Oh, the irony

Lot 187: Antique Chinese blue-and-white 3-part begging bowl
Qing Dynasty, bears 4-character underglaze blue marks, the globular pot decorated with insects, prunus and foliage on separate spreading base and cover with interior band and auspicious symbol, 9.5"h x 9"dia. (total) - Condition: overall good, no damage or restorations observed, glaze flakes to rim of base - Provenance: the Doris Duke Foundation. Estimate: 300-500


Doris Duke's personal effects are hitting the auction block next month... - An Aesthete's Lament, Duke It Out


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More W1

The street, photographed by Alvin Langdon Coburn, as it was at the end of the 19th century. The architecture is predominantly Regency and Vogue Regency (the style prevalent with the smart set of the 1920s).

While one needs to respect the client's wishes one should not disregard the architectural integrity of the space. Above all the client wanted the apartment to be masculine. Unfortunately, this desire often manifests itself with boxy pieces of leather furniture. Here, however, the client was steered towards a restricted palette (Indian jade, black, burnt orange, and a dirty greyish white) and more organically shaped pieces to achieve the desired effect.




The living room is sill awaiting its rug, which needed to be re-coloured. Elephants gestate faster.





The Jansen mirrors were a great find (that is code for the client did not collapse when told the price), as was the bar. The fireplace still awaits its fire bowl.



And this (in terracotta) is sill the perfect piece to help finish the room.




The accent colour changes from burnt orange to yellow as one moves into the private space of the apartment.




Originally the kitchen was a testament to the 80s - white and grey marble tiles and pale blue-grey cabinetry.
The cabinetry now painted black (with whiskey coloured interiors), the marble replaced with cork and oak, and the hardware bronzed. Hopefully more an homage to T. E. Lawrence than a testament to the 2000s.


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Almost there, W1

Soon, very soon.


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There will be...

More News From Nowhere - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds


Soon.

More ways to waste time

Arabesque (1966) - Trailer


Arabesque (1966), the stylish romantic thriller starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren.

An American hieroglyphics expert, Professor David Pollock (Peck), is hired by a mysterious oil magnate by the name of Beshraavi (played by Alan Badel) to decipher a secret message. When the hidden meaning is revealed, the chase is on as he and the oil magnate's exotic yet unpredictable companion, Yasmin Azir (Loren), find themselves caught in the middle of a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister.



Scene with Sophia Loren and Alan Badel


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Ingenious

Following the right hand of Sophia Loren in "Too Bad She's Bad"

For his ongoing series, Following the right hand, Pierre Bismuth does just that. He projects a feature film onto a sheet of Plexiglas and painstakingly follows the movements of the lead actress’ right hand with a black marker. The resultant abstract drawings are then enframed over a 30 by 40 inch photographic print of a still image from the film. The image selected by the artist represents the moment that he disengages from the actress, sometimes near the beginning of the film, creating a simple drawing; but just as often near the end of the film, creating an aggressive thicket of marks that almost obliterate the filmic image. In this way, the motion picture is occluded by a chance pattern that constitutes a kind of messy signature made by the actress. There is an undeniably fetishistic aspect of this work, as a portion of its appeal is linked to the actress’s name and aura; at the same time, the focus on the squiggly marks paradoxically negates the film, along with its star, by obscuring them with black ink, frustrating our desire to connect with the screened image. - team ( gallery, inc.)



Following the right hand of Marilyn Monroe in "How to Marry a Millionaire"


Found via the comment left by Paul Pincus on An Aesthete's Lament.

Brilliant.

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The man who brought downtown uptown

The Stephen Sprouse Book










Uber antimodel Tony Ward, wearing Stephen Sprouse, photographed by Paul Gobel for Blitz, April 1988.


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Round and round we go

Circleback Chair by Edwin Lutyens

This chair was designed in 1930 for two of the smaller bedrooms in the north west wing of Government House in New Delhi. Authoritative sources indicate that the original pieces do still survive and that they are now in the President of India's private apartment.

It is a good example of the paradoxical nature of much of Lutyens's work. While, on the face of it, we have a fairly conventional chair, there are certain aspects of the design that are surprising. The extravagant sweep of the semicircular arm is a case in point, as is the narrow void at the front of the seat. The degree to which the geometrical relationship between the circles of the back is precisely worked out is also of some interest. The reducing size of the voids is predetermined by a mathematical formula, as is the thickness of the rings which lessens as the circles become smaller. - Candia Lutyens

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Before the fall

Where, oh where Imelda, did it all go so terribly, terribly wrong?

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In the round

A large Regency giltwood convex mirror with an ebonised reeded border surrounded by moulded sides studded with gilt balls. The winged eagle surmount holding a double tassel chain in its beak and standing upon a fluted pedestal.




Victorian carved ebonised salon chair with turned and fluted supports - the raised upholstered seat and back re-covered in Lee Jofa's Althea glazed cotton.




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Terribly grand

A pair of impressive 19th Century Portuguese mahogany console tables with serpentine shaped and figured marble tops, circa 1840. The ebonised mahogany triform bases, carved with boldly scrolling knops flanking bulbous sides carved with floral crested centres, terminating on twin voluted scrolls.


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Either...

She was loved, or he was guilty. More than likely a combination of the two.

A Victorian sapphire and diamond brooch. The principle oval shaped sapphire is set within a surround of cushion shaped diamonds in silver and gold. With a diamond and sapphire set foliate scroll mount and suspending five graduated sapphire and diamond clusters.


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Egg hunt

Fabergé Nephrite Easter Egg
Two hollow egg halves in Siberian green jade about 14cm long with four feet in red gold in the shape of apple tree branches. The petals of the white apple flowers are in enamel with their center formed by diamonds on a pink background. (Collection A.P.Goop, Lichtenstein)

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More ways to waste time

Recordaras, sung by Luz Casal, from Pedro Almodóvar's High Heels (1991). Again, another film built around the fractured relationship between a mother and her daughter. Not unlike Autumn Sonata, a previous More ways to waste time entry (and the reason I am convinced I never needed to see a shrink), which is directly quoted.

Algo más

Something more of Ruven Alfanador, matillas, and Spain.

These large scaled photographs were part of the of the exhibition Mil besos by Ruven Alfanador promoting the 2008 XV Bienal del Flamenco. A total of sixty-four images lined the streets of Seville.

Images from El País and Holas Crayolas

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Torero

TORERO by Ruven Afanador

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Taking the veil

The mantilla.





Portrait of actress Hedy Lamarr by Eliot Elisofon for Life, 1946.
Miss Lamarr wears a black lace mantilla and black lace-trimmed dress.



Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, and her hostess, the Duchess of Alba, wearing Mantillas of White Lace, Attended the Seville bullfights April 21, 1966. Photograph by Bettmann.



Carmen Polo and Francisco Franco at the procession of the Virgen de Valvanera.


Mourning Portrait of the Duchess of Alba by Francisco Goya, 1797.


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The polite look of fascism

General Francisco Franco and his wife Carmen Polo.

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Dirty pansies

Heartsease


Viola Sorbet Antique Shades




Viola Bowles Black (t)
Viola Molly Sanderson (b)


Viola, call the gardener.

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White, yellow, and green

Pavlova from la.foodblogging

Ingredients:

6 egg whites
a pinch of cream of tartar
superfine sugar
dash of white wine vinegar

whipping cream
vanilla essence
the pulp of 4 passionfruit
sliced kiwi fruit
sliced star fruit

Visit la.foodblogging for method and a more exact recipe.


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Petrology

Lot No 1282
Series of five graduated polyester Rock lights, circa 1970, by Andre Cazenave. Most bearing a paper label to the underside - A. Cazenave, Disderot-Editeur, Paris. Made in France - the smallest h. 5", dia. 7", the largest h. 12-1/2", dia. 19".

New Orleans Auction Galleries, Inc.

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More ways to waste time

Sudden Fear (1952)

Sudden Fear (1952), the four time Academy Award nominated stylish film noir thriller starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance. Featuring Gloria Grahame, Bruce Bennett, Virginia Huston, and Touch Connors. Shot on location in San Francisco.

Kiss me, kiss me hard.



The scenario...is designed to allow Miss Crawford a wide range of quivering reactions to vicious events, as she passes through the stage of starry-eyed love, terrible disillusionment, fear, hatred, and finally hysteria. With her wide eyes and forceful bearing, she is the woman for the job. - Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., New York Herald Tribune (1952)

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Strangers with candy

Candy J - Why Are You Wasting My Time

Go on, have some.

More tales from the road

Paramoudra on chalk outcrop.

Can I ask a question, what is that?

That - is a Norfolk flint rock. And, before you ask - yes, your husband does look gay.*

* No I didn't really say it, but oh how I wanted to. Had I been in a more jovial hail fellow well met frame of mind I would have. Tell the truth and shame the devil.

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Master class

Interior Design: The New Freedom

Mr. Ward Bennett - acclaimed as an American icon, yet he never became a household word.



Ward Bennett's Manhattan apartment in the Dakota, photographed by Jaime Ardiles-Arce.


I-Beam


Sled Chair




Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel talks with Ward Bennett, from Duke University's Diamonstein-Spielvogel Video Archive, Lilly Library Film and Video Collection.



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Viola, if Madonna calls

If Madonna Calls - Junior Vasquez

Find out what she wants.