Paul Haviland

Paul Burty Haviland (17 June 1880 – 21 December 1950) was a French-American photographer, writer and arts critic who was closely associated with Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession.

Biography Haviland was born to Charles Edward and Madeleine Burty Haviland in Paris. His father owned Haviland & Co., a well-known china manufacturer in Limoges, and his mother was the daughter of art critic Philippe Burty. His family was very wealthy for the time, and Haviland grew up surrounded by art, music and theater. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Paris, and from 1899 to 1902 went to graduate school at Harvard University. After graduating he worked from 1901 to 1917 in New York as a representative of his father's china firm. He did so to please his father, but in reality he spent as little time as possible in his office.

In early 1908, he and his brother Frank, who was a photographer, went to see the exhibition of Rodin drawings at the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, where he met Stieglitz. Both he and his brother bought works from the exhibit, and soon he and Stieglitz were engaged in long discussions about art and culture. Haviland considered the gallery "a unique oasis of cultivation"

In 1916, his father summoned him back to France to deal with the family business in Limoges. Due to his father's poor health he remained in France, and the next year he married Suzanne Lalique, daughter of famous Art Nouveau glass designer René Lalique.

While in France Haviland corresponded frequently with Stieglitz, but because of his new bride and his increasing involvement in the family's business he never returned to New York.

His father died in 1922 and for several years Haviland was completely absorbed by legal entanglements concerning the ownership of the business. The estate was finally settled in 1925, and afterward he used his share of the estate to purchase a 17th-century priory in Yzeures-sur-Creuse. He turned the grounds into a vineyard and spent the rest of his life making wine and living as a gentleman farmer.

He is a Righteous Among the Nations, for his rescuing of Jewish people during World War II.

Havilland died in Paris and was buried in 1950 with his wife in Yzeures-sur-Creuse.

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