Prix Blumenthal
Encyclopedia
The Prix Blumenthal was a grant or stipend
Stipend
A stipend is a form of salary, such as for an internship or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from a wage or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work performed, instead it represents a payment that enables somebody to be exempt partly or wholly from waged or salaried...

 awarded through the philanthropy of Florence Meyer Blumenthal
Florence Meyer Blumenthal
Florence Meyer Blumenthal was a philanthropist who founded the Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal , which awarded the Prix Blumenthal from 1919-1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians — to promote Franco- American relations.For their altruism,...

 (1875–1930) — and the foundation she created, Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal (Franco-American Florence Blumenthal Foundation) — to discover young French artists, aid them financially, and in the process draw the United States and France closer together through the arts.

Winners were designated by seven juries in the fields of the literature, painting, sculpture, decorative arts, structure, engraving and music — to receive a purse
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...

 of six thousand francs per year, given for two years. The purse increased in 1926 until Blumenthal's death in 1930 to ten thousand francs for two years.

Jurors included philosopher Henri Bergson
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...

; novelist Roland Dorgelès
Roland Dorgelès
Roland Dorgelès , was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Goncourt.Born Roland Lecavelé , he spent his childhood in Paris....

; novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright Jean Giraudoux
Jean Giraudoux
Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His work is noted for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy...

; writer Anna de Noailles; poet and essayist Paul Valéry
Paul Valéry
Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath...

; painter Paul Signac
Paul Signac
Paul Signac was a French neo-impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the pointillist style.-Biography:Paul Victor Jules Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863...

, painter and printmaker Edouard Vuillard
Édouard Vuillard
Jean-Édouard Vuillard was a French painter and printmaker associated with the Nabis.-Early years and education:...

, sculptor Paul Landowski
Paul Landowski
Paul Maximilien Landowski , a French monument sculptor of Polish ancestry. He was born in Paris to Polish refugees of the January Uprising, and died in Boulogne-Billancourt....

, painter and sculptor Aristide Maillol
Aristide Maillol
Aristide Maillol or Aristides Maillol was a French Catalan sculptor and painter.-Biography:...

, architect Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret was a French architect and a world leader and specialist in reinforced concrete construction. In 2005 his post-WWII reconstruction of Le Havre was declared by UNESCO one of the World Heritage Sites....

, composer Paul Dukas
Paul Dukas
Paul Abraham Dukas was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man, of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, and he abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions...

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

 and composer/conductor Guy Ropartz.

Composer Georges Migot
Georges Migot
Georges Migot was a prolific French composer. Though primarily known as a composer, he was also a poet, often integrating his poetry into his compositions, and an accomplished painter...

 served as vice-president and subsequently as president (1931-1935) of the foundation, as well as the archivist of the winners.

Beginning in 1919 the foundation awarded nearly two hundred grants, and on April 11 1937, the Prix Blumenthal was declared d'utilité publique ("of public service"), giving it a special tax classification. Awards were given through 1954. At the time of the foundation's dissolution in 1973 it was under the direction of Georges Huisman, director of the école des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...

, along with author André Maurois
André Maurois
André Maurois, born Emile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog was a French author.-Life:Maurois was born in Elbeuf and educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen, both in Normandy. Maurois was the son of Ernest Herzog, a Jewish textile manufacturer, and Alice Herzog...

 and novelist Roland Dorgelès
Roland Dorgelès
Roland Dorgelès , was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Goncourt.Born Roland Lecavelé , he spent his childhood in Paris....

.

In 2010 (May 14-June 5), the Médiathèque of Haguenau
Haguenau
-Economy:The town has a well balanced economy. Centuries of troubled history in the buffer lands between France and Germany have bequeathed to Haguenau a rich historical and cultural heritage which supports a lively tourist trade. There is also a thriving light manufacturing sector centred on the...

 hosted an exhibit of the Florence Blumenthal archives.

Florence Meyer Blumenthal

Florence Meyer Blumenthal had married international financier George Blumenthal in 1898 and in 1919, she organized what was originally called the La Fondation américaine Blumenthal pour la pensée et l’art français (American Foundation for French Art and Thought) — a name suggested by her friend, Paul Valéry
Paul Valéry
Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath...

, the poet and essayist — and what ultimately became Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal.

Blumethal's younger brother Eugene Meyer Jr. later become the president and publisher of the Washington Post — and was the father of Katherine Graham, editor of the Washington Post during Watergate. She was also related to Levi Strauss
Levi Strauss
Levi Strauss was a German-Jewish immigrant to the United States who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm, Levi Strauss & Co., began in 1853 in San Francisco, California.-Origins:...

 through her sisters.

In 1925, Blumenthal moved to Paris with her husband, later donating to the Children’s Hospital in Paris
Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital
The Hôpital Necker – Enfants Malades is a French teaching hospital, located in Paris, France. It is an hospital of the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris group, and is affiliated to the University of Paris Descartes...

 the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

 in New York, the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

 in Paris. Blumenthal died in Paris in 1930, at age fifty-five, having won, along with her husband, the French Legion of Honor the previous year.

Impact of the Prix

As an example of the impact of the Prix Blumenthal, textile artist Paule Marrot
Paule Marrot
Paule Marrot was a Parisian textile designer widely known for her textile prints with a flat, two-dimensional, upbeat style — often with a floral pattern. She experienced strong popularity in the U.S...

 received the stipend in 1928, which allowed Marrot to open her workshop in Batignolles
Batignolles
Batignolles is a neighborhood of Paris, a part of the 17th arrondissement of the city. The neighborhood is bounded on the south by the Boulevard des Batignolles, on the east by the Avenue de Clichy, on the north by the Rue Cardinet, and on the west by the Rue de Rome.-History:Batignolles was an...

 on rue Truffaut — where she became widely known for furniture textiles. Marrot went on to experience strong popularity and commercial success in the U.S. after World War II, made a strong impact at Renault by pioneering the company's textile and color division, and redefined furnishing fabrics in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. In 1952 Marrot won in 1952, the French Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honor)
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

, (Chevalier) — and her textiles continue under license to diverse companies including Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

, Anthropologie
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters, Inc. is a publicly traded American company that owns and operates five retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN....

 and the handbag maker, Hayden-Harnett
Hayden-Harnett
Hayden-Harnett is a Brooklyn-based fashion company that produces handbags, accessories, and apparel, founded by Toni Hacker and Benjamin Harnett in 2005. Hayden-Harnett was recently chosen by Target Corporation to design a limited edition national diffusion collection for spring 2009 delivery at...

.
See: Clayton Marcus chair for Rowe Furniture using Marrot Print
See: Nike shoe using Marrot Print

Recipients

Partial list, by year of award:

1921 Georges Migot
Georges Migot
Georges Migot was a prolific French composer. Though primarily known as a composer, he was also a poet, often integrating his poetry into his compositions, and an accomplished painter...

 (1891-1976), composer, painter, and a carver

1921 René Buthaud, painter, engraver, ceramics See: René Buthaud at Wikipedia Français

1922 Maurice Genevoix
Maurice Genevoix
Maurice Genevoix was a French author.Born on 29 November 1890 at Decize, Nièvre as Maurice-Charles-Louis-Genevoix, Genevoix spent his childhood in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. After attending the local school, he studied at the lycée of Orléans and the Lycée Lakanal...

, writer

1922 Roger Désormière
Roger Désormière
Roger Désormière was a French conductor.Désormière was born in Vichy in 1898. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his professors included Philippe Gaubert , Xavier Leroux and Charles Koechlin , and Vincent d'Indy...

, conductor

1923 Paul Charlemagne (1892- ), painter

1923 Jean Adnet (1900–1995), painter

1924 Marcel (Antoine) Gimond (1894-1961)

1926 Paul Belmondo
Paul Belmondo (sculptor)
Paul Belmondo was a French sculptor. He is the father of the actor Jean-Paul Belmondo.-Biography :...

, sculptor

1926 Maurice Darmon (1943-?), author See:Maurice Darmon at Wikipedia Français

1926 Pierre Traverse (1892-1979), sculptor

1926 Paule Marrot
Paule Marrot
Paule Marrot was a Parisian textile designer widely known for her textile prints with a flat, two-dimensional, upbeat style — often with a floral pattern. She experienced strong popularity in the U.S...

, textile artist

1926 Robert Siohan composer and conductor See: Robert Siohan at Wikipedia Français

1926 Robert Louis Antral
Robert Louis Antral
Robert Antral was a French painter and printmaker, mainly of etchings. He won the Prix Blumenthal in 1926 and the Croix de guerre for his bravery in World War I.-Museum:...

, engraver, lithographer

1928 Robert Cami (1899-1975), engraver

1928 Manuel Rosenthal
Manuel Rosenthal
Manuel Rosenthal was a French composer and conductor who held leading positions with musical organizations in France and America...

, French composer and conductor

1929 Jacques Denier, painter See: Jacques Denier at Wikipedia Français

1930 Robert Couturier, sculptor

1930 André Jacquemin, painter

1930 Paul Pouchol (1904–1963), pottery

1932 Maurice Brianchon (1899-1979),painter

1932 Eugène Dabit
Eugène Dabit
Eugene Dabit was a French socialist writer.He was part of the group "proletarian literature" and had a great success for his short story collection Hôtel du Nord which won the du Prix du roman populiste and was filmed in 1938 by Marcel Carné...

, author

1932 Suzanne Tourte, engraver, painter See: Suzanne Tourte at Wikipedia Français

1934 Jean Oberlé
Jean Oberlé
Jean Oberlé was a French painter who became a member of the French Resistance.Born in Brest in 1900, he illustrated a number of contemporary books and worked for different Parisian newspapers and magazines, of which le Crapouillot was the most important.He won the Prix Blumenthal in 1934.In 1940,...

, painter

1934 Christian Caillard (1899- ), fresco painting

1934 Pierre-Octave Ferroud (1900-1936), composer

1934 Henri Mahé (1907-1975), decorative painter

1935 André Leon Arbus (1903-1969), cabinet maker

1936 Germaine Richier
Germaine Richier
Germaine Richier was a French sculptor.Born in Grans, Richier began her studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Montpellier; in 1926 she went to work with Antoine Bourdelle, remaining in his studio until his death in 1929. There she became acquainted with Alberto Giacometti, although the two were...

, sculptor

1938 Pierre Capdevielle
Pierre Capdevielle (musician)
Pierre Capdevielle was a French conductor, composer, and music critic. In 1938 he was awarded the Prix Blumenthal and in 1948 he founded the Centre de documentation de musique internationale. For many years he was President of France's chapter of the International Society for Contemporary Music....

, conductor

1938 Jean-René Bazaine (1904- ), painting

1941 Jean Follain
Jean Follain
Jean Follain, was a French author, poet and corporate lawyer. In the early days of his career he was a member of the "Sagesse" group. Follain was a friend of Max Jacob, André Salmon, Jean Paulhan, Pierre Pussy, Armen Lubin, and Pierre Reverdy...

, author and poet

1946 Jean Carton (1912-1988), painter, sculptor

1946 Guy Montis (1918-1976), painter

1946 Boris Taslitsky painter See: Boris Taslitsky at Wikipedia Français

1947 Jean Delpech, painter See: Jean Delpech at Wikipedia Français

1950 Bernard Cathelin, painter

1952 André Brasilier, (1929-) painter

1954 Maurice Legendre

1954 Gérard Blanchard, engraver See: Gérard Blanchard at Wikipedia Français


Undated:

Paul Coupille, painter at See: Paul Coupille at Wikipedia Français

Ida Gotkovsky
Ida Gotkovsky
Ida Rose Esther Gotkovsky is a French composer and pianist. She is currently a professor of music theory at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in France....

, French pianist and composer See: Ida Gotkovsky at Wikipedia Français

Marcel Aymé
Marcel Aymé
Marcel Aymé was a French novelist, children's writer, humour writer and also a screenwriter and theatre playwright.- Biography :...



André Chamson
André Chamson
André Chamson was a French archivist, novelist and essayist. He was the father of the novelist Frédérique Hébrard.-Life:Chamson was born at , Nîmes, Gard....



Maurice Genevoix
Maurice Genevoix
Maurice Genevoix was a French author.Born on 29 November 1890 at Decize, Nièvre as Maurice-Charles-Louis-Genevoix, Genevoix spent his childhood in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. After attending the local school, he studied at the lycée of Orléans and the Lycée Lakanal...



Louis Neillot

Jacques Rivière
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