This fall, the Barnes Foundation will present Marie Laurencin: Sapphic Paris, the first major U.S. exhibition dedicated to French artist Marie Laurencin in over 30 years. Co-curated by Simonetta Fraquelli, consulting curator for the Barnes, and Cindy Kang, curator at the Barnes, this exhibition explores Laurencins career, from her self-portraits to her collaborative decorative projects, from her early cubist paintings to her signature works that defined 1920s Paris. Marie Laurencin: Sapphic Paris is sponsored by Comcast NBCUniversal and Denise Littlefield Sobel. Additional support is provided by LAGOS. Funding for the exhibition comes from The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation. This exhibition will be on view in the Roberts Gallery from Sunday, Oct. 22, through Jan. 21, 2024. Beginning in the early 20th century, French artist Marie Laurencin (18831956) created a unique pictorial world that placed women at the center of modern art. Working in Paris, in an environment dominated by male artists, Laurencin had a highly original painting style that defied categorization. She moved seamlessly between the male-dominated cubist avant-garde and the realms of fashion, ballet, and decorative arts. Laurencin became a fixture of the contemporary art scene in pre-war Paris and had a passionate and tumultuous relationship with the poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire. Pablo Picasso had introduced them in 1907, and she immediately became part of the cubist inner circle. Their breakup in 1913, combined with the death of her mother, likely prompted a hasty marriage to the German baron and artist Otto von Wtjen in 1914. The couple fled to Spain during WWI and circulated among other self-exiled artists, including Francis Picabia. In 1921, the couple divorced and Laurencin returned definitively to Paris, having developed her signature style of female figures in a blue-rose-gray palette. Laurencins feminine aesthetic defined 1920s Paris. She was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev to design the ballet Les Biches and by society figures like Coco Chanel and Helena Rubinstein to paint their portraits. One of Laurencins final projects was to illustrate the Poems of Sappho in 1950. We are proud to present the first U.S. exhibition in over three decades dedicated to Marie Laurencins work, says Thom Collins, Neubauer Family Executive Director and President of the Barnes. Shining new light on a remarkable artist deserving of a major reexamination, this exhibition is the Barness fourth in an ongoing series exploring the achievements of significant but underrecognized women working in the European modernist vanguard of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Suzanne Valadon, Marie Cuttoli, and Berthe Morisot. This exhibition holds a special significance at the Barnes; in 1923, Dr. Albert Barnes named Laurencin one of the best French women painters after having acquired several of her works, including Still Life with Bowl and Fruit (1907) on view in Room 10; Woman with Muff (1914) on view in Room 16; and Head (before 1921), on view in Room 11. Featuring over 50 works by Laurencin from public and private collections around the world, the exhibit showcases paintings, works on paper, illustrated books, decorative objects, and ballet costumes, as well as works by Laurencins contemporaries and collaborators such as Max Ernst, Andr Mare, Jean Metzinger, and Francis Picabia. Arranged thematically and in roughly chronological order, the exhibition examines Laurencins interest in self-portraiture; her cubist milieu in prewar Paris; her difficult though productive period of exile in Spain; her designs for interiors and ballets; her fashionable portraits of women; and her inimitable vision of Sapphic modernism. The Barnes Foundation is located at 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. To learn more, visit www.barnesfoundation.org.