GARDENS IN BEVERLY HILLS

Greystone, in Beverly Hills, is a 1926 English late gothic/early renaissance style house surrounded by Italian renaissance/mannerist style gardens. Built by the Doheny family the property is now owned by the city of Beverly Hills and the gardens are a free public park. The house itself no longer has it's original furnishings and is rented out as a location for weddings, film shoots etc. On previous trips to Los Angeles I have visited the Virginia Robinson Gardens and the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, both also in Beverly Hills--one could spend an entire day visiting these three sites and get a great idea of old (and beautiful and cultured) Los Angeles .  

Easter

I returned to New York from two weeks in Los Angeles recently and I have lots of stuff to post from the trip. Easter seems like a good day to start posting with pictures from the Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, magnificent on the outside and inside.

REGENCY ARTS PRESS BOOK SWAP

I went to the fun Art Book Swap organized by Regency Arts Press last week and held at the Museum of Modern Art. This is the third book swap that the organization, directed by Lauren Wittels, has produced. Here's how it worked: you bring any art books that you don't want or need anymore, hardcover or paperback (but no magazines or how-to books), present them at the check-in table where you get a receipt indicating the number of books you have donated, and then browse the tables full of books donated by other swappers and by publishers and dealers . There were more books filling the tables all day long as swappers arrived and donated. At the end of the day all remaining books are donated to prison libraries through local organizations: in New York the Prisoners' Reading Encouragement Project, and in Los Angeles the Bunche Center Prison Outreach Program. I walked out with some amazing books!

ART FROM 1st CENTURY BC INDIA

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday to see the new exhibition "Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage" which was fascinating but not quite as exciting as I thought it would be. The collages on view were all examples made for intimate viewing in a private album rather than the tours de force made for public display. Nevertheless I highly recommend checking it out. While at the museum I took a stroll through the Indian art galleries and discovered some incredible things. The first gallery displays the art of 1st century BC India and includes the remarkable pair of earrings and the relief sculpture shown below. The gold earrings are described as "the largest, finest and best preserved examples of early Indian jewelry." The plaque illustrates a royal family with their dog in incredible detail. Check out those fantastic hairdo's!

COOL ZINES

As a young hipster and budding historian growing up in New York I acquired and saved a lot of magazines, newspapers and zines. As a result I now have a pretty extensive of publications like New York Rocker, SoHo News, The Face, i-D, Non-LP B Side, Short News, Mouth of the Rat, ZG and other titles that may be familiar to cool folks who hung out in the East Village and Soho circa 1979-1983. Back then the entire hip community seemed to consist of less than 1000 people--much less. While organizing my collection I discovered I had doubles of a few things and have put them up on eBay. Check out my listings for a rare copy of punk zine Mouth of the Rat and three early issues of The Face.

CUNEO MUSEUM AND GARDENS

Via the Art Newspaper comes this item about the Cuneo Museum and gardens in Vernon Hills, Illinois:

Loyola University Chicago has received the largest gift in its 140-year history from John Cuneo Jr, his wife Herta, and the Cuneo Foundation. The $50m gift includes the family mansion, which opened to the public as the Cuneo Museum and Gardens in 1991. It brings the museum just $100m shy of its $500m capital campaign goal. The university has a longstanding relationship with the Cuneos, after whom the Stritch School of Medicine’s main building is named, after the couple gave $13m to the university in 2000 to support education.

This gift will be used to support student scholarships, a new academic building on the Lake Shore Campus to be named Cuneo Hall, and for operational support at the mansion and gardens. The mansion is currently used mainly for private events, such as wedding, but plans for future programming include art performances, lectures and classes and artist residencies. According to the family, it was John Cuneo’s Sr’s wish that his home, estate, and collections be used as an educational institution for the public.

The Cuneo Mansion houses the family collection of antiques, paintings, tapestries, sculptures, silver, and porcelain, as well as murals by Czech-born artist John Mallin, who painted the interiors of more than 100 Chicago churches. Constructed in 1918, the coral pink villa was designed in the Venetian style by architect Benjamin Marshall for Samuel Insull, the original founder of General Electric Company. The gardens were designed by landscaped architect, Jens Jensen, who was also responsible for Lincoln Memorial Park.

LIBRARY THING

I ran into my friend Laren Stover, the author of the Bombshell Manual of Style, the other night at Sally Randall's fabulous and fun holiday party. I asked her if she was on facebook and she responded "no but I'm on LibraryThing!" She and a number of other friends of mine who embody style as well as substance. So I finally decided to join LibraryThing also. It's yet another internet timewaster but at least a highbrow one that also has some practical benefits. You enter the titles of the books in your collection into LibraryThing and it creates a catalogue of your personal library. A few of my favorite rarities from my collection are shown below and you can see the beginnings of my catalogue on the site (these books are in my permanent collection so none of them are for sale). Plus LibraryThing has social networking features: you can see the profiles and catalogues of people who have the same book that you do, etc. Check out Laren's profile.

              I Am A Cliche, 1979:                     

Les Lalanne, 1975:

Improbable Memories by Sarah Moon, 1981:

Oscar Niemeyer: Works in Progress, 1956:

Bjorn Weckstrom, 1980

The World of Carmel Snow, 1962:

Your Home and You, 1963

BOOKSTORE

Please visit my new online bookstore:
http://alanrosenbergsbooks.blogspot.com/ Some of my favorite books are shown below. Full descriptions and prices can be found at the bookstore.

Quant by Quant:

Glow of Candlelight:

La Decoration:

The Fountains of Rome:

Inside Design:

Charas: the Improbable Dome Builders:

House &; Garden's Complete Guide to Creative Entertaining:

Bureaux et Bibliotheques:

The Beautiful People:

My Years and Seasons:

PEDRO FRIEDEBERG

I haven't seen it yet myself but just thought I'd spread the word that there is a Pedro Friedeberg exhibition here in New York at Henaine Fine Art (until 11 December) and, if you happen to be in Mexico City, another at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (until 17 January). In 1966 Crafts Horizons magazine (precursor to American Craft) published an an exquisitely composed autobiographical poem/manifesto by the artist. An updated version is on his website and my transcription of the original is below, and a picture of his famous hand chair, shown above in situ in the home of fashion designer Arnold Scaasi, circa 1965. The hand chairs are just one motif in the artists extensive iconography.

I was born in Italy

during the era of Mussolini
who made all trains run on time.

Immediately thereafter

I moved to Mexico

where the trains are never on time,

but once they start moving

they pass pyramids.

My education was first entrusted

to a Zapotec governess

and later to such brilliant mentors as

Mathias Goeritz

who taught me murals,

Jose Gonzales who taught me carpentry,

and Gerry Morris

who taught me to play bridge.

I have invented several styles of architecture

as well as one new religion

and two salads.

I am particularly fond of social problems

and cloud formations.

I am an idealist.

I am certain that very soon now

humanity will arrive at a marvelous epoch

totally devoid of Knoll chairs

or Danish coffee tables,

and the obscenity of Japanese rock gardens

5,000 miles from Kyoto.

At present I work in a circus.

I live on the left bank

of the Paseo de la Reforma

where I pursue my deliciously futile

but absolutely useless existence.

FRIEND's DESIGN 2 - WALLPAPER BY ADRIENNE NEFF

My friend, interior designer Adrienne Neff, has just debuted her sensitively designed line of wallpaper, available to the trade in New York at Holland and Sherry. The Uzu collection is "inspired by ancient decorative arts" and "the universal symbols of organic growth, rejuvenation and renewal: water, earth, clay, rock, and vegetation." Although the nature inspiration is evident there is a strong geometric component that makes the patterns look like mod for the new millenium. Depending on the colorway the patterns would look equally lovely on the walls of a quiet country retreat or a hip urban habitation. There are seven patterns with an almost infinite number of custom colors available. I'll let the designer describe the story of each pattern:

Uzu (spiral water in Japanese) pays
homage to 17th century Japanese ceramics

Jagged Agate is an abstract interpretation of the patterns formed by cut agate rock

Yamanoma (hillside in Japanese) evokes the spirit of 16th century Japanese screens

Renjyu (spiral repeat in Japanese) is inspired by Japanese Neolithic pottery designs circa 2,000 B.C.

Giant Onion is an abstract geometric celebration of the
humble onion.

Acoma This lively pattern is inspired by Pueblo Indian ceramic water jars circa 1,000 A.D.

The wallpapers are hand-block-printed in Brooklyn (where the blocks were hand carved) in water-based inks on recycled and renewable paper.
Adrienne collaborated with photographer Don Freeman and stylist Becky Hubbert on the images below for which they bound books with her new wallpapers (the bindings were done in a traditional Japanese technique).