Riviera Paradise: Art Design and Pleasure in the 1920s and early 30s

Lecture/Special Interest Day with Mary Alexander

​

Memoirs/autobiographies:   Out of print books often available on abe.com

​

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Echoes of the Jazz Age (1931) 'autobiographical pieces' in Penguin's  The Crack-Up with other Pieces and short stories, check other editions

​

F Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night (1934) Penguin Classics 2000, 2010

​

Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, Arrow Books 2011 (the restored edition)

​

Edith Wharton, A Backward Glance, (first published in USA in 1933). Ensure that you find the full version, not abbreviated, Constable London 1972 hardback is a good one

​

Paul Poiret, My First Fifty Years (memoirs)

​

Calvin Tomkins, Living Well is the Best Revenge; Viking Press NYC, 1962 (based on interviews with Gerald and Sara Murphy)

​

Lydia Sokolova, Dancing for Diaghilev (edited by Richard Buckle), John Murray, 1960

Bibliography

​

Amanda Vaill, Everybody was so Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy A lost generation love story; 1998

​

Calvin Tomkins, Living well is the best revenge, Viking Press NYC, 1971

​

Mary E Davis, Classic Chic: Music, Fashion, and Modernism; Univ of California Press, 2008

​

Mary Blume, Côte d'Azur: Inventing the French Riviera; Thames & Hudson, 1992

​

Kenneth E  Silver, Making Paradise: Art, Modernity, and the Myth of the French Riviera, MIT Press, 2001

​

Hilary Spurling, Matisse The Master , Vol Two 1909-54: Penguin, 2005 (earlier volume One is The Unknown Matisse, Man of the North 1869-1908)

​

Richard Buckle, In the Wake of Diaghilev, Harper Collins, 1982

​

Charles Spencer, Leon Bakst, Academy Editions, 1973

​

Dora Perez-Tibi, Dufy, Thames & Hudson, 1989

​

Werner Schmalenbach, Leger, Thames & Hudson,

​

Fashion Sourcebook 1920s, edited by Charlotte Fiell & Emmanuelle Dirix, Fiell Publishing 2011

​

Poiret, exhibition catalogue, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007 (large folio edition)

​

Thierry Coudert, Café Society: Socialites, Patrons and artists 1920 - 1960, Flammarion, 2010 (section on the new resorts Cap d'Antibes)

​

'Light and enjoyable reads'

Naomi Wood, Mrs Hemingway, fictional account based on his diaries and four wives, Picador, 2014

Mary S Lovell, The Riviera Set 1920-1960, Little Brown, 2016 - covers the later years. Enjoyable and gossipy.

​

Museums and Galleries:

Musée de Beaux Arts, Nice (also referred to as Jules Cheret)

​

Matisse Museum, Cimiez, Nice

​

Chagall Museum, Cimiez, Nice

​

Musée Picasso at Antibes (includes his ceramics)

​

Musée National Fernand Léger at Biot

​

Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins (recently opened)

​

The Fondation Maeght, St Paul de Vence - a must. Stunning sculpture and painting collection (including Braque, Chagall, Miro, Picasso etc)

​

Eileen Gray's Villa E1027 at Cap St Martin Roquebrune (restored and open since 2015 - check website Cap Moderne for opening times) Pre-booking essential, small groups.

​

Chapelle du Rosaire, Vence (Matisse, a 'working convent' check opening times)

​

Musée Jean Cocteau (collection Séverin Wunderman) Menton (currently closed check website),  Salle de Mariage murals in the old Hotel de Ville in Menton

 

MA April 2025

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​