Linda Dannenberg: Bylines and Books

A little more than 20 years ago, I arrived in Provence with the late Pierre Moulin and Pierre Le Vec, founders of Pierre Deux, the widely influential group of French Country antiques and decoration shops. This endearing and dynamic duo, more than anyone or anything else, was responsible for introducing the concept of French country style to the United States. Our mission during this sun-washed, long-ago summer: to create a book on the style and lifestyle of the south of France. After several weeks of research and scouting, photographer Guy Bouchet came to join us, and the book that eventually became Pierre Deux’s French Country was on its way. “French Country” as a name and an articulated style was in its infancy back then. But over the last two decades, “French Country” grew from a style of furnishing into a craze and eventually into a global lifestyle phenomenon.

“French Country” these days is as much about image as it is about style. The phrase conjures not just thoughts of a fine walnut armoire and brightly printed cotton curtains, but visions of endless, sunny days, sitting on the terrace of a village café sipping chilled rosé; of climbing the rugged hills of the Luberon up to a rustic country auberge for its savory, herb-scented Sunday lunches; of listening to Verdi’s La Traviata on a starry summer night in Aix-en-Provence; of hunting for the perfect 18th-century buffet (or 19th-century limestone mantel) in the antique shops of Isle sur la Sorgue; and of visiting the Abbaye de Sénanque, surrounded by vast lavender gardens, and--whatever your religious persuasion--attending the remarkable mass of Gregorian chants early on a Sunday morning.

Beyond happy dreams of being there, French Country now is also about bringing the best of what’s there home, tapping into the finest and most authentic elements and ideas that the rural regions of France--especially the south of France--have to offer and adapting them to your environment, wherever in the world that may be. The mistral may not howl down your chimney, and the sun may not be a powerful, shimmering aura outside your window, but the fabrics, the furniture, the crafts and the cuisine will be within, and with them the exuberant spirit and charm of the French countryside.

Almost 25 years on, French Country style is as popular as ever, if not more so, thanks not only to the long-lived international success of Pierre Deux’s French Country that amazed and humbled us, but also to other, later books such as Peter Mayle’s A Year In Provence, and Toujours Provence, which fueled other dreams of this delicious region. Disseminating the style to a vast new audience were the scores of decorators and decorating catalogues that picked up and perpetuated the French Country theme. Over the last two decades, I’ve revisited Provence many times for both work and vacation, and noted each time how Provence was evolving.

Old fabric companies were modernized if not reinvented, producing high quality fabrics in captivating new patterns or newly-adapted antique patterns, the textiles growing beyond the classic cheery floral sprigged cottons to sophisticated toiles, subtle stripes, and handsome jacquard weaves. Beautifully restored houses in a wide variety of styles were proliferating from the mountains to the sea. Enchanting new hotels and B & B’s were springing up. Gardens were blooming where before they had gone to seed, or not existed at all. And, distinctly noticeable, the decorative palette of Provence was growing more varied and sophisticated, expanding from the bright signature hues of russet, ocher, sunflower, vivid green and rich blue, to more subtle beige, greige, sand, mauve and pale olive. The old artisans--most of them anyway--were still there, but there were new artisans as well, inspired by the old traditions while bringing a fresh contemporary vision to their work. Wonderful regional antiques were getting progressively harder to find. The beautiful 18th-century walnut armoire offered for $15,000 in 1982 couldn’t be found for three times the price today; ditto for the gorgeous 18th-century lavishly carved buffet-à-glissants I saw in Le Paradou for $10,000 and have been dreaming about ever since, hélas. But the best antique dealers had begun to produce beautifully hand-crafted reproductions, which were displayed with pride in many of the finest houses I visited, right alongside the classic antiques.

With the Midi more alluring than ever, I believed it was time to go back and re-examine French Country style in Provence, to research the best of what was old, and had continued on, and what was new with incipient staying power, in short, to present a new French Country to all those who love the style, the region, and everything it represents, as I do. Over the course of two years, I had the opportunity and pleasure to spend many months back in Provence, travelling everywhere from the tip of the Drôme, just below Valence, south to the Mediterranean, and from west of the Rhône east to the Italian border. This book has been a remarkable and privileged journey.

Provence remains the Provence of our dreams, despite being bit more developed in some areas, less rural, less “undiscovered” in many areas, and, understandably, more expensive everywhere. The land is rich, diverse, and uniquely luminous, characteristics reflected in every style domain--furniture, architecture, tiles, fabrics, foods and gardening. A fertile, sun-baked region of southern France, Provence has a charm so distinctive, traditions so deeply rooted, and a joie de vivre so contagious that it stands alone, a principality in spirit if not in fact.

To find myself back in Provence, in a little cottage near Les-Baux-de-Provence set between olive groves and a field of poppies, was my own Proust-like experience of finding le temps perdu. Sitting in the garden on a string of balmy evenings, watching the sun set through the silvery leaves of the olive trees, I was, as I had been during my very first sojourn in Provence, overwhelmed by the countryside’s intoxicating assault on the senses. The air here is heady with the powerful, aromatic fragrances of rosemary, thyme, and lavender; the winds, from the gentle breezes to the relentless mistral, cool the brow and cleanse the air; and, at nightfall, the chirping of the cicadas--les cigales--rings long after the actual song is over. This is the immutable Provence, the Provence that I love.