Marthe and Juliette Vesque - Revision history

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2026-11-11T20:12:42Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Les Demoiselles Vesque */

2026-11-11T19:59:48Z

‎Les Demoiselles Vesque

Djando: /* Les Demoiselles Vesque */

2026-11-11T19:59:11Z

‎Les Demoiselles Vesque

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2024-12-28T06:50:29Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2024-05-06T19:02:32Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Les Demoiselles Vesque */

2024-05-06T18:46:49Z

‎Les Demoiselles Vesque

Djando: /* A Jealously Kept Collection */

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‎A Jealously Kept Collection

Djando at 18:45, 6 May 2024

2024-05-06T18:45:29Z

Djando: /* A Jealously Kept Collection */

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‎A Jealously Kept Collection

Djando at 18:39, 6 May 2024

2024-05-06T18:39:53Z

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 File:Geronimo_Medrano_4_spt_1904.jpg|Geronimo Medrano (1904)
 File:The_Fredianis_Nouveau_Cirque.jpg|The Fredianis at the Nouveau Cirque (1909)
 File:Vesque_-_Cookes_1912.jpg|The Cookes (1912)
 File:Vesque_Florimond-Bastien_1914.jpg|Florimond-Bastien Troupe (1914)

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ===Les Demoiselles Vesque===
-[[File:Marthe_Vesque.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Marthe Vesque]][[File:Juliette_Vesque.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Juliette Vesque]]
+[[File:Marthe_Vesque.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Marthe Vesque]]
 Known in the French circus milieu as "les demoiselles Vesque," or&mdash;somewhat more fittingly because it rings like the name of a circus act&mdash;"les sœurs Vesque" (the Vesque sisters), Marthe and Juliette Vesque spent their lives together, never married, and shared not only the same occupation, but also the same passions. Marthe was born in 1879 in Joinville-le-Pont, a suburb of Paris, and Juliette, who was born in Paris, followed her in 1881.
 Their father, Julien Vesque (1848-1895), was a respected botanist; he was Maître de Conférences (Professor) at the Institut Agronomique in Paris and had published an important ''Traité de Botanique agricole et industrielle'' in 1885. Like most botanists of his era, Julien Vesque used to make meticulous drawings of his observations. He passed his artistic talents on to his daughters, and was not only their first art teacher, but he also taught them how to do precise and accurate renderings through careful observation.
-Marthe and Juliette developed a passion for the circus at an early age. In the first half of the twentieth century, Paris was Europe’s circus capital. During their lifetime, they were able to visit regularly not only the [[Cirque d’Hiver]] and [[Cirque Medrano (Paris)|Cirque Medrano]], which preceded and survived them, but also other Parisian circuses: The [[Nouveau Cirque]], until 1926; the [[Cirque Métropole]] (later Cirque de Paris) from 1906 to 1930; the [[Hippodrome de la Place Clichy]] from 1900 to 1907; and the [[Empire Music-Hall Cirque]] from 1924 to 1937.
+[[File:Juliette_Vesque.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Juliette Vesque]]Marthe and Juliette developed a passion for the circus at an early age. In the first half of the twentieth century, Paris was Europe’s circus capital. During their lifetime, they were able to visit regularly not only the [[Cirque d’Hiver]] and [[Cirque Medrano (Paris)|Cirque Medrano]], which preceded and survived them, but also other Parisian circuses: The [[Nouveau Cirque]], until 1926; the [[Cirque Métropole]] (later Cirque de Paris) from 1906 to 1930; the [[Hippodrome de la Place Clichy]] from 1900 to 1907; and the [[Empire Music-Hall Cirque]] from 1924 to 1937.
 They may also have visited, in their childhood and adolescence, the [[Hippodrome de l’Alma]], which gave its last performance in November 1892, and the legendary [[Cirque des Champs-Elysées]], which closed in 1898. To this list, one must add the many traveling circuses that visited Paris and its suburbs and the few they saw in their travels, and an equally important number of Parisian revue and variety theaters, such as the Folies Bergère, the Casino de Paris, the Olympia, the ABC, and the Alhambra. All those great theaters presented circus acts regularly.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ===Les Demoiselles Vesque===
-[[File:Marthe_Vesque.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Marthe Vesque]][[File:Juliette_Vesque.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Juliette Vesque]]
+[[File:Marthe_Vesque.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Marthe Vesque]][[File:Juliette_Vesque.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Juliette Vesque]]
 Known in the French circus milieu as "les demoiselles Vesque," or&mdash;somewhat more fittingly because it rings like the name of a circus act&mdash;"les sœurs Vesque" (the Vesque sisters), Marthe and Juliette Vesque spent their lives together, never married, and shared not only the same occupation, but also the same passions. Marthe was born in 1879 in Joinville-le-Pont, a suburb of Paris, and Juliette, who was born in Paris, followed her in 1881.

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 File:Vesque_-_Cookes_1912.jpg|The Cookes (1912)
 File:Vesque_Florimond-Bastien_1914.jpg|Florimond-Bastien Troupe (1914)
 File:Vesque_Hassan_1916.jpg|Les Hassan (1916)
 File:Webb_Bros_1916.jpg|The Webb Bros. (1916)

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 File:Circus_Gleich_1933.jpeg|Circus Gleich (1933)
 File:Circus_Gleich_in_Paris.jpg|Circus Gleich (1933)
 File:Vesque_Zanfretta_1933.jpeg|Cirque Zanfretta (1933)
 File:Vesque_Recordier_et_Boulicot_1934.jpg|Recordier & Boulicot (1934)

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 ===A Jealously Kept Collection===
-[[File:The_Fredianis_Nouveau_Cirque.jpg|thumb|left|400px|The Magyar Troupe (1935)]]The rest of the time, they were at the circus or at the music-hall (variety theater), sketching the acts they saw, chatting with circus folks, and adding entries to their journal after the show. This was indeed a devouring passion: At that time, Parisian circuses and music-halls renewed their programs every two or three weeks, and the sisters rarely missed one! Although they would have found many buyers, they always refused to sell their paintings, which they kept jealously; they presented a few of them, however, as a gift to selected friends who were, like them, hard-core circus aficionados&mdash;mostly journalists and circus chroniclers.
+[[File:The_Fredianis_Nouveau_Cirque.jpg|thumb|left|400px|The Fredianis (1909)]]The rest of the time, they were at the circus or at the music-hall (variety theater), sketching the acts they saw, chatting with circus folks, and adding entries to their journal after the show. This was indeed a devouring passion: At that time, Parisian circuses and music-halls renewed their programs every two or three weeks, and the sisters rarely missed one! Although they would have found many buyers, they always refused to sell their paintings, which they kept jealously; they presented a few of them, however, as a gift to selected friends who were, like them, hard-core circus aficionados&mdash;mostly journalists and circus chroniclers.
 Before she passed away on February 4, 1949, Marthe Vesque asked her sister to never sell their collection, and never disperse it. In 1955, Juliette began to donate it, in installments, to the Musée national des Arts et Tradition Populaires, which had been newly created by another circus enthusiast, Georges-Henri Rivière. It was difficult indeed for Juliette to part with these souvenirs&mdash;souvenirs of her sister (the paintings were always signed by both sisters: M.J.V. or M.J. Vesque), and specific memories of their common passion.

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 For a half-century (roughly from 1900 to 1950), Marthe (1879-1949) and Juliette (1881-1962) Vesque have documented the Parisian circus scene in meticulously precise paintings of circus artists in performance&mdash;about whom they often added fascinating information in their journal, which they wrote from 1904 to 1947. They sketched their subjects live, at the circus or in variety theaters, which they frequented assiduously every week. Their unique art production constitutes perhaps the most remarkable visual documentation existing on the European circus of the first half of the twentieth century.
 ===Les Demoiselles Vesque===
 [[File:Marthe_Vesque.jpg|left|thumb|300px\Marthe Vesque]][[File:Juliette_Vesque.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Juliette Vesque]]
@@ Line 20: / Line 21: @@
 ===A Jealously Kept Collection===
-[[File:Vesque_Magyar_Troupe_1935.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The Magyar Troupe (1935)]]The rest of the time, they were at the circus or at the music-hall (variety theater), sketching the acts they saw, chatting with circus folks, and adding entries to their journal after the show. This was indeed a devouring passion: At that time, Parisian circuses and music-halls renewed their programs every two or three weeks, and the sisters rarely missed one! Although they would have found many buyers, they always refused to sell their paintings, which they kept jealously; they presented a few of them, however, as a gift to selected friends who were, like them, hard-core circus aficionados&mdash;mostly journalists and circus chroniclers.
+[[File:The_Fredianis_Nouveau_Cirque.jpg|thumb|left|400px|The Magyar Troupe (1935)]]The rest of the time, they were at the circus or at the music-hall (variety theater), sketching the acts they saw, chatting with circus folks, and adding entries to their journal after the show. This was indeed a devouring passion: At that time, Parisian circuses and music-halls renewed their programs every two or three weeks, and the sisters rarely missed one! Although they would have found many buyers, they always refused to sell their paintings, which they kept jealously; they presented a few of them, however, as a gift to selected friends who were, like them, hard-core circus aficionados&mdash;mostly journalists and circus chroniclers.
 Before she passed away on February 4, 1949, Marthe Vesque asked her sister to never sell their collection, and never disperse it. In 1955, Juliette began to donate it, in installments, to the Musée national des Arts et Tradition Populaires, which had been newly created by another circus enthusiast, Georges-Henri Rivière. It was difficult indeed for Juliette to part with these souvenirs&mdash;souvenirs of her sister (the paintings were always signed by both sisters: M.J.V. or M.J. Vesque), and specific memories of their common passion.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:39, 6 May 2024
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−	[[File:Cirque_Metropole_Paris_1930.jpeg\|right~~\|thumb~~\|400px~~\|The Cirque Métropole (1930)~~]]	+	[[File:Cirque_Metropole_Paris_1930.jpeg\|right\|400px]]
	==Circus Memorialists==		==Circus Memorialists==