 1921, he showed five more of her paintings. He continued to support Donas by featuring her in his shows and publications until at least 1925.
At one of these shows, the American artist Katherine Sophie Dreier bought Donas's work. In 1920, Dreier had started the Societé Anonyme in New York with Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. Their goal was to introduce American audiences to new European modern art. The Societé Anonyme showed Donas's paintings and drawings in New York and other U.S. cities. Dreier kept including Donas's work in many group shows until 1940. Later, Dreier gave the Societé Anonyme collection, including Donas's art, to Yale University. These works are still at the Yale University Art Gallery.
In summer 1921, Donas became very ill in Paris. She had no savings, so she had to leave her studio and go back to her parents in Antwerp. In Antwerp, she connected with the Belgian art scene. In January 1922, she showed twelve of her latest paintings and some linocuts in a big exhibition in Antwerp. She called her paintings "Composition" with Roman numerals. This showed her connection to the Belgian "pure plasticism" movement, which was a type of Constructivism. This style was different from the art in Paris.
By January 1922, she was back in Paris to marry Henri Franke. He was a philosophy student she knew from childhood. In February, she got sick again with hepatitis. This made the couple move to Fontenay-aux-Roses, a suburb of Paris popular with artists. She kept drawing and painting there. Her work was shown in Paris, Düsseldorf, and Oslo in 1922-1923. Her paintings started to change from geometric abstraction to a more realistic style. However, because of her poor health, Donas and Franke moved back to Belgium for good in July 1923. They settled in Ittre, a small village where some of Franke's family lived.
Even though her work appeared in shows in Brussels, Berlin, and Paris, she was not very well known in Belgium. She didn't have the same fame she had in Paris. Her art became more traditional, focusing on still life and landscapes. She moved completely away from Cubism and abstract art. However, in April 1926, a gallery organized a big show of Marthe Donas's art with seventy of her paintings. This helped her reconnect with the modern art scene in Belgium. Donas decided to move back to Brussels in early 1927. Many Belgian artists admired her work, especially her use of color. She was seen as a rising artist in Brussels. Being back in the city's art world and showing her work in Brussels and Paris with the "L’Assault" art group gave her new inspiration. She started painting in a neo-Cubist style again, using softer colors, and created many new works in 1927.
A Break from Painting
Her renewed connection with the art world didn't last long. She stopped painting completely for 20 years. There wasn't much appreciation for modern art in Belgium. She also faced personal difficulties. Her parents died in 1927 and 1929. Financial problems forced her and her husband to move back to Ittre.
When Marthe Donas was forty-five, she had her daughter, Francine, in January 1931. She moved around with her husband for a few years, looking for work. When World War II started in 1939, they returned to Ittre. Donas was busy taking care of her home and raising her daughter. When her daughter turned sixteen and became more independent, Marthe started painting again.
Donas and Henri moved back to Brussels in 1948. Her paintings from this time showed a sense of fun and innocence. Donas herself called it "romantic with a Cubist feel." These paintings were liked in shows in Brussels and Antwerp. From 1954, her paintings became more abstract again. By 1958, they were completely non-realistic, inspired by her pure feelings. Around this time, she met Maurits Bilcke, a Dutch gallery owner, who promoted her work a lot in the 1960s.
Interest in her early work also came from the United States. This happened after Katherine Dreier gave the Société Anonyme's collection to the Yale University gallery. In Belgium, people also became more interested in the early abstract artists. A German art historian, Herta Wescher, included Donas's work in her book about collages. Because of this growing attention, Marthe Donas began writing her autobiography.
In the following years, she was featured in many important exhibitions. These included "The First Abstract Artists in Belgium" in 1959 in Antwerp. She also had a big show of only her work in Brussels in 1960. In 1961, her art was shown in Berlin alongside famous artists like Alexander Archipenko, Marc Chagall, and Paul Klee. Being included with these important artists must have been very rewarding for Donas.
While her work was finally recognized internationally, her health was getting worse. She also had money problems again. She had to sell most of her art to Maurits and Suzanne Bilcke. The Bilckes then organized a major Donas exhibition in Brussels in October 1961. This show was a big success and received a lot of attention from art critics and other artists. Maurits Bilcke continued to promote her work and made sure it was included in important collections. In the 1960s, her work was bought by the Belgian government and several museums. She was happy that, towards the end of her life, she was finally recognized as one of the great pioneers of modern art. Marthe Donas died on January 31, 1967, in Audreignies, Belgium, with her husband and daughter by her side.
Exhibitions
- 1920: La Section d’Or, Galerie La Boétie, Paris, March 5, 1920.
- 2016: Donas. De Belgische avant-gardiste, Museum voor Schoone Kunsten, Gent.
See also
In Spanish: Marthe Donas para niños
