La rock, the Vallois' stand with pieces by Elieen Gray.
Pair of painted commodes by Maison Jansen.
L' hard place, an Hermes leather room by Jean Michel Frank at Galerie du Passage.
Interestingly, the unsold items in Passebon's booth say strongly what no longer matters. Still for sale on Sunday were a pair of painted chests once belonging to the decadent Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Created for the Windsor's nuptial chambers in the Chateau de la Croe, Cap d'Antibes, the chests were really ordinary painted furniture. Decorated with flowers and butterflies, the chests are a product by Stephane Boudin, head of the House of Jansen. Emblazoned on one chest's drawers were the Windsor royal feathers. How was this common 20th-century painted furniture received? "Not even for the maid's rooms," sneered one tony decorator. So provenance just doesn't cut it these days, even when its royale. What matters are objects made by great designers. - Excerpt from Decorative Arts Diary , review of the 2000 Biennale des Antiquaires, by Brook S. Mason
What in the hell ever happened to well rounded people with catholic tastes? There is a very fine line between passion and narrow mindedness.
To dismiss the commodes as what no longer matters and ordinary painted furniture is ridiculous. Simply because things are no longer fashionable does not negate their relevance or historical significance.
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Monday, 29 September 2008
Between une rock and un hard place
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9 comments:
Mmmm, but if you told "mr tony decorator" he could have them for nothing - he would have taken them like a flash! LOL
... and then stripped them to bare wood.
The painted commodes were what got my pulse racing... before I even scrolled down to find that they were owned by the Windsors.
Indeed. Well said.
Sneering seems to be the thing to do, when one doesn't have much to add to any converstaion. To dismiss things in this manner only points out a lack of depth, and perhaps true vision and talent.
And if these are good for the maid's room, point me to it, and let me live there LOL
well, i must admit that both the rock and the hard place are more to my taste, but who could seriously get their nose out of joint at something with the words "boudin, jansen and windsor" in it's history? good enough for me- i'll take 'em and live in the maid's room with vamp!
I was reading a book about finding your personal style, and one of the Major Fashion Don'ts To Be Avoided it talked about was the "head-to-toe designer" look. A photo of a girl dressed entirely in the Burberry pattern illustrated its point.
It's the same thing, I think, with interior design. Uniqueness beats prestigious conformity any day of the week.
One auction they don't sell, the next they are the new "in" thing to have. Such pieces are timeless so the how the heck can they "no longer matter"? Silly and they are absolutely wonderful. Lady Jicky summed it up pretty well.
Lisa & Alfie
"What in the hell ever happened to well rounded people with catholic tastes? There is a very fine line between passion and narrow mindedness.
To dismiss the commodes as what no longer matters and ordinary painted furniture is ridiculous. Simply because things are no longer fashionable does not negate their relevance or historical significance."
Well said, HOBAC! A voice of reason in a world gone mad.
(It's gonna get awfully crowded in the maid's quarters...)
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