Join us for a discussion with Madeleine Deschamps at the Alliance Française and enjoy an illustrated lecture of the Art de Vivre and Society in the early Twentieth Century on Thursday, May 23rd at 7:00 PM.
Small fishing villages on a rocky, remote coast were known to European aristocrats and artists who travelled to Italy on the Grand Tour.
Soon, women would have a major influence in shaping what was to become the French Riviera - embodying the dream and fantasy of a distant shore, inventive in fashion, in the arts, in the development of new businesses and in sports.
Alexandra Feodorovna, the dowager Empress of Russia, was among the first to spend time there and, in her wake, many members of the Russian aristocracy chose to spend the winter in these sunny hills, buying and building splendid properties.
Three decades later, Queen Victoria came every winter to these little southern towns. She was followed by financiers and investors who were quite aware of the impact such a prestigious and powerful resident would have on the local economy, while her compatriots planted new types of gardens and designed new neighborhoods.
During this Belle Epoque, the Côte d’Azur developed into a vibrant international destination, attracting intellectuals, actors, artists and sportsmen - a social and cultural venue where you were seen at a dazzling casino ball, in a concert with Gabriel Fauré or Jacques Offenbach, or on your yacht, often entertained in private homes.
Coco Chanel had a significant impact on the cultural scene, inviting and encouraging major artist of the time, in particular Serge Diaghilev.
And during the Années folles, the Roaring Twenties, Sarah Murphy and her husband, as well as the Fitzgeralds, shaped the social life of American expatriates on the Côte d’Azur.
About Madeleine Deschamps
Madeleine Deschamps is an art historian specializing in the Decorative Arts and in Art Crafts, Métiers d’art, and an interior designer with specialties in high-end residences and hospitality.
She has a doctorate in art history from the Sorbonne and has taught at the Sorbonne, the Ecole du Louvre, in the Master's Programs of the Smithsonian Institution and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, at New York University, the Bard Graduate Center, Parsons School of Design, and in a number of American university programs.
She was Curator of the American Center in Paris for eight years. She was an Editor with Editions Flammarion (Art de vivre).
She was for over eight years Senior Designer with Peter Marino Architects in New York.
She was then Senior Designer and Head of the Materials and Finishes department at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York.
She has written and contributed to books on the Decorative Arts and on American art, both in France and in the United States. She published La Peinture américaine, les Mythes et la Matière (Gallimard/Denoël) and contributed to L'Art de Vivre: Decorative Arts in France, 1789-1989 (Cooper-Hewitt Museum/ Vendome Press, 1989). She is the author of Empire (Abbeville Press, New York, Abbeville Press, Paris, Mondadori, Milan, 1994 and 2004) which was awarded the Grand Prix de la Fondation Napoléon.
She has lectured at: Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto - Art Institute, Chicago - Norton Museum, Palm Beach - Dallas Museum of Art - Musée national d'art moderne, Paris - Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris - Musées de la Ville de Nice - Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux - Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris - French Embassy New York and Stockholm - National Heritage Center, Warsaw, Poland - Swan Society, Boston and many Alliances françaises.
Event Format
Doors will open at 6:30 PM. Your ticket includes a welcome glass of wine.
The conversation will be followed by Q&A .
No reception after the event.
