SCANDAL IN VENEZIA

photography courtesy of Karen L. Marshall

photography courtesy of Karen L. Marshall

photography courtesy of Karen L. Marshall

photography courtesy of Karen L. Marshall

photography courtesy of Karen L. Marshall

The first line of Miss Lambert's bio says a lot:

Eleanor Lambert was one of the outstanding publicists in America in fashion, interior design, and other areas of the arts, philanthropy and contemporary taste.

Even though this blog is called EMPRESS of FASHION, Miss Lambert's reach extended far beyond fashion. In fact, she began her career representing artists and opera stars who at that time were the biggest celebrities of their day. In 1930, Eleanor Lambert was involved in the opening and founding of the Whitney Museum of Art. As Press Director, one of her suggestions was for the Whitney to sponsor the American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale to take place in 1934. The cost of shipping 101 works of art to Venice was generously underwritten by the Hearst Corporation.

But things in Europe did not go exactly as planned, in May 1934, Miss Lambert was in Venice trying to have Polish painter Tade Styka's portrait of Marion Davies, William Randolf Hearst’s mistress, removed from the Venice Biennale’s American Pavilion sponsored by the Whitney. Seymour Berkson, the general manager of Hearst’s International News Syndicate, was in charge of Hearst operations in Europe and was under orders to make sure that the picture stayed. Miss Lambert and the Whitney demanded that the picture be removed. Miss Lambert liked things her way -- she could be very tough and extremely persistent, but Seymour Berkson also liked things his way and he could be just as tough and and just as persistent...

to be continued...

A very special thank you to Karen L. Marshall, from the non-profit organization Save Venice for allowing the EMPRESS OF FASHION blog use of her photography. As you can see, her work is truly amazing. Miss Lambert thought so too and was a avid collector of Karen L. Marshall's photography during her life.