A 'can't miss' art show is coming.

Anyone who wanted to delve into the art world of Paris in the 1920’s would have visited Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas’ apartment on 27 Rue de Fleurus in Paris. Man Ray’s 1922 black and white photo of them comfortably seated in front of the fireplace gives you a glimpse into that world.  The photo is wonderful but does not do the scene justice.  Can you imagine the riot of colors all around them? Paintings were hung to the rafters with works by now famous names such as Henri Matisse, Juan Gris, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Pierre-August Renoir and others.

First the artists came and then the writers followed with more jaw dropping names such as Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Thornton Wilder and Sherwood Anderson. Gertrude became known for two things – her collection of modern art and her collection of friends, both collected before the art or the friend was famous.  To say she had an eye for talent is perhaps a bit of an understatement.  It was one of those golden moments in time for the cultural world, as the birth of Modernism unfolded around the Stein’s.

It really began when Gertrude joined her brother Leo in Paris is 1904.  Leo was on his way to amassing a modest art collection and Gertrude caught the collector’s bug.  They were unlikely patrons who weren’t rich, living off of a modest income from a family trust.  The art dealer, Ambroise Vollard, once said that the Steins bought paintings “not because they were rich, but despite the fact that they weren’t.” Gertrude would lecture the stylish wives of her artistic visitors to save on clothing by dressing practically and use the money to buy art. Gertrude looked and dressed like a sack of potatoes but we are still fascinated by her today.

The Steins were extraordinary in that they trusted their instinct even when the critics of the time were loudly opposed to the new art form, and they befriended and encouraged young talent by being patrons of the art world even without financial means.

The Steins Collect started at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is now at the Grand Palais in Paris until January, and then will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC from February 12 until March 12^th.  You don’t want to miss this show.