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1937 Riviera: Where Art, Love, and Defiance Met
10 Jul
Summary
- A summer gathering in 1937 on the Côte d'Azur became a crucible for artists and lovers.
- Their free-spirited lives and art served as a defiant manifesto against fascism.
- The book uses a scrapbook format to explore the intense creative and erotic expressions.
In the summer of 1937, a bohemian circle of artists and lovers gathered at the Hôtel-Restaurante Vaste Horizon on the French Riviera. This period saw intense creative and erotic expression flourish among figures like Picasso, Man Ray, Dora Maar, and Lee Miller. Their sexual license was intertwined with their art, acting as a defiant nonconformist creed.
Anna Thomasson's book "A Vast Horizon" chronicles this fleeting moment, presenting it as a scrapbook of evocative images and capsule profiles. The summer's events acquired a rebellious political charge as Europe braced for war, with their lives seen as a manifesto against fascism.
Despite the looming specter of war, exemplified by Picasso's recent completion of "Guernica," the Vaste Horizon provided an escape. This magical summer, however, was the last time the entire group would be together, with many dispersed by the war that followed.
