Portrait à La Mode

The École de Paris, or School of Paris, stands for the international Parisian art scene in the early years of the 2 th century and is often associated with names like Picasso and Matisse. But it also featured several portrait painters whose fashionable portraits of women enjoyed great popularity among Parisian society: Thanks to Paul-César Helleu, Giovanni Boldini, Marie Laurencin, Kees van Dongen, and Jacqueline Marval, among others, the Portrait à la mode became a genre of its own. Since it was overshadowed by the avant-garde, it has hitherto rarely been the subject of art-historical research. These for the time very representative Portraits à la mode prompt a critical view of society, fashion, and the changing image of women during the Belle Époque, the interwar years, and the roaring 92 s.