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Альма де Бретвиль Спрекельс
Maryhill Museum - Richard Hall - Alma de Bretteville Spreckels in Queen Marie of Roumania's audience chair (1924) 01.jpg
Альма де Бретвиль Шпрекельс написана в 1924 году художником Ричардом Холлом . На картине Спрекельс сидит в кресле, изначально разработанном (и, по крайней мере, частично созданном) королевой Румынии Марией в качестве кресла для зрителей. Шпрекельс получил стул в 1922 году для выставки в Калифорнийском дворце Почетного легиона ; в конце концов она пожертвовала и стул, и картину Художественному музею Мэрихилла, в создании которого она сыграла важную роль.
Родившийся(1881-03-24)24 марта 1881 г.
Сан - Франциско, Калифорния
Умер7 августа 1968 г. (1968-08-07)(87 лет)
Сан - Франциско, Калифорния
НациональностьАмериканец
Занятиефилантроп
Супруг (а)Адольф Б. Спрекельс

Альма де Бретвиль Спрекельс (24 марта 1881 - 7 августа 1968) была богатой светской львицей и филантропом из Сан-Франциско, Калифорния . Она была известна как «Большая Альма» (ее рост составляла 1,8 м) и «Прабабушка Сан-Франциско». Среди своих многочисленных достижений она убедила своего первого мужа, сахарного магната Адольфа Б. Спрекелса , пожертвовать Калифорнийский дворец Почетного легиона городу Сан-Франциско.

Ранняя жизнь [ править ]

Она родилась Альма Шарлотта Корде ле Норманд де Бреттевиль в районе Сансет Сан-Франциско, [1] пятая из шести детей Вигго и Матильды де Бретвиль, двух датских иммигрантов . В раннем детстве семья была очень бедной. Вигго происходил из франко-датской знати через своего деда, который эмигрировал во время Французской революции (один из генералов Наполеона III был его дядей) и использовал это как предлог, чтобы не работать [2] , одновременно высмеивая « нуворишей » Калифорнии . [3]Напротив, у Матильды хватило изобретательности и делового чутья, чтобы открыть комбинированную датскую пекарню, прачечную и массажный кабинет, который стал источником дохода семьи. В 14 лет Алма бросила школу, чтобы работать полный рабочий день в семейном бизнесе. Тем временем она полюбила искусство и поступила в Институт искусств Марка Хопкинса, чтобы изучать живопись. Находясь там, она зарабатывала деньги обнаженной моделью . [3] Теперь, когда у нее было много денег, она стала популярной в городе и оказалась в тесной связи с шахтером по имени Чарли Андерсон. После того, как их отношения испортились, она приобрела некоторую известность за то, что успешно подала на него в суд за «личную дефлорацию». [4]

Alma de Bretteville met her future husband thanks to the rumor she modeled for the Dewey Monument by Robert Aitken, which can be found in Union Square. Legend holds that Aitken hired Alma de Bretteville Spreckels to model for the statue, but a 1902 article detailing the monument's construction stated that Aitken's model was Clara Petzold, who later became a noted photographer. Regardless, this statue was selected from a number of entries and only barely made the cut, thanks to the crucial vote of the chair of the Citizens' Committee, Adolph Spreckels. Although he was 24 years older than she was, he was smitten by Alma, and after a five-year courtship, they married on May 11, 1908.[3] Because he was head of the Spreckels Sugar Company, she often referred to her husband as her "sugar daddy".[5]

Initially, they lived in Adolph's house in Sausalito, where their first daughter, Alma Emma, was born in 1909, but he soon purchased a property in Pacific Heights where, after the existing homes on it were relocated, Adolph built a new mansion, the Spreckels Mansion in the Beaux-Arts style, completed in c.1912 (it is most recently the home of author Danielle Steel).[6] In the meantime, son Adolph Bernard Jr. was born in 1911, followed by another daughter, Dorothy Constance, in 1913. It was after Dorothy's birth that Spreckels learned her husband had contracted syphilis before their marriage, as he began showing symptoms of the disease. Fortunately for her, she never caught it from him.[3]

Palace of the Legion of Honor[edit]

Goddess of Victory atop the Dewey Monument. Legend holds that Aitken hired Alma de Bretteville Spreckels to model for the statue, but Aitken's model was Clara Petzold.
The Adolph B. and Alma de Bretteville Spreckels Gallery at the Legion of Honor showcasing sculptures of Auguste Rodin

After the mansion was completed, Spreckels began throwing opulent parties befitting a woman of her status. Although attended by local celebrities such as author Jack London and sculptor Earl Cummings, there were a number of people who were disdainful of her earlier infamy and snubbed her invitations.[3] This motivated her to gain some respectability for herself, which she did by going to Paris. There, she met entertainer Loie Fuller and through Fuller, other artists, most notably Auguste Rodin. With Fuller's encouragement and contacts, Alma Spreckels eventually became one of the more influential art collectors in the U.S.[3]

She returned from Paris right after the beginning of World War I. Having purchased a number of Rodin's works directly from the artist, she had them displayed at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition. It was there that Spreckels fell in love with the French Pavilion, which was a temporary building constructed only of a wood frame covered with staff, a kind of faux stone made from a mixture of plaster and burlap-type fiber. She decided to have a permanent and exact replica of the building constructed so she could permanently contain her burgeoning art collection, but it would be another nine years before this dream could come to fruition.[3]

In the intervening time, she busied herself with charity auctions, raising money for war-torn France, Belgium, and Romania. For one such event at the Palace Hotel, she was able to obtain donations from U.S. presidents and other renowned individuals. Her own collection was not spared: her prized Rodin The Genius of War also went on the auction block.[3]

After some persuading, Adolph eventually agreed to fund Spreckels' museum project. To acquire more art and financial support, Spreckels returned to Europe. The French government agreed to supply some, and Queen Marie of Romania donated a replica of her Byzantine Golden Room. While Spreckels was in Europe, President Warren G. Harding requested her help in compiling a report on post-war working conditions for women for the Department of Labor's Women's Bureau,[7] which she dutifully carried out.

In 1921, ground was broken for the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum in Lincoln Park, San Francisco. As Spreckels envisioned it, the building is an almost exact, full-scale replica of the French Pavilion from the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, which in turn was a three-quarter-scale version of the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur in Paris designed by George Applegarth and H. Guillaume. At the close of the exposition, which was located just a few miles away in the current Marina district, the French government granted Adolph permission to construct a permanent replica of the French Pavilion.[8] The museum opened on November 11, 1924, six months after Adolph's death. During the dedication ceremony, the Counsellor of State of France announced that Spreckels had been awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur.[3]

Remarriage[edit]

Spreckels continued her charity rummage sales during the Great Depression, this time expanded to thrift shops, which were eventually given to The Salvation Army to operate. She also continued her devotion to the arts, obtaining more and more works for her museum as well as coordinating and partially funding the development of the Maryhill Museum of Art in Maryhill, Washington, after the death of her friend Samuel Hill.[9]

Spreckels met Elmer Awl, a Santa Barbara rancher and businessman, during her inquiries into the Samarkand Hotel, a Persian-themed hotel which had fallen into disrepair. She purchased the property for $55,000 in 1937 and proceeded to renovate it, hoping to provide another home for her now-overflowing art collection. Spreckels and Awl hit it off immediately and were married in 1939. Awl moved to San Francisco, but the hotel was not particularly successful and Spreckels sent him back to Santa Barbara to manage the business, but he was also unable to stem the losses. They decided to rid themselves of it, but could not find a buyer. Eventually, the hotel was swapped for a dairy farm in Marin County worth $80,000.[10]

When the U.S. was drawn into World War II, Awl, as a member of the United States Coast Guard Reserve, was called to active duty. While he was away, Spreckels formed a new charity, the San Francisco League for Servicemen, which gathered supplies for the Army and Navy. She even donated her vast Sonoma County ranch to the Army to use as a recreational facility. Near the end of the war, Spreckels discovered that Awl had been having an affair with her niece Ulla, and she quickly divorced him in 1943, while he was still stationed in Central America.[3]

Later life[edit]

Spreckels' last major project was the construction of the San Francisco Maritime Museum. When it opened in 1951, her collection of model ships that had been on display at the 1939–40 Golden Gate International Exposition was the main exhibit. However, she had had a feud with museum founding director Karl Kortum and as a result, did not receive much recognition for her role in that museum's establishment.[3]

After her son Adolph's death in 1961, she lived mostly in seclusion, visiting only with her daughters and grandchildren. She died in 1968 of pneumonia at age 87.

Further reading[edit]

  • Scharlach, Bernice (1990). Big Alma: San Francisco's Alma Spreckels. Scottwall Associates. ISBN 0-942087-11-9.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Rebel Girls From Bay Area History: Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, Philanthropist Firecracker". KQED. March 30, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  2. ^ Starr, Kevin (1997). The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s. Oxford University Press. pp. 153–54. ISBN 0-19-510079-4. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Craig, Christopher. "Spreckels (née de Bretteville), Alma Emma". Encyclopedia of San Francisco. Archived from the original on December 26, 2007. Retrieved January 9, 2008. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  4. ^ Stephens, Autumn (1992). Wild Women: Crusaders, Curmudgeons, and Completely Corsetless Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era. Conari Press. p. 161. ISBN 0-943233-36-4.
  5. ^ Potocki, Joseph (November 17, 2009). "Sugar Daddy & the de Brettevilles". Bay Time Reporter. Archived from the original on May 17, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2012. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  6. ^ "Tour San Francisco: Pacific Heights". iNetours.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-10. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  7. ^ "Mrs. A.B. Spreckels to Study Women Workers In Europe as America's Special Agent" (PDF). The New York Times. July 12, 1922. Retrieved January 10, 2008. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  8. ^ "History of California Palace of the Legion of Honor". Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. 2011-06-28.
  9. ^ Larsen, Jeff (September 5, 2002). "Short Trips: Remote museum houses an eclectic collection". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved January 10, 2008. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  10. ^ Williams, Scott. "History of The Samarkand". Archived from the original on April 13, 2007. Retrieved October 28, 2016. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

External links[edit]

  • Genealogy [1] on Pierfit geneanet
  • Alma de Bretteville Spreckels at Find a Grave