Monday, September 19th: Art Deco lecture
The Princeton Club hosted gallery owner Ben Macklowe who treated us to a very interesting lecture on all the different factors contributing to and influencing Art Deco style in jewelry. The period between the First and Second World Wars was a time of radical change in modern life. Art, fashion, and broadened international communications all played key roles in defining the styles and tastes of the era that was most famously dominated by the geometric lines and striking simplicity of the Art Deco movement.
From innovations in metalworking to the opening of international trade routes to the influences of Chanel and Bauhaus, Macklowe connected the major cultural influences of the time to the design and evolution of interwar jewelry. He was an engaging speaker and held his audience's attention.
Tuesday, September 20th: Nancy Cunard
During the Jazz Age, the flapper roll call from Josephine Baker to Zelda Fitzgerald reached its aristocratic high point with Nancy Cunard. Heiress to a shipping fortune, a champion (and lover) of jazzmen, a hard-drinking sybarite, and relentlessly on the move to be wherever the party was, the fashion-forward Cunard was a meal ticket for gossip columnists. But the wild tales mask her own prodigious talent for poetry, which Dr. Charles A. Riley II ‘79, professor of literature and author of more than thirty books, explored in a vivid portrait of this fascinating figure.
Cunard ran with a regular Who's Who of the 1920s Art Pack and had intimate knowledge of many of her contemporary poets from T.S. Eliot & Ezra Pound to Pablo Neruda. Her own haunting verses were well presented by Dr. Riley and were a delightful surprise.
Dr. Riley was one of the most animated and interesting speakers to grace the Princeton Club and spoke about his subject with obvious passion and great knowledge. His next book comes out in May, and we hope to have him back at the club at that time.
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