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· French · 1874–1945

Lucie Delarue-Mardrus

French poet and novelist from Honfleur who wrote the love poems of Nos secrètes amours to Natalie Clifford Barney, and was among the writers Barney's Académie des Femmes honoured from 1927.

Details

Lived
1874–1945
Born
3 November 1874
Birthplace
Honfleur, France
Died
26 April 1945 · aged 70
Place of death
Château-Gontier, France
Nationality
French
Married
Joseph Charles Mardrus · 1900–1915
Roles
PoetAuthorJournalistSculptor
Also known as
Lucie Delarue

People they knew

Documented connections — every one carries its source.

Illustrated portrait of Natalie Clifford Barney

Natalie Clifford Barney

  • Author
  • Poet
  • Salon host
  • +2

Met · 1902

Delarue-Mardrus wrote Barney the poems later published as Nos secrètes amours between about 1902 and 1905, while she was married to Joseph Charles Mardrus. Mirande Lucien, who edited them from the manuscripts Delarue-Mardrus gave Barney, describes a brief and difficult affair in which the poet was the novice and Barney, the younger woman, the one who took other lovers. Barney arranged the confidential posthumous printing of the poems in 1951, six years after Delarue-Mardrus died, and edited the text as she did so. Delarue-Mardrus was among the writers the Académie des Femmes honoured from 1927.

— Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, Nos secrètes amours (éd. Mirande Lucien) (2023); Anna Livia, Barney, Natalie Clifford (1876–1972), in Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia (2002)

Lucie Delarue-Mardrus’s Places

The cataloged places connected to Lucie Delarue-Mardrus — through the books, and through the documented record.

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Organizations

Honoured by · 1927

Académie des Femmes

Anne Charles names Lucie Delarue-Mardrus among the talents of the time the Académie honoured; Anna Livia counts her among its French writers. Neither dates her evening, so the year here is the Académie's own and not a date for it.

— Anne Charles, Barney Opens Her Paris Salon (2022), Summary of Event, read 2026-08-11; Anna Livia, Barney, Natalie Clifford (1876–1972), in Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia (2002)

Sourced claims

Every connection the graph holds for Lucie, with the evidence behind it.

Frequented

20 rue Jacob

Delarue-Mardrus is named among the French writers honoured by the Académie des Femmes, the run of Fridays Barney gave over to individual women writers from 1927 in the same rooms as the ordinary salon. Anne Charles counts her and her husband, Joseph Charles Mardrus, among the probable guests at the salon's opening in 1909. No start year is recorded because the sources do not fix one.

— Anna Livia, Barney, Natalie Clifford (1876–1972), in Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia (2002); Anne Charles, Barney Opens Her Paris Salon (2022)

Honoured by · 1927

Académie des Femmes

Anne Charles names Lucie Delarue-Mardrus among the talents of the time the Académie honoured; Anna Livia counts her among its French writers. Neither dates her evening, so the year here is the Académie's own and not a date for it.

— Anne Charles, Barney Opens Her Paris Salon (2022), Summary of Event, read 2026-08-11; Anna Livia, Barney, Natalie Clifford (1876–1972), in Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia (2002)

Met · 1902

Natalie Clifford Barney

Delarue-Mardrus wrote Barney the poems later published as Nos secrètes amours between about 1902 and 1905, while she was married to Joseph Charles Mardrus. Mirande Lucien, who edited them from the manuscripts Delarue-Mardrus gave Barney, describes a brief and difficult affair in which the poet was the novice and Barney, the younger woman, the one who took other lovers. Barney arranged the confidential posthumous printing of the poems in 1951, six years after Delarue-Mardrus died, and edited the text as she did so. Delarue-Mardrus was among the writers the Académie des Femmes honoured from 1927.

— Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, Nos secrètes amours (éd. Mirande Lucien) (2023); Anna Livia, Barney, Natalie Clifford (1876–1972), in Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia (2002)