Winnaretta Singer, princesse de Polignac, was born today in 1865

Winnaretta Singer, princesse Edmond de Polignac, dite « Winnie » née à Yonkers (État de New York) le 8 janvier 1865 et morte à Londres le 26 novembre 1943, est une mécène musicale, et l'héritière des machines à coudre Singer.   La Fondation Singer-Polignac, créée en 1928, se consacre à des activités de mécénat en faveur des arts, des lettres et des sciences et œuvre grâce à ses propres fonds. Winnaretta Singer, Princesse Edmond de Polignac (Yonkers, NY, 8 January 1865 – London, UK, 26 November 1943) was an American musical patron and heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune. Her mother, Parisian-born Isabella Boyer, was possibly the model for Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty. After the outbreak of American Civil War, the Singer family moved to Paris, where they remained until the Franco-Prussian War. In 1894 the Prince and Princesse de Polignac established a salon in Paris in the music room of their mansion on Avenue Henri-Martin (today, Avenue Georges-Mandel). The Polignac salon came to be known as a haven for avant-garde music. First performances of Chabrier, d'Indy, Debussy, Fauré, and Ravel took place in the Polignac salon. The young Ravel dedicated his piano work, Pavane pour une infante défunte, to the Princesse de Polignac. Many of Marcel Proust's evocations of salon culture were born during his attendance at concerts in the Polignac drawing room.

Winnaretta Singer | Harris & Ewing Collection (Library of Congress).

Plaque: 43 Avenue Georges-Mandel
Fondation Singer-Polignac, créée le 25 mars 1928, par la princesse Edmond de Polignac, née Winnaretta Singer. 1865-1943	Singer-Polignac Foundation, created 25 March 1928, by the princess Edmond de Polignac, née Winnaretta Singer. 1865-1943

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Louis Braille, benefactor to the blind, was born today in 1809

Louis Braille, né le 4 janvier 1809 à Coupvray, près de Paris, et mort le 6 janvier 1852, est l'inventeur du système d'écriture tactile à points saillants, à l'usage des personnes aveugles ou fortement malvoyantes : le braille. Louis Braille (4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and inventor of a system of reading and writing for use by the blind or visually impaired. His system remains known worldwide simply as braille.

Louis Braille | Braille close-up

Plaque: 2, rue des Écoles
Louis Braille 1809-1852 L'inventeur du braille a conçu son système universel à cet emplacement, lorsque l'institut des jeunes aveugles s'y trouvait de 1816 à 1843. INJA 2002	Louis Braille 1809-1852 The Braille system's inventor designed it here, where the institut des jeunes aveugles (Institute for Blind Youth) stood between 1816 and 1843. INJA 2002

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Copyrights: Images hotlinked from Wikipedia Commons retain their licences. All other pictures are CC-BY-NC-SA, Serendiparis, 2001-2013