L’Union des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs

Hélène Bertaux

The Union of Women Painters and Sculptors was founded by Hélène Bertaux

in 1881 in Paris with the aim to promote the work of female artists. At its peak it had as many as 450 members. The Union existed until its 110th exhibition in 1994.

In the 19th Century, the opportunities for women were very limited, especially within the Parisien art world. L’École des Beaux-Arts did not admit women until 1897. Before then the only state-sponsored option for women’s art education was L’École Nationale de Dessin pour les Jeunes Filles (The National Drawing School for Young Women) which received less funding than the other schools. Women were also prohibited from joining most of the existing exhibition groups and schools. One of the Union’s goals was to create a community to educate and support female artists in addition to displaying their works. The Union, led by Hélène Bertaux, campaigned for women’s entry into the École des Beaux-Arts and for their eligibility to compete for the Prix de Rome art prize.

They published Le Journal des Femmes Artistes newsletter on a regular basis to encourage members to communicate and comment. The Union also founded and organised the annual Salon des Femmes as an exhibition exclusively for women. The Salon was intended to be a non-traditional and non-hierarchical exhibition, including decorative arts, and giving new and established artists equal access to preferred hanging spaces. The first Salon des Femmes took place in January 1882 just a year after the Union was founded and the Union continued to organise and publicise the event each year. The Salon des Femmes was incredibly popular, in 1896, 295 women exhibited their work.

The Finance Inspector of the Union was Louise Bergerot-Roblastre (1836-1914) and we have one of Louise's paintings for sale: