Veronika Pozmentier Lecture on Miami Beach Art Deco: a French influence in a tropical playground

Alliance Française South Florida. Nov 17th, 2010. 6:30 p.m.

altAfter the big hurricane of 1926 which destroyed most of Miami Beach, the architects who rebuilt the city in the 30’s were mostly influenced by the Paris’s 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes and the European Modernism a generic term for 20th Century European design styles such as Cubism, French Art Deco, German Bahaus and Expressionism, Dutch De Stilj and Amsterdam School, Vienna Secession. They combined those diverse styles to give this eclectic, fashionable and modernistic look to the structures known today in the Historic Architectural District as Art Deco buildings built with an emphasis on adventure, optimism and freedom that characterized a resort city. The result is spectacular and attracts visitors from all around the world in a human size perfectly shaped colorful neighborhood often referred as an open-air museum.

Veronika Pozmentier, born and raised in Paris, France has been a resident of Miami Beach since 1998; she earns her Doctorate in Law at Pantheon-Assas University of Law and her Master in Journalism from Pantheon-Sorbonne Institut Francais de Presse while learning Art and Art History at Ecole du Louvre. Passionate about art, photography and writing, Veronika Pozmentier always continued her education in art by obtaining Diplomas in Photography from Institut Superieur des Arts-IESA and attending seminars at Ecole du Musee du Jeu de Paume or Christie’s Education while consulting for French Art galleries on special projects, she is also consulting for international art collectors and art galleries especially during Miami Beach Art Basel. Eager to give back to the community where she lives, she is involved in many cultural institutions like Miami Design Preservation League as an Art Deco Tour Guide also as member of its Education and Programs Committee, as a docent with the Jewish Museum of Florida and with The Wolfsonian-FIU Museum where she often leads the Art Deco and Design Tour. Since December 2009 she also seats on the board of the City of Miami Beach Sister Cities International Committee. As an Art Historian, a Certified Art Deco Tour Guide and a Certified Miami Dade Heritage Tourism Guide, Veronika Pozmentier has lead hundreds of Art Deco Tours for general public, colleges, museums, collectors or media from all over the world and given several lectures on the subject. She had been interviewed by French TV Channels and radio, newspaper and website. She is actually working on a series of lectures, a photo exhibit and 2 books about Art Deco. 

Alliance Française South Florida
618 SW 8th Street
Miami, FL 33130
305.859.8760
www.afmiami.org

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