Mercédès Legrand

• Name — Mercédès Legrand • Other Names — Mercedes Legrand • Born — 14 July 1893 • Birthplace — Almodóvar del Campo, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain • Died — 17 July 1945 • Place of death — Avignon, France • Education — Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels • Occupation — Visual artist, illustrator, poet • Known for — Painter, enameller, sculptor, potter • Spouse — Roger van Gindertael (m. 1921–?), Charles Edmond Kayser (m. c.1928–1946; her death) • Children — 3

Mercédès Legrand was born on 14 July 1893, Almodóvar del Campo, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain to Belgian parents. The first ten years of her childhood were spent in Spain, before she moved abroad to Brussels, Belgium, England and Germany for schooling. She attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels, from 1916 to 1919. In 1921, she married a classmate, who was an art critic and painter, they settled in Paris in the 1920s. Together they had a child, Jean-Michel (born 1924) in Brussels.

In September 1920, Legrand completed a World War I memorial in Nassogne, Belgium, commissioned by the municipality, and is depicting a civilian confronted with the remains of a soldier. Legrand, Van Gindertael, and Michel de Goeye co-created Hélianthe, an avant-garde arts review magazine. In Paris, she exhibited regularly artists such as Jean Pougny, Emmanuel Mané-Katz, Raoul Dufy, Edouard Vuillard, Georges Rouault, Othon Friesz, and André Lhote. In 1928 (or in 1937, depending on the source), she married Jewish artist Charles Edmond Kayser. In 1941, the family moved to Limoges, where her husband was working. During this period she started working in enamels, which were to become an important part of her work. They moved to Avignon in the 1940s, where she died in 1945 from the inhalation of nitric acid while enameling.

The authorities additionally record the heading Mercedes Legrand. Her recorded language was French. She married Roger van Gindertael and Charles Edmond Kayser.

Mercédès Legrand is recorded as painter, poet, sculptor, potter and enameler.