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Louise Abbéma (30 October 1853 – 10 July 1927) was a French painter, engraver and decorative artist. of the Belle Époque. Abbéma was also an accomplished printmaker, sculptor, and designer, as well as a writer who made regular contributions to the journals Gazette des Beaux-Arts and L'Art. She also illustrated several books, including la mer, René Maizeroy. and made regular contributions to the journals Gazette des Beaux-Arts and l'Art.

Biography
Abbéma was born in Étampes, France. Her aristocratic family's wealth and social connections gave her access to the Parisian artistic community at a young age. She began painting in her early teens, studying under Charles Joshua Chaplin, Jean-Jacques Henner and Carolus-Duran. In 1876, at age 23, she gained public recognition for her portrait of Sarah Bernhardt, her lifelong friend and many believe, her lover. The was portrait exhibited at the Paris Salon. ADD IMAGE OF BERNDHART

Style and Technique
Abbéma specialized in oil portraits and watercolors, and many of her works showed the influence from Chinese and Japanese painters, as well as contemporary masters such as Édouard Manet.She had an academic and impressionistic style, painting with light and rapid brushstrokes. She frequently depicted flowers in her works. Among her best-known works are The Seasons, April Morning, Place de la Concorde, Among the Flowers, Winter, and portraits of actress Jeanne Samary, Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil, Ferdinand de Lesseps, and Charles Garnier.

Abbema portrayed herself as an "outdoor painter"actively engaged in the Parisian outdoors." She moved away from the stereotypical locations women artist were taught to represent, 'safe public places such as parks and the theater. Her paintings frequently showed an interest in women. This, together with her penchant for dressing in mens's clothing prompted some critics of the time to suggest that she was a lesbian.

Subjects
needs work Abbéma's early works were of actors and actresses of the Comedie Francais. In later years she produced painted portraits of diplomats and other prominent Parisian figures. Notable portraits include those of French diplomat and engineer Ferdinand De Lessepes, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, and architect Charles Garner. ADD OTHERS. ABBEMA ALSO PAINTED NUMEROUS SCENCE OF PARISIAN LIFEas well as depictions of everyday life. These included........ Her painted panels and murals hung in the Paris Town Hall, the Paris Opera House an in numerous theatres including the "Theatre Sarah Bernhardt", and the "Palace of the Colonial Governor" at Dakar, Senegal.

Exhibitions and Awards
She was a regular exhibitor at the Paris Salon, where she received an honorable mention for her panels in 1881. Abbéma was also among the female artists whose works were exhibited in the Women's Building at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. A bust Sarah Bernhardt sculpted of Abbéma was also exhibited at the exposition.Among the many honors conferred upon Abbéma was Palme Academiques, 1887 and nomination as "Official Painter of the Third Republic." She was also awarded a bronze medal at the 1900 Exposition Universelle. In 1906 she was decorated as Chevalier of the Order of the Légion d'honneur, the highest award for civic and military merit. she was only the fourth woman to receive that award.

Abbéma died in Paris in 1927. At the end of the 20th century, as contributions by women to the arts in past centuries received more critical and historical attention, her works have been enjoying a renewed popularity.