Salon d’Automne
At Boston’s French Cultural Center
On October 9th, 2014, on the first Saturday of the fall season, pianist Christos Vayenas, musician and storyteller Chris Rippey, and fine artist Katie Swatland gathered with a group of artists and lovers of art at the French Cultural Center in Boston's historic Bay Back, to debut what was later to become known as the 'Autumn Salon'.
The evening's namesake was a celebration of the magic and beauty of the fall season, as well as a nod to the historic annual salon of French art and philosophy held at the dawn of 20th century Paris.
The historic 'Le Salon d'Automne' featured artists seeking to cast off the cultural and institutional dogmas of the past, creating works of art that embodied the individualistic spirit of innovation, experimentation and creativity; a revolutionary gesture that was to eventually define the philosophical movement known today as Modernism.
However, in contrast to the modernists (who rejected both institutional dogma and artistic tradition), we aspired to unite our timeless traditions of the past with the living, creative energy of the present, in hopes of forging new artistic pathways for the future.
