She was an illegitimate child hidden by her mother. In the future, she posed for Pablo Picasso

Kiki from Montparnasse, or rather Alice Ernestine Prin, was born on October 2, 1903 in Châtillon-sur-Seine. Her mother, then only 19, worked in a typographic workshop in Paris. She knew that she would lose her job when it turned out that she was carrying an illegitimate child. So when it was difficult for her to hide her pregnant belly, she went to her mother’s and stayed there until the delivery. She left the newborn in the care of her grandmother and returned to Paris.

She didn’t want to study, she quickly started working

My mother remembered Kiki when she was already a teenager. She took her to Paris to educate her, but the girl neither wanted to learn nor was able to cope with the challenges put before her by her teachers. Ultimately, she dropped out of school and at the age of 13, she started working, among others. in bakery. When she was 16, she posed for a famous sculptor and realized that this was an activity that would allow her to support herself. In Montparnasse, models, especially those who agreed to pose nude, were worth their weight in gold. Kiki quickly made a modeling career. She wasn’t a classic beauty, but she had charm and was very self-confident.

Model and cabaret star

Kiki posed for, among others, the Hungarian photographer Brassaï and the American painter Man Ray. It was also immortalized by Tsuguharu Foujita, Moïse Kisling and Pablo Picasso. Sculptors Alexander Calder and Pau Gargallo also employed her as a model. It turned out that Kiki was also great on stage – so she also became a cabaret star, and men loved her often vulgar performances.

Kiki led a very social lifestyle, like most of the regulars at the cafés in Montparnasse. She often used alcohol and drugs. It was because of stimulants that she died at the age of 52. Her drug-ravaged body could not cope with the complications of alcoholism.