The spring of 1865 in Paris brought one of the founding moments in modern history. It happened during the month of April when the artist Edouard Manet introduced the provocative painting Olympia to the dynamic world of Parisian art. Olympia broke many of the old rules of established painting and ushered in the era of modern art. As it spread worldwide from Paris, modern art gave room for many new voices in art and literature. That moment inspired Paris 1865 Press.
is a modern art historian and founding partner of Late Bloom Productions. She received her graduate training in art history at the University of Chicago. Alexander worked intimately with some of the world’s greatest museums and galleries, New York, Paris, Berlin, Chicago and Los Angeles and developed art education programs; curated exhibits; and later taught art history and visual culture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is known for her quirky art history tours in some of the grandest museums in the US. As a 19th Century French art historian she scoured the archives and streets of Paris for threads linking the lives of Manet and his friends during the Impressionist era.
She has consulted with both museums and private art collectors. For an upcoming book Black Market, she has interviewed over a hundred of prominent art collectors – including many stars from the world of sports, entertainment, and business. With a partnership with Goldman Sachs, she held art forums, at the MoMA, Art Institute of Chicago and the MOCA, for art collectors across the country.
Her writing has appeared on the pages of art magazines and journals. She’s been featured in a number of publications including, Art + Auction Magazine; the Wall Street Journal; and the Washington Post. And her guest appearance on Nate Berkus’ show, hit the second highest rating he achieved on Oprah & Friends Radio. SOUTHERN GOTHIC is her debut novel in the young adult series, A Celine Caldwell Mystery. Alexander currently lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter, where when not writing, she takes friends on midnight tours of the cultural institutions.
A series of twelve high-adventure novels set in the rarified world where fine art and culture are coveted commodities; where money, status and power are the currency; and where everyone knows the rules of a high-stakes game that can bring great fortune or failure. The stories, set in NYC, LA, Paris, Berlin, and Dubai, offer a contemporary observation of a teen’s search for herself and her place in the most privileged world behind the velvet ropes and paneled exhibition halls.
Each book follows Celine, as she grows from a sixteen-year-old private school student with an internship in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; to a young archivist at the Museum and second-year Barnard College art history major. Supported by a loyal group of friends, she probes mysterious crimes in the toniest centers of the art world – museums, auction houses and galleries; and engages with artists, art patrons, university art history scholars and the public. The web of crimes portrayed ranges from cold art thefts to murders; from a fatwã placed on an art benefactor to historical crimes in post-civil war; and from Nazi theft to Middle Eastern intrigue.
Readers appreciate Celine’s critical eye, dogged persistence, and tart mouth; her skepticism about adults’ claim to the moral high ground; and her devotion to her smart vulnerable friends. They love how Celine holds her own in her strong, but broken family — despite being outmatched by her famous mother, a world-renowned Metropolitan Museum curator – or as Celine has said, “the museum world’s goddess in five-inch stilettos,” and humored by her doting father, a wheeling and dealing Wall Street investment banker.
The series follows Celine through the fits and starts of laying the beginning foundation of her young life and the career she’s passionate to pursue. We see how Celine learns to solve mysteries using the tools she developed as a student of both art and observer of adult folly and hypocrisy.