Truman Capote’s “The Swan” was also a mainstay in the art world.

“Think about what you want, darling, I know you’ve been eyeing Van Gogh’s sunflower painting,” Tom Hollander’s Truman Capote says in the film’s first episode. Masu. Feud: Capote vs. Swans It premiered on FX this week. Capote is being counseled by Babe Paley, wife of CBS CEO Bill Paley. Babe Paley recently learned that her husband has been having an affair with New York Governor Happy Rockefeller, and she is distraught. Babe says she wants a divorce, she is totally humiliated. Her best friend, Capote, advises against it. Why ruin a luxurious lifestyle, he argues. “He’ll buy you anything you want right now,” Capote added. In such a tony environment, “anything” means a masterpiece of art.

“Oh, there’s Gauguin…”Alloy seeds I’m going to Sotheby’s,” Babe murmured, her eyes a little bright. “And the lovely Princess Margaret of Mathis is about to unload her baggage.A woman wearing a veil,” added Capote with a mischievous grin.

Art sets the tone for Ryan Murphy’s new series about a famous American author and the aristocrats of New York high society he interacts with, amid haute couture, flashy hairstyles and gossip-filled dinners. is. Nicknamed “Swan,” Capote’s wealthy muses included Babe Paley Lee Radziwill, Slim Keith, Ann Woodward, CZ Guest, Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli, and Pamela Harriman. It was included. Capote thought these were women. The surface glamor hid a hidden struggle just beneath the surface.

Based on a 2021 book Capote’s Women: True Stories of Love, Betrayal, and a Classic Swan Song This buzzy new show from Lawrence Riemer tells the glittering journey of Capote’s entry into the women’s inner circle, the ensuing turmoil, and Capote’s ostracism caused by the magazine’s publication. esquire A thinly veiled chapter on their lives from the never-realized Roma à Clef in his scandalous La Côte Basque, 1965.meanwhile Although the show focuses on the sordid details of these women’s lives, in real life, several “swans” were considered muses by respected collectors and masters of modern art. . Before joining the show, we researched the impact these swans have had on the art world..

Babe and William Paley, Powerhouse Collector

Although the relationship between Babe Paley and her superpowered husband Bill was often stormy, the couple shared an undeniable passion for modern art.lighter feud They have taken great care in researching Paley’s world-class collection and its provenance.The Paleys owned both woman wearing a veil and Alloy seeds, Mentioned in the first episode.both pictures It was eventually donated to the Museum of Modern Art as part of this project.William S. Paley Collection and over 80 other works from that collection. (Bill Paley was chairman emeritus of the museum at the time of his death in October 1990. Babe died of cancer in 1978). Other masterpieces in the couple’s collection include works by Degas. two dancers (1905); Picasso’s boy leading a horse (1905–6), and Doran’s Bridge over the Riou River (1906).

In 2022 and 2023, 29 works from the Paley Collection will be auctioned at Sotheby’s to fund MoMA’s digital expansion and other philanthropic efforts. These included works by Francis Bacon, Picasso, Renoir, André Derain, and Henri Rousseau.Oh, and here’s a viewing tip: Picasso’s work. boy leading a horse In the opening scene of the first episode, a crying Babe Paley can be spied from behind.

CZ Guest, Muse of Contemporary Art

Lucy Douglas “CZ” Cochrane Guest Capote once referred to her as a “cool vanilla lady,” a description that implied not only her platinum blonde hair but also her aloof demeanor. PAvailable in an everchic series Our guest, Chloë Sevigny, was a truly versatile figure on the 1970s scene, known as an actress, equestrian, author, and even designer of a line of cashmere sweaters. Guest born in the family of “Boston Brahmin” got married Winston Frederick Churchill Guest—A cousin of Winston Churchill, he worked briefly at the Ziegfeld Follies before becoming a member of the British steel magnate family.

Regarded as the most enigmatic and most loyal of Capote’s Swans, Guest had a mystical charm that captivated the imaginations of many of the 20 Swans.th-The creative spirit of the century. She also had a rebellious personality. Guest posed nude for Diego Rivera in her youth. The painting reportedly hung in a bar in Mexico City for years before it was purchased by her husband’s family. Another admirer, Salvador Dali, painted her portrait in 1958. She has been photographed over the years by Slim Aaron and Cecil Beaton. Andy Warhol, who became a close friend of her guest’s socialite daughter Cornelia, returned to her appearance several times and even graced the cover of a magazine in 1976. interview magazine. The guests’ real-life residences will likely be featured in the next episode, when we’ll be keeping a close eye on contemporary art cameos.

Lee Radziwill, royalty with a taste for the Renaissance

Lee Radziwill was a swan with a royal title.will be played by Calista Flockhart feud, Radziwill Caroline Lee Bouvier was born as the bright younger sister of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Her first marriage at the age of 20 was short-lived, but the young Bouvier remarried at the age of 25 to a sophisticated Polish-Lithuanian prince. She built a luxurious life with Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwill. But her art was Radizwill’s first love, and the socialite had artistic leanings of her own (her collection sold at Christie’s in 2019). included her own drawings). Traveling through Italy in her teens, she became obsessed with the great masterpieces of the Renaissance, and she sought out the respected art historian Bernard Berenson, with whom she remained with until the end of her life. We will continue to correspond with each other.

Between her diplomatic duties as the president’s sister-in-law and her packed calendar in New York society, she always found time for art. “I get so excited when I find something related to art in an art gallery or museum and am at the height of my enjoyment,” she wrote in a letter to Berenson. But Ladiswill was never formal, showing up at Warhol’s factory (Warhol took a Polaroid portrait of her) and visiting her home in Montauk. She was also a close friend of photographer Peter Beard. She also had a passion for designing interiors and pursued this field professionally. Her collection, sold at Christie’s in 2019, was a testament to her wide range of tastes, from Renaissance and neoclassical paintings to illustration, furniture, jewelry and photography.

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