Innovation Irregardless

This thesis reconsiders the role of women-artists in the historical avant-garde of early 20th-century Paris through the lens of entrepreneurship, focusing on the case studies of Marie Laurencin (1883-1956) and Marie Vassilieff (1884-1957). The discipline of art history has continuously undervalued the legacies and contributions of women artists. This thesis argues that this is caused by the failure of traditional art historical frameworks to recognise their diverse and innovative practices. Through integrating an entrepreneurship perspective into the study of art history, it aims to undo some of these biases. The research question studied is: to what extent can the strategies of avant-garde women artists between 1920 and 1925 in Paris be understood through the lens of entrepreneurship research, considering in particular the way an entrepreneur engages with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and strategies for innovation and risk? Consequently, the methodology is applying entrepreneurial theory to primary historical documents and secondary survey works. First, this thesis analyses the historical context from the consideration of the concept of the 'entrepreneurial ecosystem'. Then, a database is constructed with 529 entries of modern women-artists living and working in Paris from 1920 to 1925. The purpose of this database is to consider women-artists anew, free from canonical art historical bias. From this, it is possible to examine their stylistic choices, diversity of artistic practices and their entrepreneurial strategies more objectively. However, this database can only offer an approximation, due to the incompleteness of historical data. Finally, this study explores in detail how Vassilieff and Laurencin navigated the art world as entrepreneurs. Their practices reveal distinct strategies of innovation and risk-taking that show how the individual agency of the entrepreneur intersects with the entrepreneurial ecosystem at large. Ultimately, this research contributes to four academic domains: women's art historiography, art market history, the study of the artist-entrepreneur, and female entrepreneurship. It concludes that the context disadvantaged women-artists, but that it compelled them to seek innovative entrepreneurial strategies for success, all the while having to manage the risks and uncertainties caused by their environment in often complex ways.