Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Fornasetti: The Complete Universe
Essential Reading
New from Rizzoli : Fornasetti: The Complete Universe.
Nearly 700 pages long, with 3,000 images and illustrations, it is a composite catalogue raisonne and coffee table book extraordinaire.
New from Rizzoli : Fornasetti: The Complete Universe.
Nearly 700 pages long, with 3,000 images and illustrations, it is a composite catalogue raisonne and coffee table book extraordinaire.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Still Life
The Japanese woman (1929) by Ruth Payne Burgess
[American painter, 1865-1934]
[American painter, 1865-1934]
via www. cocoon.splinder.com
Hallo Berlin, Frohe Feiertage.... bis bald!
From the editorial: "Ich Bin Eine Berlinerin" by Jean Lariviere
Citizen K February 2003
Photography by Jean Lariviere
Model: Alek Wek
Photography by Jean Lariviere
Model: Alek Wek
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Men and Cats
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| Truman Capote |
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| John Lennon |
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| Marlon Brando |
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| Jay Leno |
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| Clark Gable |
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| George Harrison |
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| Steve Martin |
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| James Dean |
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| Ernest Hemingway |
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| Mark Twain |
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| Sean Connery |
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| George Clooney |
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| Jean Michel Basquiat |
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| Bill Clinton and Socks |
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| Frank Zappa |
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| Joey Ramone |
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| Kurt Cobain |
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Carla Bruni at Home by Barat Sikka
So in love with these pictures. I assume this is her house and studio, absolutely lovely.
The Photographer Barat Sikka has a great blog and website, www.bharatsikka.com.
The Photographer Barat Sikka has a great blog and website, www.bharatsikka.com.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Discovery
Portrait de Madame de Florian by Giovanni Boldini
For 70 years the Parisian apartment had been left uninhabited, under lock and key, the rent faithfully paid but no hint of what was inside.
Behind the door, under a thick layer of dusk lay a treasure trove of turn-of-the-century objects including a painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.
The woman who owned the flat had left for the south of France before the Second World War and never returned.
But when she died recently aged 91, experts were tasked with drawing up an inventory of her possessions and homed in on the flat near the Trinité church in Paris between the Pigalle red light district and Opera.
Entering the untouched, cobweb-filled flat in Paris' 9th arrondissement, one expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900.
"There was a smell of old dust," said Olivier Choppin-Janvry, who made the discovery. Walking under high wooden ceilings, past an old wood stove and stone sink in the kitchen, he spotted a stuffed ostrich and a Mickey Mouse toy dating from before the war, as well as an exquisite dressing table.
But he said his heart missed a beat when he caught sight of a stunning tableau of a woman in a pink muslin evening dress.
The painting was by Boldini and the subject a beautiful Frenchwoman who turned out to be the artist's former muse and whose granddaughter it was who had left the flat uninhabited for more than half a century.
The muse was Marthe de Florian, an actress with a long list of ardent admirers, whose fervent love letters she kept wrapped neatly in ribbon and were still on the premises. Among the admirers was the 72nd prime minister of France, George Clemenceau, but also Boldini.
The expert had a hunch the painting was by Boldini, but could find no record of the painting. "No reference book dedicated to Boldini mentioned the tableau, which was never exhibited," said Marc Ottavi, the art specialist he consulted about the work.
When Mr Choppin-Janvry found a visiting card with a scribbled love note from Boldini, he knew he had struck gold. "We had the link and I was sure at that moment that it was indeed a very fine Boldini".
He finally found a reference to the work in a book by the artist's widow, which said it was painted in 1898 when Miss de Florian was 24.
The starting price for the painting was €300,000 but it rocketed as ten bidders vyed for the historic work. Finally it went under the hammer for €2.1 million, a world record for the artist.
"It was a magic moment. One could see that the buyer loved the painting; he paid the price of passion," said Mr Ottavi.
Behind the door, under a thick layer of dusk lay a treasure trove of turn-of-the-century objects including a painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.
The woman who owned the flat had left for the south of France before the Second World War and never returned.
But when she died recently aged 91, experts were tasked with drawing up an inventory of her possessions and homed in on the flat near the Trinité church in Paris between the Pigalle red light district and Opera.
Entering the untouched, cobweb-filled flat in Paris' 9th arrondissement, one expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900.
"There was a smell of old dust," said Olivier Choppin-Janvry, who made the discovery. Walking under high wooden ceilings, past an old wood stove and stone sink in the kitchen, he spotted a stuffed ostrich and a Mickey Mouse toy dating from before the war, as well as an exquisite dressing table.
But he said his heart missed a beat when he caught sight of a stunning tableau of a woman in a pink muslin evening dress.
The painting was by Boldini and the subject a beautiful Frenchwoman who turned out to be the artist's former muse and whose granddaughter it was who had left the flat uninhabited for more than half a century.
The muse was Marthe de Florian, an actress with a long list of ardent admirers, whose fervent love letters she kept wrapped neatly in ribbon and were still on the premises. Among the admirers was the 72nd prime minister of France, George Clemenceau, but also Boldini.
The expert had a hunch the painting was by Boldini, but could find no record of the painting. "No reference book dedicated to Boldini mentioned the tableau, which was never exhibited," said Marc Ottavi, the art specialist he consulted about the work.
When Mr Choppin-Janvry found a visiting card with a scribbled love note from Boldini, he knew he had struck gold. "We had the link and I was sure at that moment that it was indeed a very fine Boldini".
He finally found a reference to the work in a book by the artist's widow, which said it was painted in 1898 when Miss de Florian was 24.
The starting price for the painting was €300,000 but it rocketed as ten bidders vyed for the historic work. Finally it went under the hammer for €2.1 million, a world record for the artist.
"It was a magic moment. One could see that the buyer loved the painting; he paid the price of passion," said Mr Ottavi.
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