Anne Morgan's Museum

The seed of the idea for a museum at Blerancourt was Anne Morgan's desire to share her collection of art and artifacts of the mutual history of France and the United States following World War I. Morgan had developed her deep interest in all things French as a child when her family made annual visits to Europe. As the daughter of financier J. Pierpont Morgan, Anne Tracy Morgan (1873-1952) became one of the richest heiresses in the world. Exposed early to her father's collections, she had the education and the wherewithal to become a collector herself.
Having restored the buildings at Chateau de Blerancourt for use in her war work, Morgan created a museum there in 1924, giving it to the nation in 1931 under the name of National Museum of Franco-American Cooperation. There is also a 'Garden of the World', made with plantings imported from America on the grounds.
Morgan's collection of 19th and 20th century art is both informed and eclectic, and includes several portraits of women, notably Portrait of the Artist (1914) by Romaine Brooks who was also active in war relief. Also living in France at the time were Ethel Mars and her partner Maud Hunt Squire, whose print Tea Time is shown at left. Morgan probably met Puggy Guggenheim (portrait in the red drees), who moved to Paris in 1920, through Brooks
I haven't yet tracked down information on Women of Tangiers (1914) or its creator Grace Ravelin (1873-1956), but it is a strong composition that suggests both individuality and community among its shrouded subjects, in striking contrast to the romanticized versions of people of northern Af

rica of its time.
American sculptor Henry Clews (1879-1937) is represented here by The Fabulous Lizard (1913), with its ingenious blending of geometric and curvilinear shapes. Clews and his wife, Mary, purchased Chateau de Napoule on the coast of Provence in 1918 and restored it, perhaps inspired by what they had seen Morgan accomplish at Blerancourt. In 1951, Mary Clews created the Musee Henry Clews de Napoule which specializes in cultural exchange

in the arts.

Although not so well known as it deserves to be, Anne Morgan's museum is now being supported by a transatlantic organization, the Friends of Blerancourt ( visit http://www.musee-cooperation-blerancourt.fr/), founded in 1995.

Images from the collection of the National Museum of Franco-American Cooperation.