Florence Meyer Blumenthal
Born	Florence Meyer 1875 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	1930 Paris France
Spouse	George Blumenthal   ​ (m. 1898)​
Parent(s)	Marc Eugene Meyer Harriet Newmark Meyer

Florence Meyer Blumenthal (1875–1930) was an American philanthropist who founded the Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal (Franco-American Florence Blumenthal Foundation), which awarded the Prix Blumenthal from 1919-1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians — to promote Franco- American relations.^[1]

For their altruism, Florence Blumenthal and her husband George Blumenthal received the French Legion of Honor in 1929.^[1] Both a street as well as a public square in Paris are named in her honor.

Biography[edit]

Florence Meyer was born in Los Angeles in 1875, the third of eight children^[1] of Marc Eugene Meyer, dry goods merchant from Strasbourg, France, and Harriet Newmark Meyer, daughter of Joseph Newmark, who founded New York's Elm Street Synagogue.^[2] Florence's younger brother Eugene Meyer Jr. was president and publisher of The Washington Post.^[1][3] In 1898, Florence married international financier George Blumenthal.^[1] In 1919, she organized the La Fondation américaine Blumenthal pour la pensée et l’art français (American Foundation for French Art and Thought) in Paris to discover young French artists, aid them financially, and in the process draw the United States and France closer together through art, thought, and literature.^[1]

In 1925, Blumenthal moved to Paris with her husband, later donating to the Children’s Hospital in Paris the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Sorbonne in Paris. She and her husband received the French Legion of Honor in 1929,^[1] and Blumenthal died of bronchial pneumonia at her home in Paris on September 21, 1930, at age fifty-five.^[1]

Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham described her aunt, known within the family as Florie, as having a perfect figure and for "bringing home massive amounts of clothing from Paris."^[4] Blumenthal was also related to the Levi Strauss family through her older sisters, Rosalie and Elise, each of whom had married a nephew of Strauss'.^[4]

The Blumenthals summered in France or on yachts in the Mediterranean^[3] and were noted for their residences, Knollwood Club in the Adirondacks, their mansion in New York (half a city block and had an indoor tiled swimming pool)^[4][5] as well as their mansion in Paris, for which an entire wing was built to house a new organ.^[4]

In 1907, she and her husband were injured in an automobile accident in Paris, where George Blumenthal received a bad cut on his face.^[6] The Blumenthals had one son, who died at an early age.^[5]

Blumenthal died on September 21, 1930, at age fifty-five, of bronchial pneumonia at home in Paris.^[2]

In 2010 (May 14-June 5), the Médiathèque of Haguenau hosted an exhibit of the Florence Blumenthal archives.^[7]

Recognizing the quality of care provided to their son by Professor Le Mee at the Necker Children's Hospital in Paris, the Blumenthals make a significant donation for the construction of a new building, the Blumenthal Pavilion, built in 1926 as an innovative Ear Nose & Throat (ENT) center operating around the clock, similar to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Prix Blumenthal

The Prix Blumenthal (or Blumenthal Prize) was a grant or stipend awarded through the Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal (Franco-American Florence Blumenthal Foundation), which Florence Blumenthal had founded. Grants were given from 1919-1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians.

Juries including Paul Signac and Aristide Maillol,^[1] awarded a Prix Blumenthal purse of six thousand francs per year for two years. This was increased from 1926 until her death in 1930 to ten thousand francs a year.

From 1919 to 1954 nearly two hundred artists received grants,^[1] including in 1921 Georges Migot (1891–1976), composer, painter, and a carver; in 1926 Paul Belmondo, sculptor; also in 1926 Paule Marrot, textile artist;^[8] in 1930 Robert Couturier, sculptor; in 1934 Jean Oberlé, painter and in 1941 Jean Follain, author and poet.

Impact of the Prix

As an example of the impact of the Prix Blumenthal, textile artist Paule Marrot received the stipend in 1928, which allowed Marrot to open her workshop in Batignolles on rue Truffaut — where she became widely known for furniture textiles.^[9] Marrot went on to experience strong popularity and commercial success in the U.S. after World War II, made a strong impact at Renault in pioneering the company's textile and color division, and redefined furnishing fabrics in France. In 1952 Marrot won in 1952, the French Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honor), (Chevalier) — and her textiles continue under license to diverse companies including Nike, Anthropologie and the handbag maker, Hayden-Harnett.^[9]

Georges Elbert Migot (27 February 1891 – 5 January 1976) was a prolific French composer. Though primarily known as a composer, he was also a poet, often integrating his poetry into his compositions, and an accomplished painter. He won the 1921 Prix Blumenthal.^[1]

Biography

Of a Protestant family, Migot was born in the 11th arrondissement of Paris on 27 February 1891.^[2] His father was a doctor and his mother gave him his first piano lessons when he was seven years old. He very quickly began to compose and, at age fifteen, he produced his first published work: Noël for four voices a cappella.

In 1909, he entered the Paris Conservatory and studied with Jules Bonval (harmony), André Gedalge (fugue), Charles-Marie Widor (composition), Alexandre Guilmant and Louis Vierne (organ), Vincent d'Indy (orchestration), Maurice Emmanuel (music history). He was passionate about Renaissance and Baroque lute players and composers, with François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau becoming important sources of inspiration.

He was then mobilized during the First World War, and was seriously wounded in Longuyon (Meurthe et Moselle) in 1914. He had to use crutches during his convalescence, for more than a year.

He received several awards, including the Prix Lili Boulanger (1917), the Prix Lépaulle (1919), the Prix Halphen (1920) and the Prix Blumenthal (1921). However, he twice failed to win the Prix de Rome (in 1919 and 1922), and decided not to run again. He also studied painting, and his talent as a painter was showcased at several exhibitions in Parisian galleries in 1917, 1919 and 1923. He also wrote the libretti of many of his vocal works.

From 1937, Migot taught at the Schola Cantorum in Paris and also produced music programmes for Radio-Cité (1937–1939). In 1949, he became curator of the instrumental museum of the Paris Conservatoire, a position he held until 1961. The SACEM awarded him the Grand Prix de la musique française in 1958.

Migot died in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine).

Music

It is not easy to assess the prolific work of Georges Migot. He is credited with choosing difficult paths and rejecting banal solutions. Thus, Florent Schmitt wrote about his work Agrestides: "In all this work there is nothing low, banal or even easy. On the contrary, there are pure, noble, generous intentions, an intense poetic feeling. But impenitently self-taught, it seems that he approached his art by where he should have finished it." (Feuilleton musical du Temps, 23 May 1931). Some critics reproached him for having come to music through painting. As a musician, he knew how to translate the subtle play of colours with the help of sounds.