27 rue de Fleurus
27 rue de Fleuruswas the home of the American writerGertrude Steinand her partnerAlice B. Toklasfrom 1903 to 1938. It is in the6th arrondissement of Parison theLeft Bank.It was also the home of Gertrude's brotherLeo Steinfor a time in the early 20th century.[1]It was a renowned Saturday evening gathering place foravant-gardeartists and writers, notablyPablo PicassoandErnest Hemingway.
History
[edit]Hemingway described Stein'ssalonsinA Moveable Feast.Stein's collection ofmodern artwas displayed in the apartment, including works byPaul Cézanne,Henri Matisseand Pablo Picasso, which she and her brother Leo had bought.[2]
In 1933, Stein publishedThe Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas,a memoir of her life in Paris and driving an ambulance duringWorld War I,written in the voice of Toklas, her life partner. The book was a bestseller and Stein went from relative obscurity to become a well known literary figure.[3]
The gatherings in the Stein home "brought together confluences of talent and thinking that would help define modernism in literature and art." Dedicated attendees included Pablo Picasso and his loverFernande Olivier,Georges Braque,Ernest Hemingway,[4]F. Scott Fitzgerald,Guillaume Apollinaireand his loverMarie Laurencin,Sinclair Lewis,James Joyce,Ezra Pound,Thornton Wilder,Juan Gris,Sherwood Anderson,Francis Cyril Rose,René Crevel,Élisabeth de Gramont,Francis Picabia,Claribel Cone,Mildred Aldrich,Carl Van VechtenandHenri Matisse,André Derain,Max Jacob,Henri Rousseau,andJoseph Stella.[5][6]
Saturday evenings had been set as thejour fixefor formal congregation so Stein could work at her writing uninterrupted by impromptu visitors.
Stein herself attributed the beginnings of the Saturday evening salons to Matisse, as
[m]ore and more frequently, people began visiting to see the Matisse paintings—and the Cézannes: "Matisse brought people, everybody brought somebody, and they came at any time and it began to be a nuisance, and it was in this way that Saturday evenings began."[7]
In popular culture
[edit]The 2014 opera27byRicky Ian GordonandRoyce Vavrekis inspired by events at 27 rue de Fleurus.
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^THE ICONIC SALON LEGACY OF GERTRUDE STEIN
- ^[1]The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde
- ^Mellow, James R. (December 1, 1968) "The Stein Salon Was the First Museum of Modern Art" inThe New York Times
- ^Hemingway in Paris
- ^[2],"Extravagant Crowd: Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas," retrieved October 16, 2012
- ^Mellow (1974),pp. 94–95.
- ^Mellow (1974),p. 84.
Bibliography
[edit]- Mellow, James R. (1974),Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein & Company,New York, Washington: Praeger Publishers,ISBN0-395-47982-7
External links
[edit]
Media related to27 rue de Fleurus, Parisat Wikimedia Commons
