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In 1912, Marion was invited to go to Paris with her friends, the McCoys, but could not afford it. "Teachers will have to make more money before I can go to Europe," wryly wrote the future union leader. Were she to have gone she would have visited the very center of the era's cultural universe, with many of the great artists we now admire working out of that city. (Picasso shocked everyone with the unveiling of his paradigm shattering Demoiselles D'Avignon in 1907, "determining the future of art" in response to the incredible speed the world was changing, technologically and culturally Picasso's Fallen Women BBC4, in competition with the likes of Matisse, Cezanne, Einstein and Apollinaire.)
The Art Nouveau movement was in full swing, too, characterized by natural forms in art and architecture and typified by the sensual women of Alphonse Mucha, with their long cascading (blond or red) hair and flowing robes. Classic Art Nouveau drawings were typically found on theatre or art posters; but back in North America magazines (especially women's magazines) often featured covers inspired by Art Nouveau, although not as risque or erotic. Indeed, this was the grand era of cover art with many famous artists supplying designs. On many of the covers a giant hat framed a beautiful young face: women's faces were being used as pure decoration. In other instances, the covers showed stronger, more active women.. This reality reflected the ambiguity of female life, no different from today really.
Between 1908-1913 Emily Carr began painting her Native North American subjects. Some of these paintings are not in her signature brooding style, but in bright and cheery colours because in 1910 she made a visit to France, where she learned to paint like the Fauves!
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