Ganna Walska (1887-1984) was a Polish-born opera singer whose career was followed as much for her personal extravagance as for her performances. She was one of the more colourful figures in the Cartier Paris client list of the interwar decades, known less for her singing skills than for her capacity and enthusiasm for spending, particularly on jewellery.
A notable Cartier client
Walska married six times. Time magazine reported in February 1938 that her four previous husbands had owned fortunes totalling around $125 million between them. Her marriage to the reaper company heir Harold McCormick lasted nine years, from 1922 to 1931, and during that period she became one of Cartier's best clients. She shopped in all three branches, though most of her important pieces were made in Paris, where the quality of the craftsmanship was then considered superior to elsewhere.
A great admirer of Cartier's Eastern-inspired Art Deco style, she bought notable pieces through the 1920s, from the Shinto mystery clock to a carved coral chimera bangle, and sapphire, diamond, and carved emerald necklaces. The decision to use rock crystal alongside diamonds in large bracelets, a style favoured by Walska and the Hollywood actress Gloria Swanson, proved a commercial success for Cartier through the early 1930s. Walska also came to know the Cartiers personally, dining with Pierre and Elma in New York and joining them in London for the 1937 coronation festivities.
An earlier husband, Alexander Smith Cochran, described as "the world's richest bachelor," had marked their marriage with a gift: she was told to go "with carte blanche to Cartier and choose anything" she desired.
The Portique clock
Among the documented pieces connected to Walska is Portique clock No. 1, made in 1923. The Portique clocks were one of the most architectural of the mystery clock types produced by Maurice Couet for Cartier: between 1923 and 1925, six were made, each with a twelve-sided rock crystal dial, diamond hands, rock crystal columns, and a black onyx base. Clock No. 1 was sold to Walska and later acquired by Robert Hocq at a Christie's auction in 1973.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), chs. 7-8
- Wikipedia: Ganna Walska
- Time magazine, 7 February 1938 (cited via Wikipedia)
