Ann Getty, Degas, the Divine Sarah & A TREE

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the prettiest tree-has to be in Ann Getty's  Music Room-
the prettiest book under the tree this year-Ann Getty Interior Style.

the Christmas tree in the Getty Music Room is filled with thirty years of ornaments collected and made reflecting the Getty's love for the opera

The beauty of what's inside the book is No Surprise. I've long followed the style and design elegance of Ann Getty. Her passion for Art-Design-& her Work is evident in the book's pages. Accompanying Getty on her opulent design journey is writer-Diane Dorrans Saeks- purveyor of all things beautiful-and beautifully distinctive to the West Coast and of far flung places beyond.

The book is a sliver of perfection-a exotic taste of  Getty Opulence. Attention to detail and understanding of Getty's style and her pursuits are handled by author Diane Dorrans Saeks with finesse.Both women know themselves and each other-that is what makes the book one of those you will want to reach for time and again. Saeks moves through the homes of the Gettys with golden tales of history-art and design-in a language that reflects the mood created by Ann Getty's assemblage of lavish textiles and furnishings.

The Getty home in San Francisco is inhabited by the great-Artists, as well as the famous names of their day:

tiered ormolu chandelier originally owned by the famed fashion maverick Daisy Fellowes

Read more: Dining Room Chinoiserie Panels - Pictures from Ann Getty's San Francisco Home - Harper's BAZAAR

tiered ormolu chandelier originally owned by the famed fashion maverick Daisy Fellowes

Read more: Dining Room Chinoiserie Panels - Pictures from Ann Getty's San Francisco Home - Harper's BAZAAR

Degas and Matisse paintings in the Getty Living Room

Moreau, Renoir & Pissaro make appearances here as well

A Chandelier in the Dining Room belonged to Daisy Fellowes
Chinoiserie Panels were designed for the King of Poland

the Dining Room table set for the Holidays

Ann Getty poses for Harper's Bazaar in her Russian inspired Music Room

(the color and textiles Getty used in this room are amongst my personal favorites)

Curtains in Patchwork are from Nureyev's Paris Apartment

Caneletto and his pupil's work hang on a raspberry damask wall

(another of my favorite things- Patchwork)

Jacques Emile Blanche paints Nijinsky, the painting hangs in the Living Room

(I adore the works of Blanche)

Getty's signature colors are reprised in Peter Getty's Music Room  

(the finish and walls in this room echo some of my own in a previous home)

A Lepage portrait of the Divine Sarah Bernhardt hangs in the peacock blue Living Room of the Getty's Temple of Wings estate

 ( Sarah Bernhardt and I share a birthday)

 The Temple of Wings is dedicated to the Aesthetic Movement Collection amassed by the Gettys

(another favorite of my own is the Aesthetic Movement)

 Frederick Leighton paintings hang in Temple Study

 & what's equally revealing and another thing I like is Getty's easy going style-it's obvious she is at home in her formal surroundings dressing simply & with ease.

I believe it's as easy to relax in a formal room as it is in any.

Ann Getty 

Personal Style

to Note: Getty in jeans-a white shirt-and could it be Minnetonka moccasins?
& the decrepit tufting on the cut crystal chair-(another of my favorite things "If...don't fix it.")


once again-I say-get this book-destined to be a page worn Classic.

The Style Saloniste-Diane Dorrans Saeks wonderful blog- HERE. Diane has her top ten book selections for the season published this week too.

Anne Getty Associates HERE

(thank you to Rizzoli for the beautiful collection of photographs given by permission to use- with principal photographs by Lisa Romerien)

Picasso,Dodie Rosekrans & an evening auction at Sotheby's

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The Picasso's have been sold.
You missed it! Sadly Picasso waits for no one.

The room above belonged to none other than late Dodie Rosekrans & was designed for her by the late great Michael Taylor in the 1970's.  Last year when the charming and charmed Dodie Rosekrans died, author Diane Dorrans Saeks offered up this celebration of Rosekrans sparkling life here, at the Style Saloniste. The timelessly  chic interior design of the Michael Taylor room sits well with the heft of the Picassos.  For devotees of interior design & of Taylor, the dissolution of these rooms is a poignant farewell to both Taylor and Rosekrans.

Charles Moffett of Sotheby's said of Dodie Rosekrans:  She"was blessed with a great eye. Her eclectic tastes & interests were not bounded by strictures, regulations or other people's values. She could always discern what was special, lively &  lovely, often in the most idiosyncratic ways. Whether collecting couture, Old Master, Modern or Contemporary paintings, decorative arts or jewelry, the common threads were freshness, character, and above all, quality."

Dodie Rosekrans

images courtesy of Sotheby's

A trio of Picasso's sold last week at Sotheby's

(from left to right) Picasso's painting of daughter, Paloma at age 7 in 1956, "Fillete aux nattes e au chapeau vert. "Couple a la guitare" painted when the artist was 88 years old. The subject of romantic love filled Picasso's late works and the couple here is the artist himself & his wife Jacqueline.  The last of the Picasso's from the Rosekrans collection is "Femme" from his Surrealist period painted in 1930.  Driven by the 16th c. anatomical drawings, Picasso produced a small series of paintings known as Bones-this work -of his wife Olga. (all images courtesy of Sotheby's)

The results of the sale are listed here, and the subject of each painting is explored at the Sotheby's site. The Paloma portrait sold for 5,906,500, the Couple sold for  9,602,500 and Femme for 7,922,500.

another view of the Rosekrans room

Sotheby's image

This evening Sotheby's offers other works from Dodie Rosekrans estate. Two important Warhol's will be up for auction. The works are considered some of Warhol's most important. The "Round Jackies", silkscreen and gold paint, were completed in 1964 and offer  indelible images of Jacqueline Kennedy using photographs taken on the day of the Kennedy assassination. With this pair of images, Warhol captures the loss of the nation and a woman that carried much of the burden and sense of loss for the entire country. The tondos are part of eight of Warhol's finest screens in this series and also thought to be the first images of Jackie the artist worked with. The two offered this evening show a smiling Jackie & and the second a Jackie with all the tragedy of the day's events etched on her face.  Interestingly the two Round Jackies have always been under the same ownership, this  evening they will be offered individually. I guess the big question will be-if the bidder for the first Lot will secure the second.

Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Sale

May 10 at 7 p.m.

 

Three works from artist Jacques Dubuffet. The three paintings represent a significant period in the artist's work, 1945-1954. Studying paintings of the insane and the art of children, Dubuffet set out to paint friends and sitters with a style of his own, working from the ideas in these studies. Bracing and sometimes grotesque paintings resulted.

"Portrait de Edith Boissonnas"

If you need another Picasso shot-Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L’amour fou brings together the paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints inspired by one of Picasso’s most ideal models and enduring passions. The exhibition is curated by the eminent Picasso biographer, John Richardson, together with Marie-Thérèse’s granddaughter, art historian Diana Widmaier Picasso, who is currently preparing a catalogue raisonné of Picasso’s sculptures. (from the Gagosian Gallery site)

With Picasso's suggestions that he paint a portrait, the many works of Marie Therese began-

'You have an interesting face. I would like to do your portrait. I have a feeling we will do great things together'.--Pablo Picasso

Gagosian image of Picasso's Marie Therese

Pablo Picasso with his painting of Marie Thérèse Walter. 1932

"Nude, Green Leaves and Bust"

photograph by Cecil Beaton

"Nude, Green Leaves and Bust"

 

Picasso's obsession produced the layered paintings seen in "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" with Picasso using other of his works of Marie Therese , the bust (shown below) in the painting. Picasso's "Visage" at left. and "Tete de Femme" at right

View of the Gagosian Gallery Exhibition

photograph by Robert McKeever

The Gagosian exhibition takes up Picasso's work with more than 80 pieces from the years 1927 to 1940, including several works shown in the States for the first time.
for those that can not venture a Picasso fortunately Gagosian has a book to preorder here

more more more:
from the Style Saloniste here
Picasso at little augury here
Michael Taylor at little augury here
Warhol at little augury here
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Diane Dorrans Saeks on Lavender

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"In fashion and decor, pale  lavender silk taffeta is a dream. The key is that it is most elegant when it is soft, shadowy, shimmery, silken and almost a fugue state. Palest lavender  in candlelight captures a mood of mystery and loveliness.  Is it mauve or lilac or puce or dusty pink? A color is always wonderful and poetic when you can't quite describe it. " Diane Dorrans Saeks

Lady in Lavender Dress

Thomas Wilmer Dewing

Diane Dorrans Saeks , author, her blog here

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Favorite Posts of 2010 v: the Style Saloniste

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"Carmen (Homage to Munkacsi)"

Coat by Cardin

Place Francois-Premier, Paris

August 1957

Diane Dorrans Saeks of the Style Saloniste says:
"This iconic sixties image  by Richard Avedon captures my own mood when I'm in Paris—off the ground, leaping with happiness, and yet calm and focused."



while I might be more this-

AVEDON'S
Dovima with Sacha


Cloche by Balenciaga
Cafe des Deux Magots, Paris,August 1955

 

I am following as much to the letter as possible Diane's Paris Journal. though "My Trip" is not slated for the New Year, I return to this post time and again to take this wonderful trip with Diane to Paris, stopping at all of her favorite spots and drinking in the sites as only Diane can do. For the moment a ongoing pick me up is Diane's book Paris Style-

another of Diane's posts that I favored is her visit to Chateau de Haroue to see the chateau and the meticulously curated collection of Givenchy, Balenciaga, and Venet.

 there is a truly delectable book accompanying this exhibit available that just happened to be one of my Christmas gifts!

 

Diane will be traveling the world again in 2011- no doubt- and whether I go behind her is suspect- So, happily with anticipation will I await her adventures and oh the stories she will tell.

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religiously

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Frederick Childe Hassam The Room of Flowers

My usual day- amongst my books reading,
at the moment- Off on a jaunt to New York.

reading
The Rainbow Comes and Goes, The Light of Common Day, and Trumpets from the Steep. the three volumes compiled in Autobiography by Lady Diana Cooper

 Wish her Safe at Home by Stephen Benatar


read religiously everyday- a few favourite blogs, read them for me while I am away-

IT'S ABOUT TIME 

enlightening everyday

Art & Beauty

Klimt

Childe Hassam

Van Gogh

Christen Købke

 IVAN TERESTCHENKO

visually stunning- 

Photography & An Artist's Soul

St Tropez

Helga da Silvia Blow

Lapo Elkann

Lacroix

THE STYLE SALONISTE

the most indepth articles- People, Places

Paris

Jean-Louis Deniot

Dodie Rosekrans

Tatiana Sorokko

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the style saloniste, ann getty, 1st dibs & for the love of an amritzar rug

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right now at the site 1st dibs, the Style Saloniste- Diane Dorrans Saeks has written a lush story about the design work of Ann Getty. The home of the  younger generation of Trianas  is photographed in Diane's article Estates of Grace. Ann Getty has combined her beautiful opulent baroque style with modern flashes of 20th century art work, youth driven but serious interiors.

Diane can tell you more HERE

The article is accompanied by the incredible photography of Lisa Romerein.

Ann Getty's design work in the Triana's small library- with walls covered in fine naturally shed peacock feathers (I believe a Schumacher paper-though not identified as such)- is pure fantasy and drop dead gorgeous. Not over the top-but just perfectly perched on the edge.(page 9) The monochromatic office is done with an Etro peacock cord fabric on the walls, sharply defined modern pieces, opaline lamps and American West art. A masterfully planned mix of objects,collections, realized by the designer seamlessly. This is another of my favourite rooms. (page 9). Getty's own home is like none other you have seen- likely.

now about that rug- Diane's question and answer portion of the story ends with Getty's selection of her favourites from 1st dibs. They are all exciting-but  the one that grabs my attention is the Antique Amritzar rug available at Peter Pap Oriental Rugs at the 1st dibs site. A 6 x 9ish rug with a colour combination that won't quit. So glad Ann Getty showed this one off to me- it is stellar, Don't you think?

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Rose C'est La Vie's first birthday

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Happy Birthday Rose C'est La Vie!

my blogging Sister- Rosie has been blogging for a year!

read here interview Here

Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words

 -Plautus

Parthenia Card for Rosie

read the Style Saloniste's post about my Parthenia cards Here

my Rose posts Here

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at the Style Saloniste with Diane & Dorothy Parker

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 I am so flattered that Diane Dorrans Saeks has written me up on her celebrated blog the Style Saloniste(here). Since Diane is usually writing about White House designer Michael Smith, noted designers Orlando Diaz-Azcuy or a new favourite designer of mine-introduced by  Diane to ME- Jean-Louis Deniot. Diane has written countless books about design and if you enjoy design or keep up with design books-You surely have one of Diane's books on the shelf or on the coffee table. Diane has written about the cards I've created and enjoy sending special friends and clients, they are for sale-but due to the original old post cards used-I know they are considered a bit pricey. I had no inclination when I started making them that I should make them cost effective, but I do think they are unique, if for nothing else the price. As I have said they are very therapeutic-Busy Hands they say. I never remember going into my GranMa's house that she didn't have some sort of handwork at her side or on her lap board.
She lived the idle hands are the devil's work hop philosophy.


Here is one of my favourite cards-I think it is the pairing of the fashion of Louis XVI with a Dorothy Parker quote.

 Parthenia card

(inside-the Dorothy Parker quote below)

Oh life is a glorious cycle of song

A medley of extemporanea:

And love is a thing

that can never go wrong:

and I am Marie of Romania.

Dorothy  Parker

Dorothy Parker at work- Can you imagine her thoughts about the blogging world?
&; who doesn't Love Dorothy Parker? Her wit was much published in all the best magazines, The New Yorker,Vogue, Vanity Fair-during the 1920's and 30's. A fellow observer of people- DP had a bite and a humour that
still does it for me.

why I love Ms.Parker-

I've never been a millionaire but I know I'd be darling at it.
Men seldom make passes at Girls who were glasses.
She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B.
Scratch an actor- and you will find an actress.
That woman speaks eighteen languages and can't say No in any of them.
Four be the things I'd have been better without Love, Curiosity, Freckles and Doubt.
You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think.
(all by Dorothy Parker)
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MAP QUEST

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When asking for directions- Prepare to lose your way.
When consulting a map- Good Luck.
When consulting a friend about a map-You will find just what you are looking for!

photograph by Louise Dahl- Wolfe
Harper's Bazaar October 1951
Mary Jane Russell models DIOR alongside Turgot's Plan de Paris

I will say one thing about the blog world- I have learned LOTS. This is why it is slightly addicting- Slightly?, and you know- if a writer of one-posting with any regularity -of what I speak. After dipping a toe in here and there for a year-stealthily popping in on a two special favourites, I jumped in the ice cold waters of little augury, writing my own posts and becoming a loyal reader of many others. The sphere is covered with them-a MAP is needed. No? Well- if you already have yours- fine. As long as you know the way.

It is much like a boulevard in the great cities- shop after shop-Lure after allure, but when you have a taste for Nougat- you only visit Arnaud Souberyan. Nougat you ask? Yes, addicting, and I somehow feel very of the age when dining and everything surrounding it was Art. The oldest maker of Nougat since 1837-originally situated at 152 Grand Rue, just meander through the Arnaud Souberyan site & you will find the original 1837 recipe, the establishment's location, the history, the-everything you always wanted to know about Nougat-well-Don't be afraid-Ask there.

& so it is with blogs. Some are a passing taste with me-I read and return and then- I don't. Some are Nougat-They are addicting. They are the BEST- they are of the moment's fancy and the timeless tastefulness of experience. You get what you pay for- and in this case it's free. How delicious!

Now back to maps- but it is all intertwined-as You will see.



I do Love maps-terrible at geographies but the lines on a map are of my own heart- Not a straight one on the parchment paper. Not ONE direct path to any hidden away destination that is truly interesting & maps are always full of mystery. Maps are never without a misprinting or three-a slightly misplaced longitude & Well- one never knows where one may end up. Here is where it gets good. For me- a special blog that always has the best of all bread crumbs leading you here and there & always returning you home is the one and only Pigtown* Design.

Perfect example- Around the first few horribly hot days of August- Meg of Pigtown (that's Baltimore to you) posted about something I have seen and wanted-(here) & wanted more than a time or tw0-it was No passing thing. It is the Michel-Etienne Turgot Map of Paris, circa 1739. The original map PLAN TURGOT measures about 8 feet wide x 10 feet high. The map Meg wrote about was a copy- 98" x 60"- and selling at Conran Shops in the U.K. Meg also gave us her original source for the news- a blog called The CORINTHIAN COLUMN. The Corinthian's July 31st post is (here). I immediately went dashing off to Bangkok-this is where the CORINTHIAN lives- No kidding. Other than reading the "Magna Carta" map post, I started sight seeing there and began finding my way to- paintings, antiques, really-all the best stuff imaginable. I immediately knew I would be revisiting Bangkok.



Before I could ask- Now where can I get this MAP?- Meg had updated the post with several other sources for purchasing the MAP.

Along with Meg's directions to the Paris Map, the comments left on the post were inspirations:

Diane Dorrans Saeks-of THE STYLE SALONISTE (here) added "occasionally I will meet French designers or historians or antique dealers who will proudly claim 'this building was on the PLAN TURGOT...which can be helpful for locating specific buildings that were actually there in 18th C." (the SS)
Now here again- THE Saloniste is another of my favourite places. The Saloniste is in San Francisco & in Paris. I love it when she is there and takes us on one of her larks (here) or introduces us to a new design sensation (here) . I have returned to the Saeks Salon countless times to read about Jean- Louis Denoit again & again. I have this spot permanently marked on my map.

Diane in Paris. Her PARIS ADDRESS BOOK is here.



Note: As a reader of my posts, any post-Always read the comments. This is where the MAP many times begins to meander right to your heart's desire.

Around the first few days of September- Meg got her map! (here). I got mine too-actually- I got two- As I often do, One to keep. One to use on a project. I was emailing Meg on occasion at this point about the Map, along with other things- Meg knows about things. Meg graciously and skillfully- I might add- offered to do something very technical with the map for her readers-this technical part- I can not explain & you do not want me to. In this post "Turgot Plan de Paris (1734) ," we hear back from Meg's original source MAP Maker, the CORINTHIAN COLUMN, saying:

Meg - just back from the copy shop and they are printing six sections together from your first file sent to me, (the black & white), and I'm going to use it as a window covering in the guest loo - which is black and white. There was quite a lot of fiddling to do, as they don't match exactly, and when printed up to my size, (enlarged) they may lose their precision, but it might have an unexpected modern art effect, and I like the juxtaposition of the C18th map made into something more modern. It will be ready on Monday, and I will post about it, with a reference to you/your post. I hope my endeavours are not a disaster!! (the CC)

Here are the results in his post " A River Runs through It" dated September 21st-



Tour de force.
Paris in Bangkok, of course with detours along the way, which makes it all the more worth the travel,
the Victoria and Albert & to an auction.



...meanwhile back in Baltimore. Meg is having cocktails & as one often does after one, I believe she said two-she happens upon MOUNTING THE MAP. Meg is tireless, fearless and quite successful with the map mounting.
Brave too.

Voila! Paris in Baltimore. Meg also dropped me off in Herefordshire at the Kilpeck Church here. I fell in love at this church. I went twice to the Hampton Mansion near Baltimore here & here, & so many other places. If you've missed many -you can go back -bread crumbs, but if it just seems too much ground to cover- Start traveling along with Meg starting now. She will never guide you wrong.



Meg got wonderful Kudos! from her readers. Do read all the comments on her post & get an update from the CORINTHIAN.


My map, alas-Looks like this.



Still in a bundle.

But I hope at some point in the road- it will appear as a screen like this one by Jansen, ca. 1950 in the home of Phillips Hathaway. Isn't it wonderful? My little Tudor is threatening to crumble under all things hanging about the walls now-but I somehow feel I have an old house left in me somewhere- so it will travel with me there someday.

photo from katiedid here

(September HG 2006)

& why not stop along the way-

the Man behind the MAP from BibliOdyssey:

"Mayor Michel-Etienne Turgot (Prevot des Marchands de Paris) commissioned Louis Bretez to prepare a map of Paris in 1734. Five years later, twenty engraved sheets (by Claude Lucas) were delivered that measured eight by ten feet when assembled. This is a superb map with incredible detail and the bird's eye view style seems all the more remarkable for having been produced some fifty years prior to the first balloon flight." (B)

& A first edition available (here)



...to be continued, with detours, But did you doubt that for a minute?

UPDATE (10.12.2009-2 PM)- another TURGOT MAP spotted today at the BLUE REMEMBERED HILLS, each element is framed (here).
UPDATE II (10.12.2009- 10:50 PM- TURGOT MAP SITING-by who else MEG of Pigtown*Design at Pat's Addition, "Plan de Paris Vestibule Chez Moi" a very professional job -I might add (here).
UPDATE III (10.13.2009) after a comment about Rome maps- Joni from Texas shows us ROME. another detour that takes us to Cote de Texas (here)

Rome in Texas, Cote de Texas-that is.

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