New Old World

with one image he would make that beauty explode into me. PROUST

I asked world traveller, photographer Miguel Flores -Vianna to gather his favorite instagram photographs for little augury. The photographs he sent are varied-on instagram his followers get to live vicariously through Miguel's schooled eye.
Nothing seems to get past him-at least not the most evocative.  His blog's title -which he's less inclined to update- MFV'S NEW OLD WORLD-seems to have aptly captured his moods, and on instagram, Miguel's my star.

 Miguel's Diaries

I follow other people on instagram too, but rarely post my own photos because I've consciously limited them to my house & garden, nor do I think people are too much interested in what I eat-there's lots of that sort of stuff to be had there. But Miguel's photographs stand out from all the rest quite brilliantly- while yes-he is a noted photographer,there's such joy and consistency to his pictures! Sometimes he adds descriptions-but on instagram it seems less important-so here I've intentionally omitted any descriptions- letting his photographs, along with my selection of quotations move you through-
Proust said, Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world only, our own, we see that world multiply itself and we have at our disposal as many worlds as there are original artists, worlds more different one from the other than those which revolve in infinite space, worlds which, centuries after the extinction of the fire from which their light first emanated, whether it is called Rembrandt or Vermeer, send us still each one its special radiance.”


I've selected my favorites from Miguel's work-while his countless instagram photographs are varied-these are in perfect accord.

The wise man goes back to the origins of ancient time. Honore de Balzac

The seeming simplicity of a masterpiece is sure proof of its grace. Chanel

If one could stretch out a hand into the strip of light that falls on the floor, one could feel its warmth. These watercolors so accurately preserve the taste of that age that you would almost say the doors and windows depicted in them have never been opened since then, and that we breathe the spirit still enclosed there like—the comparison is perhaps overworked, but it is certainly appropriate here—the scent of perfume that lingers in an ancient phial. MARIO PRAZ-The House of Life

The memory is a living thing—it too is in transit, but during its moment all that is remembered joins and lives—the old and the young, the past and the present, the living and the dead. Eudora Welty

The want of logic annoys. Too much logic bores. Life eludes logic, and everything that logic alone constructs remains artificial and forced. Andre Gide

The contemplation of truth and beauty is the proper object for which we were created, which calls forth the most intense desires of the soul, and of which it never tires. William Hazlitt

Miguel's work can be found in Elle Decor, The World of Interiors, Veranda, and at T Magazine. Always he can be found HERE, and on instagram HERE.

 

 

 

 all photographs are from and used with permission by Miguel Flores-Vianna

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer with Edith and Henry

"Summer afternoon — summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."- Henry James as quoted by Edith Wharton, A Backward Glance (1934)



(photograph by Erwin Blumenfeld)

Today I'd have to agree with Henry, it's quite beautiful here in the typically humid South.

LOVE

The LOVE cover with Christy Turlington just misses being a modern MATISSE.

Christy Turlington photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin and styled by LOVE UK fashion director Panos Yiapanis. 

If only IT had a room with a view.

 Matisse Interior, Flowers and Parakeets 1924

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them."-Matisse

the way to Decorate,

.
"Keith's spirit is reflected in so much of the house."
"It is truly personal, from the acres of books to the Southern art to Jon's collections of political memorabilia." -designer Courtney Coleman on Keith and Jon Meacham's Nashville home

the Meacham girls & their dog in their Belle Meade home's Entry Hall

 (the circa-1820 settee is upholstered in horsehair, the pendant light is by the Urban Electric Co., and the wallpaper is by Adelphi Paper Hangings.)

 the bold paper is a document called Philadelphia Harlequin in an exuberant custom color

read the full story by Julia Reed at Elle Decor here

 Photograph By William Waldron

(links for this story are in bold text)

after Gertrude

“I am I because my little dog knows me.” Gertrude Stein

portrait of Alice Toklas ,1952.(probably with Basket II)

Dora Maar and her portrait of Alice B. Toklas by Michel Sima.


“I always say that you cannot tell what a picture really is or what an object really is until you dust it every day and you cannot tell what a book is until you type it or proof-read it. It then does something to you that only reading it never can do.” ― Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

(Stein wrote the book-posing as Alice-it turned out to be Stein's most popular and best selling work.)

When Gertrude Stein died in 1946 she left a portion of her estate to her Alice, her lifelong partner- along with paintings by Picasso. Together since 1907, the 39 year relationship wasn't recognized legally and while Alice was vacationing, Stein's relatives removed the paintings. She had been all things to Stein, living in the background as confidante, lover, cook, secretary, muse, editor, critic. To support herself, Toklas turned to friends and writing after the theft. The Alice Toklas Cookbook reflects on her life with Stein and includes her recipes as well. She lived for 21 years after Stein's death and died in poverty at the age of 89.

She said of Gertrude, “I am nothing, but a memory of her.”

Craig and Karl, and Gertrude

Don't we all need inspiration?
I do.
Right now-I'm not feeling it, but these 2, are onto something.

Could it be?

(Yes, puts me in mind of  Gertrude Stein.)

Beaton photograph 1936

Craig Redman and Karl Maier best-known as Craig & Karl,create pop-art-based, bold and colourfulwork that has appeared in exhibitions all over the world. They also contribute to British Vogue's The Culture Edit, (here)

 Right now, I'm following Gertrude's lead -and having a lounge.

 Stein at her villa with Pepe and Basket I

Mark Sikes & Leading Men

The current issue of Veranda features the Hollywood Hills home of designer Mark Sikes. Mark's blog is always buzzing with fashion, and interior design-past and present.
His home is indicative of these loves. His rooms don't live in the past-but references abound.

I've paired Marks rooms up with some of my favorite leading men.

 Hubert Givenchy's chateau, Le Jonchet, guest room swathed in Braquenie's Tree of Life.

Mark follows Givenchy's lead and uses the same fabric in one of his guest rooms.

Another guest room at Sikes' home was inspired by a tented room in Charlottenhof Palace designed by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel around 1826.

I immediately thought of Bill Blass when I saw this beautiful room. He'd love the masculine heft, and the restraint, along with the dog, the leather, the books-and I think there's probably even an ashtray tucked away somewhere.

Mark's living room is cool, elegant-and smooth.My eye can't help but see Fred Astaire-dancing on the chairs- and finessing his way up those bright white walls.

Classic-Stylish-& with plenty of aplomb-

The dining room seems like the perfect place for studying the mounting oversize interior and art books the designer has collected. A place for scholarly pursuits-like the great Mark Hampton, who as a designer went beyond just pretty rooms to write several books about designers who inspired him.

Mark says in the article-he likes to decorate with "a point of view," and develop "a cohesive story." There's a certainly a story here-as the pages of Veranda confirm, but I see a blockbuster-with Mark Sikes as its leading man.

Read the story in Veranda Here

thanks to Veranda for the terrific photographs by Roger Davies

monsieur DIOR

.

 "I am delighted to hear that Monsieur de Sales is a saint. He was fond of saying indelicate things, and used to cheat at cards. In other respects he was a perfect gentleman, though a fool."

Ambrose Bierce from Devil's Dictionary Quotes

"Monsieur, please be steadfast in walking in the vocation to which you are called." 

 St Vincent de Paul

" I can give you my word of honor." 

"And pray what may be the value of that?" inquired the amused Regent. 

"Monsieur, it is worth its weight in gold." 

 Ambrose Bierce-from Devil's Dictionary Quotes

 "Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write." Voltaire

 "Might as well be frank, Monsieur. It would take a miracle to get you out of Casablanca, and the Germans have outlawed miracles." Sidney Greenstreet from CASABLANCA

 "For the love of Heaven, of justice, of generosity, of the honour of your noble name, I supplicate you, Monsieur heretofore the Marquis, to succour and release me. My fault is that I have been true to you. Oh, Monsieur heretofore the Marquis, I pray you be true to me!" Charles Dickens-A Tale of Two Cities

the impeccable frock coats from Christian Dior's haute couture collection,Fall 2014. 

what madame wouldn't give her eye teeth to wear?

the Monsieurs: 

detail by Jacopo Amignoni, the singer Farinelli and friends

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais,1755, by Nattier

Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Clermont, 1771, by François-Hubert Drouais

Thomas Wentworth, 1761, by Joseph Blackburn

Admiral The Honourable Charles Stewart, by Allan Ramsay

detail Grand Duke Paul (later the Emperor Paul I), 1764, by Vigilius-Eriksen

once upon a War

Lady Diana as nurse, 1916.

July marks the centennial of World War I. There are so many fine resources for delving into the lives of Britain's brave. I always turn to Lady Diana Manners autobiographies-beyond the story of her fascinating life- a picture of the war comes into focus-through her work as a wartime nurse, as friend to the men that died in the conflict, and through the letters from her then beau-and later husband Duff Cooper.

Read more about one of my favorite subjects-Lady Diana- from all the little augury entries, here.

Summer Seduction

Surrealist, Dorothy Tanning

 Alexis Mabille Fall 2014 Haute Couture

Catherine Denueve's Library

Schiaparelli Fall 2014 Couture

 Jan Vermeer van Delft - The Glass of Wine

Dodie Rosenkrans Venice Palace Palazzo Brandolini İtaly

Casaquin de velours rouge, vers 1700-1725, France

Gordon Parks, 1961.


the Colour Corail








more of it here

the view from here

in the Summer of 1940 Londoners were kept on high alert by German Luftwaffe bombing raids. Citizens headed underground to safety.

 

Emerging from an air raid shelter built underneath the sitting room

Palmers Green, London, 1940.

  photographs at the Atlantic here

 

 

Freedom from Want

"oh say can you see?"

The first known photograph of the American flag taken June 21, 1873, originally flown over Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the War of 1812.

another COVER

from my British Vogue collection, JULY 1948, photographed by John Rawlings, (sigh)

in keeping with this week's earlier posting-a COVER of a different COLOR-as today's covers go.

Nor do we see this kind of elegance, and grace-

if so-

Where?