MISIA AND THE MUSES

by Misi Bert ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 22, 1953

The memoirs of Misi Bert, embracing with equal fervor and drama the splendid and luxuriant artistic world of Paris from the late nineteenth century through World War I sparkles with a naive ebullience which lends a plausibility to her life and provides candid portraits of her many famous friends. Wealthy, beautiful, gifted, as she admits without concern, she was painted by Renoir and Lautrec, toasted in poetry by Mallarme-who was a perfect listener to her piano interpretations of Beethoven and Schubert. She helped finance Diaghilev and lived through the difficulties of the Ballet Russe under Nijinsky, Ravel and Stravinsky, all of whom she knew. Her immersion in the world of art, music, and letters did not keep her from participation in the Dreyfus case or in an ambulance corps which included Cocteau, Srt and others during the war. Vital, vibrant, with a sense of her own importance, beauty and talent, with an assurance of her ability to love, and with a flair for the dramatic well evidenced in her marriages, she was a formidable figure and her memoirs reflect the brilliant, concentric worlds in which she circulated with aplomb. Occasionally suspect in its naivete, there's the chichi fascination of this period and these personalities, the happy whirl of inspiration and intrigue which will assure this of an audience among the cognoscenti.

Pub Date: Oct. 22, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: John Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1953

Categories: NONFICTION