New: Juliette Roche’s hidden work full of movement and color
The work Jet d’Eau by the French artist Juliette Roche is a new addition to the museum’s collection. This exceptional avant-garde piece from 1918 has never been exhibited before and adds an extra dimension to the collection’s rich diversity.
The prominent French artist Juliette Roche had a strongly international orientation. In 1915, she moved to New York with her husband, the cubist and philosopher Albert Gleizes. Three years later, she painted Jet d’Eau in her studio there.
Measuring 2.15 by 1.80 meters, the work depicts eight figures appearing to move around a fountain. Their graceful poses evoke the modern dance of the time, which, unlike classical ballet, constantly sought contact with the ground. In the background, city and nature compete for space. New York served as the inspiration, and the fountain may represent the water feature in Washington Square Park.
The figures are outlined in black, feminine, and to some extent androgynous. Their long, elegant forms recall Matisse’s Dance from 1910. With this work, Juliette Roche addresses two important themes in her oeuvre: the place of women and people of color in bourgeois New York at the beginning of the 20th century.
Monumental and obscure
During her American period, Roche explored the theme of people around a fountain, mostly depicting women and people of color on smaller formats. Over the course of her life, she created only two monumental works: Jet d’Eau and American Picnic. It is possible that both masterpieces were created simultaneously, as Jet d’Eau contains intense blue paint spots—the characteristic color of the landscape in American Picnic.
Roche painted Jet d’Eau directly onto the canvas without preparatory layers, playing with glossy and matte, smooth and textured surfaces. She deliberately chose never to fully complete the painting. Roche returned to Paris in 1919, and the canvas followed. It was never exhibited and remained for years the property of the Fondation Albert Gleizes.
With this acquisition, now on display in the Form gallery, Roche receives the visibility she deserves at the KMSKA. The museum also takes another step in showcasing more works by female artists in its collection.
© SABAM Belgium, 2024, Juliette Roche, Jet d’Eau, inv. no. 4343, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp – Flemish Community Collection
