the dîner des têtes surréalistes, 1972

baron guy de rothschild & baroness marie-hélène de rothschild

the dîner des têtes surréalistes invitation with reversed writing inspired by a magritte sky

château de ferrières 

baron alexis de redé in a dalí designed mona lisa hat inset with portraits of marie-hélène

senhora espírito santo & the duke and duchess of cadaval

jacqueline delubac

hugues gall and mrs. rolf libermann

audrey hepburn trapped inside a magritte bird cage

hélène rochas & françois-marie banier

claude lebon and charlotte aillaud

alfred duff cooper

the baroness thyssen-bornemizza & guy baguenault de puchesse

salvador dalí and the italian princess maria gabriella de savoia

charles de croisset, marisa berenson & paul-louis weiller

the menu

detail of a table with a fur dish, mae west red lips & blue bread

table of the swaying dolls

table of the tenderized turtles

for desert: a sugar made woman laying in a bed of roses 

written by attendee baron alexis de redé:
on 12 december 1972, marie-hélène de rothschild gave her surrealist ball at ferriéres. this time the guests were asked to come in black tie & long dresses with surrealist heads. the invitation was printed with reversed writing on a blue & cloudy sky, inspired by a painting by magritte. to decipher the card, it had to be held to a mirror.
for the evening the chateau was floodlit with moving orange lights to give the impression that it was on fire. the staircase inside was lined by footmen dressed as cats that appeared to have fallen asleep in a variety of staged poses.
guests had to pass through a kind of labyrinth of hell, made of black ribbons to look like cobwebs. the occasional cat appeared to rescue the guests & lead them to the tapestry salon. here they were greeted by guy with a hat to resemble a still-life on a platter, & by marie-hélène wearing the head of a giant stag weeping tears made of diamonds.
marie-hélène proved that she had the flare & imagination to create something unique & worthwhile. none of this was created by charm alone. it needed a degree of ruthless determination. she attended to every minute detail of style in her life & also in her entertaining. she was a great hostess with all the qualities. she loved parties & people. she was forever in quest of new talent & new figures to entertain from the world of the arts, literature, dance & haute couture. she mixed them with the more established set of paris society. everyone was intrigued. marie-hélène's parties took on such importance that one social figure threatened to commit suicide unless she was invited.

this week's obsession

Woman Panther, 1938

Portrait automatique de lʼautomate dʼAlbert-le-Grand (Automatic Portrait of the Automaton of Albertus Magnus), 1938

Initiation préliminaire aux arcanes de la forêt, 1936

C'est qu'elle sait être plus jolie encore la machine infernale, 1936

georges hugnet, portrait by dora maar

georges hugnet 1906-1974

hugnet was a poet, editor, artist & film director active in the dada & surrealist movements. born in paris in 1906, he spent part of his childhood in buenos aires, argentina until moving back to paris in 1913. in 1920 he started a friendship with his neighbor marcel jouhandeau who introduced him to his hero max jacob. he also befriended many other influential artists during that time including joan miró, marcel duchamp, pablo picasso, tristan tzara, man ray, gertrude stein & jean cocteau, most of whom he collaborated with.

in the 1930s he became involved with the surrealist movement when andré breton became interested in his work after reading and article titled "spirit of dada in painting". he was "excommunicated" by breton when he failed to end his friendship with the former surrealist paul éluard.

in the 1940s he joined the french resistance and published non vouloir, one of the first resistance pieces published in france. in 1940 he married germaine pied; their marriage would last 10 years. in 1950, at the age of 44, he married 17 year old myrtille hubert. they had a son the following year, nicholas hugnet.

he concentrated on trading & collecting rare books and manuscripts until his death in 1974.