Painter.  She became noted for her dreamlike pictures of beautiful women.  Initially influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec and Cubism,  she later developed an individual,  feminine decorative style,  using flat forms and  delicate pastel tones.  Many view her work as 20th Century French painting at its finest.  Laurencin was born in Paris and was trained as a painter of porcelain miniatures.  In 1907 Georges Braque introduced her to Pablo Picasso’s circle,  where she met poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire.  They were lovers until 1911 and Apollinaire was the first to publicize her paintings.  Apollinaire later wrote of their liason,  unflatteringly,  in his novella “The Poet Assassinated” (1916) and several poems in his collection “Alcools” (1913).  After World War I Laurencin was very active in print-making and graphic art,  and she also designed the decor and costumes for Francis Poulenc’s ballet “Les Biches” (1924),  produced by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes. (bio by: Bobb Edwards)