In 2006 the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston was asked to direct The Brown Foundation Fellows Program at the Dora Maar House. Imagine spending up to three months in this spacious classic eighteenth-century, four-story stone residence in the village of Ménerbes, France in the Luberon area of Provence. The town house was once occupied by Général Baron Robert, one of Napoleon’s well-decorated generals in the Republican Army.
In 1944 Pablo Picasso purchased the four-story mansion for Dora Maar, an artist and surrealist photographer who was his companion and muse in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Dora Maar owned the house until her death in 1997, when a resident of both Ménerbes, France, and Houston, Texas, purchased the house and began a five-year rehabilitation project to update the spacious residence and gardens.
Her goal was to make it a retreat for scholars, artists, or writers, where they could work undisturbed on their research, art, or writing for one to three months.
If you are an outstanding mid-career professional, you could apply for a fellowship to enable you to reside in the Dora Maar House and focus on the creative aspects of your work.
The Dora Maar House has four private bedrooms, each with a private bath, three studies for writers and scholars, a studio for artists, and a piano. There are shared kitchen, library, living and dining rooms, along with two beautiful gardens. The house is equipped with high-speed wireless internet, printer, fax, and laptops for the fellows’ convenience.
I definitely think I could be inspired writing on that garden patio. I bet you could, too.
Travel expenses are paid by the foundation and fellows receive $50 a day for living expenses.
Here is the link to apply: Forms to apply
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
Filed under: Artist opportunity, Author, authors and illustrators, Fellowships, inspiration, News, opportunity Tagged: Authors, Fellowship, illustrators, Southern France
3 Comments on Time For Creativity In The South of France, last added: 10/18/2010
Kathy, what an amazing offer! I have too many obstacles to be able to jump on that utopian bandwagon, but I sure hope someone in our chapter gets to do it! WOW!
Donna
Mon Dieu! Heaven.
I did once quit my job and studied art in France for two months. Ah, youth!
3 kids, 1 husband, 1 dog=no Maar for me!