1920’s Paris
- eroticism, permissiveness, sin flourishing
- “restraints” of WW1 ripped off
- 4 years through WW1
- “pulsating center of modernity and artistic creativity”
- expats from America, Spain, Germany, Britain, Canada to Paris
- les annees folles — the crazy years
- artistic/culture revolution in Europe
- rebellion against WW1 rules; music, talent, sex, anything could be done at any time
- sex pervaded life: bare breasts in evening entertainment, legalized prostitution, heavy brothel service
- Salvador Dali at 12 Rue Chabanais peepholes
- 221 registered brothels; 15 designated as deluxe houses
- American troops; strong economical conversion, cheap prices via franc and cheap wine
- indulgence to excess vs. the American prohibition
- dissatisfaction with America; “dry, prudish” environment vs. newness, modernism, avant-garde of France
- foreign artists: city of sin; free to have sexual relationships, alcohol, drugs
- Ernest Hemingway
- “it mattered that you were an artist”
Montparnasse
- Left Bank of Seine River: “cauldron of creativity”
- artistic center
- Picasso, Chagall, Hemingway, Callaghan, Joyce, Fitzgerald
- large cafe service: “combination of office, living room, stage”
- no identity asked; merging of artists and cultures
- Manny Radnitzky — Man Ray
- Brooklyn, NY
- from surrealist art to tourist/cultural photography
- carriage trade/”court” photographer to the Parisian elite
- invented surrealist-erotic photography with Kiki, then others
- fetishist photography; William Seabrook
- “Queen of Montparnasse” — Alin Prin/Kiki
- exhibitionist, live model, prostitute
- modeled for Foujita
- “free woman; first feminist”
- posed only for Man Ray after meeting
- 12 Rue Chabanais, near Bibliotheque Nationale
- one of the most luxurious/high class brothels; famous
- Bibliotheque Nationale — National Library of France
- lower end brothels: “charmless seedy dumps” with high exploitation rates
- expected 100+ times/day
- religion looked the other way regarding sex
- “unusual” perversions
- “hot omelet” on flesh
- “la partouze” (“dirty party”)
- group sex with 3+ people; orgies
- essential to Paris; normalized with close friends
- Ball of the Quatres Arts, Ecole des Beaux-Arts arts students
- elaborate naked/painted dress code, alcoholic and sexual encounters
- Harry and Caresse Crosby; scandalized marriage in Boston → Paris
- Harry: decadent writer/publisher/Black Sun founder
- womanizer + affairs; large alcohol/drug indulgence
- open relationship
- published self experimental poetry, James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence (also in Paris)
- freedom for expatriate women from conventions, pressure to marry, pressure of childbirth
- disproportionate numbers of creative women
- speculated many lesbians
- lived freely as foreigners without non-favorable view of hometown
- “community of intelligent, chic, artistic lesbians”
- Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas
- two Jewish women from California
- Rue de Fleurus apartment
- interest in literature and visual arts
- weekly salons for literary and artistic publishers from America
- traditional marriage/relationships
- fascinated by avant garde
- Natalie Barney
- Cincinnati
- “Amazon of Letters”
- novelist
- torrid affairs; “I will live as I choose”
- open lesbian
- Rue Jacob house
- Friday salons for artistic geniuses and open lesbianism
- “temple to friendship” behind house; garden and temple for women
- gay men met at select gardens/parks for sexual encounters
- Luxembourg Garden railings at night, Rue Vaugirard: place for sadomasochists
- Tuileries Gardens area, “Tata Beach”: “meat rack” for gays and male prostitutes
- tata referring to slang for male homosexuals
- John Glassco
- Montreal; fled from “lingering Victorianism”
- expatriate community on Left Bank
- wanted to become “literary lion”; poet
- born to money; lifestyle supported by family
- went with Graeme Taylor; “The Clever Little Devils”
- open homosexual relationship
- allowance cut due to hearing about drink/debauchery; drifted into prostitution and pornographic and lower life circles
- lived off of money from pornographic photographic posing, male prostitution at brothel for women
- wrote Memoirs of Montparnasse classic
- spread of syncopation, jazz, black artists in France uptown
- Montmartre: bohemian life → petty haven
- erotic Moulin Rouge
- open all-night bars
- champagne and watered down drinks
- tourist area
- congregations in Rue Pigalle, different clubs, etc.
- bar hopping
- carrying firearms; gangs
- cocaine trade center in Paris
- exponential expoort of absinthe, opium, marijuana with expats/spread of Chinese, Turkish, Arabic art
- Jazz clubs opened and welcomed in Montmarte
- “exotic” music; “black music” that needed to be played by black artists to be legitimate
- in demand for black bands and black artists regardless of quality
- mixed-race relationship; white girlfriends or wives
- “scandalous” quality to Paris
- Josephine Baker
- St. Louis
- “Danse Sauvage”; erotic artistic “minstrel” show
- symbol of liberation and sex
- Cole Porter
- songwriter
- Yale graduate; independent wealth
- “liberation” for cultural expression and beliefs in love and sex
- speculated bisexual, open relationship with wife
- “hedonistic frolic” for social elites and cross-dressing or kink communities
- experiences shaped songwriting and creative life
- advancements in love songs; erotic and sensual music
end of les annees folles
- late 20s tourism shifted from creative renaissance
- world of drinks vs. world of ideas
- American tourism plain
- economy flourished; “cheap and slightly risque place” to visit
- riots against American tourists due to influx
- late October 1929: stock market crashed in New York
- overnight return of expatriates and tourists
- “Lost Generation”