Kiki de Montparnasse

French artist's model, nightclub singer, actress, memoirist, and painter.

Nicknamed the Queen of Montparnasse, she was a source of inspiration to the Montparnasse artists in the 1920s, among whom was American photographer Man Ray, her companion who made hundreds of portraits of her. A popular artist's model, she posed for dozens of other artists, including Chaim Soutine, Julian Mandel, Tsuguharu Foujita, Constant Detré, Francis Picabia, Jean Cocteau, Arno Breker, Alexander Calder, Per Krohg, Hermine David, Pablo Gargallo, Mayo, Tono Salazar and Moise Kisling.

In 1927 Prin had a sold-out exhibition of her paintings at the Galerie au Sacre du Printemps in Paris. Her autobiography was published in 1929 as "Kiki's Memoirs," with Ernest Hemingway and Tsuguharu Foujita providing introductions.

She died on 29 April 1953 in Sanary-sur-Mer, aged 51, apparently of complications of alcoholism or drug dependence.