[POUGY] GHIKA, George (1884-1945)

[POUGY] GHIKA, George (1884-1945)

Autograph letter signed « Georges Ghika » to Liane de Pougy, princess Ghika
N.p, 2nd July 1923, 1. in-4°, blue ink on violet paper

Beautiful declaration of love from Prince Ghika to his wife Liane de Pougy for their thirteenth wedding anniversary

« Anniversaire – 2 juillet 1923
D’une voix juste soutenant la plus juste des causes
Je me vante d’un privilège
Celui de t’avoir eue et de t’avoir gardée
Toi dont l’allure est mon avance même
Le rythme de mon pouls et de mon pas
Ma vie est une roue éclatante et légère
Elle roule et bondit
Entre le ciel et les cailloux où brillent les micas
Et ses rayons sont des tubas annonciateurs
De la gloire vivante et tendre de nos jours
Georges Ghika »

A central figure among the courtesans of the Belle Époque, Liane de Pougy (1869-1950) married secondly, on June 8, 1910, the Romanian Prince Georges Ghika (1884-1945), nephew of Queen Nathalie of Serbia, fifteen years her junior. Their marriage was perfectly happy for sixteen years, until Ghika abruptly left her, in July 1926, for the ultimate conquest of his wife (who was openly bisexual), a young artist of twenty-three, “cute and delicate” Manon Thiébaut, whom he took to Romania. After this separation, Liane de Pougy will find her former love, Nathalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972). They will form with Mimi Franchetti (1893-1943) a ménage à trois. Threatened with divorce, the prince eventually returns to her, but their relationship becomes difficult and chaotic.