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Liane de Pougy at the end of her life was labeled “from whore to nun” but I am getting ahead of myself.  

Anne Marie Chassaigne was born June 2, 1869 in La Flèche in the Loire and raised in Brittany. On July 15, 1886, at 17 she married Joseph Armand Henri Pourpee who was a naval officer living in Marseille. Joseph would be gone a lot and Anne Marie filled her time with another man. 

Suffering from frequent attacks by her husband that left scars on her chest for the rest of her life, it all culminated one night when he discovered her with her lover. He pulled out his pistol and shot at her, nicking her wrist. Anne Marie couldn’t take it much more, sold her piano, left her son with his father and his parents, and moved to Paris. 

In Paris, she began taking dance lessons from Marie-Therese Mariquita and changed her name to Liane de Pougy. Dancing in the cabarets of Paris she was quickly noticed for her striking beauty standing out in any crowd she stood in. Playwright Henri Meilhac was drawn to her and got her a job dancing at the Folies Bergeres in 1884 and also living the life of one of the most popular courtesans of the time.

In 1908, she met the Romanian Prince Georges Ghika who was the nephew of Queen Nathalie of Serbia. Fifteen years younger than her and a prince by name but without much money to his name. The two married on June 8, 1910, and the next day it was on the front page of the New York Times. “Paris professional beauty marries Prink Ghika, who championed her”.  

The Prince came across her one day in Saint Germain while being laughed at by a group of people, Liane was wearing a rather large hat and people gathered around her pointing and laughing on the mean streets of St Germain. He stepped in to uphold her honor and got into a scuffle resulting in his arrest for assault. 

In 1928 they went to Grenoble where she met Mother Superior Marie Xavier of the Sainte-Agnes Asylyn and institute for disabled children. She threw herself into raising money for the institute and tapping into her wealthy friends back in Paris to assist. Staying closely aligned with the church she later in 1943 took the vow of Saint Dominic and changed her name again to Sister Anne Marie de La Penitence.

Listen to the newest episode now at La Vie Creative, link in bio. 

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Melissa grew up between Australia and the Philippines, singing in choirs and writing her own songs from a young age.

She studied Musicology at the Conservatorium of Sydney and went on to work as an opera critic and co-editor of the classical music magazine Limelight.
In 2013, she moved to Paris and freelanced as a travel and music journalist, while working at the Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen (selling vintage French pornographic posters, among other bits and bobs) and as a tour guide for runners.

As a record label executive with Warner Classics, she worked with some of the most prestigious classical artists in France but didn't dare to make her own music in Paris until she walked into a 'jam' one night and asked to sing.

Since then, she has become a familiar face and voice in the Paris jazz milieu, singing for swing balls and péniches, hosting her own weekly jam at the speakeasy Madame Simone, and singing with her troupe of buskers (tap dancer, accordion, etc) in the streets of Paris. She has released two albums (a rockabilly duo and a piano duo with string quartet) and will record the third album of swing 1930s swing in June with the Israeli guitarist Duved Dunayevsky.

WATCH LIVE
https://www.facebook.com/655661761/posts/10158278267491762/?d=n

Instagram @melissalesnie

The album: www.melissalesnie.bandcamp.com

(Livestream for The Music Festival in Paris)

YouTube videos

In support of struggling artists in COVID times, she gave a concert outside the occupied Théâtre de l'Odéon... with a troupe of stiltwalkers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmcu8SNPLr0

With the tap dancer Jelly and his troupe we did a Josephine Baker tribute for the Journées du Patrimoine, in the gardens of Josephine Baker's former residence at Le Vésinet... for which the organizers let me wear a Josephine Baker dress. It was pouring with rain so we kept on playing in the shade of her doorway!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODuClvx1cZE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kplhD7wtQGE

The same tap dancer, Jelly, and my favorite banjo player Ziggy, in the streets of Saint Germain, working the locals into a frenzy! https://www.instagram.com/p/CE2UICLAVHU/

Sophisticated Lady - Track from the album with string quartet 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4MM7jq_ZVw

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Madame de Sévigné, one of the greatest authors of the 17th century, never wrote a single book. Instead, she is known to us today as a “lady of letters”. 

Marie de Rabutin Chantal was born February 5, 1626, in the Palais Royal home of her grandparents. By the time she turned seven both of her parents had died and were being raised by her grandparents and uncle Christopher. He would teach her Latin, Italian and Spanish when she was quite young and turned her onto the great literature of the time rarely afforded to girls. 

In 1644 at 18 she married Henri de Sévigné at the Église Saint Gervais and two children followed. Françoise in 1646 and Charles in 1648 but the marriage would be short-lived, Henri was quite the philanderer and had a difficult time keeping it in check and it would end in his death. On February 5, 1651, his life would end in a duel. Challenged by François Amenieu over Mademoiselle de Gundron, one of his many mistresses. He didn’t fare well and died as a result. 

Madame de Sévigné at 25 became a wealthy widow which gave her a place in society few women could reach. Men would pursue her but she had no interest in getting married again. To fill her time she attended the salons and events of Paris and began to write letters to friends and family describing the scene and travels of each day. Women could rarely be published unless under a man's name and while she enjoyed the process she couldn’t be bothered worrying about how to publish, so she took to her letters. 

In 1669 her daughter Françoise married Comte de Grignan who was a widow twice over and much older than she. Their marriage would take François from her mother and Paris to the south of France and the Chateau de Grignan. On February 6, 1671, the first of over 1000 letters sent to her beloved daughter began. 

Listen to the newest episode now at La Vie Creative, link in bio. 

More info and photos: https://www.claudinehemingway.com/paris-history-avec-a-hemingway-podcast-1

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Claudine Hemingway
Bleu, Blonde, Rouge

Author & historian
Podcast La Vie Creative, Paris History Avec a Hemingway 🇫🇷
Hemingway tours of Paris

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Mrids is a former film/TV producer who left the BBC, Hollywood, her jeans - sneakers outfit, to buy a sharp striped suit for a Masters at Columbia University in New York diving into business strategy.  

 An ambitious entrepreneur with a first profitable business at age 9, she truly loves solving problems and brainstorming solutions. 

In her corporate role in NYC as Growth Strategist, Director, Sales & Negotiations she helped her clients earn multi-million-dollar revenue. 

 As founder of two successful award-winning startups, representing France and accepted into Columbia University’s startup labs in New York, she puts those principles into practice. 

Now in Paris with her family, Mrids gets by with her terrible French accent, raising her two half - French sons who speak better French than she ever will. 

Our money stories and beliefs hold us back from earning our true potential and creating wealth for ourselves, as women. 

As a Money Mastery Business Coach my mission is to help you build profitable businesses, earn more and be a wealthy woman entrepreneur, woman in corporate, small business owner. 

GIVEAWAY:  

https://womenaskformore.com https://www.subscribepage.com/women-moneynegotiations

https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenaskformore

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Jeanne DuVal was the beautiful muse of Charles Baudelaire and would inspire his glowing devotion. The Black Venus and Mistress of Mistresses as he called her is mostly unknown still to this day. 

Much of the details of her life are murky due to a fire that would destroy her vital documents. 

Jeanne was tall and beautiful and her striking looks got her a role on the stage. Performing at the Théâtre de la Porte Sainte Antoine, although she wasn’t the best actor. A girl has to eat, so she became a prostitute for a short period. Nadar, the French photographer saw her on the stage and the two began an affair that lasted a year.  It was through Nadar that Jeanne and  Baudelaire would meet, but their love affair didn’t start right away. 

One night in Montmartre Baudelaire came across Jeanne being harassed by a group of drunks and stepped in to save her. After that, the two began their 20-year tumultuous relationship. Baudelaire was already working on Fleur de Mal when the two began. Jeanne would inspire the flowery devotions of love and when things were bad would also inspire the hate-filled pieces.  

Fleur de Mal covered everything from the transformation of Paris, which he was highly against, lesbianism, eroticism, and love. Many people loved it but just as many hated it. Baudelaire and his printer were prosecuted for “attack on public morals”. 

Living all over Paris, including the Hotel Lauzun on the Ile de la Cite and he rented a place for Jeanne just down the island on Rue le Regrattier. When they went through rough patches it wouldn’t last long. He would be at her apartment giving her money and spending time together much to his mother's chagrin. 

Baudelaire’s close friend Edouard Manet painted a portrait of Jeanne after seeing her only once. The “Mistress of Baudelaire” 1862 captures Jeanne seated on a couch with her legs up and enveloped in a large white skirt. Her arm over the back of the couch and her feet are placed in a strange way due to her paralysis, which many may never notice as the skirt shields most of her.  Shortly after Jeanne would die. 

More info and photos: https://www.claudinehemingway.com/paris-history-avec-a-hemingway-podcast-1

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Claudine Hemingway
Bleu, Blonde, Rouge

Author & historian
Podcast La Vie Creative, Paris History Avec a Hemingway 🇫🇷
Hemingway tours of Paris

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Hello. I’m French and American, born in the mid-seventies, in April. I was raised in the forest, and spent my childhood either running wild in the woods of Picardie or taking planes to JFK to visit my grandmother. I also played a lot of piano. At that time, I  wanted to be in a musical, but instead I studied political science at Sciences-Po and business at HEC, in Paris. And started a life-long addiction to collecting (and not always reading) books.

This led me to work in the food industry, at Unilever. I got to eat ice cream every single day for 7 years. Finally, one day, in the middle of a green stairwell, I decided I was in a rut and needed to spice things up. I had always loved to write, so I became a freelance editor and writer. I soon hooked up with My Little Paris and contributed to unveiling rip-off lingerie. I took up singing and continued to cross the ocean.

Along the way, I did a lot of reading and learning and listening to people and have enjoyed growing (up) tremendously.

In the future, I’d love to produce a musical with Benjamin Millepied; or create an installation at the MOMA with people who are good at it, but for some reason would ask me to help them; or write a book just half as (sigh) as Just Kids. Or, you know, just to keep growing, loving (a bearded man) and creating would be ok too.

http://www.catherinetaret.com/
Book: "It's never too late to bloom":
bit.ly/itsnevertoolatebook

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Nélie Jacquemart was an artist and art collector whose love of art remains today and shared with everyone that visits the museums t

As a child, her family worked and lived with the wealthy Alphée & Rose de Vatry. Rose formed a special relationship with the young Nélie who had a talent for drawing. Armed with art supplies she started to draw, encouraged by Rose who was also able to enroll her into a workshop given by artist Léon Cogniet, one of the few artists to give lessons to women. 

In no time, she got the attention of the art community in Paris and two years later she was displaying her paintings at an exhibition in Versailles and just after that she was appearing on the walls of the Salon of 1863 with the biggest artists of the time. 

In 1872 Edouard André contacted Nélie to paint a portrait of the wealthy French banker who lived in the grand mansion on Boulevard Haussmann. Nine years after he first sat for Nélie, the two would meet again, and shortly after on June 29, 1881, the two would marry. Edouard was now 48 and in ill health due to syphilis and his family pushed for the marriage and convinced Nélie of the union. There wasn’t a lot of love there but they did get along well and both loved art. Edouard even had one of the large rooms transformed into a studio for her painting but as soon as they were married she put down her brushes and never picked them up again. 

After his death in 1894, she continued to travel, adding to her personal gallery. On a 1902 voyage around the world when she got word that the Abbey de Chaalis, the former property of Rose de Vatry was for sale. Cutting the trip short and just before she was to leave for Japan she returned to Paris and purchased the former abbey. 

For ten years Nélie enjoyed the abbey and filled it with her art and furniture and spent long periods there. On May 15, 1912, Nélie died and left both the mansion in Paris and the abbey to the Institut de France with very specific instructions on how her art was to be displayed. 

On December 8. 1913, less than seven months after her death the Musée Jacquemart André in Paris and the Abbey de Chaalis were opened to the public, left exactly how she intended it.

More info and photos: https://www.claudinehemingway.com/paris-history-avec-a-hemingway-podcast-1

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Tanisha Townsend has cultivated a community of wine enthusiasts through an unyielding passion for Oenology. As Chief Wine Officer of lifestyle agency Girl Meets Glass, Tanisha leads wine classes and tours in Paris (and virtually). Her goal is to empower individuals with advanced knowledge of wine & spirits in order to build confidence in their tastes and make choices as a better-informed consumer.

https://www.girlmeetsglass.com/

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The Musée du Louvre and it’s list of amazing art is endless and hard to know where to even start. We will help share a few pieces that you don’t want to miss on your next trip to Paris. 

In 1848 Louis Philippe commissioned 20 statues for the Jardin du Luxembourg. He picked each one that went from Queen Berthe to Anne d’Autriche and included Jeanne d’Arc. The Maid of Orleans was sculpted in 1845 by Francois Rude and was placed in the south side of the garden in 1852. In 1871 she was removed and eventually came to live in the Louvre. 

Jeanne d’Arc is normally captured in her armor and charging off to battle, but Rude decided to depict her in a dress with her armor at her feet with her right hand near her ear as she listened to the voices of the saints. 

Eugène Delacroix, the leader of the Romantic movement's most recognized painting is La Liberté guidant le people, painted in 1830. The painting commemorates the Paris uprising of July 1830, known as the Trois Glorieuses, that ousted King Charles X.  

Using the barricade as a pedestal, her movement evokes that of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, although the statue was discovered long after Delacroix painted this masterpiece. In the top right of the photo, the towers of Notre Dame rises from the smoke with a small tricolor flying in the wind. The painting inspired Bartholdi when he created the Statue of Liberty, with her right arm holding up a torch instead of a flag.  

The Coronation of Napoleon (Le Sacre de Napoléon) is an immense painting that stretches 33 feet across the Pompei red walls of the Salle Daru. David was commissioned by Napoleon himself, and didn't start the actual piece until a year later, with Napoleon making a few specific changes and additions to the painting that were different from the actual event. The biggest being his mother, sitting in the balcony above him. She was not a  fan of Josephine, and was still in Rome and refused to attend. 

Listen to the full episode to learn even more about these three pieces including the jealous sisters that tried to foil the whole thing. Link in bio

More info and photos: https://www.claudinehemingway.com/paris-history-avec-a-hemingway-podcast-1

Support Claudine on Patreon and get more of Paris and all her stories and benefits like discounts on her tours, custom history and exclusive content  https://www.patreon.com/bleublonderouge

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Anna Kloots is a Paris-based American writer and storyteller. But also a photographer, and there is a story behind every shot she takes. She is a true nomad, in the last twelve years she has gone through two passports; living and traveling in over 83 countries across 6 continents. She takes followers inside her life in Paris on her popular Instagram page.

https://annakloots.com/

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