and stayed closed until 1892.

There was another reason why wmn were
never able to devote themselves to Art (lit. ptg or music)
they simply lacked the meal and material dis-
posal of their time.

When one reads the biography of artists, one
always finds out that they had by their side a
secretary - servant - mistress - nurse - the same
sometimes in all functions - to spare them every-
day problems.

The word Muse has no masc. in French : wmn
never had the equivalent and still don't.

And that is one of the reasons why the
few wmn whose names appeared in litt. through
the past centuries were mostly nuns, or widows, or
unmarried . Or homosexuals.

Héloïse, in the XIIe c.y, begun writing her famous
love letters from a convent, when she was separated
from Abelard.

Chr. de Pisan, 14th c.y, our 1rst writer and a feminist
one - had the chance - if I dare so - to become
a widow very young around 20. She had 4 chil-
dren to bring up and thus became the 1rst wmn to
earn her living by writing.

Mme de Lafayette, author of LA PRINCESSE DE CLEVES
lived separated. Mme de Staël too.

Mme de Sévigné was a widow. Mme de Maintenon
also. mariée à 12 ans à un bossu, Scarron veuve à 23 ans avec 7 enfts

George Sand divorced very young and did not
remarry, which enabled her to produce more than
30 novels.

The 1rst  wmn painter to have international