Amélie Diéterle was a famous French actress and opera singer, born in Paris in 1889. She was chosen from 40 competitors to enter the Concerts Colonne. Her little voice flutée and her nose “trumpet” made her very popular and very appreciated. During her time at the Variety Theater, she became a protégé of art collector Paul Gallimard. She also inspired poets Léon Dierx and Stéphane Mallarmé.
Renoir painted three portraits of her, two lithographs on woven paper in 1899 exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, and one pastel in 1903 exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Two paintings depict Amélie Dieterle wearing a white hat. The third portrait is a pastel at the Antoine-Lecuyer Museum in Saint-Quentin, made around 1910. Alfred Philippe Roll painted Dieterle in June 1913, showing her sitting in a garden chair. Henriette Roll donated the painting to the Museum of Fine Arts of the City of Paris at the Petit Palais. The many postcards of the 1900s that depict the site still reflect its notoriety.
Diéterle lived for a long time in the city of Croissy-sur-Seine. She gradually withdraws from the scene between 1920 and 1923. She took refuge in Vallauris in 1940 and died in Cannes in 1941 after a long illness at the age of 70.
Here are some fabulous photos of young Amélie Diéterle.
