Our New Book
The following are excerpts from the fascinating new book about the Fontainebleau Schools which may be purchased here:
For the U.S. and Canada, order here:
The Fontainebleau Schools of Music and Fine Arts 1921-2021 Book
Outside of the U.S. and Canada, order here:
gourcuff-gradenigo.com/ecolesart.html
“The unique space of the Château de Fontainebleau“
The choice for the Schools of the unique space of the Château de Fontainebleau, which symbolizes the evolution of architectural styles throughout several centuries, is particularly suited to the Fine Arts School for many reasons.– being less than an hour from Paris, it allows many opportunities for visits related to students’ field of study;– the Château, surrounded by gardens and parks, and bordered by the forest, couldn’t be better situated for research in architecture and landscaping;– the available spaces within the Château, displaying visual and decorative arts going back hundreds of years and now a living museum, inspire contemporary artistic creativity.In the Art field, each personality and its own means of expression must develop as early as the undergraduate level. The Fontainebleau Schools don’t aspire to teach a profession but they can, in the course of a short stay, give each student the opportunity to take stock and to follow one’s own course. The unique and peaceful surroundings of the Château at Fontainebleau offer to the students workshops, master teachers and work themes. They can reap there the benefits of centuries-old experience which will always serve as a model to inspire the future.
Marion Tournon-Branly, August 1978
“…an opportunity to celebrate the fertile relationship between the United States and France.”
The centennial of the Foundation des Écoles d’Art américaines (Fontainebleau Schools), whose rich history is vividly related in this book, gives us an opportunity to celebrate the fertile relationship between the United States and France.
Resulting from the United States’ involvement in World War I, the Fontainebleau Schools offer brilliant young American musicians and architects the opportunity to discover the magical surroundings of the Château of Fontainebleau and pursue their professional training with world renowned faculty. The small scale of the summer sessions, fifty to sixty students, allows each class, now admitting students from other countries besides the United States, to develop personal relationships and constitute a worldwide community.
The Schools thus remain faithful to the wishes of their founders and of the great personalities which led to their artistic preeminence.
They are a testimony to the universal value of music and architecture, constantly growing art forms shaped by the diversity of outlook of world cultures.
Louis Schweitzer, President of Fondation des Écoles d’Art américaines
“The “grande dame” of summer programs abroad for 100 years“
The Schools were a jewel in the crown of post World War I Franco-American relations—an American initiative and a French realization. The “grande dame” of summer programs abroad for 100 years, in the magnificent historical venue of the Château deFontainebleau, its American Conservatory brought and continues to bring a compendium of the most influential and world-renownedmusicians and artists of the 20th century. The summer sessions offerAmerican and international students the unique opportunity of studying at the highest level the French approach to music and the fine arts, particularly architecture, and fostering their collaboration. These young and most talented artists cannot help but be inspired by their surroundingsand the culture they absorb, and all participants agree that it is the experience of a lifetime.
We hope this book will lead the reader to share this unique, decades long experience.
Therese Casadesus Rawson, President of the Fontainebleau Associations
