Rosamond Bernier

Rosamond Bernier (1916–2016) was a journalist and lecturer known for founding the Paris-based magazine L'oeil and for her presentations on art history at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Life and career Bernier was born Rosamond Margaret Rosenbaum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the invitation of her father, the head of the board of directors of the Philadelphia Orchestra, famous people in the classical music field visited her home, including composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and conductor Leopold Stokowski. While visiting Mexico during college, at a rehearsal conducted by Carlos Chavez, she met Aaron Copland, who was playing the piano, and muralist Diego Rivera and painter Frida Kahlo, and befriended them all. She abandoned college (Sarah Lawrence) and in 1946 moved to France, where she served as the first European Features Editor at Vogue. Two years later, she married the journalist Georges Bernier. In 1955, they founded L'oeil, an English language, Paris-based art journal. L'oeil published original work by famous artists, including some whose friendship she chronicled in her 1991 memoir, "Matisse, Picasso, Miro: As I Knew Them.". A subsidiary of the magazine produced 16 art books under the Bernier imprint. In 1970, they divorced after a 20-year marriage, and Bernier moved to New York City. There, she began a new career as what she called a "professional talker" on art and artists at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her 8pm lectures, delivered without notes and in full evening wear, sold out months in advance. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she interviewed artists and narrated documentaries on television networks, including CBS and PBS.