I Am Madame X

Download or read book I Am Madame X written by Gioia Diliberto and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-03-18 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intriguing and absorbing novel about the life of Virginie Gautreau, the subject of John Singer Sargent's most famous portrait Madame X, which scandalized the 1884 Paris Salon—perfect for fans of the bestselling Girl with a Pearl Earring. When John Singer Sargent unveiled Madame X—his famous portrait of twenty-three-year-old American beauty Virginie Gautreau—at the 1884 Paris Salon, its subject's bold pose, bare shoulders, and provocative dress shocked the public and the critics, who found the portrait displaying Virginie's blatant sexuality bizarre, artificial, and unwholesome. The scandal destroyed Sargent's dreams of a career in Paris, forcing him to flee to England. In this remarkable novel, Gioia Diliberto imagines Virginie's side of the story, drawing on the few known historical facts to re-create Virginie's tempestuous personality and the captivating milieu of nineteenth-century Paris. Born in New Orleans and raised on a lush plantation, Virginie fled to France during the Civil War, where she was absorbed into the fascinating and wealthy world of grand ballrooms, dressmakers' salons, and artists' ateliers. Even before Sargent painted her portrait, Virginie's reputation for promiscuity and showy self-display made her the subject of vicious Paris gossip. Immersing the reader in Belle Epoque Paris, I Am Madame X is a compulsively readable and richly imagined novel illuminating the struggle between Virginie and Sargent over the outcome of a painting that changed their lives and affected the course of art history.

Download or read book Strapless written by Deborah Davis and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-05-03 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The subject of John Singer Sargent's most famous painting was twenty-three-year-old New Orleans Creole Virginie Gautreau, who moved to Paris and quickly became the "it girl" of her day. A relative unknown at the time, Sargent won the commission to paint her; the two must have recognized in each other a like-minded hunger for fame. Unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, Gautreau's portrait generated the attention she craved-but it led to infamy rather than stardom. Sargent had painted one strap of Gautreau's dress dangling from her shoulder, suggesting either the prelude to or the aftermath of sex. Her reputation irreparably damaged, Gautreau retired from public life, destroying all the mirrors in her home. Drawing on documents from private collections and other previously unexamined materials, and featuring a cast of characters including Oscar Wilde and Richard Wagner, Strapless is a tale of art and celebrity, obsession and betrayal.

Download or read book Madame X written by Jasinda Wilder and published by Berkley. This book was released on 2015 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Madame X invites you to test the limits of control in this provocative new novel from New York Times bestselling author Jasinda Wilder. My name is Madame X. I'm the best at what I do. And you'd do well to follow my rules... Hired to transform the uncultured, inept sons of the wealthy and powerful into decisive, confident men, Madame X is a master of the art of control. With a single glance she can cut you down to nothing, or make you feel like a king. But there is only one man who can claim her body--and her soul. Undone time and again by his exquisite dominance, X craves and fears his desire in equal measure. And while she longs for a different path, X has never known anything or anyone else--until now.."--

Download or read book My Notorious Life written by Kate Manning and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-06-06 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'In the end, they celebrated. They bragged. They got me finally, was their feeling. They said I would take my secrets to the grave. They should be so lucky.' Defiant and daring, Axie Muldoon claws her way from the streets up to the dizzying heights of New York society. But as her fame grows and her name hits the headlines, her reputation as the most scandalous midwife of her time begins to threaten everything she holds dear. And one crusading official will not rest until he has brought about the downfall of 'Madame X'. It will take all of Axie's cunning to save both herself and those she loves from ruin...

Download or read book ArtCurious written by Jennifer Dasal and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wildly entertaining and surprisingly educational dive into art history as you've never seen it before, from the host of the beloved ArtCurious podcast We're all familiar with the works of Claude Monet, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous reproductions of his water lilies on umbrellas, handbags, scarves, and dorm-room posters. But did you also know that Monet and his cohort were trailblazing rebels whose works were originally deemed unbelievably ugly and vulgar? And while you probably know the tale of Vincent van Gogh's suicide, you may not be aware that there's pretty compelling evidence that the artist didn't die by his own hand but was accidentally killed--or even murdered. Or how about the fact that one of Andy Warhol's most enduring legacies involves Caroline Kennedy's moldy birthday cake and a collection of toenail clippings? ArtCurious is a colorful look at the world of art history, revealing some of the strangest, funniest, and most fascinating stories behind the world's great artists and masterpieces. Through these and other incredible, weird, and wonderful tales, ArtCurious presents an engaging look at why art history is, and continues to be, a riveting and relevant world to explore.

Download or read book Exposed written by Jasinda Wilder and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author Jasinda Wilder presents the second novel starring the mysterious Madame X. My name is Madame X. My life is not my own. But it could be... Everything Madame X has ever known is contained within the four walls of the penthouse owned by her lover—the man who controls her every move and desire. While Caleb owns her body, someone else has touched her soul. X’s awakening at the hands of Logan’s raw, honest masculinity has led her down a new path, one that is as exciting as it is terrifying. But Caleb’s need to own X completely knows no bounds, and he isn’t about to let her go. Not without a fight that could destroy them all...

Download or read book Coco at the Ritz written by Gioia Diliberto and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-12-07 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting and prismatic novel of the eternally enigmatic Coco Chanel in the aftermath of World War II. Though her name is synonymous with elegance and chic, the iconic Coco Chanel had a complicated dark side, and in late August 1944, as World War II drew to a close, she was arrested and interrogated on charges of treason to France. Many of the facts are lost to history, partly through Chanel's own obfuscation, but this much is known: the charges grew out of her war-time romance with a German spy, and one morning two soldiers from the French Forces of the Interior—the loose band of Resistance fighters, soldiers and private citizens who took up arms in the wake of the Liberation of Paris—led Chanel from her suite at the Ritz Hotel in Paris to an undisclosed location for questioning. What transpired during her interrogation, who was present, and why she was set free when so many other women who’d been involved with German men (willingly or otherwise) had their heads shaved or were imprisoned, remains a mystery. In this brilliantly insightful and compulsively readable novel from the author of I am Madame X, Gioia Diliberto explores the motivations of this complex woman and portrays the gripping battle of wits that could have been her interrogation. Was Chanel truly a collaborator? Though the Occupation of France offered a stark contrast between good and evil, few people are wholly heroes or villains in wartime. Most citizens, as the writer André Gide noted, were like old shoes floating in murky waters: battered and torn, riding the turbulent flow, just trying to survive. By turns raw and vulnerable, steely and flawed, Chanel emerges from these pages as a woman who owns her decisions, no matter the consequences. Rich with history and filled with emotional truths, Coco at the Ritz is a story about the choices one woman made when the stakes were the highest. In today’s world, it is a cautionary tale about the necessity of standing against evil when it stares you in the face.