[POUGY LIANE DE]: (1869-1950) GHIKA GEORGES (1884-1945)

[POUGY LIANE DE]: (1869-1950) GHIKA GEORGES (1884-1945)

[POUGY LIANE DE]: (1869-1950) French vedette and dancer with the Folies Bergere, renowned as one of Paris´s most beautiful and notorious courtesans. GHIKA GEORGES (1884-1945) Romanian Prince, the second husband of Liane de Pougy from 1910 to 1945, and a nephew of Queen Nathalie of Serbia. A good A.L.S., P. Georges G Ghika, one page, 4to, n.p., 8th June 1923, to [Liane de Pugy], in French. The Prince writes on the occasion of their 13th wedding anniversary, providing his wife with a singular and visually attractive ´cantata´, commencing his letter ´Cantate pour le 13e anniversaire de notre mariage´ (Translation: ´Cantata for the 13th anniversary of our marriage´) and continuing ´Encore, encore, encore, encore´ (Translation: ´More, more, more, more´), these words repeated four times each over the next twenty-five lines before reaching the foot of the page and concluding with his signature. VG

Pougy and Ghika´s union in marriage perfectly happy for eighteen years, until Ghika abruptly left her in July 1928 for the ultimate conquest of his wife (who was openly bisexual), a young artist of twenty-three, the "pretty and delicate" Manon Thiébaut, whom he took to Romania. After this separation, Liane de Pougy reunited with her old flame, Nathalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972). Together with Mimi Franchetti (1893-1943), they formed a threesome. Threatened with divorce, the prince eventually returned, but their relationship became difficult and chaotic.