Suzy Solidor

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Suzy Solidor (1900-1983) was a French singer and actress, appearing in films such as La Garçonne.

Suzy Solidor was born on 18 December 1900 in the Pie district of Saint-Servan-sur-Mer in Brittany, France, under the name of Suzanne Louise Marie Marion. She was the daughter of Louise Mairie Adeline Marion, a 28-year-old single mother. She died on 31 March 1983 in Nice and is buried in the town of Cagnes-sur-Mer, where she had lived. In 1907 she became Suzy Rocher when her mother married Eugène Prudent Rocher. She later changed her name to Suzy Solidor when she moved to Paris in the late 1920’s, taking the name form a district of Saint-Servan in which she had lived.

Early in 1930 she became a popular singer and opened a chic nightclub called Boite de Nuit. She was openly lesbian.^[1]

One of the singer’s most famous publicity stunts was to become known as the “most painted woman in the world”. She posed for some of the greatest known artists of the day including Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Her stipulation for sitting was that she would be given the paintings to hang in her club and by this time she had accumulated thirty-three portraits of herself. Boite de Nuit became one of the trendiest night spots in Paris.

Solidor’s most famous portrait was done by Tamara de Lempicka.

Solidor met Tamara de Lempicka sometime in the early 1930s and Suzy asked the artist to paint her. Tamara agreed, but only if she could paint Solidor in the nude. Solidor agreed and the painting was finished in 1933.

During the occupation her nightclub was popular with German officers, and after the war she was convicted by the Épuration légale as a collaborator.