Sunday, March 30, 2008

Valerie Steele

Valerie Steele now has a website!
http://www.valeriesteelefashion.com/

More Paris 1900

Another echo across the centuries from the Paris Exhibition of 1900 to today is the Manoir a l'Envers (Upside-Down Manor House), illustrated and described by Philippe Jullian, in which "the furniture was suspended from the ceiling" and "in the drawing-room people could walk round a chandelier whose lamps illuminated their feet."--which, of course, is the same concept at the recently opened Viktor and Rolf boutique in Milan:


Manoir a l'Envers:

Viktor & Rolf

Viktor & Rolf

Paris 1900

I just finished reading The Triumph of Art Nouveau: Paris Exhibition 1900 by Philippe Jullian, published in 1974, which is only in small part about art nouveau and is really a spectacular panorama of the entire scope of the exhibition and the dizzying array of styles and ideologies on display. The book includes scores of photographs of the famous monuments constructed for the exhibition (the Grand and Petit Palais) as well as many of the more obscure pavillions (Bosnia-Herzogovina, Siberia, the Palais des Mirages . . .). Amongst the latter was the Palais des Extases designed by a Swiss architect named Traschel. Jullian doesn't give any further information about this Palais; it does look remarkably like Takashi Murakami's "Mr. Pointy."




Palais des Extases:


Mr. Pointy:

Friday, March 14, 2008

Earl Krentzin Cover Story

The March/April of Silver magazine is now out with my article on Earl Krentzin as the cover story. Cover and some unpublished images of Krentzin's work from the 1950s-1960s below. If you would like a pdf of the article please contact me.







Sunday, March 9, 2008

Rococo at Cooper-Hewitt

The nice folks at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, invited me to the opening of "Rococo: the Continuing Curve, 1730-2008" (http://www.cooperhewitt.org/EXHIBITIONS/rococo/). The ground floor is devoted to rococo in the 18th century while the upstairs galleries explore rococo revivals and influences in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. There are magnificent things on the ground floor, beautifully installed and the ceramics, silver, furniture, bookbindings, etc. (LOTS of wonderful etc.) are brilliantly integrated. Same goes for upstairs however it seems a bit of a stretch to include some of the choices under the umbrella of rococo, such as molded chairs by Charles and Ray Eames and Frank Ghery's Easy Edges. Some fun pics of the crowd below, but I couldn't get too many of the exhibition itself as photos were prohibited: you must go see it yourself in any case! Seen at the opening were David Barquist of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Stephen Harrison of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Joan K. Davidson, Zang Toi with Ling (see below), Craig Kellogg, lots more. When you go to the Cooper-Hewitt don't miss the small but beautifully packed exhibition "Multiple Choice," of sample and swatch books from the 16th century to the 20th century: http://www.cooperhewitt.org/EXHIBITIONS/multiple_choice/site/