Dolly Hoffman
image from a very old W magazine
.
30 June 2010
the Turban, Ladies of a Certain age.
29 June 2010
Beaton, et al.
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Some stories never get written. Perhaps that is why so many of us crowd the internet with our own stories-what are we leaving behind? Pouring through books, shelving them, having them settle inexorably in our minds. The authors have written their stories, what do we take from them? Cecil Beaton's story of his beloved country home Ashcombe is one book that recurs in my mind's eye. What did the bon vivant say about...? This? That?
His stories are always about the people in his life-characters-real characters: Rex Whistler, Edith Olivier- two that inhabit the story & seem to form the spine of the Ashecombe narrative. His constants-as it were.
The ever knowledgeable Toby Worthington tells me- they are Lord David Cecil, Olivier, Ottoline Morrell and Rex Whistler- (where was Beaton? behind the camera, perhaps.)
Edith Olivier- charming mayoress of Wilton, Rex Whistler and Beaton took off on a joy ride while the two men were staying with Edith at her Dayehouse in Wiltshire-only to find themselves amongst the pages that would be Cecil Beaton's beautiful tale of Ashcombe- The Story of a Fifteen Year Lease.
Though a stream of players would enter: Morrells, Sitwells, Cecils, Johns, and exit-an Olivier and a Whistler-and their friendship with Beaton were Ashcombe's brightest stars. Beaton dedicates the book- "to the memory of EDITH OLIVIER who brought me to Wiltshire:
The Garden from the Terrace
"Of the neighbors on whom I grew to rely more and more, Edith Olivier was perhaps always the most cherished...& so largely responsible for my having blossomed into a happy adult life." Her close proximity deprived Cecil from her company as his weekend guest- "I would refrain from asking other guests, for selfishly I wanted to keep to myself the benefit of her company. Edith was always at her greatest advantage when a deux."
As the pages of Ashecombe receded in my mind, one day-this appeared.
A delicately painted notecard from a dear friend. Who was responsible for the magical garden watercolour? It struck me- a Cecil Beaton watercolour of Ashecombe? Was this another?
Not so.
The artist is the vibrant daughter of the note's sender.
Where was Ashecombe? To the shelves with other of my Beaton books- & off it came.
Ah ha! Yes. There was the same distinctly atmospheric handling of a scene. Just enough detail to make it memorable. Both watercolour scenes of, as Beaton put it so well, where he blossomed into happy adult life. For Beaton, Ashecombe, for Laura-Chatam Hall. Her continued rite of passage from there to college and now a graduate-returning to Chatam Hall this autumn to start a career. I marvel at this daughter of my childhood friend and her siblings-as they travel through so many passages- marriage, motherhood and the loss we must all suffer inevitably as adults.
Rex Whistler stood by Beaton as constant friend within the many pages of Ashecombe. The friendship of the two- Rex and Edith- was a part of the story as well. Rex "made Edith's Dayehouse his second home. He often told me that he was happier there than anywhere else." He confided in Cecil his fears that he could not survive the sudden loss of Edith-were something happen to her. An Ashcombe Sketching Competition between the two friends was judged by Olivier. "Rex reflected an extraordinary atmosphere of serenity and quite continuum. It was a sweet Auburn sense of life that he liked and always seemed to create."
The eighteenth century was his inspiration" and his work said Beaton, "contributed much to the taste of the twentieth century." What might be a labour for other artists-Rex "flicked off expertly in a few twists of his pen."
Parties and tableau were so much a part of the Ashcombe set, characters floating in and out, moving off stage and with the onset of the war, Ashcombe's idylls waned. Rex enlisted, Edith threw herself into the war efforts in Wilton. She chronicled her experiences beautifully in Night Thoughts of A Country Landlady & presided as Mayor of Wilton.
Cecil's return from his travels during the war found Edith much the same, somehow though her dark black hair, such a part of her gipsy persona, had turned pure white. Beaton feared Edith had become a staid spinster. After a few minutes of talk, he saw no other marked changes. His fears that their cherished Rex would not return from the war were realized when news came-Rex had been killed in Normandy. "I have never ceased to mourn his death... I am continually wishing for his delightful company, his views on character and people, and his suggestions on a thousand details of taste and decoration."
It is often the case as we see our own stories go off course- characters exit suddenly without saying goodbye- Our loss palatable. We cherish the illusion that we might go on for ever. (from Beaton Ashecombe)
"Love , marriage, death, the passing of a house-these things are the milestones of life and they point a finger to the clock. The expiration of my lease was as a milestone which indicated that a lump of my life had passed in a timeless flash." It can not go on forever.
all Quotations are from ASHCOMBE- Cecil Beaton
ASHCOMBE, all house images-unless noted
STYLE TRADITIONS RECREATING PERIOD INTERIORS, by Stephen Calloway and Stephen Jones-Whistler image of Daye House.
.
Rex Whistler's own- Ashcombe
His stories are always about the people in his life-characters-real characters: Rex Whistler, Edith Olivier- two that inhabit the story & seem to form the spine of the Ashecombe narrative. His constants-as it were.
Conversation-piece at The Day House
1937, by Rex Whistler
Edith Oliver perched on her daybed- though the other Players are unidentified- they are likely Beaton, seated with Olivier, Ottoline Morrell, opposite, and perhaps the painter himself.1937, by Rex Whistler
The ever knowledgeable Toby Worthington tells me- they are Lord David Cecil, Olivier, Ottoline Morrell and Rex Whistler- (where was Beaton? behind the camera, perhaps.)
Edith Olivier- charming mayoress of Wilton, Rex Whistler and Beaton took off on a joy ride while the two men were staying with Edith at her Dayehouse in Wiltshire-only to find themselves amongst the pages that would be Cecil Beaton's beautiful tale of Ashcombe- The Story of a Fifteen Year Lease.
Olivier strolling about Ashecombe just after Beaton arrived.
Though a stream of players would enter: Morrells, Sitwells, Cecils, Johns, and exit-an Olivier and a Whistler-and their friendship with Beaton were Ashcombe's brightest stars. Beaton dedicates the book- "to the memory of EDITH OLIVIER who brought me to Wiltshire:
from the 1949 Ashecombe The Story of A Fifteen-Year Lease
The Garden from the Terrace
by Cecil Beaton
"Of the neighbors on whom I grew to rely more and more, Edith Olivier was perhaps always the most cherished...& so largely responsible for my having blossomed into a happy adult life." Her close proximity deprived Cecil from her company as his weekend guest- "I would refrain from asking other guests, for selfishly I wanted to keep to myself the benefit of her company. Edith was always at her greatest advantage when a deux."
As the pages of Ashecombe receded in my mind, one day-this appeared.
Chatam Hall
by Laura
A delicately painted notecard from a dear friend. Who was responsible for the magical garden watercolour? It struck me- a Cecil Beaton watercolour of Ashecombe? Was this another?
Not so.
The artist is the vibrant daughter of the note's sender.
Where was Ashecombe? To the shelves with other of my Beaton books- & off it came.
Ah ha! Yes. There was the same distinctly atmospheric handling of a scene. Just enough detail to make it memorable. Both watercolour scenes of, as Beaton put it so well, where he blossomed into happy adult life. For Beaton, Ashecombe, for Laura-Chatam Hall. Her continued rite of passage from there to college and now a graduate-returning to Chatam Hall this autumn to start a career. I marvel at this daughter of my childhood friend and her siblings-as they travel through so many passages- marriage, motherhood and the loss we must all suffer inevitably as adults.
Beaton in the Circus room,posing in an 18th-century-style jacket, with surreal touches,
for a fete champetre, hosted at his country house, Ashcombe.
for a fete champetre, hosted at his country house, Ashcombe.
Rex Whistler stood by Beaton as constant friend within the many pages of Ashecombe. The friendship of the two- Rex and Edith- was a part of the story as well. Rex "made Edith's Dayehouse his second home. He often told me that he was happier there than anywhere else." He confided in Cecil his fears that he could not survive the sudden loss of Edith-were something happen to her. An Ashcombe Sketching Competition between the two friends was judged by Olivier. "Rex reflected an extraordinary atmosphere of serenity and quite continuum. It was a sweet Auburn sense of life that he liked and always seemed to create."
The eighteenth century was his inspiration" and his work said Beaton, "contributed much to the taste of the twentieth century." What might be a labour for other artists-Rex "flicked off expertly in a few twists of his pen."
Whistler's distinctive style
Parties and tableau were so much a part of the Ashcombe set, characters floating in and out, moving off stage and with the onset of the war, Ashcombe's idylls waned. Rex enlisted, Edith threw herself into the war efforts in Wilton. She chronicled her experiences beautifully in Night Thoughts of A Country Landlady & presided as Mayor of Wilton.
Edith Olivier as Mayor of Wilton
Cecil's return from his travels during the war found Edith much the same, somehow though her dark black hair, such a part of her gipsy persona, had turned pure white. Beaton feared Edith had become a staid spinster. After a few minutes of talk, he saw no other marked changes. His fears that their cherished Rex would not return from the war were realized when news came-Rex had been killed in Normandy. "I have never ceased to mourn his death... I am continually wishing for his delightful company, his views on character and people, and his suggestions on a thousand details of taste and decoration."
It is often the case as we see our own stories go off course- characters exit suddenly without saying goodbye- Our loss palatable. We cherish the illusion that we might go on for ever. (from Beaton Ashecombe)
"Love , marriage, death, the passing of a house-these things are the milestones of life and they point a finger to the clock. The expiration of my lease was as a milestone which indicated that a lump of my life had passed in a timeless flash." It can not go on forever.
all Quotations are from ASHCOMBE- Cecil Beaton
ASHCOMBE, all house images-unless noted
STYLE TRADITIONS RECREATING PERIOD INTERIORS, by Stephen Calloway and Stephen Jones-Whistler image of Daye House.
.
Summer Table
.
I've always been so intrigued by this Horst photograph of Mrs. Charles Fuller's Connecticut porch. I Love this table size food screen-a Japanese gauze fly guard. Its tentlike coverage with fine screening is brilliant for waylaying pesky flying things. Horst photographed and published Mrs.Fuller's home in the now covetable Vogue's Book of Houses Gardens People.
The house-once a church-was so tempting Mrs. Fuller purchased the property by telephone.
Intriguing- all the interiors- and I will share them as the summer progresses. It is a good mix of Bohemian elements all set within the 1889 stained glass Victorian structure. In fact several photographs transport us to the houses on the Bosporus.
Intrigued?
What do you do that takes you away right on your own back porch?
.
I've always been so intrigued by this Horst photograph of Mrs. Charles Fuller's Connecticut porch. I Love this table size food screen-a Japanese gauze fly guard. Its tentlike coverage with fine screening is brilliant for waylaying pesky flying things. Horst photographed and published Mrs.Fuller's home in the now covetable Vogue's Book of Houses Gardens People.
The house-once a church-was so tempting Mrs. Fuller purchased the property by telephone.
Intriguing- all the interiors- and I will share them as the summer progresses. It is a good mix of Bohemian elements all set within the 1889 stained glass Victorian structure. In fact several photographs transport us to the houses on the Bosporus.
Intrigued?
What do you do that takes you away right on your own back porch?
.
28 June 2010
Summer Scents & Sensibilities
.
fragrances
evoke a season, a person, a moment
this- a fragrance and flower I could never fore go in the summer
"that was the moment I first saw the lilies. and that was the moment when, having seen them,I mentally signed the contract to buy the house...I had to possess those lilies...The lilies were a variety known as Regale, and they stood in rows of glistening white down the whole length of one side of the kitchen garden.a faint breeze was stirring, & as they nodded their heads there drifted towards us a most exquisite fragrance.never before, in any garden of the world, have I seen such lilies; their loveliness was literally dazzling;the massed array of the white blossom was like sunlit snow. nor was this shining, shimmering beauty merely the result of mass, for as I walked closer I saw that each individual blossom was a perfect specimen, with a stem that was often four feet high, bearing on its proud summit no less than a dozen blossoms." BEVERLY NICHOLS
"Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it." Patrick Suskind
Hermes here
Diptyque here
the Style Saloniste writes about Coup de Foudre by DelRae Roth here
Read the extraordinary post by Hawkwood about the sitter of Breitner's painting here
Rose C'est La Vie draws violets here
a Tobacco History here
Tobacco warehouse image here
the Esoteric Curiosa on the Baroness here
LUXE APOTHECARY here from Voluspa candles here
Fiquet Bailey on green here
Dissey & Piver label, 18th c. cabinet images from The Book of Perfume,by Barille & Laroze
Das Perfum by Patrick Suskind here
.
Breitner the red kimono,Geesje Kwak posing
"Let a noise or a scent, once heard or once smelt, be heard or smelt again... & immediately the permanent &
habitually concealed essence of things is liberated & our true self which seemed to be dead but was not altogether dead, is awakened & reanimated." PROUST
what fragrance moves you?
why?
why?
photograph by Eugene Atget, around 1910
my perfume cabinet
fragrances
evoke a season, a person, a moment
violets ~
Viola odorata
my GranMa carried a violet bouquet at her wedding, Dec. 1918
the smell of violet, hidden in green
the smell of violet, hidden in green
pour'd back into my empty soul & frame
the times when I remember to have been
Joyful & free from blame-Tennyson
in the cabinet, Napoleon Bonaparte presides
as candle by CIRE TRUDON
candle maker to the French Royals since 1643
why should we settle for one signature scent?
the scents that say summer for me-
a rose- a bouquet of violets- rows of tuberose- tobacco- lily
my grandparents had a field of tuberose each summer
Polianthes tuberosa
the scents that say summer for me-
a rose- a bouquet of violets- rows of tuberose- tobacco- lily
Polianthes tuberosa
tuberose is night-flowering-the Aztecs called it bone flower
Tokyo Milk fragrances
(click on each fragrance to read the contents)
Poe's Tobacco No.1
Contemplation No.7
Waltz No.14
Ex Libris No.16
(click on each fragrance to read the contents)
Poe's Tobacco No.1
Contemplation No.7
Waltz No.14
Ex Libris No.16
NICOTIANA
the overwhelming heady scents of a tobacco warehouse
a constant summer memory for me- en masse, or
the sweet remains of the day on my father's collar
Scents & Buddha
from diptyque- L'Ombre Dans l'Eau
from diptyque- L'Ombre Dans l'Eau
from Hermes 24, Faubourg
Hermes Eau de Pamplemousse Rose
summery citrus with rose notes
George Trumper Extract of West Indies Lime
a favorite of Pauline de Rothschild so says Mitchell Owens-de Rothschild expert
Pauline de Rothschild
photograph here
BELLE FLEUR ~MAYAN TUBEROSE
a heady single note
around the house, Candles, Diffusers
in summer I prefer a single note floral, or lemon
in summer I prefer a single note floral, or lemon
AGRARIA~ LEMON VERBENA
CITRUSY fragrances in any form are summer favorites
inexpensive & addicting-
this- a fragrance and flower I could never fore go in the summer
Lilium Regale, drooping their heavy heads
my own in the garden
Fumée d'Ambre Gris
John Singer Sargent
& Incense
ESTEBAN ~CEDRE
the only one I use year round.
ESTEBAN ~CEDRE
the only one I use year round.
Eau d' Teou
by Dissey & Piver
a label for the perfumer with Chinese figures & a dressing cabinet
my perfume cabinet is in the bedroom
a rare perfume cabinet made of marquetry from the 18th century used for traveling
from the Natural History Museum in Paris
Hermes here
Diptyque here
the Style Saloniste writes about Coup de Foudre by DelRae Roth here
Read the extraordinary post by Hawkwood about the sitter of Breitner's painting here
Rose C'est La Vie draws violets here
a Tobacco History here
Tobacco warehouse image here
the Esoteric Curiosa on the Baroness here
LUXE APOTHECARY here from Voluspa candles here
Fiquet Bailey on green here
Dissey & Piver label, 18th c. cabinet images from The Book of Perfume,by Barille & Laroze
Das Perfum by Patrick Suskind here
.
27 June 2010
sunscreen by Tissot
.
Mrs Newton, a divorcee, was Tissot's companion & model. She lived with Tissot for 6 years until her suicide- at the age of 28, Mrs. Newton was in the late stages of consumption.
.
Mrs. Newton with Parasol
James Tissot
Mrs Newton, a divorcee, was Tissot's companion & model. She lived with Tissot for 6 years until her suicide- at the age of 28, Mrs. Newton was in the late stages of consumption.
.
26 June 2010
25 June 2010
Charlotte's leitmotif
from Halcyon Days
the Charlotte Moss bracelet with a beautiful woven basket motif & daisy
the Nantucket Collection
a beautiful old caned chair in one of Charlotte Moss' own spaces
Charlotte Moss Style
a Spring table setting with woven basket chargers,
woven vessels & woven wrapped glasses
the Nancy pattern designed for Pickard by Charlotte Moss-
inspired by Nancy Lancaster, fellow Virginian
a graceful motif of bamboo style fretwork
Nancy
in the tradition of tastemaker Nancy Lancaster
from Pickard: Nancy
the Nantucket baskets
Nancy spill vase, what is wonderful about it besides
the basket weave pattern?
I never tire of-Its' diminutive size,
(3 1/2 inches)
The Muse Collection by Charlotte Moss. Redecorating the White House, hosting state dinners and picnics in Nantucket… Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis left an enduring legacy that continues to inspire us today. The Nantucket Collection is decorated on cocoa beige and white enamel with delicate hand painted daisy chains and intricate shading on the basket weave.(from the Halcyon Days site)
Charlotte Moss Style
a Spring table setting with woven basket chargers,
woven vessels & woven wrapped glasses
the Nancy pattern designed for Pickard by Charlotte Moss-
inspired by Nancy Lancaster, fellow Virginian
a graceful motif of bamboo style fretwork
Nancy
in the tradition of tastemaker Nancy Lancaster
the Nantucket baskets
"We drew simplicity from Jackie Kennedy. She had a very complex life but a very simple, refined aesthetic, from her shift dresses to her Nantucket baskets and daisies, which are simple flowers but were her favorite. We took the Nantucket basket and the daisies and crafted them together to make something that was very feminine."
(from Charlotte Moss)
(from Charlotte Moss)
stylish and in sunny yellow
Jacqueline Kennedy
Nancy spill vase, what is wonderful about it besides
the basket weave pattern?
I never tire of-Its' diminutive size,
(3 1/2 inches)
The Muse Collection by Charlotte Moss. Redecorating the White House, hosting state dinners and picnics in Nantucket… Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis left an enduring legacy that continues to inspire us today. The Nantucket Collection is decorated on cocoa beige and white enamel with delicate hand painted daisy chains and intricate shading on the basket weave.(from the Halcyon Days site)
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