Madame Mimi Calvy was a 92 year old woman who lived in Bargemon which was the first village my mother lived in when she first moved to the south of France. My mother was always interested in subjects with plenty of wrinkles and life experiences, she would say “bags of character and a long story to be told” in their faces. I think she met Mimi sitting and chatting around the wash house, one of her favorite locations to portray in Bargemon.

If you look at the diary entries, it seems a little disjointed because my mother moved to another village, Montaroux, in between working on the face and hands of the painting and finishing up the background. I’m sure the reason she put a lot of work into the background was to give the sense that Mimi was very much a part of that old village which dated from before the 12th century, though perhaps not quite as old.

After my mother’s death, when my brother and I were packing up her studio, we chose this painting to present to the mayor’s office so they would have an excellent example of her work to show for her having lived in the village for the last twenty three years of her life. At the time we had to plead ignorance of exactly who the painting portraited even though we both knew it was not a former resident of Fayence. I hope they will forgive us and enjoy the painting for what it is, a great study in character.

Diary Entries