Winaretta Singer

Winnaretta Singer (1865 - 1943) was heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune, which she used for a wide range of projects including opening a music salon where she mentored Debussy, as well as funding major public health projects in Paris where she lived for most of her life. She is also famous for her open relationships with women and for her unconventional approach to marriage.  

Winnaretta Singer was born in Yonkers, New York, the twentieth of the 24(!!) children of Isaac Singer. Her mother was his Parisian-born second wife, Isabella Eugénie Boyer. After the American Civil War, the Singer family moved to Paris, where they remained until the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 when they moved to England where they settled in a 115-room palace built by her father (I mean, did he think he had to fill every room with a child?!) She had a privileged upbringing thanks to her father’s vast wealth. She inherited her mother’s great love for art and became a skilled painter. However, it was music that truly captured her heart, a passion that was nurtured in the presence of many great artists and musicians acquainted with the family.

In 1875, her father died and the Singer siblings inherited a fortune. She and her mother moved in deeply artistic circles and she made many friends—among them Gabriel Fauré through whom she found a way into the artistic world by becoming his benefactor.  

After Isaac’s death, Isabelle and her children moved back to Paris. In 1879 Isabella remarried, to a Belgian violinist Victor-Nicolas Reubsaet. There were many rumours about the violence that the family experienced from Reubsaet, which may explain why as soon as Winnaretta came of age at 21, she claimed her $1million inheritance and moved out. Her family went on to achieve many things in their own rights, but Winnaretta was closest to her niece, Daisy, who she raised after the death of her sister, Isabelle-Blanche. Diasy went on to become a noted socialite, magazine editor, and fashion trendsetter. (1/6)

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It was well-known within her private circles that Winnaretta was a lesbian. However, social convention decreed that she marry and aged 22 she was wed to Prince Louis de Scey-Montbéliard. Rumour has it that she spent their wedding night by climbing onto their wardrobe, brandishing an umbrella, and threatening to kill the groom if he attempted to touch her. The marriage was annulled by the Catholic Church five years later on the grounds of non-consummation.  

Only a year after the failure of this marriage she was approached by Count Robert de Montesquiou, who knew about her sexuality and as a gay man himself had an idea. He had a friend who was also a gay man and introduced the two, suggesting a lavender marriage. A lavender marriage is a marriage between two queer people who use the marriage to protect themselves from rumours or violence.

Her second marriage was a happier tale. In 1893, at the age of 28, she willingly married the 59-year-old Prince Edmond de Polignac (1834–1901). Her husband was an amateur composer, and also, gay. Although never sexual, it proved to be a marriage based on profound love, mutual respect, understanding, and artistic friendship, expressed especially through their love of music. (2/6)

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Owing to the open nature of her marriage, she had affairs with numerous women, never making attempts to conceal them, and never going for any great length of time without a female lover. She had these affairs during her own marriages and afterwards, and often with other married women. The affronted husband of one of her lovers once stood outside the princess's Venetian palazzo, declaring, "If you are half the man I think you are, you will come out here and fight me."

Some notable lovers included Olga de Meyer, who was married at the time and whose godfather (and purported biological father) was Edward VII,  composer and conductor Ethel Smyth, pianist Renata Borgatti, British socialite and novelist Violet Trefusis, and most notably with the author Virginia Woolf. (3/6)

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Where Edmond was a rather introverted sensitive man, Winnaretta was sociable and together they amassed a large group of friends (most of whom were also queer). Despite persuing their individual extramarital affairs, they worked to create a home together that was a "temple of music."

In 1894, the Prince and Princesse de Polignac converted the music room of their Paris mansion into a salon which became known as a ‘haven for avant-garde music’. Chabrier, d'Indy, Debussy, Fauré, and Ravel all gave their first performances in the Polignac salon. After her husband's death, Winnaretta Singer-Polignac used her fortune to benefit the arts, sciences, and letters. She decided to honour his memory by commissioning several works of the young composers of her time, including Erik Satie whom she managed to keep out of jail while he composed this work for her. 

The salon was also frequented by those such as Isadora Duncan, Jean Cocteau, Claude Monet, Sergei Diaghilev, and Colette. She helped Diaghilev with his Ballets Russes on multiple occasions and financially supported the company. In addition to performing as pianist and organist in her own salon, she was an accomplished painter who exhibited in the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

However, Winaretta did not just spend her time socialising and living it up in the salon. She also took on important social work in the city.

Singer was a key leader in the development of Paris’ public housing. In 1911, she started a housing project for the working poor, which became a model for similar future projects. In the 1920s and 1930s, she commissioned the architect Le Corbusier to rebuild or construct several public shelters for Paris's Salvation Army, with herself living in the penthouse so she was close at hand to help. Along with her friend Madeleine Zillhardt, she bought the barge 'Louise-Catherine'  which was restored in 1929 to become a Salvation Army refuge for the homeless during winter and a summer school for children. (4/6)

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During World War I, she joined forces with Marie Curie to convert private limousines into mobile radiology units to help wounded soldiers at the front. She understood that money didn’t matter unless it was put to good use, and in doing so she saved many lives.

During the inter-war period, Singer-Polignac worked with Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan and assisted in the construction of a 360-bed hospital destined to provide medical care to middle-class workers. Today, this is the Foch Hospital in Paris which includes a school of nursing and is one of the top-ranked hospitals in France, especially for renal transplants. It has remained true to its origins and stayed a private not-for-profit institution that still serves the Paris community.

During WWII, she finally returned to England and used her connections and wealth to throw charity events.  

Despite the amazing good she did for the country, the press were (as is so often the case) more occupied with her “scandalous” personal life (i.e. her openness about her sexuality and affairs). (5/6)

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Tragically, Winnaretta was killed during an attack on London in late 1943. The war meant that her friends in France were unable to properly mourn her passing, but her huge art collection and estate were used to continue funding the arts and science projects that were so close to her heart.

After Singer-Polignac's death, her legacy of enlightened generosity was carried on through the work of the Fondation Singer-Polignac. Created in 1928, the goals of the foundation are the promotion, through gifts and bourses, of science, literature, the arts, culture, and French philanthropy. The Foundation continued to present concerts and recitals in the Polignac mansion's music room.

I hadn’t heard of Winnaretta Singer until very recently but I’m so glad I discovered her. She is a true icon to us all – unashamed to be who she was, an abuse survivor, willing to defend herself against violence and slander, a patron of the arts and mentor of some of the greatest artists of her generation, and most importantly, a millionaire who actually used her wealth for the common good instead of personal gain – who devoted herself wholly to her various communities and who ensured that she left the world a better place than she found it. I’m sure she’s having a grand birthday party up there! (6/6)