Genevieve Laporte is a French philanthropist

Philanthropist

A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

, documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 filmmaker, former artists' model

Model (art)

Art models are models who pose for photographers, painters, sculptors, and other artists as part of their work of art. Art models who pose in the nude for life drawing are usually called life models...

, poet and author of sixteen books. She is best known for being one of Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...

's last lovers

Mistress (lover)

A mistress is a long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner; the term is used especially when her partner is married. The relationship generally is stable and at least semi-permanent; however, the couple does not live together openly. Also the relationship is usually,...

 during the 1950s. In 2005 she auction

Auction

An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...

ed off 20 of Picasso's works which had been given to her, many of them portrait

Portrait

thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

s of her.

Picasso

Reportedly she met Picasso as a teenager during World War II, finding common ground in poetry. She was in her mid-twenties when the affair began in 1951, although Picasso was nearly 50 years older than she was and had recently fathered two children with Françoise Gilot. Some art historians and museums carrying Picasso's work have dubbed the paintings he made around that time the "Genevieve Period", as many of them feature symbol

Symbol

A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...

ic tribute

Tribute

A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...

s to his model and muse

Muse

The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...

 as well as dedications "To Genevieve". Picasso wanted Laporte to move in with him after Gilot left him in 1953, but she refused — which, she was told by Jean Cocteau

Jean Cocteau

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...

, "saved her skin". In 1959 she married a fellow Parisian resistance fighter instead.

She is perhaps most famous for auctioning off 20 works, many with her as a subject, which were bestowed upon her during the secret love affair with Picasso in the 1950s. The auction occurred in June 2005. With the money earned from the auction she created a foundation "Genevieve Laporte de Pierrebourg, pour la defense de la nature et des animaux", with agreement of the Fondation de France

Fondation de France

The Foundation de France is an independent administrative agency which was established by the French government in an effort to stimulate and foster the growth of private philanthropy and private foundations in France.-History:...

.

Work and achievements

She made 18 documentary films in Africa, and the Académie française

Académie française

L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...

awarded her a prize in 1999 for a volume of poetry. Laporte wrote sixteen books, four of which are on Picasso:

• Si tard le soir le soleil brille (1973)
  • English translation: Sunshine at midnight (1974)
• Un amour secret de Picasso (1999)
• Du petit Pablo au grand Picasso (2003)
• Le grand Picasso (2004)

Her most recent book is Du petit Wolfgang au grand Mozart (2006).

External links

• Laporte's personal web site