Our Favorites: Kiki de Montparnasse

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kiki de Montparnasse (1901-1953) inspired Man Ray and many other painters, photographers and sculptors. An artist herself, she impressed critics with her paintings and made waves with her risqué memoirs. She was a dazzling socialite and style icon, a true “it-girl” of Bohemian Paris.

For the past six years, we’ve been telling the stories of women you may or may now know– but definitely should. This month, we’re bringing back our favorite Womanica episodes from across our back catalog. These are women throughout time and around the world who made their mark.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
0:07.0	For the past six years, we've been telling the stories of women you may or may not know about, but definitely should.
0:13.0	This month, we're bringing back our favorite Womanica episodes from across the back catalog.
0:19.0	These are women across centuries and around the world who made their mark.
0:24.0	With that, here's one of our favorite episodes.
0:31.9	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
0:39.1	This month we're talking about muses, women who were drivers of creativity and inspiration. Today we're talking about the
0:45.8	woman who inspired Man Ray and many other painters, photographers, and sculptors. An artist herself,
0:52.6	she impressed critics with her paintings and made waves with her risque
0:55.9	memoir.
0:58.1	She was a dazzling socialite and style icon, a true It Girl of Bohemian Paris.
1:04.9	Meet Kiki de Montparnasse.
1:08.7	Kiki de Montparnasse was born Alice Prne in 1901 in the Burgundy region of France.
1:14.8	Kiki's father wasn't in her life.
1:17.4	Her mother moved to Paris when she was young, leaving Kiki with her grandmother.
1:23.6	Kiki went to school for just a year before she dropped out.
1:27.2	She worked a series of menial jobs until the age of 12 when she caught a train to Paris to reunite with her mother.
1:34.3	As a teenager, Kiki started work as a model, posing nude for a sculptor.
1:40.3	Her mother disowned Kiki for what she saw as a lewd profession, leaving Kiki broke and homeless.
1:48.5	But her modeling work and dishwashing jobs kept Kiki afloat.
1:55.0	Artists liked Kiki's striking features, the contrast created by her porcelain skin and dark hair.
2:02.3	The poet John Glasgow wrote,
	...

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