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"Never think you've seen the last of anything." Eudora Welty
Still Life 2008, Eudora Welty's "A Woman of the 30's" Jackson Mississippi, 1935.
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30 June 2013
28 June 2013
seeking Sargent
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photograph by Koto Bolofo
just one of the many Sargent sitters: madame, mademoiselle, and Lady...in repose
Lady Agnew
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just one of the many Sargent sitters: madame, mademoiselle, and Lady...in repose
Lady Agnew
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26 June 2013
99 meninas
through the miracle of blogging, I've met such talents! collectors of couture and lucky clovers, photographers- the museum worthy & amateur, writers-published authors and weavers of a child's bedtime story-aesthetes all-----sharing their talents with the world and with their loved ones and supporting my efforts on this page-for that I am forever grateful.
The lovely photographer Lily Lewin in Savannah travels to Spain & to the Prado.
Luckily we get to tag along.
Luckily we get to tag along.
Lily's photography pops up on her blog ojobox quite often here.
As fascinated with Velázquez, as I am, I asked Lily to lend her artist's eye to Las Meninas.
b2d9851e1a58403a7a84441d3046f5a6.jpg)
The Prado is now open on Mondays. It's been less than a year since the doors
have swung wide on the morning after domingo and few people besides
scattered groups of weary school children
have caught on to the schedule change.
And so it was at the end of May my husband and I wandered the almost
deserted corridors through this gallery of ghosts translated into symbols of
history and dreams to Room XII.
There on the far wall hangs Las Meninas by Velázquez (1656), a revelation of the last days of the Habsburgs and the Golden Age of Spain. Circling the young Infanta Margarita Teresa is a display of courtiers and royal references and the painter himself in a brilliantly staged tableau of both technical and historical perspective. The latter half of the 17th century saw the beginning of the decline of the Great Spanish Empire as it slipped from the peak of its power taking the Hapsburg dynasty with it. The title refers to the ladies in waiting who attend to the Princess at center stage wearing a stiff skirt and a bemused expression while the quotidian bustle ensues.
This young girl would one day
become the Holy Roman Empress at age 15 and then die at age 21. But to me it is such a familiar Spanish scene
with its hovering cast of characters and implied intrigue and whispered gossip
and dozing dog. My husband is from Spain
and when we return on twice yearly pilgrimages to his family home in Madrid where his formidably elegant 90 year old
mother holds court with attendant daughters and an entourage of maids and
friends and doctors and priests and Condes and Condesas and a pack of dogs
underfoot, I am struck by the similarity.
The Spanish households I have
known from the humble to the decadent are great matriarchies that thrive on a
sort of domestic chaos (just watch any Almadovar movie and you'll see what I
mean). In the middle of any tormenta is
a woman in charge. ¡Viva la reina!
There on the far wall hangs Las Meninas by Velázquez (1656), a revelation of the last days of the Habsburgs and the Golden Age of Spain. Circling the young Infanta Margarita Teresa is a display of courtiers and royal references and the painter himself in a brilliantly staged tableau of both technical and historical perspective. The latter half of the 17th century saw the beginning of the decline of the Great Spanish Empire as it slipped from the peak of its power taking the Hapsburg dynasty with it. The title refers to the ladies in waiting who attend to the Princess at center stage wearing a stiff skirt and a bemused expression while the quotidian bustle ensues.
Meninas after Velasquez, Melvin Sokolsky, 1960.
There is a notable list of 20th century
Spanish painters, among them Picasso and Dali, who have inherited the familiar
icon of the Infanta and her ladies in waiting and then retold the story in a
modern language with lashings of color and
halos of paint. The Spanish
palette of spilled blood and conquered lands and stolen crowns is perhaps more
muted these days but equally intense and in the works of the contemporary painter
Alfonso Alzamora the tradition of the enigmatic figure continues through his decades long exploration of Las Meninas.
The fierce and elegant geometry of the farthingaled menina silhouette has been Alzamora's muse for some time. Painting from his studio in a small village in the Alt Empordà in Girona where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean sea, Alzamora (the great grandson of the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz) is also a sculptor and a writer. He also happens to be an old friend of my husband. We are lucky enough to have a few of his works, including a small Menina and one of my favorites, a cut out figure of the seated dog in the foreground of the painting. A few years ago we visited his home which he shares with his artist wife ( who looks remarkably like Virginia Woolf) and children.
Large canvases in progress were strewn about the converted stone barn and the squeezed guts of paint tubes bled onto the top of a desk where he mixed his colors- vibrant reds and blues and blacks and yellows. He is an artist of astonishing energy whose works are in many public and private collections across Europe and North America and his latest exhibition entitled 99 Meninas is a virtual one-here.
The many Meninas painted by Alzamora can be seen on his website and more at Aficionarte-& seeing them en masse, makes a memorable impression. I am drawn to the monumental nature of many of his Meninas. Whether the smallest menina or the giantess-both make an impact on the beholder-perpetuating the allure & the beauty of Velázquez's original.
Notes:
Lily's Menina first image.
detail of Las Meninas
Links:
99 Meninas
Alfonso Alzamora
Aficionarte
ojobox
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Alfonso Alzamora the tradition of the enigmatic figure continues through his decades long exploration of Las Meninas.
Picasso and Dali interpret Las Meninas, & below, an Alfonso Alzamora's Menina
The fierce and elegant geometry of the farthingaled menina silhouette has been Alzamora's muse for some time. Painting from his studio in a small village in the Alt Empordà in Girona where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean sea, Alzamora (the great grandson of the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz) is also a sculptor and a writer. He also happens to be an old friend of my husband. We are lucky enough to have a few of his works, including a small Menina and one of my favorites, a cut out figure of the seated dog in the foreground of the painting. A few years ago we visited his home which he shares with his artist wife ( who looks remarkably like Virginia Woolf) and children.
These photographs of Alfonso Alzamora's studio and of his Meninas are from Aficionarte, (linked below).
Large canvases in progress were strewn about the converted stone barn and the squeezed guts of paint tubes bled onto the top of a desk where he mixed his colors- vibrant reds and blues and blacks and yellows. He is an artist of astonishing energy whose works are in many public and private collections across Europe and North America and his latest exhibition entitled 99 Meninas is a virtual one-here.
The many Meninas painted by Alzamora can be seen on his website and more at Aficionarte-& seeing them en masse, makes a memorable impression. I am drawn to the monumental nature of many of his Meninas. Whether the smallest menina or the giantess-both make an impact on the beholder-perpetuating the allure & the beauty of Velázquez's original.
Notes:
Lily's Menina first image.
detail of Las Meninas
Links:
99 Meninas
Alfonso Alzamora
Aficionarte
ojobox
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24 June 2013
Mrs Vreeland's coat
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I've written about it (the classic pea coat) before-but not this one.
My story went something like- no one should be without one...
But what about this one?
Voilà!- it's being auctioned of the 25th in London-
Vintage 1960, Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Diana Vreeland's that is, and oh yes, it has a bit of red Legion d'Honneur ribbon sewn into the curved collar. Mrs Vreeland was created chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in 1970, and added this touch to her coat.
I've written about it (the classic pea coat) before-but not this one.
My story went something like- no one should be without one...
But what about this one?
Voilà!- it's being auctioned of the 25th in London-
Vintage 1960, Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Diana Vreeland's that is, and oh yes, it has a bit of red Legion d'Honneur ribbon sewn into the curved collar. Mrs Vreeland was created chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in 1970, and added this touch to her coat.
See what else has Mrs. Vreeland's name on it at Kerry Taylor Auctions-the Sale is June 25, Lots 128 through 134 .
22 June 2013
20 June 2013
de la Tour & Balenciaga
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&
Jayne Wrightsman, in front "The Penitent Magdalen" by Georges de la Tour from the Wrightsman art collection, wearing a pink Balenciaga deshabille with white sleeves and white jeweled buttons.
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18 June 2013
BRITT, brilliant in Veranda
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Veranda's team of Carolyn Englefield, Max Kim-Bee and Frances Schultz are going to take Veranda's August readers on a trip to interior designer Thomas Britt's Hamptons home. Not just any trip-a trip through rustic beamed ceilings, white washed walls, exotic embroideries, worn leather and al fresco dining (of course!, it is the Hamptons after all.) Thomas Britt didn't just start working on this house- one look at the Kim-Bee images will tell you that. It's as a house should be-refined over the years and Frances Schultz tells Britt's story of decades of living in and entertaining in his beloved retreat.
Thanks to Veranda for the sneak peek. I promise-it will be hard to wait for the rest of the story...
Veranda's team of Carolyn Englefield, Max Kim-Bee and Frances Schultz are going to take Veranda's August readers on a trip to interior designer Thomas Britt's Hamptons home. Not just any trip-a trip through rustic beamed ceilings, white washed walls, exotic embroideries, worn leather and al fresco dining (of course!, it is the Hamptons after all.) Thomas Britt didn't just start working on this house- one look at the Kim-Bee images will tell you that. It's as a house should be-refined over the years and Frances Schultz tells Britt's story of decades of living in and entertaining in his beloved retreat.
Thanks to Veranda for the sneak peek. I promise-it will be hard to wait for the rest of the story...
Britt's sun drenched Living Room
Britt's AMAZING sheik-worthy tented bed!,
polished floors,
pool blue walls,
and bedroom with a red leather poster bed- above & below.
Rooms that have evolved-are the best rooms-obvious- in the next Veranda, on sale June 25th.
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17 June 2013
15 June 2013
golden earring
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artist Rene Gruau's work was fashion, soignee and bold strokes of color, red- black-and gold.
This Gruau turns color on its ear.
artist Rene Gruau's work was fashion, soignee and bold strokes of color, red- black-and gold.
This Gruau turns color on its ear.
from a reader's private collection
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14 June 2013
memphis belle
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Dixon Gallery and Gardens, in Memphis, has acquired this exquisite portrait by Jacques-Emile Blanche, "Portrait of Eugenia Huici Arguedas de Errázuriz,"1890.
We've talked about Eugenia before, and finding her perched at the Dixon in Memphis is quite exciting. A trip to see her might be in order.
The acquisition is in memory of John Buchanan, director of the Dixon from 1986 to 1994. Buchanan died on Dec. 31, 2011. I'm told an exhibition devoted to the painting and its sitter is in the works.
Blanche is so adept at capturing the Belle Epoque and some of his paintings are the finest of the era. The Errázuriz portrait is no exception.
Read my story about Errázuriz here.
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Dixon Gallery and Gardens, in Memphis, has acquired this exquisite portrait by Jacques-Emile Blanche, "Portrait of Eugenia Huici Arguedas de Errázuriz,"1890.
We've talked about Eugenia before, and finding her perched at the Dixon in Memphis is quite exciting. A trip to see her might be in order.
The acquisition is in memory of John Buchanan, director of the Dixon from 1986 to 1994. Buchanan died on Dec. 31, 2011. I'm told an exhibition devoted to the painting and its sitter is in the works.
Blanche is so adept at capturing the Belle Epoque and some of his paintings are the finest of the era. The Errázuriz portrait is no exception.
Read my story about Errázuriz here.
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12 June 2013
Zetta is...
busy decorating.
there are lots of things going on at the house. Zetta is busy.
things to recover here.
client projects to finalize.
& yes, paperwork to do.
someone has to be the trusted assistant-
that would be Me.
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11 June 2013
10 June 2013
08 June 2013
07 June 2013
love me hate me, Reprise.
welcome all lovers of Chanel, the Mitfords, and Hitler.
I have a reader that desperately needs to air her views-So I am obliging.
She writes to respond to my "auguries" post:
" It
isn't that you have a different opinion that is insulting and offensive,
it is that you are so politically correct and naive that is offensive. I
find your "opinions" are stated in such a fashion that you believe
that people who disagree with your world point of view must be racist
and small minded-this is ludicrous. No offense, but you are not a great
thinker and your points are not well made and after all, people who
subscribe to your blog do so for the visuals and now very rarely,
interesting bios of old fashion icons.
It amazes me that you glorify the biggest racists and anti-semites in the world, the Mitfords and Chanel and that hideous Tenant woman who killed two beautiful birds to make a truly ugly hat and then you point the finger at your own subscribers as though you are some sort of shining example of tolerance."
It amazes me that you glorify the biggest racists and anti-semites in the world, the Mitfords and Chanel and that hideous Tenant woman who killed two beautiful birds to make a truly ugly hat and then you point the finger at your own subscribers as though you are some sort of shining example of tolerance."
rather than goading her, (and I always try to respond back) I wrote:
Renee, I find it fascinating that you would even care to-read much less write me... Glad you continue to do both.
She returns by saying:
"It
fascinated me that you are fascinated with someone who keeps an open
mind when yours is so closed to any opposing points of view.
I might unsubscribe yet, I don't like the smirking tone of your response. If you want to print your political opinions and give the illusion you are so open minded why not also mention the Mitfords' love of Hitler and their adultery and running after married men with wealth and titles. Why fail to that Chanel started as a a long term cheap hooker and avowed hater of Jews and black people? Are you only a liberal for some people but not others? Please tell us what to think and which people you approve of and especially who we should all vote for because that is what democracy is all about.
You are not an intellect. You are also a plagiarist as most all of your blog is a rip of of photos and ideas gathered from others. Your views are so predictable and boring and bound to rile up some people because you come across as so self righteous and self aggrandizing not merely for your views. Hitler would have loved you as you would only see what he wanted you to see."
I might unsubscribe yet, I don't like the smirking tone of your response. If you want to print your political opinions and give the illusion you are so open minded why not also mention the Mitfords' love of Hitler and their adultery and running after married men with wealth and titles. Why fail to that Chanel started as a a long term cheap hooker and avowed hater of Jews and black people? Are you only a liberal for some people but not others? Please tell us what to think and which people you approve of and especially who we should all vote for because that is what democracy is all about.
You are not an intellect. You are also a plagiarist as most all of your blog is a rip of of photos and ideas gathered from others. Your views are so predictable and boring and bound to rile up some people because you come across as so self righteous and self aggrandizing not merely for your views. Hitler would have loved you as you would only see what he wanted you to see."
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