Saturday, November 20, 2010, at 2:15 PM and 3:45 PM
Theater of Photography and Image – Nice
Our heritage retains a Slavic imprint that has so seamlessly united with the unique character of the people of Nice.
As part of the Year of Russia, the delegation of Historical Heritage, Niçoise Language and Culture is organizing a series of conferences providing a comprehensive look at the Russian presence in Nice through the monuments, artists, and political figures who have contributed to shaping our region.
Saturday, November 20 will be an opportunity to attend the conference “A Long Love Story between 19th Century Russian Artists and the Côte d’Azur,” by writer Alex Benvenuto.
The presentation of the previously unseen painting by Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky, “Moonlight over Nice,” dated 1846, and the presence of Igor Stravinsky’s granddaughter, who stayed in Nice, make this conference truly exceptional.
The interest that Russians have shown for the Côte d’Azur goes back a long way. It was with the arrival and continuous presence of the imperial family, from 1856 to 1917, that the influx of wealthy Russian winter visitors accelerated. They drew in their wake a whole Russian nobility and especially many artists.
With the end of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution raging, Nice saw the arrival of a ruined aristocracy. Two thousand Russians were recorded as early as 1918. Some decided to settle there and start anew.
A painting by Marie Bashkirtseff, the life of Nice painter Fricéro who married a daughter of Nicholas I, the story of Gogol and Aivazovsky, the hotel where Romain Gary lived as a teenager, the works of Stravinsky, the Russian cemetery and the grave of Katia, Tsarina Alexandra mourning her son who died in Nice, the grand warships in the bay of Villefranche, are all images that bring places and people from the past back to life.
