Artworks by Louise Michel

Louise Michel often sketched in a notebook, both as a record of her life, and in fantasy illustrations for her stories.

Sources and Notes:

Drawing of le Chateau de Vroncourt (Haute-Marne): Bibliothèque Specialisées Paris / Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand

Drawing of Ivy: Bibliothèque Specialisées Paris / Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand – With the note: This drawing, and the one depicting the château of Vroncourt, were sent by Louise Michel to Abbé Folley along with the letter (reference 091 MIC Res 24) that she addressed to him on 13 November 1871 from the Arras remand prison: “Here are two keepsakes: one is the house where I was born, the other a branch of ivy, the flower of prisons. Keep one for yourself; give the other to the one you know [Théophile Ferré], along with Thucydides…”

Drawing of Children and the Devil: Bibliothèque Specialisées Paris / Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand – With the note: Drawing likely intended to illustrate the text of “Legends of the Schoolmaster – First Legend”, published in The New Year’s Book: Tales, Stories and Legends for Children (Éditions J. Brare, 1872). On page 51 of this work, one reads: “In Swabia, the bogeyman is called Old André. It is Kelpie, the Devil Horse, in Scandinavia and in Scotland (…) It is, old women tell their grandchildren, a ghostly horse whose hindquarters stretch so prodigiously that it can hold as many naughty children as there are in a city, however large it may be.”