Today I would like to share a French celebrity with multiple identities
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At the first light, inside the Rotonde Café on the left bank of the Seine, the smell of toast comes from a dark old-fashioned oven. Before the gypsies at the door could finish a dance, the scent had followed the waiter to a table by the window.
"100 francs, I want your painting."
"But Madame, you have only listened to my description, you have not actually seen it, and I cannot accept your handout."
The painter, who could not bear his self-esteem, it took a few years for madame to finally buy his work. Nearly a hundred years later, the painting was sold for $18,043,750 by the expressionist master Chaïm Soutine.
So who is this discerning lady?
Madeleine Castaing (1984-1992)
She was Madeleine Castarine, and not only Sudin, but also Picasso and Chagall had received generous financial support from her. In addition to being an artist patron, Madeleine has two other identities – an antique dealer and an interior designer.
Madeleine Castin's residence in Levau, France
With a wealth of hundreds of millions, how can she successfully switch between multiple identities and achieve great success? Today, let's step into the world of this legendary French woman.
1
A blessing in disguise
Madeleine was born into a wealthy middle-class family, the father of a designer of the train station in the city of Chartres, France. At the age of 16, a lover of art and literature, she met her lifelong husband, a wealthy art critic and heir to a Provencal winery.
Maiden Madeleine
The energetic and lively little Madeleine was not content to be an idle housewife, and in the early 1920s she tried to break through the show business. But because being a silent film actress is not as good as she imagined, Madeleine soon retired from the circle.
Madeleine and her husband at the neoclassical estate in Levo
To comfort his wife, the husband purchased Madeleine a neoclassical manor house in Levoux, France. The Lady Kuo began to take care of the house on weekdays, when Madeleine discovered her talent and passion for interior design.
Since then, Madeleine has been active in flea markets across Europe, scouring for different styles of household items. Sometimes it's an Art Deco chair with ebony veneer, and sometimes it's a gold-trimmed table from the time of Napoleon III.
Hidden in the bathroom is a special chair, supported by the legs of the ballerina.
The mahogany recessed shelves are filled with fine wines, waiting to dispel the chill for Madeleine and the guests.
Soon after, the house was filled with utensils and ornaments that were both elegant and comfortable, and there seemed to be something missing on the walls, yes, to buy paintings!
2
Patron of the Arts
In the 1920s, café Rotonde was a gathering place for artists and literati, and made the Madeleine and her wife, who loved art and design, were also regular customers there.
There, she met Picasso, Chagall, Modigliani, Jean Gukdo and Chaim Sudin. Madeleine was not only a buyer of their paintings, but also their model and muse.
Portrait of Madeleine Kastan / Chaim Sudin / circa 1929
Among them, the expressionist master Sudin was madeleine's most admired painter, and they immediately hit it off and became each other's confidants. The generous Madeleine even offered a house for the impoverished Sudin to live in.
Between 1930 and 1935, Suddin often visited the Madeleines in the middle of summer. The beautiful natural scenery of the Levo Manor bears witness to the three people's insights into art, which translates into the inspiration of Sudin's pen.
With the help of the couple, Sudin's first solo exhibition was held in 1935, which promoted the development of French Expressionist painting.
In 1940, when the days of peace were interrupted by World War II, the Nazis expropriated the mansion where Madeleine lived, and financial hardship prompted her to open an antique boutique.
3
Self-reliant portal
Madeleine's antique shop, located on the corner of Rue Jacoube and Rue Bonaparte in Paris, specializes in antique furniture and fabrics designed by Madeleine herself.
Fabrics designed by Madeleine
A variety of antique furniture is available in the store
This antique space is not only a showroom, but also a social destination for celebrities and celebrities, a treasure trove of tasteful interior decoration.
The salon area is dominated by green, veronise green, emerald green, turquoise color decorating the space as a winter garden, and jumping crimson color as a flower embellishment / The painter Alexander Serebriakoff records the original original taste of the scene.
The games room with cards and books, with cobalt blue as the main color block, is located in the middle of the sea breeze, bringing comfort and coolness to guests.
As a result, customers who came to shop were attracted by Madeleine's matching skills and even invited her to design interiors for her home. As a result, in addition to being an antique dealer, Madeleine began her career as a professional designer.
Before embarking on the design, Madeleine usually lived with her clients for two weeks: going to cafes, museums, and strolling through Paris. Clients share life stories with her, and she cleverly translates them into home improvement ingenuity.
The living room of the famous artist Jean Gucci
Madeleine's home for the French poet and artist Jean Cocteau is one of the most well-known examples. The most eye-catching wall painting in the room is a Greek mythological figure painted by Guctow herself, and Madeleine integrates her use of green into it.
Looking from the living room to the dining room, the long rectangular carpet that catches the eye guides the entrance to the other world, as if there is a hole in the sky.
In the restaurant area, Madeleine uses a wicker base, covering the surrounding walls and ceilings, combined with Guktor's Makino-style art tapestries and wooden furniture, making the whole space full of natural wildness and exoticism.
On the table are sculptures created by Gukdo
Madeleine, an antique shop owner and interior designer, grew her business bigger and bigger, and in 1949 she bought back the Levor mansion from the Nazis. So, what design ingenuity and hidden treasures are in the designer's own home?
4
Madeleine's palette
Stepping into the gates of the Leviu Manor, we officially unveiled Ms. Madeleine's carefully matched colored canvas: crimson, sky blue and garden green form Madeleine's palette, and she uses these three colors as the main tone, with the neutral colors of brown and gray, freely playing a rhapsody.
She skillfully blends objects of different eras and different countries: carved recliners from the Napoleon III period, Coolie Lamp Shades from the British Regency period, and Ottoman leopard-print carpets living in harmony under the same roof.
On the leopard-print carpet sat two playful children, holding emerald green sofa cushions, greeting the guests who entered the door.
Bypassing the two boys, walk to the left is the book district. In between jobs, Madeleine read books tirelessly. In addition to works of art, the novels of Chekhov, Proust and Balzac were her inspiration.
My fabrics and fabrics are my palette, and Chekhov's fictional scenes and Goya's dresses bring me sparks of inspiration.
—Madeleine Castan
Walking across the library towards the front is the lush restaurant area. The Mahogany Long Table of the Napoleonic Era contrasts with Sudin's paintings, and the chandelier with green vines wrapped around the roof echoes the fluttering oak leaves outside the window.
In front of the window, two 19th-century wood-carved gilded vases are symmetrically placed, matching the symmetrical beauty of neoclassicism
Moving to the symmetrical side of the house, we come to Madeleine's intimate space, the winter bedroom. Here, Madeleine constructed another exotic garden, bringing her beloved nature indoors, with vertical striped plant wallpaper, sofa fabrics and floor tile patterns on the walls originally designed by her.
The Ebony Art Deco recliner and storage table in the corner of the bedroom break the green of the house and add a bit of exotic style.
The patterns in the winter bedrooms are inspired by the plants of the Levo Estate
Madeleine in the Manor of Levo, the warm red is like her colorful life.
A successful style with a strongly recognizable personal touch.
—Virginia Woolf
Madeleine Castaine, who had no professional academic art education, was undoubtedly a natural creator, and she became her own with a keen sense of color and shape, including a special blue "Bleu Castaing" named after her.
▵ Castaing Blue
◁ Portrait of Madeleine Kastan / Chaim Suddin / circa 1929 / In the Museum of Modern Art, New York
At this moment, looking back at the portrait that Sudin made for Madeleine, every color is a true portrayal of Madeleine. Isn't the large area of blue in the background exactly the "Castan Blue" brilliantly interpreted by Madeleine?
In addition to color, Madeleine's patterns based on animal, plant, anchor, and striped elements are also widely used in the design of wallpaper, tiles, carpets and clothing.
In the antique shop, the corridors leading to the functional areas are full of spring, and the floor tile pattern is inspired by the ship anchor.
In the restaurant of The Levo Manor, the upholstery of the chairs is colored mockingbird blue, and with the carpet of ivy leaves, the whole space seems to be full of birds and flowers.
Other original drawings designed by Madeleine
Colours, original drawings, and inspiration she drew from literature, the Greek and Roman periods, and the neoclassical tradition, such a unique aesthetic is known as le style Castaing.
The suites at the Saint James Hotel in Paris are designed to draw on many elements of the "Cartine style"
Fashion designer Anna Sui applied the "Kastan style" to the spring runway in 2013
In the castle of Yves Saint Laurent,
A handful from the Napoleon III period
Pink velvet armchair is full of dark fragrance,
And its former owner was None other than Madame Madeleine.
Now, Madeleine has passed away with a love of art,
Those colors, patterns, matching inspiration, antiques are forever,
And she's also present in the paintings of artists she's sponsored.
Forever remembered by the world.
As Madeleine's favorite novel
"Remembrance of the Age of Water" said:
Every moment in the past,
The colors used are all characteristic of the times,
Today these colors are no longer familiar to us,
But it can still suddenly make us feel intoxicated.
Editor | Windy
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