Now, this is living...

or, a good reason to slap Erro Saarinen. Take your pick.
I am seriously starting to hate 20th century furniture. Especially those pieces that are described as iconic. This little bandwagon is well and truly full. I suggest that some may consider waiting for the next bandwagon to jump aboard. Hopefully the next won't be full of such readily repeatable goods, or desire, for that matter.

“We need objects to remind us of the commitments we've made. That carpet from Morocco reminds us of the impulsive, freedom-loving side of ourselves we're in danger of losing touch with. Beautiful furniture gives us something to live up to. All designed objects are propaganda for a way of life.” - Alain de Botton.



A pair of early 19th century Egyptian Revival giltwood console tables inscribed Chenou, Paris each with a ledge back depicting a relief of a pharaoh flanked by crocodiles and stiff leaf capitals and a rectangular rouge marble top above a frieze of hieroglyphs and animal symbols, including alligators, hyenas, scarabs, birds and scorpions, held aloft by a winged sphinx formed in green patinated composition and incised with the maker's name behind the shoulder, the lower portions comprising mirror backs within reeded giltwood frames, on plinth bases.
The design of the sphinx closely recalls that used in the trade label of William Bullock (illustrated in Clive Wainwright, George Bullock -Cabinet Maker, 1988, p.42, fig.13).





An important George III mahogany bombe commode
In the manner of Thomas Chippendale.
The serpentine shaped top with a gadrooned edge above a rococo and gothic relief carved frieze with one long drawer, below are a pair of cupboard doors enclosing shelves and with foliate carved aprons, raised on outswept supports terminating in Greek key carved block feet.
A matching pair of lacquer commodes apppear on page 135 of the ''Dictionary of English Furniture'' by Percy MacQuoid and Ralph Edwards, from Wollaton Hall, Nottingham. A note states that on these examples the carved aprons are missing. They are presently in Birdsall Hall, Malton, North Yorkshire, the property of Lord Middleton, and have since been exhibited at the ''Treasure Houses of Great Britain'' Exhibition in Washington DC as being by Thomas Chippendale.



An unusual George IV Gonzalo Alves side cabinet of narrow inverted breakfront form, the raised volute carved end sections with plain cupboard doors enclosing shelves flanking a pair of central cupboard doors decorated with three flowering lotus stem uprights with a 'halved' stem to each corner, enclosing mahogany faced reeded shelves, on plinth base.
The decorative carved details found on this cabinet show similarities to those found in the designs of Thomas Hope. The ''high'' Regency style side cabinet was often of relatively narrow proportions with a stepped top and narrow side doors.


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Hercules and Love Affair - Blind, Hercules Club Mix

It is far better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven

Count Robert de Montesquiou
Giovanni Boldini, 1897
Musée d'Orsay



Arrangment in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 1891–92
The Frick Collection


Count Robert de Montesquiou (1855-1921). A descendant of d'Artagnan, a writer, and a savage wit of France's Belle Epoque. Now best remembered as a dandy and an aesthete, who inspired the literary character, amongst others, of the Baron de Charlus in Marcel Proust's novel, Remembrance of Things Past.

Montesquiou was an arbiter of taste, whose profound belief in Beauty as an absolute, helped to cement taste as one of the new century's virtues. A poet not in words, but in life.

Here are a few items that he may have well culled from the chaos that was 19th Century interior decoration. A look that I absolutely love, but find virtually impossible to sell.


An Aesthetic movement inverted breakfront sideboard, circa 1870, the thumb moulded top over centre twin glazed doors flanked by cupboard doors and open shelving with fine painted decoration, upon bulbous reeded and turned supports with platform undertier.


A Louis XVI style centre table, the veined and variegated inset marble top above gadrooned edge over acanthus leaf frieze upon shell leaf and scroll pierced tapered supports united by X-frame stretcher with stylized pineapple finial.


A 19th century Japanese black and gilt lacquer cabinet on stand the two panelled cupboard doors decorated with figures and buildings in landscapes, enclosing an architectural balconied interior, with galleried shelves, drawers and doors, on British stand with pierced fretwork frieze and triple cluster column legs, scrolled spandrels, on chamfered block feet.



A Louis XVI period giltwood and upholstered confidante the shaped arched back and overstuffed serpentine seat covered in buttoned red fabric, raised on turned fluted legs.


A Victorian period Aesthetic ebonised and amboyna library table the canted rectangular top above two real and two opposing dummy frieze drawers, raised on foliate carved spiral turned legs united by an x-form stretcher and terminating in brass cappings and casters



Le Palais Rose, Montesquiou's last house. It was here, that he was the first to revive the Empire style, and hung pale tinted walls with beautiful white painted 18th Century frames.


The Neuilly house - Pavillon des Muses.
Surely, the precursor to the work of Elsie de Wolfe.


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Picasso's other Mother

Eugenia Huichi, by Eugenia Errazuriz's husband Jose Tomas Errazuriz .


Eugenia Errazuriz, Pablo Picasso 1924.


Mme. Errazuriz, Jacques Emile Blanche 1890.


Mme. Errazuriz, John Singer Sargent 1882.


Eugenia Huici Arguedas de Errazuriz (15 September 1860 - 1954).

Cecil Beaton wrote of her in The Glass of Fashion,"Her effect on the taste of the last fifty years has been so enormous that the whole aesthetic of modern interior decoration, and many of the concepts of simplicity...generally acknowledged today, can be laid at her remarkable doorstep."

Mme Errazuriz had the aesthetic and the spirit of an Abbess. Her framework, the Biarritz villa La Mimoseraie, was stripped to its bare essentials: plain linen curtains, indigo upholstery, red-tile floors, and whitewashed walls. For her, elegance was the elimination of the superfluous. Throw out and keep throwing out.
Ah, there really is nothing like that Latin sense of severity. To ascribe the trait of minimalism to her though, is a mistake. Modernism, yes. Minimalism, no.


For more on Eugenia Errazuriz, An Aesthete's Lament recomends this article in The New York Times.

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The Peach Orchard

From Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival, traditionally takes place in spring when the peach blossoms are in bloom. The dolls that go on display at this time are representative of the peach trees and their blossoms. One boy's family, however, has chopped down their peach orchard, so the boy feels a sense of loss during this year's festival. The boy is led to the now treeless orchard by a spirit - where the dolls from his sister's collection have come to life and are standing before him on the slopes of the orchard. The spirits of the dolls berate the boy for having chopped down the precious trees, but after realising just how much he loved the orchard in bloom, they agree to give him one last glimpse at the peach trees by way of a symbolic dance to gagaku music.

Part 2

The art of Balenciaga

The great couturier Cristobal Balenciaga cited, amongst others, the work of Francisco de Zurbaran as one of his inspirations. Zurbaran was known for his severity of line and dramatic use of chiaroscuro. Like Balenciaga, he was a master at handling sumptuous fabrics.
Yet, there is an austerity, almost an economy, of expression both in Balenciaga's and in Zurbaran's work. This, I believe, to be the manifestation of their shared Spanish sense of formality.



Top, St. Casilda, oil on canvas circa 1630-1645. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Lugano-Castagnola, Switzerland.
A dress in pink and violet printed faille by Abraham, summer 1961. The inspiration for this dress was the painting of St. Casilda (pictured top).


St. Margaret, oil on canvas, circa 1630-1635. National Gallery, London.


St. Rufina, oil on canvas, early 1630s. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.




Zurbaran's St. Marina. Balenciaga's evening dress in aquamarine wool organdie, spring 1958.


Cecil Beaton photograph of Balenciaga at home.


The interior of La Reynerie.
Top: The Grand Salon, note the Janet stags; Balenciaga's bedroom.
Above: The dining room; another view of the Grand Salon.


La Reynerie, Orleans, France.




All Balenciaga images are from Balenciaga, by Jouve and Demorenex, the definitive book on Balenciaga to date.

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King of the Heteroclites

French architect and designer Jean-Charles Moreux (1889-1956). Drawing upon classical, baroque, and rococo styles Moreux introduced aspects of the marvelous into staid architecture and everyday interiors. The everyday, for him, meant creating collective dwellings that were more poetic than Le Corbusier's "machines for living".
Among Moreux's noted clients were the Baron Robert de Rothschild, the fashion designers Raphael and Jacques Doucet, and the novelist Colette.


A cabinet of natural history in the living room of Robert Bienvenu, Rouen, 1942-1947.


The dining room of Raphael Lopez, Ville d'Avray.


35, avenue Matignon, Paris, 1935.


Living room of Sonia Batcheff.


The Paris apartment of Georges Lang, an example of a collaboration between Moreux and Bolette Natanson.




Moreux was also drawn to, and very successful at, creating landscapes and gardens.
A hippopotamus skull as the feature of a fountain. Ardeche, France.
A mask done for the gardens of Gobleins, Paris.





Examples of Moreux's collaboration with Bolette Natanson for her boutique Les Cadres.

Jean-Charles Moreux, by Susan Day.
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Through the keyhole

Living room seen as a reflection in an Aesthetic Movement mirror


Detail of Blanc de Chine and tin glazed ware


A Chinese export games table used in lieu of a tea table

As Loyd Grossman would say, " Who lives in a house like this?"

Thirteen years ago we did. Before I was fired from the fashion magazine and before I got my first decorating commission. A two bedroom apartment in an Art Deco building in North London. The rooms were painted a wonderful taupe called 'Osprey'. The central hallway was painted a much darker shade. Sisal covered the floor throughout and white linen hung at the windows. Nothing was planed, it just happened.

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Another bright idea

Andrea Branzi
Wireless illuminated shelf
designed 1996, produced in an edition of 20 for Design Gallery, cherrywood with illuminated paper forms and rechargable mechanism for illumination.

Andrea Branzi, architect and designer, lives and works in Milan. From 1964 to 1974 he was part of the group Archizoom Associates, the first group of avant-garde known internationally, whose projects are now stored at the Center of Studies and Archive Communication of the University of Parma and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Since 1967 has dealt with experimental and industrial design, architecture, urban planning, education and cultural promotion. Also a Professor of Architecture and Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Milano.

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Czechmate

Ruth Francken
Homme Chair
originally designed 1971, re-edited in 150 examples in black, 150 examples in white by Gallerie X, 1988, lacquered polyester and tubular steel.


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Janine Janet

The Paris apartment of M and Mme Janet, 2000.
The portrait of Janine Janet is by her husband Jean-Claude Janet.



Sphinx, one of a pair, gilded bronze.



Euriydice aux Enfers, gouache on paper, 1951.





Wooden figures with iron nails, created for Balenciaga in 1959.
Ensembles from the autumn collection photographed outside of the windows of Balenciaga's avenue George-V salon in 1962.



Maquette for L'Ange Noir, commissioned by Pierre Arpels.


Bust in jet and coral for Balenciaga, 1958.


Detail of a bathroom door panel, commissioned by Alberto Pinto, 1981.

All images from Janine Janet: Metamorphoses

Janine Janet was a sculptor who brought nature to life. Her language was that of mythology; mythology that has now seemingly been forgotten. How sad it must be to see her work and not actually see all its many facets.
Recognised and lauded by the great creators of her time, yet seemingly lost to the subsequent generation of mimics.
How can they possibly understand a language they do not speak?

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