The list of women of note in France is long, distinguished and nowhere near recognised enough.
Two conferences in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine this month seek to shed light on 10 of them.
The first, on Saturday, October 19th, from 2pm to 4.30pm focuses on five women of the town. The conference will feature:
- Princess Pauline Bonaparte-Borghèse, who organised major events at Château de Neuilly;
- educator Madeleine Daniélou, who founded the first high school in France allowing girls take a traditional baccalaureate;
- Lotte Eisner, who helped found the Cinémathèque française;
- noted Resistance fighter Edith Gorce-Franklin, who became one of the first women on the Neuilly municipal council in 1947;
- and former government minister Monique Pelletier, who played a key role in the government of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, was a vociferous supporter of contemporary politician Simone Veil’s efforts to legalise abortion and pioneered the social treatment of drug addiction.
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The second, on Saturday, October 26th, from 2pm to 4.30pm, will examine the lives and careers of talented Americans who made their home in France:
- Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt, the first American artist to be featured in the Salon des Indépendants;
- Edith Wharton, whose efforts to persuade America to join World War One were overshadowed by her gigantic literary credentials;
- Julia Morgan, the first female architect to graduate from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and an expert in earthquake-resistant construction;
- Sylvia Beach, publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and founder of the Shakespeare and Co bookstore (and writers’ sanctuary) in Paris;
- and culinary writer Julia Child, the first American to graduate from the Ecole du Cordon Bleu in Paris, who published the American bible on French gastronomy, and created the first television show dedicated to French cuisine. Such is her cultural importance in the US, her kitchen from her Massachusetts home is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum Of American History.
Both events, which are free of charge, will take place at Espace Parmentier, 1 Place Parmentier, Neuilly-sur-Seine. If you want to attend either or both conferences, email rachel.kaplan@orange.fr before October 14th to reserve a place.
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