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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

what they're READING now

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I checked back in with my reader's from the Summer Reading Series. Here's where they are and what they said-

An Aesthete's Lament


The one I am reading right now? I just finished (last night) "Rage for Fame," a biography of Clare Boothe Luce ... The next book I shall read is "Conversation Pieces" by Mario Praz ...

theHouse of Beauty and Culture

There is a growing stack (In House, More is More - Tony Duquette, and the new book on David Hicks among them) that I have not even had a chance to look at. This is a very bad habit. I still haven't yet read Pat Montadon's book (2007) or Kevin Sessum's Mississippi Sissy (2007). And, the books I ordered last week (Divas on Screen being among those) are due in on Tuesday! But I digress, in answer to your question I am currently reading: Madeleine Vionnet by Pamela Golbin (new), Wallace Neff and the Grand Houses of the Golden State by Diane Kanner (2005), and Mother of Sorrows by Richard McCann (2005)

And undoubtedly next week I will look at the bookcase with all my unread books and think, but, there is nothing to read! Oh, the caprice of it all.


JCB
Oh, I am never reading just one book! Right now: Angela Davis-Gardner, Plum Wine.

"A mystery that unfolds as beautifully, delicately, and ceremoniously as a lotus blossom. One of the most memorable novels I have read in many years." —Lee Smith, author of The Last Girls

& Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance. I am organizing my book week for next month...and will finally write that little piece on seasonal reading you suggested (inspired by the Paris Review interviews). le style et la matiere Books? You do mean books, don't you? The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (rereading - inspired by a certain LA post); The Art of Arts by Anita Albus profound reflections on painting, art, symbols of human life through an examination of Dutch art and thinkers of various cultures; Decorating is Fun by Dorothy Draper (I understand Jennifer Boles' inspiration; they are both light and breezy but get down to important brass tacks in an original way); Ghost Stories by Edith Wharton (seasonal yes, but I'd never read these and they are worth reading at anytime)... Mrs Blandings I am reading the Cecil Beaton biography by Hugo Vickers & Emily Evans Eerdmann’s Classic English Design and Antiques. Can’t wait to see what else is on everyone’s bedside tables! & Me If nothing else-checking back in with all makes me know I am not alone. As HOBAC says of his growing stack-And undoubtedly next week I will look at the bookcase with all my unread books and think, but, there is nothing to read! Oh, the caprice of it all. Currently reading- Clarence John Laughlin Prophet Without Honor by A.J. Meek, along with reviewing his published photography books. When I want to switch it up- I go to Ottoline Morrell: Life on the Grand Scale by Miranda Seymour. On my groaning bedside table, next up- Journey Into The Mind's Eye by Lesley Blanch and The House of Life by Mario Praz. Both books recommended by AAL and the Lesley Blanch book by Lucindaville. On the book's jacket, Blanch writes "My book is not altogether autobiography, nor altogether travel or history either. You will just have to invent a new category." In the fiction category-Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel the 2009 Booker Prize winner.


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le style et la matière- reflections on Summer Reading

It is always a delight to stumble into a new blog portal- and immediately become smitten, such is the case with le style et la matiere. One of my favorites of le style is about Picasso (here) and another about Home (here).

Everything seems to have a twist to it-each blog does have its own, but this is a little different, Perhaps it is that "je ne sais quoi."

Take a look at this list and you will agree.

"In books lies the soul of the whole past time."
Thomas Carlyle

What books are on your Summer Reading List?

photograph from le style

Le Coeur cousu (The Stitched Heart) by Carole Martinez Reines

Reines et favorites: Le pouvoir des femmes (Queens and Favorites: The Power of Women) by Benedetta Craveri

L'obsession Vinci by Sophie Chauveau

Journal 1940-1950 Philippe Jullian

Snob Society by Francis d'Orléans



L'esprit des lieux: Elégance francaise (French Interiors: The Art of Elegance)by Christiane de Nicoly-Mazery


Regards de mode Paris Fifties by Georges Dambier. Glamour is relaxing! (too true!)



The Poetic Home: Designing the 19th-Century Domestic Interior by Stefan Muthesius




Bess of Hardwick: First Lady of Chatsworth by Mary S. Lovell


The Secret Code: The mysterious formula that rules art, nature and science by Priya Hemenway


Southern Cosmopolitan by Susan Sully


Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders by Gyles Brandreth (...I am onto this one, I love a mystery.)

Is there One book you honestly don't expect to get to? Why?

The list is ambitious, but I have to nourish my needs in English and in French. I do a lot of reading but some of it would have to qualify as butterfly reading, flitting in and out of one book to glean information then moving on to the next. "Snob Society", "The Poetic Home" might not be read from cover to cover. This doesn't mean they aren't important to me. And if these books take me into the Fall, that's fine too.

Where do you read and when? Does the genre you are reading dictate the place you read - do you just
take any old book to bed?

Mostly in bed or in a favorite armchair. I do like to open the larger format "beaux livres"/coffee table books
on a table to get the most out of them and to be near a window for a better view of colors in natural light.

Maud reading in bed by James McNeil Whistler

What does your bedside table look like?

It's a small oak table with one drawer, just the right size for my essentials: lamp, clock, books. I try to keep my library books in one place, so I usually have a stack of them on the lower shelf of my nightstand.

These are topped off by whatever my favorites of the moment are as well as any book my eight year old
daughter has decided I just MUST read. Fortunately, she has good taste ! She has me reading the Leonis Egyptian series by Mario Francis and a book on Merlin the Magician.

Did I mention that I like to read more than one book at a time?

What is your Favorite book for its sense of place?

"There are two ways of spreading light, to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."
Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton's books, especially "The House of Mirth," have an incredibly succinct, but effective way of drawing parallels between interiors and her characters. Not so surprising from the Empress of the Decoration of Houses ! Otherwise, I have to agree with with your other interviewees that Manderly and even the boathouse in "Rebecca" really marked me.

What is your Security blanket book?

In Decoration: Mario Praz' "History of Interior Design" along with 3 books by Stephen Calloway, Peter Thornton, and Charlotte Gere which were published as a series in French,"L'Epoque et son Style." If I could only keep four decorating books - and I have quite a few, these would be the obvious choice. The illustrations and texts are exceptional and they cover decoration history from the 15th to 20th centuries.


(Mario Praz makes his second appearance on lists-An Aesthete's Lament is reading The House of Life by Praz this summer-little augury)


in Novels: Jane Austen, Henry James, Guy de Maupassant are old standbys.

What is your favorite library destination?

The Biblioteque Forney- a library specializing in the fine and decorative arts. It is in the Marais- a very wonderful part of Paris.

Another wonderful spot for pleasing my passion for books is Delamain- a beautiful book shop across from the Palais Royal in Paris. It sells books both old and new.

What is the seminal book in your field or passion that you would recommend to young wold be(s) of the same?

A book by Jacques Anquetil about the symbolism of weaving and fabric design. One day I 'll find this book again. Another book important to me in my field that doesn't overtake the Anquetil but is less obscure is The Sense of Order by Gombrich.

Favorite genre? Why? What is your most recent purchase in this category?

I love old books. That's not a genre, I know! I appreciate the thick hand papper and the texture of the old-time printed page. Life's treasure hunt and when I come across something out of print 0r less common, it's even more valuable to me. My latest discovery of this sort was a little nest of books on antiques/ art that just seemed to be waiting to com home with me The Gentle Art of Faking Furniture, the classic Small Antique Furniture by B & T Hughes & Selectioned Writings by Ruskin.

What is your favorite book cover?

It's not for the artwork; my choice is sentimental. The book is Tissus d'art 1931 which was hand bound by my friend Sandrine.

How do you define "library"?

My ideal library is a room in itself with a chaise longue, comfortable armchairs, a big solid desk, shelves all around and a fireplace would make it perfect. I love the descriptions of libraries in Victorian romances- the ones you go to when you just can't sleep and where you may just have interesting encounters. A library is an extremely personal place. I'm always interested to see the titles in other people's libraries. Looking at their bookshelves is a little like climbing into their brains. I find homes without books a little frightening!


as an addition to your library:

I have volumes 1 and 2 of The PARIS REVIEW INTERVIEWS for a bibliophile-Isn't that everyone reading these Summer Lists ? They AWAIT- your comments.

an AESTHETE'S LAMENT a "well read" portrait

What Books are on your Summer reading list?

A great design scholar examines every object in his home, from its provenance to the details of its acquisition, and ends up creating a moving portrait of his life.

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Conversation Pieces by Sacheverell Sitwell. I love portraits and this particular genre, portraits composed of two or more family members, doubles, triples, and quadruples the pleasure.

the Sitwells by Sargent

Ex-libris for Sacheverell Sitwell (1897- 1988)by John Piper, based on a monogram of Sitwell’s grandfather.

Valentina by Kohle Yohannan. A fashion designer who still remains a mystery.

Nana by Emile Zola. So salacious and hermetic and lots of descriptions of truly vulgar interiors.

"Perfection is such a nuisance that I often regret having cured myself of using tobacco." zola

Zola by Manet

E M Delafield's A Provincial Lady series of novels. Beaucoup de charme!

E M Delafield

& Far too many plant and seed catalogues! I read and dream more than I actually order.

Is there one book you honestly don’t expect to get to? Why?

I have never and will never manage to do more than dip a toe into Proust. Which is why I never put it on any must-read list anymore! It’s so dense and so rich that I get bogged down after only a few chapters and have to clear my mental palate with a dose of Nancy Mitford.

"I have only ever read one book in my life, and that is White Fang. It's so frightfully good I've never bothered to read another." NM

Where do you read and when? Does the genre you are reading dictate the place you read?- in other words do you take just any old book to bed?

I read all the time and can be found dragging a book or magazine to the breakfast table, to my spouse’s everlasting chagrin. I tend to read gardening books when I’m in the country, those as well as country-house decorating books. But when I head to bed, I bring biographies for some reason.

What does your nightstand look like? Or your side of the bed, floor, chair!

At present it is a small, round Syrian table piled high with books and topped with reading glasses. More books and magazines are deposited on the floor in some measure of disorder. I really should have something better than this.

(My own thoughts on a new look for the AESTHETE)

giotto

What is your all time Favorite Book for its sense of place?

Nothing beats Flaubert's “Madame Bovary” for atmosphere. You can practically hear the leaves in the trees rustling and see the dust churned up by carriages and wagons.

"And what is there to beat sitting by the fire of an evening with a book, when the lamp is lit and the wind beating against the window?... You forget everything... the hours slip by. Sitting still in your arm-chair, you can wander in strange places and make believe they are there before your eyes. Your thoughts become entwined in the story, dwelling on the details, or eagerly following the course of the adventure. You imagine you are the characters, and it seems to be 'your' heart that is throbbing beneath their raiment." - Gustave Flaubert, from Madame Bovary

What is your Security Blanket Book?

It’s the one book I take to bed whenever I am laid up with a cold or other illness.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - - that's all." from ALICE

THE PERFECT AESTHETE"S PERFECT ALICE
Annie Leibovitz for Vogue

What is your favorite Genre? Why? What is your most recent purchase in this category?

Biographies and more biographies. I cannot get enough of reading about other people’s lives, loves, houses, dreams, hopes, and private torments. Most recently I received a copy of Francine du Plessix Gray’s biography of Madame de Staël, the great French intellectual and salon hostess, and I rushed straight through it, much faster than I had hoped. So I intend to start it over and try to savor rather than gulp. I also devour crime novels, especially the works of Henning Mankell. Oh, he’s good.

"Genius is essentially creative; it bears the stamp of the individual who possesses it."
Madame de Stael

Francine du Plessix Gray as a young woman

What about Books you are reading for a second or third time? Why? Any disappointments on second reading?

I read everything multiple times, pulling out especial favourites when the weather is bad (rainy days in particular). If a book is good, it’s always good, so no disappointments here. Well, except the novels of Taylor Caldwell. I used to race through them in high school and now they seem so labored, creaky, and pretentious.

What is the seminal book in your field or your passion that you would recommend to young would be(s) of the same?

It never, ever fails to inspire- See HERE.

"The best decoration in the world is a roomful of books."BB

Latest Obsession Author, Designer, Photographer writer?

Swedish crime novelist Henning Mankell. He can’t write enough books fast enough for me. I have half a mind to write and tell him so.

Henning Mankell on reading:

"It is a disgrace for the whole world that we in the year 2008 have yet to eradicate illiteracy on our planet. Still millions of children are forced to enter life without knowing how to read and write. Being a writer myself I know that there is only one symbolic book which truly matters: the ABC-book."

Book covers can be art- Do you have a favorite cover in your stacks?

The English slip jacket of the collected letters of Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh-Fermor, read about In Tearing Haste here. Very graphic, rather naïve, and just the sort of cover that would never be sold on an American book. It’s too eccentric and at the same time too subtle.

Going out on a limb here –define LIBRARY in the nontraditional sense?

Any collection of books that contributes to the broadening of your viewpoint.

Image-Architectural Digest, December'79, photograph by Derry Moore.

WELL SAID AESTHETE.
As I have mentioned in several posts- reading the AESTHETE's lament was a catalyst for my own decision to start Little Augury. I want to personally thank You for that and to ask that you please seriously consider hesitating before posting anymore Must Read Books for awhile- I can't keep up.

Dear READER, do you think the AESTHETE has read SISTER, The Life of Legendary American Interior Decorator Mrs. Henry Parish II. Of Course! I do too- but have You? I can't wait to read it- and it can be yours to read too- I'll send it your way.