Lucie Cousturier

Training under Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross is recorded. The recorded working language is French. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Residence is recorded at Fréjus and 16th arrondissement of Paris. Works named in the authority record are Woman doing crochet (Femme faisant du crochet). Work by Lucie Cousturier is recorded in the collections of Finnish National Gallery, Musée Léon-Dierx, Museum of Grenoble, Musée d'Orsay and University of Arizona Museum of Art.

• Name — Lucie Cousturier • Birth Name — Lucie Brû • Born — 19 December 1876 • Birthplace — Paris, France • Died — 16 June 1925 > • Place of death — Paris, France • Occupation — Painter, writer

Lucie Brû was born in Paris on 19 December 1876. Her father was Léon Casimir Brû, the wealthy owner of a Parisian doll factory. She became interested in painting at the age of fourteen, and studied under Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross. She was also a close friend of the pointillist Georges Seurat. She studied the work of these painters and painted in a similar style to them. On 6 January 1901 she married the painter and art critic Edmond Cousturier, taking her husband's name. Her husband's brother was Paul Cousturier, a member of the colonial administration in Africa. Lucie Cousturier first exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants in 1901, and was to exhibit three to eight oils there every year until 1920. She exhibited at other exhibitions in Brussels and Berlin, and at the end of 1906 gave her first solo exhibition in Paris. By 1907 she had a perfect mastery of technique and color. In her later paintings, particularly outdoors scenes, her style became increasingly fluid and free, with warm and lively colors. In 1911, Lucie began her writing career by writing articles and monographs about the major members of the emerging Neo-Impressionist movement. She is credited for being the first specialist writer of the movement. During World War I Lucie Cousturier lived in a house in Fréjus purchased in 1913, "Les Parasols", beside which there were camps where Senegalese riflemen staying before going up to the front. She visited the camps and decided to improve the soldiers' learning of the French language. For this purpose she organized literacy classes at home, and this would be the theme of a story on Des Inconnus chez moi (Some Strangers in my Home) that she published in 1920. The la Poursuite company adapted this work to the stage in 2014 to commemorate the centenary of the War.

Most paintings by Lucie Cousturier are in private collections. • Autoportrait, huile sur bois vers 1905-1910, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis • Vase de fleurs, huile sur toile, Indianapolis Museum of Art • Femme faisant du crochet, huile sur toile, v. 1908, Musée d'Orsay • Woman Reading, huile sur toile, v. 1907, Museum of Modern Art

• Des inconnus chez moi, 1920. • La Forêt du Haut-Niger, 1923. * • Mes inconnus chez eux: 2. Mon ami Soumaré, laptot, 1925.

Lucie Cousturier was recorded at birth as Jeanne Lucie Brû. She also worked under the names Lucie Brû and Lucie Cousturier. The authorities additionally record the heading Cousturier. Her recorded language was French. She married Edmond Cousturier. One child is recorded: François Cousturier.