Fanny - MEMENTO Tote

This made-to-order high quality, reversible and oversized tote bag features a heavy weight organic 100% cotton canvas with distressed and frayed seams, printed with three striking artworks and one self-portrait of 19th-20th century French artist, Fanny Fleury.

Included is a matching oversized drawstring pouch for your umbrella, sunglasses, phone (or whatever you so desire!), as well as two fabric bookmarks and two slow-fashion advocacy patches to showcase your support of independent slow fashion. These items are made from the fabric offcuts and are included with the purchase of the tote ☺️

The MEMENTO collection is dedicated to remembering the remarkable women artists that history has overlooked.

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Fanny Fleury (1848–1920): A quiet master, silenced by time.

Born Fanny Laurent in Paris, Fanny Fleury possessed what art historians call "impeccable academic credentials." She studied under Jean-Jacques Henner and was accepted to the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts as a student of Carolus-Duran, where she was a classmate of John Singer Sargent. In 1884, her monumental work Bébé dort hung in the Paris Salon alongside Sargent's infamous Madame X. A critic that year declared "She has equalled her masters"

Fanny was one of the most successful female exhibitors of the Paris Salon, showing works consistently from 1869 to 1882 and for many years afterwards. She received an honourable mention at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 and was elected an Officer of the Académie. In 1893, she was selected as one of just thirty French female painters to represent her country at the Chicago World's Fair's Woman's Building.

And yet so little is written about Fanny. Her classmate John Singer Sargent became one of the most celebrated portraitists in history, and though considered his equal, Fanny Fleury is merely mentioned as a footnote, if she is mentioned at all.

For me, Fanny Fleury is why MEMENTO exists. To remember the talented women who stood beside famous men, matched their skill, earned contemporary praise, and yet were overlooked until they gradually faded from our collective memory.

None of her letters survive. No diary entries. No recorded words. Only her paintings remain to speak for her.  I hope that in wearing her image and her beautiful artworks, you too will say "I see you, Fanny".

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Designed and made by Meg in The Patch, Australia.  All megsmithmakes garments are Ethical Clothing Australia accredited and megsmithmakes is a proud member of Seamless Australia.