What is "salon"

Salon \Sa`lon"\, n. [F. See Saloon.]

1. An apartment for the reception of company; hence, in the plural, fashionable parties; circles of fashionable society.

2. An apartment for the reception and exhibition of works of art; hence, an annual exhibition of paintings, sculptures, etc., held in Paris by the Society of French Artists; -- sometimes called the Old Salon.

   New Salon is a popular name for an annual exhibition of paintings, sculptures, etc., held in Paris at the Champs de Mars, by the Soci['e]t['e] Nationale des Beaux-Arts (National Society of Fine Arts), a body of artists who, in 1890, seceded from the Soci['e]t['e] des Artistes Fran[,c]ais (Society of French Artists).

1690s, "large room or apartment in a palace or great house," from French salon "reception room" (17c.), from Italian salone "large hall," from sala "hall," from a Germanic source (compare Old English sele, Old Norse salr "hall," Old High German sal "hall, house," German Saal), from Proto-Germanic *salaz, from PIE *sel- (1) "human settlement" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic selo "courtyard, village," obsolete Polish siolo, Russian selo "village," Lithuanian sala "village").\n

\nSense of "reception room of a Parisian lady" is from 1810; meaning "gathering of fashionable people" first recorded 1888 (the woman who hosts one is a salonnière). Meaning "annual exhibition of contemporary paintings and sculpture in Paris" is from its originally being held in one of the salons of the Louvre. Meaning "establishment for hairdressing and beauty care" is from 1913.

n. 1 a large room, especially one used to receive and entertain guests 2 a gathering of people for a social or intellectual meeting 3 an art gallery 4 a beauty salon or similar establishment

1. n. gallery where works of art can be displayed

2. a shop where hairdressers and beauticians work [syn: beauty salon, beauty parlor, beauty parlour, beauty shop]

3. elegant sitting room where guests are received

Salon is a liberal website created by David Talbot in 1995 and part of Salon Media Group . It focuses on U.S. politics and current affairs.

Salons headquarters is located at 870 Market Street San Francisco, California. As of June 2013, its editor-in-chief is David Daley, after previous editor-in-chief Kerry Lauerman stepped down to partner with Larer Ventures on a new startup. Lauerman's predecessor Joan Walsh stepped down from that position in November 2010 but remained as editor at large.

Salon may refer to:

• Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
• Champagne Salon, a producer of sparkling wine
• Drawing room, an architectural space in a home
• Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
• Salon (Paris), a regular art exhibition

A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" ("aut delectare aut prodesse"). Salons, commonly associated with French literary and philosophical movements of the 17th and 18th centuries, were carried on until as recently as the 1940s in urban settings.

Formally dressed patrons at the Salon in 1890

]] The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon (French: Salon de Paris), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the 1761 Salon, thirty-three painters, nine sculptors, and eleven engravers contributed From 1881 onward, it has been managed by the Société des Artistes Français.

The salons of Early Modern and Revolutionary France played an integral role in the cultural and intellectual development of France. The salons were seen by contemporary writers as a cultural hub, responsible for the dissemination of good manners and sociability. It was not merely manners that the salons supposedly spread but also ideas, as the salons became a centre of intellectual as well as social exchange, playing host to many members of the Republic of Letters. In contrast to other Early Modern institutions, women played an important and visible role within the salons. The extent of this role is, however, heavily contested by some historians.