Qui êtes-vous, Kiki de Montparnasse?

Kiki de Montparnasse was the pseudonym of Alice Ernestine Prin, an artist model, actress, nightclub singer and painter from France. Raised by her impoverished grandmother she started posing nude for artists in the 1920s and soon became a popular artist model in the Montparnasse social scene known with the nickname “Kiki”. She posed for Francis Picabia, Jean Cocteau, Arno Breker, Alexander Calder, Per Krohg, Mouse Kisling, among others, and was the companion of Man Ray. She also appeared in quite a few experimental short films like Fernand Léger's “Ballet Mécanique”. A symbol and muse for the art société of Montparnasse in the beginning of the 20th century she is indicated as one of the first truly independent women by her biographers.