Paris in 1928.

As a crucible of pure fun and creativity few cities can compare to Paris in 1928 - all were there doing 'their thing'. That included all the most avant guard  in the arts, literature, jazz, architecture and many other things besides. If we consider the world of art there was Matisse, Picasso Magritte and Tamara Lempicka all experiment in new forms of the medium. Into this creative maelstrom came the Surrealists the Spanish Dali and Luis Bunuel. In the world of letters there was an American who was the ebullient, garrulous and talented his name Ernest Hemingway. He had a letter of introduction for the propriety of the famous Shakespeare And Company book shop he was taken in like the 'prodigal son' he was later to become. Writing in a journalist minimalism his novel A Farewell to Arms about a love story set in WW1 was an immediate success. Journalism was 'dead an buried' from then on. Hemingway said that prose should be like 'architecture not interior decoration'. Next up was jazz after WW1 many back US soldiers stayed on in Paris as there was little racism compared to their own country. A name that stood out was Josephine Baker a black singer and dancer who took Paris by storm. A place that was frequented by the legendary musician Cole Porter was Harry's Bar where his music was played with alacrity. The other artist making his was in the world was the prodigiously talent Pete Mondrian who managed to capture minimalism down to the last drop of paint. His flat in Paris was a'replica' of his pictures. His construction of 'primary colours - red, blue and yellow on a square is pure genius. He tried on 47 occasions to get it just right, he definitely succeeded.
The party came to a calamitous end on 29 October 1929 after the Wall Street crash - all the Americans left town not to return until WW2.
All this can be seen in the second of a three part series - all are introduced by the photogenic Dr James Fox on BBC Four Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds. Next week New York in 1951 - I can't wait for that one!