Wife
Édith
Marie Élisabeth de Taisne de Raymonval
Queer Places:
Hôtel de Masseran, 2 Rue Duroc, 75007 Paris, France
Étienne
Jacques Alexandre Marie Joseph Bonnin de la Bonninière de Beaumont
aka Étienne de Beaumont
(March 9, 1883 - February 4, 1956) was a French
gentleman
. He was a
patron
, a decorator, a costume designer and a
librettist
. An aristocrat and patron of the avant-garde, Count Etienne de Beaumont cuts a dashing figure
when he posed in one of the grand salons of his Hôtel de Masseran in Paris’s rue Masseran. The count hosted a series of legendary masquerade balls at his residence during the interwar period, attended by avant-garde artists such as
Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, and
Man Ray.
Adolph De Meyer described these parties, which he and
Olga often attended, as “fêtes of unsurpassed magnificence” in a 1923 article for Harper’s Bazaar.
Etienne de Beaumont ca. 1923 by
Adolf de Meyer
Bal of Etienne de Beaumont
ca. 1924
by Man Ray
Comtesse E De. Beaumont, by Paul Thévenaz
Étienne de Beaumont was born on
March
9, 1883, in
the
7
th
arrondissement of
Paris
[
1 ]
. He was the son of Count Karl Jacques Marie Théodore Bonnin of La Bonninière
de Beaumont (1852-1913) and Henriette Marie Berthe de Boisgelin (1856-1925);
he had a brother, Hélion (1896-1943). On April 26, 1907, Étienne married
Édith
Marie Élisabeth de Taisne de Raymonval (4 September 1876 - Plouarzel, 29177, Finistère, Bretagne
- 23 January 1959 - Paris
[
2 ]
), daughter of Karl Jacques Marie Théodore Bonnin de La Bonniniere de Beaumont
(1852-1913) & Henriette Marie Berthe de Boisgelin (1856-1925). The couple remained without descendants. In 1913, Etienne inherited the
title of count.
During the
First World War
, with a disparate group of nobles and artist friends, he created the "Army
Ambulance Section" of which
Jean Cocteau
was one of the conveyors on the Flanders front.
With his wife Edith, Beaumont
sponsored post-war films as a producer and avant-garde ballets.
In March 1914,
Jean Cocteau joined
Igor Stravinsky at the Grand
Hotel in Leysin, accompanied by his then lover,
Paul Thévenaz, whom Cocteau
introduced as an "unpolished, simple, fresh intelligence." Cocteau and
Thévenaz had met at the School for Eurhythmy (École de
Rythmique) on the Rue de Vaugirard, Paris,
which taught the Dalcroze method, a discipline for "Norwegian artists" that
joined athletics, vegeterianism, and dance. Paulet Thévanaz was the most
talented student at the school. Dazzled by the rhythmic
movements that Thévenaz executed in the garden of Count Etienne de Beaumont's
mansion on rue Duroc (Thévenaz gave the count, a ballet lover, gymnastic
lessons in a black leotard), and charmed by his chamois-like suppleness,
Cocteau decided to give him the role in David, which he already knew Nijinsky
couldn't take.
In 1918, Beaumont organized a large jazz
concert in Paris composed of a troop of military African American musicians.
He founded the Franco-American Association which will finance many important
exhibitions
[
3 ]
.
He sold
part of the classic works of art he inherited to buy contemporary works by
Pablo
Picasso
,
Juan Gris
and
Georges
Braque
. For
Le Bœuf sur
le toit
, he decides to organize a Satie Festival in honor of
Erik Satie,
of
whom he will remain steadfast support until the latter's death in 1925.
Like the
last representatives of the great European castes who sought to perpetuate
themselves through the realization of memorable balls, Étienne de Beaumont is
known to have rehabilitated in Paris the great themed ball for Mardi-Gras,
among others. In his
hotel on
rue Masseran
, as a true stylist, he specially created scenographies, sets and costumes
that only existed during a party. Thus, on his initiative, in an
unprecedented magnificence and generosity, the "Bal des jeux" (1921), the "Bal
Louis XIV", the "Ball of opera entries", the "Bal de la mer", the "Colonial
Ball ", the "Ball of famous paintings", the "Bal du tricentenaire de Racine
"
took place. He thus became the model of Orgel in
Le Bal du
comte d'Orgel
, a novel by
Raymond
Radiguet
[
3 ]
.
From May 17 to June 30, 1924, he
organized the “Soirées de Paris” at the
La Cigale
theater for the benefit of the Aid Organization for War Widows and the Relief
Committee for Russian Refugees. These evenings will last only one year, mixing
music hall shows
, ballet, poetry and theater, with the participation of artists as varied as
Cocteau,
André Derain
, Picasso, Braque,
Darius Milhaud
and of course Satie. The program included, among others:
Salad
, counterpoint choreography by Milhaud and Albert Flament;
Mercure
, plastic proses by
Léonide Massine
, to music by Satie and costumes and decorations by Picasso;
Roses,
entertainment by Massine, music by
Henri Sauguet
and costumes by the count himself, who did the same for
Le Beau Danube
; Jitter
, dance choreographed by Massine, costumes and decor by Derain;
Vogues
, dance suite illustrated by
Valentine Hugo
on a poem by
Paul Morand
with costumes by
Lanvin
; a Spanish ballet by
José Maria Sert
danced by
Ida Rubinstein
; Handkerchief of Clouds
, a
Tristan Tzara
tragedy and projections of
Loïe Fuller
; all ending with a Romeo
and Juliet reviewed by
Cocteau with sets and costumes by
Jean Hugo
[
4 ]
.
In 1932, he approached
Colonel de Basil
and
René Blum
who launched the
Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo
; Beaumont produced two shows in 1934,
Scuola di Ballo
then Les Imaginaires
[
5 ]
.
In the aftermath of the Second World
War, he offered a last party in 1949, the "Ball of kings and queens", where
Christian Dior
appeared disguised as a lion, king of animals.
His friends,
René Crevel
with whom he maintains an important correspondence,
Paul Morand
,
Maurice Sachs
,
Marc Allegret
,
Bernard Faÿ
,
Lucien Daudet
,
Leonide Massine
have left endearing portraits of the gentleman with extraordinary
extravagance.
He died on
February
4
, 1956, in
the
7
th
arrondissement of Paris
[
6 ]
.
In his memoirs,
Jean-Louis de Faucigny-Lucinge
tells that in 1956 the count's funeral convoy was followed only by a very
small number of faithful whom the author thought inversely proportional to
that of the invitations which Etienne de Beaumont had issued munificently
throughout his life.
At the same time, his friend
Cocteau
wrote of him and his wife: "This couple had transcended snobbery, it was
theirs to frequent the genius. They made frivolity a priesthood. Fashion was
becoming serious in their hands"
[
7 ]
.
In 1925,
Man Ray
executed his photographic portrait. The same director commits a film
staging it,
Les Mystères du château de Dé
in 1929.
In
Arielle Dombasle's film
Opium
(2013) , Beaumont is interpreted by
Jérémie Elkaïm .
My published books:
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- https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_de_Beaumont