(photograph Fred Conrad- NY Times,above and below)
( photographs below by Piotr Redlinski)
writing from the memoir on the silver papered walls
The bedroom at age 16, glamorous silver paper on the walls & ceiling, Swedish clock, Burmese Slipper chair, French day bed, mirrored screen, beloved quilt. The room was in the GVW (Aunt)residence Washington Mews.
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
the carriage house Washington Mews
Painting of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's converted carriage house exclusively for NY Magazine by GV
new book cover coming out in June2009
"Every writer has only one thing to say... over and over. My thing is loss. It is the most real thing to me, the thing I understand most, the thing that obsesses and interests and fascinates me." (GV)
Basic Information Networks: NY, NY age 85 Birthday: February 24th, 1924 sign:Pisces Hometown: New York
Personal Information Artist, Actress, Fashion Designer, Socialite- Latest foray INTERIOR DESIGN
"she would show up at, like ,report day at my school... in sort of like a beaver skin purple Zandra Rhodes coat. And I'd be like Mom, you know, can't you just like wear twee or something? Just like, tone it down?" And now I'm very happy and proud that she doesn't, and she's completely unique." AC
with Joyce Carol Oates ( April 7 2009)
pictures above taken at The National Arts Club's Literary Committee Honoring Joyce Carol Oates at The National Arts Club on April 7, 2009 in New York City.
"My work is loving the world"~Mary Oliver A poem of the miraculous in the everyday...which is mostly standing still and being astonished.~Amy Hempel
Interests: collage,painting Inspired by
Joyce Carol Oates –the beauty of Burne-Jones painting. The darkness of her hair crinkling in a halo around the tenderness, the compassion, the intelligence of her face.
Amy Hempel – her mysterious beauty – the cloud of shimmering hair cascading around her as a cloak to protect the pureness of her spirit which runs through her bloodstream like crystal water.
Aurelia Thierree – she moves on strange planes that girl – her catlike beauty, her delicacy, her strength. Will I ever be able to capture it?
Education Miss Porter's School in Farmington Connecticut the Mary C. Wheeler School in Providence Rhode Island Art Students League in New York City
G.V. has been the recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts at Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, and the International Fine Arts College, Miami, Florida. Among the other awards she has received are: The National Society of Arts & Letters Gold Medal of Merit, the Anti-Defamation League Woman of Achievement Award, National League of American Pen Women, National Honorarium Membership for Excellence in the Arts.
Books Authored Once upon a Time: A True Story Black knight, White knight A Mother's Story It Seemed Important at the Time: A Romance Memoir The Memory Book of Starr Faithfull Never Say Good-Bye Obsession -a novel coming out in June 2009. Once upon a Time: A True Story Black knight, White knight A Mother's Story It Seemed Important at the Time: A Romance Memoir The Memory Book of Starr Faithfull Never Say Good-Bye Obsession -a novel coming out in June 2009.
MY PHOTOGRAPHS
photo by O.G.
the portrait is of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt
"today, how I wish my mother was living close by, perhaps around the corner, so that I could drop by for a cup of tea now and then," she says. "We could smile over things - the things we may have cried about long ago as old friends do when they get together once in a while to catch up, to talk about old times and the things that pass."GV
(all photographs above are by Oberto Gili)
another Bedroom (Horst P Horst) read more click here
George Washington in the Rotunda North Carolina State Capitol from the Canova original
photograph from an old House and Garden in my grandmother's scrap book
