In service of the depiction

the line of fashion - the great fashion artists

Curated Robert W. Richards

Leslie-Lohman Gallery
September 23 - November 1, 2008
Gallery hours: Tue - Sat, 12 noon - 6pm
26 Wooster Street (btw Grand & Canal)
New York

The Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation presents The Line of Fashion, an exhibition of 50 years of fashion illustration curated by Robert W. Richards, whose own artwork is a familiar presence on the fashion scene. The exhibition includes stunning original works by such luminaries as Kenneth Paul Block, Joe Eula, Antonio, Christian Berard, George Stavrinos, Vertes, Mel Odom and others.



Works by Joe Eula and Zack Carr


Works by Tod Draz, J. Randall Orth, Dupre, Fred Greenhill, Bil Donovan
James Childs, Esther Larson, Steven Stipelman, Esther Larson, Dorothy Hood


Works by Antonio


Works by Antonio, Marcel Vertes, Eric, Christian Berard, Mel Odom


Works by Robert Fontanelli, Kenneth Paul Block, J.C. Leyendecker, Mel Odom

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Now playing: The Kinks - Dedicated Follower of Fashion
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Come dancing

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The great wall

Not of China, but of André Breton.


Le Mur, Centre Georges Pompidou

Man, that inveterate dreamer, daily more discontent with his destiny, has trouble assessing the objects he has been led to use, objects that his nonchalance has brought his way, or that he has earned through his own efforts, almost always through his own efforts, for he has agreed to work, at least he has not refused to try his luck - or what he calls his luck. - One of the opening lines of the Surrealist Manifesto of 1924.



André Breton, 42 rue Fontaine

Le Mur, which was originally behind Breton's desk, was taken in lieu of death duties by the government and moved to Centre Georges Pompidou. The remainder of Breton's collection, some 5000 plus items, was sold, piecemeal, over ten days in April of 2003.



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La bohème

The Bohemian is by nature, if not by habit, a cosmopolite, with a general sympathy for the fine arts, and for all things above and beyond convention. The Bohemian is not, like the creature of society, a victim of rules and customs; he steps over them with an easy, graceful, joyous unconnsciousness, guided by the principles of good taste and feeling. Above all others, essentially, the Bohemian must not be narrow minded; if he be, he is degraded back to the position of near worlding. -    Ada Clare, known to New York in the 1860s as the Queen of Bohemia.

Mrs Fairbairn (Nancy Cunard) by Alvaro Guevara 1919


Tell me whom you haunt, and I'll tell you who you are. - Surrealist André Breton


Nancy Cunard - Heiress, Muse, Political
Idealist by Lois Gordon, who said, My goal is to give Nancy Cunard what seems to me to be her rightful place in history.
Listen to Gordon discuss her book on NPR's, All Things Considered.



Nancy Cunard by Man Ray


Nancy Cunard (Nancy with bracelets) by Man Ray 1926



An important and original copy of Negro, from Bolerium .

Nancy Cunard edited and published Negro in 1934. A 900-page anthology of black history and culture and a call to condemn racial discrimination and appreciate the . . . accomplishments of a long-suffering people. Its contributors included Theodore Dreiser, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois and Langston Hughes.



All that remains is a furious sense of indignation. - Nancy Cunard



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Mrs Clark sans the Mister

Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy by David Hockney

The Enid Marx of her generation, Celia Birtwell is the reigning queen of British textile design. A true bohemian at heart, her designs echo the spirit of the Bloomsbury Group.


Little Animals


Icon trellis


Pembridge Paisley

For more of her Classic, Couture, Jacobean, and Pop Story Collections visit Celia Birtwell.

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Warhol Superstar

Joe Dallesandro



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Pop quiz

Not a quiz as such, but a test; the shoe test. The test which lets one see into another's very soul. And the reason why my gaze always starts from the ground up.

More ways to waste time

Milk

You gotta give 'em hope

I haven't seen Milk, but oh how I want to. I feel as if I had been there, and in a way I had. The year was 1978, we had just moved permanently to San Francisco, and I was a freshman in high school. I remember it clearly, the special assembly, the breast beating and rending of cloth was all because Mayor George Moscone had been killed. Harvey Milk was barely mentioned. Even then, the inequality of that struck me.

History seems to have redressed the balance.




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Butterfly

Large Phenomenon Vase, 1901


Large Medici Vase, 1902


Astartig Vase, 1904


Neptune Vase, 1903


Texas Vase, 1904

In 1840 the Loetz glass works were founded by Johann Loetz in Klostermuhle, Austria. Its golden age was during the life-time of Loetz's grandson Max Ritter Von Spaun. He took over the company in 1879 and ran it until 1908, the year before his death. His assistant and technical specialist, Eduard Prochaska, helped him to invent, design, patent, and produce a series of new types of glass. These were to win awards at the major world exhibitions during the 1890s and the first part of the new century.

The Loetz glass works were amongst the leaders of Art Nouveau design, especially in iridescent art glass known as Papillon glass. Another typical Loetz model was an iridescent body with drawn trails, called Phenomenon glass. Around 1900 the company started collaborating with designers and leading artists, most notably Josef Hofmann, Koloman Moser, and Maria Kirchner.

In 1908 Loetz was taken over by Max Von Spaun's son. Although it struggled financially (going through bankruptcy in 1911 and again in 1931) there were several great designers whose work was produced by Loetz during those years and through the art deco period. These included Adolf Beckert and Michael Powolny.




Lötz: Bohemian Glass 1880-1940
A guide essential to both collector and novice.



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Just checking

Everyone is familiar with the work of Toni Childs? I hope so, her albums are akin to great books that everyone should read. Her voice is unique and full of pathos, yet surprisingly uplifting.



Union - her debut album.

House of Hope - dedicated to people who are growing, people who are just getting by, and people hanging on for dear life.

Women's Boat - featuring the single Lay Down Your Pain earned her a third Grammy nomination, for Best Female Rock Performance.

Ultimate Collection - a compilation of her there previous albums.

Speaking of Lutyens

The RIBA is hosting an exhibition of the work of Le Corbusier, the first to be held in Britain for more than twenty years. The venue is the Crypt of the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. This is the first time the Crypt will be open to the public since the Cathedral's completion in 1941.

For more on the exhibition visit wallpaper.com


Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, by Sir Edwin Lutyens, completed in 1941


Kitchen from Unite d'Habitation, Marseille


Furniture by Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret


Model of the church of Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp

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Family affair

Through the industry of his granddaughter, Candia Lutyens, the furniture designs and spirit of Sir Edwin Lutyens lives on in Lutyens Furniture Ltd.


The Napoleon Chair designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens

The horsehair used for the Napoleon chair is woven on the same looms that provided Sir Edwin with horsehair for his original. This design is also well suited to leather and other hard wearing fabrics.


The Robert Napoleon Chair

Sir Edwin's son Robert modified the original Napoleon chair by lowering the lower arm and by adding a cushion. Unfortunately, making this model unsuitable for horsehair.

The light fitting above is the Mercury Ball Pendant, originally designed by Sir Edwin for the Viceroy's House New Delhi in 1919. The central chrome ball concavely reflects all aspects of its hanging space. The surrounding metalwork is bespoke.

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An elephant in the room?

Today the lovely Mrs. Blandings addressed the issue of taxidermy in interiors in her post, I'm Stuffed. Normally, a subject I prefer to stay away from. I know most don't get it, as was evident with the negative response Domino received for the Steven Sclaroff squirrel, which I not only respect, but am glad of the fact.

Taxidermy isn't for everyone, especially those who just regard it as a fad. Taxidermy, and the larger oeuvre of natural history, is for those who see or seek wonder. A wonder that is beyond ego and from a different age where curiosity and learning were encouraged.




Here, Victorian cases of birds, domed specimens, a crocodile and bracket fungus are used as sculpture.



A rare example of a Victorian penguin rug is used in lieu of a painting and the mounted horns are used to add depth to what would be an otherwise flat wall. The leopard cushions, a recycled 1930s coat, add life to a boring expanse of sand coloured upholstery.



In this scenario, Victorian cases are used in the same way pictures could be used. Ethographic items, skulls, and preserved specimens are used as sculpture.








Compare and contrast the two examples below. One is superb and of museum quality, while the other is merely good. As with everything, the finer examples are harder to find and undoubtedly are much more costly. Truth be told most find even the merely good to be more than they wish to spend. Hence, the proliferation of not only mediocre examples but also of 20th century examples masquerading as Victorian. The Internet is positively littered with them.





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I dream of Brini

It's all very Major Nelson and Coco Beach, and I just love it. Conjured up by the delightful Brini Maxwell for Felix Populi. Billed as Luxurious Choices for Happy People, the Palm Springs Linen Collection is available in over 60 custom colour combinations and hand crafted in New York.


palm springs linen awning pillow


palm springs linen tile pillow
kidney pillow with an appliqued tile design in patent leather to a linen ground


palm springs tassel tuft pillow with contrasting tassel and piping




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The other Karl

Karl Kemp



The World of Biedermeier by Karl Kemp

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Dear God,

I am not fourteen years old. I am not, and never have been, a good girl. Regardless, maybe you can still give me a sign letting me know what in the hell is happening around me.

It seems they are moving on from all things mid-century and will be embracing boho chic. Gag. Not because the style is repugnant, but because of how they, as is their wont, will bastardise and cheapen it.

In the latter part of the 20th Century only two people have been able to successfully capture the Bohemian spirit:




The first being the multi faceted Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper, as seen here photographed by Horst P Horst from Horst: Interiors. For more on Mrs Cooper and her New York apartment, visit An Aesthete's Lament.


The second is the transplanted Dutch designer Koos Van Den Akker.


Not from Celie

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Incanto

Simonetta: The First Lady of Italian Fashion

The press release for her first collection in 1946 read in part: To understand how difficult it was to open a maison de couture and have a show with 14 models just after the liberation of Rome by the Allies, one must remember the general situation at that time. Materials and trimmings were very scarce. The most surprising and common materials had to be used to make the extraordinary collection—dish cloths, gardeners' aprons, butlers' uniforms, strings and ribbons, and everything that could be found on the market.



La Duchesa Simonetta Colonna di Cesaro shot by Norman Parkinson


The brilliant London milliner Stephen Jones' La Prima Donna Autumn/ Winter 2004 collection was inspired by Donna Simonetta.
As Mr Jones put it in his description of her: Simonetta entered my consciousness in 1976 at St Martin's School of Art, when I marvelled over her portrait in the book 'In Vogue' by Bridgit Keenan, the first fashion tome that I bought. I was fascinated by this image; she and her Vogue world seemed so urbane, exotic and glamorous - the opposite from the current punk sensibility, but even then, I had the notion that her aristocratic arched eyebrow was not so far removed from Jonny Rotten's punk sneer.


Untamed
A giant pom-pom of ostrich fronds dyed in a leopard pattern and trimmed with a gold safety pin.


Drama
A Fabiani-ciaga satin organza aerodynamic beret with velvet bow and crystal drop.


Ego
Inspired by the oeuvre of fabulous Roman mid-century millinery maestro Cannessa. His clients included Capucci, Schuberth, Sorelle Fontana, and of course Simonetta. Here is a dramatic coiffure of velvet, veiling and sequins (the ancient currency of Venice).

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The eighth deadly sin...

is jealousy; a jealousy that is so compulsive it becomes all consuming.

Leave Her to Heaven, staring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, and Jeanne Crain, is based on the best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams. This film won the Oscar for Best Cinematography (Color) and received three other Academy Award nominations: Best Actress for Gene Tierney, Best Sound Recording, and Best Art Direction (Color)/Interior Decoration. Enough said?

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St. Elmo's Fire

The Gemini (♊) constellation's brightest stars are named for the mythical twins, Castor and Pollux.




Castor and Pollux candlesticks designed by Salvador Dali for Baccarat in 1973.


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Experimentalism

Yves Klein's Anthropométries, or body paintings. Klein used the human body as a living paint brush by daubing his models with his signature International Klein Blue paint.




Yves Klein (1928-1962)


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More tales from the Road

Guess who I saw today.


Judge Judith Sheindlin

Yes, Judge Judith Sheindlin was doing the Portobello Road. And, all I can say is Miss Denuve could do with taking a leaf out of her book. Her Honor was very soigné indeed. How bizarre is that?

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Fusion

Bishi - The Swan

More ways to waste time

Entertaining Mr. Sloane, the 1970 screen adaptation of Joe Orton's first full length play, staring Beryl Reid, Harry Andrews, Peter McEnery, and Alan Webb.


Entertaining Mr. Sloane theme by Georgie Fame.




The Killing of Sister George, the 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich based on the play by Frank Marcus, staring Beryl Reid, Susannah York, and Coral Browne.


The original cinema trailer.

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Now playing: David Bowie - Love You Till Tuesday
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Modernism...

needn't always be cold or homogenised. With a little extra effort and imagination it can be warm and unique.



Scandinavian Lustre out of red copper, principal body formed by a succession of cylinders of increasing size towards the centre.


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