Page 9 - lemaitre_leroux

The genesis of a vocation

Françoise LEMAÎTRE-LEROUX was born in
Dieppe on November 25th 1948 to a modest family. After primary school, Françoise attended the secon-
Her father was a fisherman, and nothing predestined dary school for vocational training ‘Emulation Diep-
the little girl to become a painter. However, at the age poise’. “I wanted to grow up”, Françoise confesses,
of eight, she decorated her school exercise books with giving the expression a double meaning. “I surroun-
drawings and illustrations. This habit was so unpromp- ded myself with reasonably privileged friends whose
ted that it naturally drew her teachers’ attention. At parents encouraged me to develop an identity for
Florian Primary School – a Catholic school in the popu- myself. At school, I felt I was not treated as well
lar port area of Pollet in Dieppe – little Françoise did as the young girls from the upper-middle class. My
not go unnoticed. “You are an example to the others!” marks were always lower than I expected. One day,
she heard every time her teacher came and bent over no longer able to bear this unfairness, I went to see
her work. But, sadly, the little girl never saw her ‘ar- the headmistress who, after listening to my protests,
twork’ once the summer holidays came. At the end replied only by giving me detention. I will not do it,
of the school year, her sought-after notebooks were I replied straight away, because I won’t be coming to
filed away in the school archives, which she undoubte- school tomorrow. The following day, I found a job at a
dly felt was unjust. “Some time later, when I went to greengrocer’s.”
the Franciscan Fathers’ School, I looked at their books Françoise then had a succession of different jobs.
with admiration” the painter says. “I was impressed First she worked in a perfume shop, then an electrical
by the precision of the handwriting in those extraor- shop, followed by a cleaning firm. This chapter in her
dinary books. Having a similar inclination to form my life ended when she was hired by the Prisunic group
letters very carefully, I felt reassured in my approach in 1964. Her smart appearance had caught the atten-
to writing.” tion of the management. She remained two years in

Françoise, dreamy in nature and drawn to the spiri- the shop until 1966. Her interpersonal skills, already
tual life, sought the atmosphere of churches where considerably developed through her frequent contact
the presence of works of art stimulated her perso- with customers, made her increasingly successful. She
nal talent. “It was as if they were calling me : a sign was on the point of being promoted to head of depart-
that a ‘higher’ life could exist down here. For me this ment when she left her job to move to Rouen.
represented a source of balance” she admits. “Around Françoise’s openness earnt her the title of “Dauphine”
the age of eight or nine, as if out of necessity, my life of the Dieppe district of Janval when she was sixteen.
orientated itself towards the research for beautiful She has always felt the need to be recognized. For
things and at the age of thirteen I drew a portrait her, knowing she was loved was a source of energy.
of Christ inspired by a pious work. I even decided to This need was to be fulfilled when she met Alain and
re-invent the colours in it. I particularly remember experienced her first successes in painting.
the blue. It was through this experiment that I felt
something trigger in me, a premonition of my future, Throughout her youth, Françoise saw to it that she
which was still far off. A child like me could only em- kept alive her passion for drawing. To her, it repre-
bark on such a path alone, for my parents had no idea sented real moral support. “The dialogue I needed
of my inner world. It was like a secret passion that has was established through paper. My dreams poured out
allowed me to develop in the course of time. These onto it, it was my source of balance” she explains.
ordeals serve to enrich us and make us less vulne- “But my life really started when I met Alain. With
rable.” him, doors were to open one after another. I had at

Even though Françoise had to mourn the loss of her last found someone who loved art and understood
pretty school books, she has never regretted drawing. what was deep inside me…”
In her childhood solitude, this little girl from Dieppe Alain and Françoise married in 1967, the same year
loved learning poems, which heightened her sensibi- they moved to Rouen. The following year, two char-
lity every time an emotion seized her heart. When she ming twin girls were born: Christine, who was to be-
happened to ‘recite’ poems in front of her friends or come an actress, and Nathalie, who is a dental sur-
an audience, she lived out her text literally as if she geon, orthodontist today.
were performing it. 11