Washington Winter Show 2017

45 This page is sponsored by Anne Baldwin, Dede Caughman and Catherine Marquardt in honor of The Founders Board of St. John’s Community Services Paris and at Chanel’s home in Lausanne; Chanel, who has often been depicted as lonely and bitter in her later years, was evidently joyful. Final pictures depicted Jeffie herself, age 28, wearing a chic tailored suit given to her by Chanel. She is with Coco in her private apartment above the couture house. I was entranced! In January 2012 I travelled to Los Angeles to meet Jeffie and view the various works, with a view to curating an exhibition. Coco Chanel: A New Portrait by Marion Pike. Paris 1967–1971 was first exhibited at The Fashion Space Gallery at London College of Fashion, September 5 to November 15, 2013, then at Costume Moda Immagine, Polazzo Morando, Milan (December 7, 2013–February 23, 2014). It has always been Jeffie’s greatest desire that the exhibition would be shown in the United States, and we are delighted that it is being presented at the Washington Winter Show, at American University’s Katzen Arts Center, Washington, D.C., January 12 to 15, 2017. Developing curatorial narratives Over the course of her life, Chanel re-presented and romanticized her past, and this might partly explain why she very deliberately did not leave personal papers for future eyes. Conversely, Marion never “managed” her own life story. Instead, she left masses of personal effects that related to her family history and her work, storing everything with a view to pondering it in her old age (which she never got around to doing). Jeffie, who studied to become an art historian, has become her mother’s archivist. Histories are often constructed by identifying “firsts,” drawing parallels, and defining distinctions. In spite of their vastly differing early life experiences, Marion Hewlett (who came from an old, wealthy California family and studied at Stanford) and Coco (who was abandoned to an orphanage and grew up in poverty) shared many life similarities. Both women were born in rural environments and retained a love of the countryside for the rest of their lives. In their youth each was bereaved by the suicide of a close relative. Both adored Paris, horses, and the opera. Both women strove to achieve excellence and admired this quality in others. They were fiercely independent. Neither life was subsumed by domestic responsibilities, and neither retired. The photograph taken in Switzerland shows Marion crouching in front of a seated Coco. Both women are laughing. Their mutual affection is tangible and requires no words. A telegram Coco sent to Marion when the Marion Pike, Coco Chanel—Big Head, 1967. Acrylic on masonite, 246 x 150 cm. All images courtesy Jeffie Pike Durham. Marion Pike, Chanel in Her Atelier, 1967. Acrylic on masonite, 255 x 300 cm.