30 November 2010

the WORLD of MADELEINE CASTAING for You.

.

one of my favorite photographs of M.Castaing from the book,courtesy of Rizzoli
(the author says it is one of hers too)


It is Just what this sort of book should be- Enchanting.
Can a book be all things to all people? I think not. If you are looking for a dry detached text-stodginess- do not enter the World of Madeleine Castaing.
This book is for the scholar or student yes, perhaps- but Madeleine herself would have abhorred such a reading. It is after all- Madeleine's World. Here you will find magic-Madeleine seems to be walking just ahead of you in that red hooded cape on the grounds of Leves-her treasured home, where everything seemed possible.

Emily Evans Eerdmans has invited us into that World and at times I feel as if she has spent hours interviewing her subject- hearing a story perhaps for a second or third time with a different embellishment or two.The book captures the magical rooms and life this woman managed to create while swimming against the tide of design and art in her era. This was a women who was inspired by Proust's work and nothing would do until she imbued her rooms and shop with the sense that time was suspended in the World of Castaing. The layers of design research with Castaing as the Maestro, and her followers, Emilio Terry, Cocteau- whether designer or artist- entered that World willingly-soliciting the aid of the Muse herself or interpreting her work with their won.

In today's world of "a design book a year" from countless designers plying their trade,I found this book to be a welcome treasure. Both the author and the subject are fully confident in her abilities, coupled with inordinate charm & gratefully in no way prosaic. For all that enter the world of Madeleine Castaing-prepare to spend hours with a most bewitching woman-& book, revealing just enough for us to feel we know this enchantress.

Must we know all the minutiae of a magician's tricks to know it is magic? The World she created for herself -others desired and mimicked by the dozens- however none succeeded like the original-for it lacked one thing- the presence of the magician, and like magic this book enchants and delights.

I loved it, and you will too-since you are reading this blog..





It is yours, & it is signed by the author. Fortunately  I was at the launch of the book and had Emily sign a copy for you and several for other friends as well.

What you have to do.
Leave a comment for me, and Madeleine, and Emily.

updated to this post from the author- "Because Castaing placed so much importance on love and two is clearly better than one, I'd love to throw in another copy of the book for you to give to your readers. More is more! xo, EEE"

how wonderful is that-
You have until Tuesday December 7.
merry christmas early, Twice.




your book and the author signing



 Can't wait ti hear what you think about Madeleine Castaing- and Emily's deep purple gloves.


more little augury posts on Castaing here
more on EMILY at her blog and read her Castaing outtakes and side bars too, here

.

Favete Linguis

.
Favete Linguis.
Horace



photograph by David Seidner 
Worth Paris Gown
 
 
 
 
How we do get caught up in words, in pictures-sometimes a picture is worth-
Silence.

 
 
(with silence favor me-Horace)
image from artnet 1985 here

.

28 November 2010

a tableau & Gayfere House

.
Lady Ashley reenacting 
Italian Masters for the Prince of Wales Theatre
in aid of the "General- Lying-In -Hospital"
(captioned from the original photograph in my collection)


Lady Ashley as Ghirlandaio's Giovanna Tornabuoni











Lady Ashley as Cavallino's Saint Catherine






The sitter is Wilfred Ashley's second wife Muriel , "Molly", And she was Mrs. Ashley from 1914 (her marriage) until 1932 (when her husband was raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Mount Temple). As a result of her marriage, Muriel Emily Spencer was styled as Baroness Mount Temple on 13 January 1932. Molly was his second wife, the glorious and slightly seclusive personality , Muriel  Forbes-Sempill, former wife of Rear-Admiral A L O Forbes-Sempill. Her formal title was Baroness Mount Temple. She is referred in the photographs captions as Lady Ashley and Country Life refers to her as Lady Mount Temple. I shall call her Molly. So- "Molly" with the help of architect Oliver Hill, built one of the most ravishing houses in London in the 1920s, Gayfere House, in Great Peter Street, Westminster.
(with a lovely assist in tracking some information on the Lady from the AESTHETE. the Lament here.




Gayfere House built of red brick & Portland stone in the Queen Anne style. Oliver Hill's reverence for the formalities of the style and what Country Life called the "Luytensesque," created a "lighter exterior in spirit and handling."



The drawing room at Gayfere House

 this image from Country Life London Interiors, John Cornforth

 
The walls of the Gayfere House drawing room were of green-silvered mirror glass & silver grey oak. Molly was the driving force for this modern Baroque masterpiece-sharing her passion with Hill.  Country Life describes the room:  'The walls of glass- backed with small squares of green silver foil and pilasters, and panels of silver-grey oak which disguised the jib doors. These also formed shutters at night that folded over the windows, while the chimneypiece and overmantel of 18th century inspiration were carried out in engraved looking glass. Silver became a leitmotif for the decade...Oliver Hill was fascinated by the possibilities offered by the new ways in which glass was produced. Moreover, Hill had a painter's eye as well as an architect's, which enables him to respond to a very wide range of objects & materials, both hard and soft, man-made and natural, and he was always able to draw on his vivid historical memories & imagination. Thus he was a brilliant architectural decorator.'
 
What we now take for granted in our rooms today-here at Gayfere House- even the positioning of flowers was integral to the rooms appearance and the arrangement of them- was very new to decorating at the time. The flowers in the Country Life photographs are acknowledged as innovator Constance Spry's work. Two of the arrangements are real while the third is an arrangement of make believe ones. The sumptuously placed stems were 'in a composition reminiscent of Van Huysum or Baptiste.' (16thc. painters)


 van Huysum



Described by Christopher Hussey- 'the bedroom was the cool green of deep water: a bed set in a crystal alcove and resting on crystal feet, standing on a milk-white floor. The Walls and ceiling are glazed green. The bed-cover and chair of zebra- skin.' Hussey also confirms that to a large degree, Lady Mount Temple had the ideas and Hill- the ability to interpret them. ' Both parties were free to criticise and protest, though each undertook not to destroy anything  original in the work of the other.'  It is hardly  thought that the work went terribly smooth- both were known to have their way and Hill-according to Country Life- used every trick available to get his way.


The bathroom at Gayfere House 




In the 1931, Oliver Hill (1887-1968) installed panels of beveled mirrors without decorative frames for the walls, ceilings, decorative panels and door architraves in a bathroom for the Gayfere House in London.  In front of a mirrored wall, Hill placed decorative objects, such as vases and perfume bottles, on glass shelves. Combined with the reflective fronts of a lavatory and a chest, every surface became available for reflection. Altogether the walls, ceiling, cabinet fronts, shelves and accessories formed endless Kaleidoscope effects made more capricious with electric lighting. ( Cornell University linked in text) The craze for modern bathrooms and the ability to design in mirror thrilled Oliver Hill. The innovations in mirror design gave him a chance to pull out all the stops as it were- and design a cabinet des glaces at Gayfere House., The walls and the ceiling were in grey mirror, a floor of black marble and the bath tub was of gold mosaic with blue glass vessels in sky blue recesses. Little else would do than to finish the room off with matching blue towels.


The beautiful Molly, reviving the old masters in tableau, appears to sit placidly while who knows what thoughts may have swirled in her head-perhaps a bed swathed in zebra at Gayfere House along with the nagging thought that Mr. Hill was working his own plans for the same in impala.



all the Gayfere House images are from the Country Life Archives here 
or LONDON INTERIORS from the Archives of Country Life.
the tableau photographs are from my own collection.

.

27 November 2010

on Riding : First Coursing Meet of Irish Wolfhounds

.


from my collection,

captioned: The first coursing meeting in this country of Irish Wolfhounds took place on Wednesday near Amesbury (Wilts) Two of the dogs in the slips.

James and Florence Nagle were both very keen on animals being able to do the work they were bred for and he was a driving force behind the setting up of coursing meetings and the foundation of the Irish Wolfhound Coursing Club. The first coursing meeting was held near Amesbury, Wiltshire (the Nagle's home at the time) in February, 1925. .
"Mr. J. Nagle writes that he has some very interesting entries for the coursing meeting, and that several very well-known winners on the bench are to take part. Mrs. Southey is running Crewkerne Georgie (winner bitch challenge certificate at LKA) and another. Mrs. Beynon is running three or perhaps four. This is an interesting entry, as all her hounds have hunted big game in Kenya, and that good sportswoman is anxious to see how her hounds perform against the English-bred hounds. Lady Watson will probably run her hound, Sulhamstead Pedlar (the sire of Ch. F. Kilcullen). Pedlar is now in his sixth year, but kills hares regularly and will make some of the younger hounds gallop. The greatest support seems to come from the fair sex, and the entries by men are so far Mr. Nagle's Sulhamstead Thelma and the writer's Ch. Felixstowe Killcao.

"I know that Mr. Nagle has splendid and ample accommodation for the hounds that will take part, and that the air at Stourbridge is indeed very bracing, so that both owners and hounds should have an enjoyable outing. There are no fences or ditches, so that risk of injury is reduced to a minimum."

Another publication ran an article with several pictures, with the title "Irish Wolfhounds for Coursing: Some of the entrants for the forthcoming official meeting near Amesbury, Wiltshire. The idea of holding coursing meetings with Irish wolfhounds came some long time ago from Mr. James Nagle, of Amesbury in Wiltshire, and at last a meeting has been arranged to be held near Amesbury in January, under National Coursing Club rules. Support has been promised by many well-known breeders, and a good entry is expected. Mr. Nagle, who has had a very wide experience of these dogs, has found that they have plenty of speed, can outstay a greyhound over a long course and are only a little slower at killing. By reason of their great size the Irish wolfhound is probably the most powerful breed of dog in the world and Mr. James Nagle's famous Champion Felixstowe Kilcullen, a son of Lady Watson's Sulhamstead Pedlar, is of such giant proportions that he must be one of the largest dogs anywhere in the world. Although they are growing steadily in popularity here, wolfhounds are not in such great demand as in North America and such places where they are trained to combat the prairie wolves who prey upon the flocks. The projected meeting will be awaited with much interest."


All text linked- here

.

on Riding : the up to date Huntswoman

.


in my collection of photographs, captioned : 'Mrs Keith Simmons, who is here seen with some of the hounds, wore complete masculine hunting kit at the meet of the Tedworth Hunt at Tottenham, in the Savernake Forest. The occasion was taken to present to the Earl of Cardigan a silver box in celebration of his coming of age.

no dates- but likely 1938-40.
the Hunt here


.

26 November 2010

on Riding : Miss Scrimgeour's Riding School by the Sea

.




one of my own photographs- Pupils from Miss Scrimgeour's* Riding School- 1932, gallop along the sands at Selsey. She- by this time in her 70's ran one of the finest and largest riding schools in the country attracting pupils for all over Britain. 'Miss S. must be the oldest woman in the country teaching children to ride and regularly takes about 40 pupils across the firm sands for morning exercise. She breeds all the ponies herself and always wears a sou'wester.'(Fox Sept.14th.32.)


*Scrimgeour E. R. (Miss), riding mistress, St Winifred’s, West St

25 November 2010

24 November 2010

a Gibson Girl Thanksgiving

.



“I feel a very unusual sensation -

if it's not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude.

 -Disraeli


I hope today you are feeling it too-



illustration by Charles Dana Gibson

.

22 November 2010

wing and a prayer

.


 detail of Cavallini's angel



I am utterly inspired right now by the new blog  COLETTE van den Thillart and Nicky Haslam are writing.  A recent COLETTE entry- A WING AND A PRAYER started me thinking.
Now-You may say, Here We Go.
Well Yes.
come along.


photograph NH Designs

Collette talks about a recent shop acquisition and the co-opting of classic symbolism into massively mass production-she puts it this way concerning : "Wings, like skulls, have become by and large cheap clichéd symbols of our time" CvdT This console, acquired by Nicholas Haslam Designs- wings and all- Is 18th century.


photograph NH Designs

This one- or "pair" as it were- Is the exception- and isn't there an exception to every cliched cliche?
So there-
The Wings.
The prayer would be- to host on high-that it was Mine. No, it was not to be. It was scooped up by lofty Haslam clients immediately.

Along with the Wings everywhere, Skulls must be dealt with. What does it all mean? Wings? Skulls? The motifs are ever present in Momento Mori imagery from centuries past telling the earth bound "Remember your mortality."
Embraced in our Youth obsessed world today-unusally enough- it is easy to dismiss them as Trend. Fashion. They will be Out and the next big thing is In.
I do have a little skull here and there.
I embrace.
I would definitely have this-




I spotted this Delfina Delettrez  ring  about 2 years ago.



So don't shy away from a gorgeous skull, it has been knocking about since-


 Pompeii


 &
Sophocles

“Let every man in mankind’s frailty
Consider his last day; and let none
Presume on his good fortune until he find
Life, at his death, a memory without pain.”
Sophocles



& so it is with Wings,


 Pompeii


&
yes, snakes- (the next "big" thing.)


Pompeii




Pompeii had it all- everything, it started there & never stopped.
we grasp at something new, undiscovered.
it had all been done -B.C.E


& I mean everything darlings, 




& I'm not talking about jewelry -

but they had that too-




I would have this in an instant & I would wear it with my
Delettrez skull.



Are you on Trend or are you already into snakes?

.


21 November 2010

Gatsby, again


.
 the beautiful and the damned
zelda and scott



 look to the originals-
(not the movie)




 F.Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald, Carey Mulligan PHOTO CREDIT: Carey Mulligan photographed auditioning for the role of Daisy Buchanan. New York City, November 2, 2010. Photo: Baz Luhrmann. Copyright: Bazmark




ZELDA by illustrator Harrison Fisher, Carey Mulligan at l.





 Zelda, l. , Carey Mulligan r.





Since Baz Luhrmann acquired the rights to F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby in 2008, speculation has been keen about the actress who would play Daisy Buchanan. No more-British actress Carey Mulligan will play Daisy Buchanan in Luhrmann's " in the works" Gatsby. The young and talented actress was on the reception line at The Fashion Council Awards in New York when Baz Luhrmann called to give her the news. When asked about the call, Luhrmann  said "I was privileged to explore the character with some of the world's most talented actresses, each one bringing their own particular interpretation, all of which were legitimate and exciting. However, specific to this particular production of The Great Gatsby, I was thrilled to pick up the phone an hour ago to the young Oscar-nominated British actress Carey Mulligan and say to her: "Hello, Daisy Buchanan."



Mulligan is joining Leo DiCaprio who will play Jay Gatsby and Tobey Maguire is set to play Nick Carraway. DiCaprio has worked with Luhrmann before- starring in his 1996 critically acclaimed modern day version of Romeo and Juliet.



Scott Fitzgerald by Harrison Fisher, Leo DiCaprio l.



FSF l., DiCaprio, r.





Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby in the 1974 version


If you didn't see the 1974 Hollywood version of the movie. Interestingly the movie went through a series of hands before it reached its final cut- directors, actors, screenwriters. Ali MacGraw as Daisy? Robert Evans to direct? Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson as Gatsby ? Truman Capote started writing the script- supposedly  his draft included making Nick- a homosexual and Jordan Baker- a vindictive lesbian. Capote was out and Francis Ford Coppola stepped in to finish the script, nixing Nick and Jordan's sexual preferences. As an aside, Nick and Jordan, played by Same Waterston and Lois Chiles, turn out to be two of the more interesting characters drawn in the script- though there attraction to one another seems to be a bit -lack luster. Sadly, respected critics of the era and  those looking back today see the film as a spectacular show with little of the complexity of Scott Fitzgerald's novel.

It brings  the 1920's to life, but it does little to delve into the psyche of Gatsby's characters.



Mia Farrow as Daisy and RR as Jay Gatsby
1974


The final movie was brilliantly marketed, but it was all style and no substance. The film grossed $20.6 million in the U.S., roughly $85.6 million in today’s dollars, which was better than the paltry $2 million grossed by “The Last Tycoon.” But it was like a rich souffle that lacked flavor and didn’t quite rise to expectations. Peter Bart Vice President & Editorial Director Vincent Canby wrote in the NYTimes, 1974 review, "the movie itself is as lifeless as a body that's been too long at the bottom of a swimming pool."(read the 1974 review here)


 Mia Farrow- as Daisy Buchanan landed on PEOPLE Weekly's first issue.




Scott Fitzgerald , novelist, no Hollywood hack, did work as a scriptwriter in the 1930's due to ongoing financial woes. He considered the work demeaning and must have known the complexity of his novels would challenge film makers for years in the future. Many experts think Fitzgerald can never successfully translate to film.

So where does Luhrmann go?



Oheka Castle in Long Island was a partial inspiration for Fitzgerald's Gatsby estate


He couldn't do better than the likes of the locations from the 1974 movie: Rosecliff Mansion, Marble House-Newport, Rhode Island, Hammersmith Farm, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Heatherden Hall in Buckinghamshire, England (see a full list here)


Luhrmann is an Aussie -& likes to do it all: director, producer, screenwriter. Luhrmann's past movie successes have featured Craig Pearce  as screenwriter- solo and in collaboration with Luhrmann. Since Scott Fitzgerald left brilliant dialog - Luhrmann should go from there.


all quotes from Gatsby


"the girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs.”



gouache by Francis Cugat
Fitzgerald selected Cugat personally for the Gatsby cover art




"Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans."


all paintings by Zelda Fitzgerald
here




"It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment."


Zelda Fitzgerald



 "He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself."



Zelda Fitzgerald




"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money of their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."


Zelda Fitzgerald



Luhrmann's phenomenal success with the muscial Moulin Rouge could be a consideration.
What about a musical?
Scott Fitzgerald wrote amateur musical comedies while studying at Princeton, later he remarked perhaps he should have continued doing so-but concluded "I am too much a moralist at heart, and really want to preach at people in some acceptable form, rather than entertain them.
Simply put, Trust the author on this one.


The 1974 film won two Oscars--not surprisingly for costumes by  Theoni V. Aldredge. Luhrmann's wife Catherine Martin will certainly handle costuming. She has won Oscars in costuming his past films Moulin Rouge and Australia. Would that she decide to consult fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier to create the movie's costumes. Atmospherics, Color and Beauty all should be considered. It was the Jazz Age ( a term Fitzgerald is said to have coined) after all. Style mattered in the 20's.


Costumes by Gaultier

  Jean Paul Gaultier 2008 Spring Collection images from Style.com



To create the overall visual appearance of the movie-again Catherine Martin takes on Production for Luhrmann's films.

Hire a professional- a designer brilliant with period details and has a flair for the theatrical. None other than British designer Nicky Haslam.

A quick look at a few of his sketches and portfolio would convince Martin.





all images from NH Designs here
1st image- Tom and Daisy's salon, perhaps,
2nd image- Nick's cottage



& from the author, finally take this to heart

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning-- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Scott and Zelda traveled many miles-yet they could never escape themselves.



I await the movie- and in the meanwhile I'll go back and visit the book, 
and likely will again-after Luhrmann takes a go at it.


.
.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails