Michel-Marie Poulain

Biography

Michel-Marie Poulain (born 5 December 1906, Nogent-sur-Marne, died 9 February 1991, Mandelieu-la-Napoule) was a French transgender performer and self-taught painter whose work was influenced by Matisse and by Raoul and Jean Dufy, and whose style and technique were compared to those of Bernard Buffet and Marc Chagall.

== Education and first military service == Assigned male at birth, as a child Michel-Marie wore dresses at home and was sent to a girls' school before attending a boys' school (still with long hair), "a daily torment" where "schoolmates mocked and bullied 'the beautiful blonde' whom they call 'mademoiselle.' Michel-Marie, tall and strong for her age...threw a punch that sent a laughing bully tumbling to the ground...To console herself, and with the agreement of the family, she dressed as a girl every Sunday...At the age of fifteen, 'demoiselle Poulain' was taken to a jeweler who pierced her ears, and went to her first ball, not in a first tuxedo, but in a maidenly dress." In 1926, "at the age of twenty, Michel-Marie cut her long curls for the first time," and, as a man, performed military service with a stint in the French dragoons (cavalry).

== Performer and painter == Returning to civilian life in Paris, Poulain lived off an inheritance for a while, and then, to earn a living, worked in female guise as a saleswoman, a dress designer, and model, whose seamstress and dresser "never suspected my true state (mon véritable état civil)." As a model, Poulain paraded couture before the equestrian set at racetracks. As an acrobat, she debuted at the Cirque d'hiver and performed with the Texas-born female impersonator, trapeze artist, and tightrope walker Barbette, until a fall from a trapeze prompted Poulain to pursue a more down-to-earth career as an acrobatic dancer, finding success as a travesti cabaret performer under the name of Micky. When Solange, a young woman and fellow dancer, needed a place to stay, Poulain offered to share the "bachelor pad" (garçonnière). One night, Michel-Marie "behaved like a boy" with Solange, who gave birth to their daughter, Michèle. Poulain and Solange married. Solange affectionately called Poulain "Mima". Michèle called Poulain "Papa". Poulain also found success as a self-taught painter, handling a broad range of subjects, particularly views of old Montmartre. From 1931, she took part in the Salon d'Hiver, the Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon des Tuileries, and her work was regularly on show in Montmartre galleries and on the Left Bank in Paris. Poulain ended the 1930s by opening her own cabaret and art gallery in Paris, Le Vol de Nuit (Night Flight), at 8, rue des Colonels Renard, a short walk from the Arc de Triomphe. A reviewer described his visit: "While tasting fruit juice and listening to poets or singers, the eye falls on the paintings of the master or mistress of the house...Renée Dennsy sings Marseille songs, Wanda Basler recites avant-garde poems, Lilet London coos in several languages, and Liane Mérève recounts dreams. However, it is Poulain, or Micky, who arouses the most curiosity. Man or woman? Host or hostess?"

== Meetings with Magnus Hirschfeld == In the early 1930s, Poulain met with the sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin, where Poulain was performing. According to Poulain, writing for the magazine Voilà in 1937, the meeting was at Hirschfeld's request. "He wanted to see me. No doubt he thought, at first, that I was a suitable case for treatment. He soon realized that, from travesti [in the theatrical sense] to transvestism [in the sense that Hirschfeld coined the word in the early 1900s], there was more than one step, that I was neither a repressed nor an obsessive. I explained that my way of life is only about the pursuit of pleasure, and how much I valued my male state...Having realized his mistake, Hirschfeld allowed me to witness operations. In themselves, these interventions, when justified by certain physiological conditions, are not really dangerous. We cut, we size, we sew: for ignorant me, all operations look the same. In 1933, the Nazis destroyed Hirschfeld's Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in Berlin, and the doctor fled to France. "One day, at two o'clock in the afternoon, breakfast time for night owls, Michel-Marie was struck by a headline: 'Professor Magnus Hirschfeld, founder of the Institute of Sexual Sciences in Berlin, is in Paris.'" Poulain, who had previously declined the doctor's help, had in the meantime realized "an insurmountable need to be a woman."

After an examination, Hirschfeld told Poulain:Nature is infinitely less disciplined than men would wish; she makes a mockery of principles and traditions. Originally, the human being was, without a doubt, androgynous; the udders that adorn our breasts, the males, are proof of this. Certainly, there came a time in the depths of prehistory when the duality of the sexes intervened, but man is separated from woman only by a tiny gulf. Some humans carry within them the genesis of two sexes with a more or less precise development in one direction or another. As far as you are concerned, I think that there is more or less equality, but there is a fairly clear tendency in favor of femininity...If you wish, by a series of operations, I can make you a normal woman."

Poulain seriously considered the doctor's offer, but was daunted by the tragic fate of another painter, Lili Elbe (born Einar Wegener), a Dane who whose memoirs had been published in a weekly newspaper under the suggestive title of "Vice Versa." Elbe had also consulted Hirschfeld, and had undergone three operations to change sex from male to female. But complications resulting from a fourth operation led to Elbe's death in 1931. Poulain declined Hirschfeld's offer to operate.

== World War II ==

The party at Le Vol de Nuit was short-lived. By the end of 1939, the war had begun and Poulain had enlisted as a non-commissioned officer of dragoons. Jean Anouilh recalled seeing him ride horses in the woods near Le Touquet. Poulain "led his men into the fire while maintaining a feminine attitude: holding the carabiner in his right hand, he could not help but push back, at times, with a graceful gesture, under his helmet, a lock of bleached hair that in spite of regulations he had allowed to grow back." During a reconnaissance, Poulain was taken by the Germans and imprisoned at Stalag XI-B. While in captivity, Poulain put on shows for fellow POWs. Her feminine performances earned her the gratitude of other soldiers in need of escapism. Poulain kept as a treasured memento a "theater program" signed by comrades: "To you, for the feminine charm that you have allowed us to rediscover"; "To you, old comrade, for your kindness"; "To you, who knew how to create the illusion." Poulain escaped from the stalag "in 1941, armed with false papers...and dressed in men's clothes! Without knowing German, he managed as he was able, and from Poland, returned to France. Michel slayed the dragon [dragoon] within him, Marie adopted the latest hairstyle, and life resumed as if waking from a bad dream." Back in German-occupied Paris, Poulain "abandoned the music hall to devote himself to painting." In June 1943, she had a show at Galerie Paul Blauseur in Paris, and in December 1943, she was on hand to discuss her art on display in the bar of the Cirque d'hiver. Poulain's persona and painting were equal parts of the presentation; a review of her post-war show at Galerie Paul Blauser in March 1945 was headlined "This Woman is a Man, This Man is a Painter!", and reported, "After the war and the stalag, the civilian costume he wears is that of the most formidable vamps in Paris."