Mistress of Montmarte

This is a biography of artist Suzanne Valadon, contemporary and model of Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec. Acclaimed as "the greatest light among the artists of this century", Valadon's work has been overshadowed by that of her son, Maurice Utrillo. Her unsentimental drawings and paintings of the human body reflect her bohemian life among the artists of Montmarte. There she met Degas, who encouraged his "wild girl" to draw. Illustrated with Valadon's work, this biography tells her dramatic story: born illegitimate, her struggle for survival, her stormy twenties as a model for Renoir and others, her success, her difficulties as the mother of her talented but deeply disturbed son, and the love affairs that scandalized society.