Privileged Entries: Cultures wed

Monet's American disciples, inseparable from a visit to Giverny

: Monet, in top hat, leads his step-daughter to the Giverny church where she will marry a member of the U.S. artists' colony. The work is by another member of that colony.

After Monet settled in this village west of Paris (in 1883), American painters came there to be near him. Their colony greatly contributed to France's influence on American art in the early 20th century.

The Museum of Impressionisms, which is a few steps from Monet's home, is a result of their presence. It is an excellent place to explore the fusion of our cultures.

They were part of the American community that grew up in Paris in the course of the 19th century...

: The American Cathedral is now a French national monument.

It was important (and wealthy) enough to build two néo-Gothic churches, one on each bank of the Seine. Among the worshippers: Edith Wharton, James Singer Sargent, Henry James ...

"Expats" have appeared in U.S.literature since that time. We visit sites where famous stories are set, read exceprts and tell about Americans who infuenced their culture... and lived in Paris.

In Hemingway's footsteps ... and those of many others (walking tour)

Almost all important American writers of the 1920's hung out on the Left Bank. We point out places where they lived or that affected them, or where they crossed paths with European artists of their time. Such as:

•The site of the English-language bookstore that dared publish Ulysses.

•The Luxembourg gardens, through which Hemingway would pass on his way to Gertrude Stein's salon.

•A painting by Delacroix that the young man would ponder. It portrays a struggle, which can be interpreted as an artist's effort to master creative energy.

•The cafés that were at the heart of exchanges that led to the arts of our time. As well, the café and bar where Hemingway wrote The Sun Also Rises... because it was a 15-minute walk from the others, he could usually be alone.

•The house where Gertrude Stein moved after her proprietor took back 27 rue de Fleurus. The Gestapo raided it five weeks before the Liberation. Jewish, she was in hiding. But she too could have finished at Auschwitz.

: Celebrated 1920's bookstore, with owner Sylvia Beach and a young woman who resembles Zelda Fitzgerald.

We read some of Hemingway's recollections of his youth in Paris and describe how the city's attraction to artists from everywhere took off during those years.

American women's salons, talk (for groups)

: Picasso, "Gertrude Stein", 1906

Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein, Nancy Cunard, Romaine Brooks, Isadora Duncan... were among the Americans who chose Paris for its intellectual and sexual freedom.

: 0ur lecturer

Pierre-Emmanuel Plouvost d'Agostini would have been in his element in their salons. He explains their contribution to the Parisian culture of their time.

Josephine Baker, the first black star – talk (for groups)

: Recent exhibit, famous poster

The girl from the St. Louis ghetto who, by dancing nude except for a celebrated banana belt, became a music-hall star in the 'Twenties, launched Les Folies Bergère, suntans and Two loves have I and later participated in the Resistance, remains beloved in France.

: Inaugurating the Place Josephine Baker (2004)

The chanteuse who inaugurated the Place named after Baker is guest of the African-American who encouraged that decision, who tells us about Josephine, her neighbors Wright and Baldwin and African-American intellectuals who live in Paris now.

Americans in Paris now

• For a description of this varied population:

http://www.understandfrance.org/Paris/AmericanCommunity.html

• For Anglo-American evenings

° Mondays, 7 p.m. (no charge)

http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/index.php?categories=107:1

° Sundays & Wednesdays, 7 p.m.

20€, refreshments

www.parissoirees.com

Concerts at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau

•Day trips •Celebrated sites

: Events are worthy of the site

General Pershing, Commander of American forces in France during World War 1, wished to improve U.S. military music. So after the war he joined French composer and conductor Francis Casadesus in founding the American Conservatory of Fontainebleau. Its purpose: to give promising American musicians outstanding training in France.

Anecdote: When Aaron Copland, age 20, received a Conservatory scholarship, he accepted it for the free trip to France. One lesson with Nadia Boulanger made him feel that he was a beginner. Later she invited him to collaborate. Overwhelmed, he accepted. She said, "Good. Now let's get on with the lesson." - Told by a former student

Students come in July and during that month, the Conservatory, whose Director is Philippe Entremont, presents superb concerts in the château. We are happy to give you of the dates. (Concert, 20€. You will probably also wish to visit the château, so remember the entry fee.)

• Costs: Please CLICK.

° Talks: Fees depend on the speaker, the context and the number of participants. Please ask us

° Giverny, remember the entry fees to Monet's estate and to the Musée of Impressionisms, and lunch. We recommend the restaurant that replaces the American artists' cantine, where American artists had their meals... often in exchange for paintings, whose copies line its walls.

° Fontainebleau, remember the château entry fee and 20€ par concert ticket.

Credits: Giverny painting / "The Wedding March", by Robinson (1892), courtesy Terra Foundation for the Arts; church painting / "The American cathedral on Christmas Day 1900", by Jean Béraud; photos Josephine Baker / Claude Abron; photo Conservatory / kindly supplied by Joe Kerr

•Two centuries of exchange

•Mutual heroes

•Disaster & fraternity

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