Salon (gathering) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's

Horace

Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...

definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" ("aut delectare aut prodesse est"). Salons, commonly associated with French literary and philosophical movements of the 17th and 18th centuries, were carried on until quite recently, in urban settings, among like-minded people.

Overview

The salon was an Italian invention of the 16th century which flourished in France throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. In 16th-century Italy, some scintillating circles formed in the smaller courts which resembled salons, often galvanized by the presence of a beautiful and educated patroness such as Isabella d'Este

Isabella d'Este

Isabella d'Este was Marchesa of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion, whose innovative style of dressing was copied by women throughout Italy and at the French court...

or Elisabetta Gonzaga

Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga

The Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga is a picture from around 1504, attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael and housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.-History:...

.

One important place for the exchange of ideas was the salon. The word salon first appeared in France in 1664 (from the Italian word salone, itself from sala, the large reception hall of Italian mansions). Literary gatherings before this were often referred to by using the name of the room in which they occurred, like cabinet, réduit, ruelle and alcôve. Before the end of the 17th century, these gatherings were frequently held in the bedroom (treated as a more private form of drawing room): a lady, reclining on her bed, would receive close friends who would sit on chairs or stools drawn around. This practice may be contrasted with the greater formalities of Louis XIV

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

's petit lever
Levée (ceremony)
Lever , adopted in English as levée—initially the simple act of getting up in the morning—has traditionally been a daily moment of intimacy and accessibility to a monarch or leader...

, where all stood. Ruelle, literally meaning "narrow street" or "lane", designates the space between a bed and the wall in a bedroom; it was used commonly to designate the gatherings of the "précieuses

Précieuses

The French literary style called préciosité arose in the 17th century from the lively conversations and playful word games of les précieuses , the witty and educated intellectual ladies who frequented the salon of Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet; her Chambre bleue offered a...

", the intellectual and literary circles that formed around women in the first half of the 17th century. The first renowned salon in France was the Hôtel de Rambouillet

Hôtel de Rambouillet

The Hôtel de Rambouillet was the Paris residence of Madame de Rambouillet, who ran a renowned literary salon there from about 1607 until her death in 1665...

not far from the Palais du Louvre

Palais du Louvre

The Louvre Palace , on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, is a former royal palace situated between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois...

in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, which its hostess, Roman-born Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet

Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet

Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet , known as Madame de Rambouillet, was a society hostess and a major figure in the literary history of 17th-century France.-Biography:...

(1588–1665), ran from 1607 until her death. She established the rules of etiquette of the salon which resembled the earlier codes of Italian chivalry.

Historiography of the Salons

The historiography

Historiography

Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...

of the salons is far from straightforward. The salons have been studied in depth by a mixture of feminist, Marxist, cultural, social

Social

The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...

and intellectual

Intellectual

An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...

historians. Each of these methodologies focus on different aspects of the salons, and thus have varying analyses of the salons’ importance in terms of French history and the Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

as a whole.

Major historiographical debates focus around the relationship between the salons and the public sphere

Public sphere

The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action...

, as well as the role of women within the salons.

Periodisation of the salon

Breaking down the salons into historical periods is complicated due to the various historiographical debates that surround them. Most studies stretch from the early sixteenth century up until around the end of eighteenth century. Goodman is typical in ending her study at The French Revolution where, she writes: 'the literary public sphere was transformed into the political public'. Steven Kale is relatively alone in his recent attempts to extend the period of the salon up until Revolution of 1848. Kale points out:

'A whole world of social arrangements and attitude supported the existence of french salons: an idle aristocracy, an ambitious middle class, an active intellectual life, the social density of a major urban center, sociable traditions, and a certain aristocratic feminism. This world did not disappear in 1789.'

Conversation, content and the form of the salon

The content and form of the salon to some extent defines the character and historical importance of the salon. Contemporary literature about the salons is dominated by idealistic notions of politesse, civilité

Civilité

Civilité type is a typeface invented in 1557 by the French engraver Robert Granjon. These characters imitate French cursive gothic letters of the Renaissance.-History:...

and honnêteté, but whether the salons lived up to these standards is matter of debate. Older texts on the salons tend to paint an idealistic picture of the salons, where reasoned debate takes precedence and salons are egalitarian spheres of polite conversation. Today, however, this view is rarely considered an adequate analysis of the salon. Dena Goodman claims that rather than being leisure based or 'schools of civilité' salons were instead at 'the very heart of the philosophic community' and thus integral to the process of Enlightenment. In short, Goodman argues, the seventeenth and eighteenth century saw the emergence of the academic, Enlightenment salons, which came out of the aristocratic 'schools of civilité'. Politeness, argues Goodman, took second-place to academic discussion.

The period in which salons were dominant has been labeled the 'age of conversation'. The topics of conversation within the salons - that is, what was and was not 'polite' to talk about - are thus vital when trying to determine the form of the salons. The salonnières were expected, ideally, to run and moderate the conversation (See Women in the salon). There is, however, no universal agreement among historians as to what was and was not appropriate conversation. Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust

Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...

'insisted that politics was scrupulously avoided'. Others suggested that little other than government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

was ever discussed. The disagreements that surround the content of discussion partly explain why the salon's relationship with the public sphere

Public sphere

The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action...

is so heavily contested. Oppositional politics were frowned upon within the salon, thus whether the salons can be classed as within the public sphere

Public sphere

The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action...

is debatable.

The salon and the 'public sphere'

Recent historiography of the salons has been dominated by Jürgen Habermas

Jürgen Habermas

Jürgen Habermas is a German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theory on the concepts of 'communicative rationality' and the 'public sphere'...

' work, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society , by Jürgen Habermas, was published in 1962 and translated into English in 1989 by Thomas Burger and Frederick Lawrence...

(triggered largely by its translation into French, in 1978, and then English, in 1989), which argued that the salons were of great historical importance. Theatres of conversation and exchange – such as the salons, and the coffeehouses in England – played a critical role in the emergence of what Habermas termed the ‘public sphere

Public sphere

The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action...

’, which emerged in ‘cultural-political contrast’ to court society. Thus, while women retained a dominant role in the historiography of the salons, the salons received increasing amounts of study, much of it in direct response to, or heavily influenced by Habermas’ theory.

The most prominent defence of salons as part of the public sphere comes from Dena Goodman’s The Republic of Letters, which claims that the ‘public sphere was structured by the salon, the press and other institutions of sociability’. Goodman’s work is also credited with further emphasising the importance of the salon in terms of French history, the Republic of Letters

Republic of Letters

Republic of Letters is most commonly used to define intellectual communities in the late 17th and 18th century in Europe and America. It especially brought together the intellectuals of Age of Enlightenment, or "philosophes" as they were called in France...

and the Enlightenment as a whole, and has dominated the historiography of the salons since its publication in 1994.

Habermas’ dominance in salon historiography has come under criticism from some quarters, with Pekacz singling out Goodman’s Republic of Letters for particular criticism because it was written with ‘the explicit intention of supporting [Habermas’] thesis’, rather than verifying it. The theory itself, meanwhile, has been criticised for a fatal misunderstanding of the nature of salons. The main criticism of Habermas’ interpretation of the salons, however, is that the salons were not part of an oppositional public sphere, and were instead an extension of court society.

This criticism stems largely from Norbert Elias

Norbert Elias

Norbert Elias was a German sociologist of Jewish descent, who later became a British citizen.-Biography:...

’ The History of Manners, in which Elias contends that the dominant concepts of the salons – politesse, civilité

Civilité

Civilité type is a typeface invented in 1557 by the French engraver Robert Granjon. These characters imitate French cursive gothic letters of the Renaissance.-History:...

and honnête – were ‘used almost as synonyms, by which the courtly people wished to designate, in a broad or narrow sense, the quality of their own behaviour’. Joan Landes agrees, stating that, ‘to some extent, the salon was merely an extension of the institutionalised court’ and that rather than being part of the public sphere, salons were in fact in conflict with it. Erica Harth concurs, pointing to the fact that the state ‘appropriated the informal academy and not the salon’ due to the academies’ ‘tradition of dissent’ – something that lacked in the salon. But Landes’ view of the salons as a whole is independent of both Elias’ and Habermas’ school of thought, insofar that she views the salons as a ‘unique institution’, that cannot be adequately described as part of the public sphere, or court society. Others, such as Steven Kale, compromise by declaring that the public and private spheres overlapped in the salons. Antoine Lilti ascribes to a similar viewpoint, describing the salons as simply ‘institutions within Parisian high society’.

Debates surrounding women and the salon

When dealing with the salons, historians have traditionally focused upon the role of women within them. Works in the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century often focused on the scandals and ‘petty intrigues’ of the salons. Other works from this period focused on the more positive aspects of women in the salon. Indeed, according to Jolanta T. Pekacz, the fact women dominated history of the salons meant that study of the salons was often left to amateurs, while men concentrated on 'more important' (and masculine) areas of the Enlightenment.

Historians tended to focus on individual salonnières, creating almost a 'great-woman' version of history that ran parallel to the Whiggish, male dominated history identified by Herbert Butterfield

Herbert Butterfield

Sir Herbert Butterfield was a British historian and philosopher of history who is remembered chiefly for two books—a short volume early in his career entitled The Whig Interpretation of History and his Origins of Modern Science...

. Even in 1970, works were still being produced that concentrated only on individual stories, without analysing the effects of the salonnières' unique position. The integral role that women played within salons, as salonnières, began to receive greater - and more serious - study in latter parts of the twentieth century, with the emergence of a distinctly feminist historiography. The salons, according to Carolyn Lougee, were distinguished by 'the very visible identification of women with salons', and the fact that they played a positive public role in French society. General texts on the Enlightenment, such as Daniel Roche's France in the Enlightenment tend to agree that women were dominant within the salons, but that their influence did not extend far outside of such venues.

It was, however, Goodman’s The Republic of Letters that ignited a real debate surrounding the role of women within the salons and – so Goodman contends – the Enlightenment as a whole. According to Goodman: ‘The salonnières were not social climbers but intelligent, self-educated, and educating women who adopted and implemented the values of the Enlightenment Republic of Letters and used them to reshape the salon to their own social intellectual, and educational needs’. While few historians doubt that women played an important, significant role in the salons, Goodman is often criticised for her narrow use of sources. Very recent historiography has tended to moderate Goodman's thesis, arguing that while women did play a significant role in the salons they facilitated - rather than created, as Goodman argues - the ideas and debates generally associated with the Enlightenment.

Wealthy members of the aristocracy have always drawn to their court poets, writers and artists, usually with the lure of patronage

Patronage

Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...

, an aspect that sets the court apart from the salon. Another feature that distinguished the salon from the court was its absence of social hierarchy and its mixing of different social ranks and orders. In the 17th and 18th centuries, "salon[s] encouraged socializing between the sexes [and] brought nobles and bourgeois together". Salons helped facilitate the breaking down of social barriers which made the development of the enlightenment salon possible. In the 18th century, under the guidance of Madame Geoffrin, Mlle de Lespinasse, and Madame Necker, the salon was transformed into an institution of Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

. The enlightenment salon brought together Parisian society, the progressive philosophes who were producing the Encyclopédie
Encyclopédie
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert...

, the Bluestockings and other intellectuals to engage in the project of enlightenment.

Salonnières and their salons: the role of women

At a time when society was defined and regulated almost completely by men, women could be a powerful influence only in the salon. Women were the center of the life in the salon and carried a very important role as regulators. They can select their guests and decide about the subjects of their meetings. Those subjects can be social, literary, or political. They also had the role as mediator by directing the discussion.

The salon was really an informal university for women in which women were able to exchange ideas, receive and give criticism, read their own works and hear the works and ideas of other intellectuals. Many ambitious women used the salon to pursue a form of higher education.

Two of the most famous 17th-century literary salons in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

were the Hôtel de Rambouillet

Hôtel de Rambouillet

The Hôtel de Rambouillet was the Paris residence of Madame de Rambouillet, who ran a renowned literary salon there from about 1607 until her death in 1665...

, established in 1607 near the Palais du Louvre

Palais du Louvre

The Louvre Palace , on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, is a former royal palace situated between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois...

by the marquise de Rambouillet and, in 1652, in Le Marais

Le Marais

Le Marais is a historic district in Paris, France. Long the aristocratic district of Paris, it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance...

, the rival salon of Madeleine de Scudéry

Madeleine de Scudéry

Madeleine de Scudéry , often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer. She was the younger sister of author Georges de Scudéry.-Biography:...

, a long time habituée of the Hôtel de Rambouillet. Here gathered the original "blue-stockings" (les bas-bleus), whose nickname continued to mean "intellectual woman" for the next three hundred years.

Paris salons of the 18th century:

Madame Geoffrin
Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin
Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin has been referred to as one of the leading female figures in the French Enlightenment. From 1750-1777, Madame Geoffrin played host to many of the most influential Philosophes and Encyclopédistes of her time...
Madame de Tencin
Claudine Guérin de Tencin
Claudine Alexandrine Guérin de Tencin was a French salonist and author. She was the mother of Jean le Rond d'Alembert, philosophe and contributor to the Encyclopédie.- Early life :...
Jeanne Quinault
Jeanne Quinault
Jeanne Quinault , was a French actress, playwright and salon hostess....

, hostess of the Bout-du-Banc
Françoise de Graffigny
Françoise de Graffigny
Françoise de Graffigny, née d'Issembourg Du Buisson d'Happoncourt was a French novelist, playwright and salon hostess....

, author of Lettres d'une Péruvienne
Letters from a Peruvian Woman
Letters from a Peruvian Woman is a 1747 epistolary novel by Françoise de Graffigny. It tells the story of Zilia, a young Incan princess, who is abducted from the Temple of the Sun by the Spanish during the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire...
Julie de Lespinasse
Jeanne Julie Eleonore de Lespinasse
Jeanne Julie Éléonore de Lespinasse owned a prominent salon in France.-Early life:She was born in Lyon, an illegitimate child of the comtesse d'Albon, but was brought up as the daughter of Claude Lespinasse of Lyon...

: her chief draw was d'Alembert
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. He was also co-editor with Denis Diderot of the Encyclopédie...

, but "though the name of M. d'Alembert may have drawn them thither, it was she alone who kept them there."
the marquise du Deffand
Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand
Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand was a French hostess and patron of the arts.She was born at the Château de Chamrond, in Ligny-en-Brionnais, a village near Charolles of a noble family. Educated at a convent in Paris, she showed great intelligence and a sceptical, cynical turn of...

, the friend of Horace Walpole
the marquise de Lambert
Anne-Thérèse de Marguenat-de-Courcelles
Anne-Thérèse de Marguenat de Courcelles, who on her marriage became Madame de Lambert, Marquise de Saint-Bris, and is generally known as the Marquise de Lambert, was born in Paris in 1647 and died in Paris 12 July 1733; she was a French writer and salonnière.During the Régence, when the court of...
the duchesse du Maine
Madame d'Épinay
Louise d'Epinay
Louise Florence Pétronille Tardieu d'Esclavelles d'Épinay was a French writer, a saloniste and woman of fashion, known on account of her liaisons with Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who gives malicious reports of her in his Confessions...
Madame Necker, the wife of the financier Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker was a French statesman of Swiss birth and finance minister of Louis XVI, a post he held in the lead-up to the French Revolution in 1789.-Early life:...
Madame Helvétius, the wife of Helvétius
Claude Adrien Helvétius
Claude Adrien Helvétius was a French philosopher and littérateur.-Life:...
Sophie de Condorcet, wife of the mathematician and philosopher Condorcet, visited by foreign notables and French thinkers alike.
Madame Roland
Madame Roland
Marie-Jeanne Roland, better known simply as Madame Roland and born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon , was, together with her husband Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière, a supporter of the French Revolution and influential member of the Girondist faction...

, the political salon that was the resort of the Girondist
Girondist
The Girondists were a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution...

s at the first stages of the Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

.
Madame Swetchine
Madame Swetchine
Anne Sophie Swetchine , known as Madame Swetchine, was a Russian mystic, born in Moscow, and famous for her salon in Paris.- Biography :...

, wife of General Swetchine.

Some 19th century salons were more inclusive, verging on the raffish, and centered around painters and "literary lions" such as Madame Récamier

Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier

Jeanne-Françoise Julie Adélaïde Bernard Récamier , known as Juliette, was a French society leader, whose salon drew Parisians from the leading literary and political circles of the early 19th century.-Biography:...

. After the shock of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

, French aristocrats tended to withdraw from the public eye. However, Princess Mathilde

Mathilde Bonaparte

Mathilde Laetitia Wilhelmine Bonaparte, Princesse Française , was a French princess and Salon holder. She was a daughter of Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte and his second wife, Catharina of Württemberg, daughter of King Frederick I of Württemberg.- Biography :Born in Trieste, Mathilde Bonaparte...

still held a salon in her mansion, rue de Courcelles, then rue de Berri. From the middle of the 19th century until the 1930s, a lady of the society had to hold her "day", which meant that her salon was opened for visitors in the afternoon once a week, or twice a month. Days were announced in Le Bottin Mondain. The visitor gave his visit cards to the lackey or the maître d'hôtel, and he was accepted or not. Only people having been introduced before could of course enter the salon.

Marcel Proust

Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...

called up his own turn-of-the-century experience to recreate the rival salons of the fictional duchesse de Guermantes and Madame Verdurin. He experienced himself his first social life in salons such as Mme Arman de Caillavet

Léontine Lippmann

Léontine Lippmann , better known by her married name of Madame Arman or Madame Arman de Caillavet was the muse of Anatole France and the hostess of a highly fashionable literary salon during the French Third Republic...

's one, which mixed artists and political men around Anatole France

Anatole France

Anatole France , born François-Anatole Thibault, , was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters...

or Paul Bourget

Paul Bourget

Paul Charles Joseph Bourget , was a French novelist and critic.-Biography:He was born in Amiens in the Somme département of Picardie, France. His father, a professor of mathematics, was later appointed to a post in the college at Clermont-Ferrand, where Bourget received his early education...

; Mme Straus

Geneviève Halévy

Geneviève Halévy , was a French salonnière. She inspired Marcel Proust as a model for the Duchesse de Guermantes and Odette de Crécy in À la recherche du temps perdu....

' one, where the cream of the aristocracy mingled with artists and writers; or more aristocratic salons like Comtesse de Chevigné's, Comtesse Greffulhe

Elisabeth, comtesse Greffulhe

Marie Anatole Louise Élisabeth, Countess Greffulhe , was a renowned beauty, and queen of the salons of the Faubourg Saint-Germain in Paris....

's, Comtesse Jean de Castellane's, Comtesse Aimery de La Rochefoucauld's, etc. Some late 19th and early 20th century Paris salons were major centres for contemporary music, including those of Winnaretta Singer

Winnaretta Singer

Winnaretta Singer, Princesse Edmond de Polignac was an American musical patron and heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune.-Early Life and Family:...

(the princesse de Polignac), and Élisabeth, comtesse Greffulhe

Elisabeth, comtesse Greffulhe

Marie Anatole Louise Élisabeth, Countess Greffulhe , was a renowned beauty, and queen of the salons of the Faubourg Saint-Germain in Paris....

. They were responsible for commissioning some of the greatest songs and chamber music works of Fauré

Gabriel Fauré

Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...

, Debussy

Claude Debussy

Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...

, Ravel

Maurice Ravel

Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...

and Poulenc

Francis Poulenc

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...

.

Until the 1950s, some salons were hold by ladies mixing political men and intellectuals during the IVth Republic, like Mme Abrami, or Mme Dujarric de La Rivière. The last salons of Paris were those of Marie-Laure de Noailles

Marie-Laure de Noailles

Marie-Laure de Noailles, Vicomtesse de Noailles , was one of the 20th century's most daring and influential patrons of the arts, noted for her associations with Salvador Dalí, Balthus, Jean Cocteau, Man Ray, Luis Buñuel, Francis Poulenc, Jean Hugo, Jean-Michel Frank and others as well as her...

, with Jean Cocteau

Jean Cocteau

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...

, Igor Markevitch

Igor Markevitch

Igor Markevitch was a Ukrainian, Italian, and French composer and conductor.- Origin :Igor Markevich was born in Kiev, to an old family of Ukrainian Cossack starshyna ennobled in the 18th century...

, Salvador Dali

Salvador Dalí

Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....

, etc. and Marie-Blanche de Polignac (Jeanne Lanvin

Jeanne Lanvin

Jeanne-Marie Lanvin was a French fashion designer and the founder of the Lanvin fashion house.One of the most influential designers of the 1920s and '30s, Jeanne Lanvin's skillful use of intricate trimmings, virtuoso embroideries and beaded decorations in clear, light, floral colors became a...

's daughter).

Salons outside of France

Salon sociability quickly spread through Europe. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many large cities in Europe had salons copied on the Parisian models, although those were not as prominent as their French counterparts.

In 18th century England, salons were held by Elizabeth Montagu

Elizabeth Montagu

Elizabeth Montagu was a British social reformer, patron of the arts, salonist, literary critic, and writer who helped organize and lead the bluestocking society...

, in whose salon the expression blue stockings originated, and who created the Blue Stockings Society

Blue Stockings Society (England)

The Blue Stockings Society was an informal women's social and educational movement in England in the mid-18th century. The society emphasized education and mutual co-operation rather than the individualism which marked the French version....

, and by Hester Thrale

Hester Thrale

Hester Lynch Thrale was a British diarist, author, and patron of the arts. Her diaries and correspondence are an important source of information about Samuel Johnson and 18th-century life.-Biography:Thrale was born at Bodvel Hall, Caernarvonshire, Wales...

. In the 19th century, the Russian Baroness Méry von Bruiningk hosted a salon in St. John's Wood, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, for refugees (mostly German) of the revolutions of 1848

Revolutions of 1848

The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...

(the Forty-Eighters

Forty-Eighters

The Forty-Eighters were Europeans who participated in or supported the revolutions of 1848 that swept Europe. In Germany, the Forty-Eighters favored unification of the German people, a more democratic government, and guarantees of human rights...

). In Germany, the most famous were held by Jewish ladies, such as Henriette Herz

Henriette Herz

Henriette Herz née De Lemos is best known for the "salonnieres" or literary salons that she started with a group of emancipated Jews in Prussia....

and Rahel Varnhagen

Rahel Varnhagen

Rahel Antonie Friederike Varnhagen née Levin later Robert was a German-Jewish writer who hosted one of the most prominent salons in Europe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She is the subject of a celebrated biography, Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess written by Hannah Arendt...

; in Spain, by María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo, 13th Duchess of Alba

María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo, 13th Duchess of Alba

Doña María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva-Álvarez de Toledo y Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain, , was a Spanish aristocrat and a popular subject of the painter, Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, who painted the famous portrait of her known as "The Naked...

at the end of the 18th century; and in Greece by Alexandra Mavrokordatou

Alexandra Mavrokordatou

Alexandra Mavrokordatou was a famous Greek intellectual and salonist.A member of one of the most famous families in Greece, she was raised in Constantinople, where she was given a good education...

in the 17th century.

Italy had had an early tradition of the salon; the courtisan Tullia d'Aragona

Tullia d'Aragona

Tullia d'Aragona was a 16th century Italian courtesan, author and philosopher in Venice. She had one daughter, Penelope d'Aragona, born in 1535, and a son, Celio, by Silvestro Guiccardi....

held a salon already in the 16th century, and Giovanna Dandolo became known as a patron and gatherer of artists as wife of Pasqual Malipiero, the doge in Venice in 1457-1462; but this did not start a tradition as the salon-institution in France, as men and women were traditionally more separated in social life in Italy; the real pioneers were instead the abdicated Queen Christina of Sweden and the princess Colonna, Marie Mancini

Marie Mancini

Anna Maria Mancini was the third of the five Mancini sisters; nieces to Cardinal Mazarin who were brought to France to marry advantageously...

, who rivaled as salon hostesses in 17th century Rome.

In Iberia

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

or Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

, a tertulia

Tertulia

A tertulia is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones, especially in Iberia or Latin America. The word is originally Spanish, and has only moderate currency in English, in describing Latin cultural contexts....

is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones. The word is originally Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

and has only moderate currency in English, in describing Latin cultural contexts. Since the 20th century, a typical tertulia has moved out from the private drawing-troom to become a regularly scheduled event in a public place such as a bar, although some tertulias are still held in more private spaces. Participants may share their recent creations (poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

, short stories

Short Stories

Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...

, other writings, even artwork or songs).

In Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, the duchess Sieniawska held a salon in the end of the 17th century. They became very popular there during the 18th century. The most renowned were the Thursday Dinners

Thursday Dinners

The Thursday Dinners were meetings of artists, intellectuals, and statesmen held by the last King of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski in the era of Enlightenment in Poland....

of King Stanisław August Poniatowski in the end of 18th century, and the most notable salonnières were Zofia Lubomirska and Izabela Czartoryska

Elżbieta Czartoryska

Elżbieta Czartoryska may refer to one of the following Polish noblewomen:*Elżbieta Czartoryska *Elżbieta Czartoryska...

.

In Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, the salon was introduced in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

by Sophia Elisabet Brenner

Sophia Elisabet Brenner

Sophia Elisabet Brenner was a Swedish writer, poet, feminist and salon hostess, and was regarded in her country as a pioneer in each of these fields.- Biography :...

in the end of the 17th century, though the poet Vendela Skytte

Vendela Skytte

Vendela Skytte was a Swedish noblewoman, salonist and writer, Poet and Lady of Letters. She has been used as an example in history to describe an ideal of a well educated woman.- Biography :...

was already known to have gathered a cultural circle. Noted salonniéres here during the 18th century were Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht

Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht

Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht was a Swedish poet, feminist and salon hostess...

and Anna Maria Lenngren

Anna Maria Lenngren

Anna Maria Lenngren was a Swedish writer, poet, feminist, translator and salonist. She is one of the best-known Swedish woman poets.-Background:...

, who acted as the hosts of the academy Tankebyggarorden and the Royal Swedish Academy respectively, while Hedvig Catharina Lilje

Hedvig Catharina Lilje

Hedvig Catharina Lillie, also called Lilje, as married Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie, , was a Swedish noble and salonist. She was politically active during the age of liberty in favour of the Hats and a pro-French policy through her connections and a known political figure of her time...

and Henrika Juliana von Liewen

Henrika Juliana von Liewen

Henrika Juliana von Liewen was a Swedish noble, socialite and lady-in-waiting, believed to have been politically active on behalf of the Hats during the Age of liberty....

hosted the political salons of the Hats (party)

Hats (party)

The Hats were a Swedish political faction active during the Age of Liberty . Their name derives from the tricorne hat worn by officers and gentlemen. They vied for power with the Caps. The Hats, who ruled Sweden from 1738 to 1765, advocated an alliance with France and an assertive foreign policy,...

; in the 19th century, Malla Silfverstolpe

Malla Silfverstolpe

Magdalena Sofia "Malla" Silfverstolpe was a Swedish writer and salon hostess. Her house in Uppsala was a meeting place for many prominent writers, composers and intellectuals...

became the perhaps best-known salon hostess in her country's history. In Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Christine Sophie Holstein

Christine Sophie Holstein

Christine Sophie Holstein was a politically influential Danish salon hostess.Daughter to Count Conrad von Reventlow , Danish Grand Chancellor , and Anna Margrethe Gabel , she married Count Niels Friis in 1688 and statesman count Count Ulrik Adolph von Holstein in 1700, and belonged to the highest...

and Charlotte Schimmelman were the most notable hostesses, in the beginning and in the end of the 18th century respectively, both of whom were credited with political influence.

Increasingly emancipated German-speaking Jews wanted to immerse themselves in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

's rich cultural life. However, individual Jews were faced with a dilemma: they faced new opportunities, but without the comfort of a secure community. For Jewish women, there was an additional issue. German society imposed the usual gender role restrictions and antisemitism, so cultivated Jewish women tapped into the cultural salon. But from 1800 on, salons performed a political and social miracle. The salon allowed Jewish women to establish a venue in their homes in which Jews and non-Jews could meet in relative equality. Like-minded people could study art, literature, philosophy or music together. This handful of educated, acculturated Jewish women could escape the restrictions of their social ghetto. Naturally the women had to be in well-connected families, either to money or to culture. In these mixed gatherings of nobles, high civil servants, writers, philosophers and artists, Jewish salonnières created a radical vehicle for democratisation, providing a context in which patrons and artists freely exchanged ideas. Henriette Lemos Herz, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Dorothea Mendelssohn Schlegel, Amalie Wolf Beer and at least twelve other salonnières achieved fame and admiration.

American "society hostesses" such as Perle Mesta

Perle Mesta

Perle Skirvin Mesta was an American socialite, political hostess, and U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg ....

have performed a function similar to the host or hostess of the European salon.

Other uses of the word

The word salon also refers to art exhibitions. The Paris Salon

Paris Salon

The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...

was originally an officially-sanctioned exhibit of recent works of painting and sculpture by members of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, starting in 1673 and soon moving from the Salon Carré of the Palace of the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

.

The name salon remained, even when other quarters were found and the exhibits' irregular intervals became biennial. A jury system of selection was introduced in 1748, and the salon remained a major annual event even after the government withdrew official sponsorship in 1881.

External links

Private salons:

Mlle de Scudéry
Les Contes de Fées: The Literary Fairy Tales of France: 17th-century Paris salons of Mme d'Aulnoy, the comtesse de Murat and others by Terri Windling.
Julie de Lespinasse, Mme Geoffrin in memoirs.
The Women of the French Salons by Amelia Ruth Gere Mason
Americans in Paris: Natalie Barney, Gertrude Stein, and Sylvia Beach. Three 20th century salons.
Charlottetown Conversation Salon
Benet Davetian's Article on the History and Meaning of Salons
Biographies of French salonists from Madame de Rambouillet to Madame Recamier and descriptions of salon culture from the 17th to the 19th century.

Art exhibitions:

Paris Salon of 1769: photos illustrate some of the paintings shown that year.
Comic art: The Paris Salon in Caricature: Getty Museum exhibition, 2003.
Jewish Women and Their Salons

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Overview

Historiography of the Salons

Periodisation of the salon

Conversation, content and the form of the salon

The salon and the 'public sphere'

Debates surrounding women and the salon

Salonnières and their salons: the role of women

Salons outside of France

Other uses of the word

See also

Further reading

External links