Paris Was a Woman is an illustrated collective portrait of the unique community of women who became known as the "women of the left bank". Authors Colette, Djuna Barnes, and Gertrude Stein, poets H.D. and Natalie Clifford Barney, painters Romaine Brooks and Marie Laurencin, editors Bryher, Alice Toklas, Margaret Anderson, and Jane Heap, photographers Berenice Abbott and Gisele Freund, booksellers Sylvia Beach and Adrienne Monnier, and journalist Janet Flanner all figured in this legendary milieu. A wealth of photographs, paintings, drawings, and literary fragments, many previously unpublished, combine with Andrea Weiss's lively and revealing text to give an unparalleled insight into this extraordinary network of women for whom Paris was neither mistress nor muse, but a different kind of woman.

In 1906, Harriet Levy was talked into moving to Paris by her friend Alice B. Toklas and suddenly found herself immersed in a strange world peopled by artists who spoke a language she could not understand--a colorful world that she could only remotely observe in black and white. Paris Portraits is a short masterpiece. This sparkling manuscript, long hidden in the archives of the University of California's Bancroft Library, brings to life a vibrant and mythic time and place. Through Harriet's eyes, we circulate among the artists and patrons in the salons of Gertrude and Sarah Stein, overhear conversations between the up-and-coming Matisse and his students, and see Gertrude Stein's reaction when she learns of Picasso putting his hand on Toklas's knee. We're present when, while reading the poetry of Tagore, Harriet looks up and for the first time, sees--really sees and understands with the heart--what Matisse is doing.

"This book presents the great mosaic of Parisian art as a "group portrait" of its leading practitioners. Along with portraits by Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, and Duchamp are remarkable works made in Paris by Constantin Brancusi, Jacques Lipchitz, Juan Gris, Diego Rivera, Marie Laurencin, Raymond Duchamp - Villon, Jean Puy, Jean Metzinger, Chana Orloff, Albert Gleizes, Pablo Gargallo, Amedeo Modigliani, Paul Colin, Max Beckmann, Jean Dubuffet, and Chaim Soutine, among others."--BOOK JACKET.

“...Man Ray’s two decades of mutual love and admiration, between the two wars, with and within the dreams and realities of the Ville de Paris. Unlike such romantic tales, we have a vivid, visual record of all that its characters and great moments: Man Ray’s Paris portraits, hopefully brought back to life for you within these pages once again.” — author.

Paris is the city of chic—and as such, its innate style shines throughout the city, even in the simplest spaces. Quaint bistros, picturesque alleyways, artists’ studios and unique characters are elevated to a modern-day genre painting when set in Paris. From skateboarders to antiquarians, this volume is a glimpse into Parisian life, as if peering over the edge of the balcony at your own pied-a-terre.

Claude Debussy’s exquisite piano works have captivated generations with their dreamlike atmosphere and mysterious soundscapes. Written in Paris at the height of the Belle Époque, the music creates a soundtrack for Parisians’ enjoyment of such delights as clowns, mermaids, eccentric dances, and the dark tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Époque explores how key works reflect not only the most appealing and innocent aspects of Paris but also more disquieting attitudes of the time such as racism, colonial domination, and nationalistic hostility. Debussy left no avenue unexplored, and his piano works present a sweeping overview of the passions, vices, and obsessions of the era. Pianist Catherine Kautsky reveals little-known elements of Parisian culture and weaves the music, the man, the city, and the era into an indissoluble whole. Her portrait will delight anyone who has ever been entranced by Debussy’s music or the city that inspired it.

Historical fiction that will immerse readers into the art-worlds of London and Paris in the early twentieth century, in a coming of age story of Jack Tomlinson, a young man who is unexpectedly drawn into the exciting worlds of Bohemia, finding love and friendship.

Focusing on portrait painting in Paris during the Consulate (November 1799 to May 1804), this book explores the contextual nexus in which the Portrait of Cooper Penrose was created. Philippe Bordes considers how this picture relates to other works painted by David during this period and to portraits painted by the artist's contemporaries, and also explores the political and social consequences of David's attitude to Bonaparte, the artist's relations with his clients, and the state of his family finances during this period. This investigation of the Portrait of Cooper Penrose constitutes the most complete analysis of the picture ever undetaken. Bordes proposes that Penrose selected David as his portraitist not only because of his international renown as an artist, but also because of his reputation as a Revolutionary.

When American-born Surrealist Man Ray died in 1976, he left behind thousands of photo negatives, mostly portraits taken in his studio after his arrival in Paris in 1921. The Centre Georges Pompidou, which has owned them since the mid-1990s, has duly catalogued the collection of negatives and is now in a position to bring out what is an encyclopedic publication in the best sense of the term. It attests both to Man Ray s ability as a portrait photographer and to the quality of his archive as a monument to cultural history. The catalog features 500 portraits, each of which is explained in a short commentary. Since Man Ray's clientele was made up of members of Dadaist and Surrealist circles, of artists and painters, of writers and US emigrants of the Lost Generation, of aristocrats, and paragons of the worlds of fashion and theater, the book is at the same time a marvelous Who's Who and an indispensable reference work for a broad range of different historians and scholars of the 20th century.

Gail Albert Halaban: Paris Views is a continuation of Halaban's 2012 series Out My Window. In this new set of images, Halaban shifts her focus from New York to Paris--while continuing to steady her gaze through the windows of her neighbors and others in the community. The photographs, taken between 2012 and 2013, feature cinematic atmospheres and intimate domestic stills. Through Halaban's lens, the viewer is welcomed into the private worlds of ordinary people. The photographs in Paris Views explore the conventions and tensions of urban lifestyles, the blurring between reality and fantasy, feelings of isolation in the city and the intimacies of home and daily life. In these meticulously directed, window-framed versions of reality, Halaban allows the viewer to create his or her own fictions about the characters, activities and interiors illuminated within. This invitation to imagine renders the characters and settings both personal and mysterious. Gail Albert Halaban (born 1970) received a MFA in photography from Yale. She has taught at the Pasadena Art Center, the International Center of Photography and Yale, among other notable institutions. She has been included in group shows and featured in solo exhibitions internationally and received a Lucie award in 2007. Her most recent book, Out My Window, was published by PowerHouse in 2012. She is represented by Edwynn Houk Gallery in New York.