LONDON.- Dulwich Picture Gallery will present the first UK museum exhibition devoted to pioneering French artist Jacqueline Marval (1866-1932), a leading figure of the Parisian avant-garde. Driven by bold creative freedom and ambition, Marval carved out her own identity as an artist. She developed an original style through her innovative treatment of the female figure and reappropriation of her own image. As the artist of one of the earliest female nude self-portraits, Marval’s works challenged convention and reshaped representations of women in early 20th-century painting.

Bringing together more than 40 artworks from public and private collections across France and the UK, including seminal masterpieces, the exhibition will trace the artist's remarkable career from her arrival in Paris in 1895 to the ambitious works of her later years. It reveals how Marval established herself within the city's avant-garde, alongside contemporaries including Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Marie Laurencin, while developing a distinctive artistic language influenced by Fauvism and Post-Impressionism, as well as contemporary fashion, literature and performance.

Born Marie-Jos�phine Vallet in the Western Alps, Marval reinvented herself upon moving to Paris aged 29, adopting a name and persona that reflected the independence and ambition that would define her career. The transformation followed a period of personal upheaval, including a difficult marriage and the tragic death of her young son; experiences that shaped her determination to forge a life and career on her own terms. Moving within the circles of the Fauves and Nabis, Marval exhibited in major French and international salons during her lifetime and was championed by the influential art dealers Berthe Weill, Eug�ne Druet and Ambroise Vollard.

The exhibition follows the evolution of Marval's artistic vision and her enduring engagement with the figure. At a time when representations of women were largely shaped by male artists, Marval offered an alternative perspective, often using herself as a model. The exhibition opens with highlights including Odalisque au Gu�pard (1900) and her celebrated masterpiece Les Odalisques (1902-03); works that depict Marval’s own facial features and radically reimagine a traditionally male-dominated subject through a female lens.

The exhibition goes on to explore Marval's close engagement with the cultural life of Paris, including her contribution to the decoration of the newly opened Th��tre des Champs-�lys�es in 1913. A former seamstress, she maintained a lifelong fascination with costume, movement and theatrical spectacle; influences that resonate throughout her practice. Works from the 1920s capture the glamour and energy of modern Paris, where Marval’s portraits of performers and socialites, including Kiki de Montparnasse and French film star Dolly Davis, develop a more expressive and experimental style.

Marval's most significant projects are brought into focus in the final room: Biarritz and Cinderella. Her paintings of Biarritz, created in the early 1920s, capture the cosmopolitan energy of the fashionable seaside resort through an increasingly liberated visual language that moved towards abstraction while reflecting the changing styles and social freedoms of the era. This spirit of reinvention continued in 1928, when Marval was invited to produce a series of lithographs inspired by Cinderella. The fairytale held a particular resonance for the artist, echoing her own journey from modest beginnings to the independent life she forged for herself. Reimagined through a distinctly modern sensibility, these works reveal an artist whose creativity, ambition and capacity for self-invention remained undiminished to the end of her career.

Lucien Roux, Curator of the exhibition, said: “This exhibition marks a turning point in opening up new perspectives on Marval’s work. With a particular focus on her bold figurative compositions - especially her representations of women, modern approach to the nude, and her portraits and self-portraits - the exhibition reveals the freedom of Marval’s creativity and the breadth of her inspirations, including fashion. Dulwich Picture Gallery’s innovative exhibition programme and rich history is the ideal setting to highlight Marval’s contribution to the evolution of painting in early 20th-century Paris.”

Jennifer Scott, Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery said: “I am thrilled that we are celebrating Jacqueline Marval through this major show, re-positioning her as a vital artistic talent. Her distinctive energy and wistful fairytales transport us to Marval’s Paris. The most extraordinary artist you've never heard of, until now."

Drawing on loans from UK private collections, French museums and the Comit� Jacqueline Marval, the exhibition highlights the growing international recognition of an artist whose contribution to modern painting in early 20th-century Paris is once again receiving the attention it deserves.