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Title:	Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900-1939
Date:	3/29/2025 - 6/22/2025
Address:	The Speed Art Museum, 2035 South Third Street, Louisville, KY 40208
Location:	Louisville, KY
Hours:	Wednesday – Saturday: 10am – 5pm, Sundays: 12pm – 5pm
Cost/Cover:	free - $15
Web Page:	https://www.speedmuseum.org/brilliant-exiles-american-women- ...
Contact Info:	502.634.2700

Details:

During the early twentieth century, Paris was the destination of choice for talented and independent American women determined to move beyond the limitations that restricted them at home. Drawn by a strong desire for independence, they crossed the Atlantic to pursue personal and professional ambitions in a city viewed as the epicenter of modernity. Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900-1939 recaptures the experiences of these unorthodox women who found in Paris the freedom to blaze new trails in a variety of fields, including art, literature, design, publishing, music, fashion, journalism, theater, and dance. As foreigners in a cosmopolitan city, they escaped the societal expectations and constraints of both the United States and France. Many used their newfound liberty as an opportunity for self-reinvention and discovery. Portraiture provides a revealing lens through which to view the cultural shifts American women helped instigate in Paris. Their defiance of social, professional, and gender norms rendered conventional modes of female portraiture obsolete. Brilliant Exiles highlights the dynamic role of portraiture in articulating the refashioned sense of self and the new conceptions of modern female identity that resulted from the interventions of American women in Parisian life.