Things to See this Weekend

If you like works on paper there is an awful lot to see this weekend!

A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and Legacy opens at the Morgan Library (225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street).

The exhibition Polish Film Posters: Girls, Love, Fear, Sex, Typography opens at Philip Williams Gallery (122 Chambers Street, between Church & West Broadway).

IFPDA Print Fair at The Park Avenue Armory (643 Park Avenue at 67th Street).

And last but not least, the 2009 Editions|Artists' Book Fair will take place at X Initiative (548 West 22nd Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues).

Bonnard, Calder & Saint Laurent

Looking for a little visual inspiration? There are two great exhibitions at the Met right now and if you don't feel like leaving home, you can browse the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé auction catalogues online.

Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors (through April 19, 2009)

The White Interior, 1932, Photo: Musée de Grenoble, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADADGP, Paris (via nytimes.com).

Calder Jewelry (through March 1, 2009)

Caged Crockery, ca. 1945, Silver wire and ceramic; Loop: 18 3/4 in.; element: 5 x 2 3/4 in., Collection Harold and Emily Starr © 2008 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York (via metmuseum.org); Anjelica Huston wearing The Jealous Husband (c. 1940), by Alexander Calder, in a 1976 photograph by Evelyn Hofer (via Art + Auction, artinfo.com/artandauction).

Collection Yves Saint Laurent et Pierre Bergé (the three-day sale begins Monday, February 23rd).

A New Year!

Last month proved to be busier than expected so there was not a lot of time for posting, but here is a quick rundown of highlights from December:

Babar. Drawing Babar: Early Watercolors and Drawings, The Morgan Library & Museum (September 19, 2008 - January 4, 2009).


This exhibition has already ended, but you can still view items from the exhibition on the Morgan Library's website, www.themorgan.org, including the original maquette for Histoire de Babar.

(Image above from the Morgan Library's website: Jean de Brunhoff , "The elephants carried Babar, Arthur, and Celeste in triumph," study for Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant, 1931, watercolor, The Morgan Library & Museum. Gift of Laurent, Mathieu, and Thierry de Brunhoff, and purchased with the assistance of The Florence Gould Foundation and the Acquisitions Fund, Fellows Endowment Fund, Gordon N. Ray Fund, and Heineman Fund, 2004.)

Holiday windows at Bergdorf Goodman. This year the Four Seasons were rendered in magical winter white. You can view all the holiday windows on the Bergdorf Goodman website, www.bergdorfgoodman.com.)


Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona. A trip to see my parents gave me the oportunity to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's amazing "camp" in the desert. (For tour information, visit www.franklloydwright.org.)


This year's Christmas Tree. Not as elaborate as anything in Midtown, but it is our tallest one yet and was fun to decorate (Whistler helped).


And of course, some beautiful new print jobs! Like the Rococo invitation set below that was printed in a custom sage green colorway.

Elizabeth Peyton at the New Museum

There are so many interesting exhibitions throughout the city this Fall and if you have some free time over the holidays I would definitely recommend heading downtown to see the Elizabeth Peyton exhibition at the New Museum. Her portraits have a wonderful intimacy (often despite their subjects) and I was deeply impressed by her unique way of working with oil - which does not always come across in reproduction. Plus, in person the colors positively vibrate off the wall.

Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton (through January 11, 2009). Exhibition website.

(Image above via the New Museum website: Elizabeth Peyton, Piotr on Couch, 1996. Oil on board, 9 x 12 in (23 x 30.5 cm). Courtesy the artist and Gavin Brown’s enterprise)

New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
www.newmuseum.org

Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture 1925-1940

Art Deco is just everywhere this fall. I'm going to check out this exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York this evening. Hopefully there will be some inspiring imagery!

Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture 1925-1940
October 3 through Feb 22
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.
New York, NY 10029
212.534.1672
www.mcny.org

Image above via the City of New York Website: Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture 1925-1940. Poster depicting Josephine Baker (detail), designed by Jean Chassaing, 1931. Image courtesy Posters Please, Inc., NYC.

Art Deco Design: Rhythm and Verve

Definitely check out the exhibition Art Deco Design: Rhythm and Verve at the New York Public Library. It's a tiny show, but it gives a nice overview of the pochoir printing process and includes several examples of pochoir fashion and textile plates. The exhibition runs through January 11, 2009. www.nypl.org

(Above: The cover of the exhibition brochure)

Matisse & Picasso

The lithographs downstairs have me dreaming of the South of France and revisiting some of my visual memories from the 2005 exhibition, Matisse: The Fabric of Dreams - His Art and His Textiles. Matisse's palette seems extremely fresh right now and I'm entranced by the artist's ability to capture the essence of both form and pattern in an elegant and idiosyncratic way. Funny how certain things take a while to resonate.


Images above via Adrian Searle's review of the exhibition while at London's Royal Academy for The Guardian: Odalisque with a Screen, oil on canvas, 1923, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, © Succession H Matisse/DACS 2004; Odalisque with Yellow Persian Robe and Anemones, oil on canvas, 1937, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, © Succession H Matisse/DACS 2004.

Along the same line, this iconic Robert Capa photograph of Picasso and Françoise Gilot in the South of France recently popped into my head. Despite what we know about Picasso as a companion, isn't it a lovely image; so glamorous in a truly bohemian way. I wonder what type of stationery they wrote to each other on during during their romance...


Above image via the New York Times ("A 1948 gelatin silver print of Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot in France by Robert Capa, a part of the I.C.P.'s collection.")

Musée des Arts décoratifs

If you are visiting the Louvre, don't forget to visit the Musée des Arts Decoratifs. The period rooms are full of beautiful textiles, ceramics, glass, and furniture, and the hushed Galerie des bijoux provides a quiet and intimate viewing experience that is a welcome change of pace from the crowds in the main museum.

Musée des Arts décoratifs
107, rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris
Tél. : 01 44 55 57 50
www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr

(Photo from museum website: Broche « nœuds », 1819-1838, Paris, photo credit: Laurent Sully Jaulmes)

The Mount: Edith Wharton's Estate and Gardens

Lenox, MA • The newly renovated house and gardens offer insight into Wharton's personal philosophy on how to decorate, dwell, work, and entertain with grace and style. Unlike other "cottages" I have visited in Newport, Wharton's house is grand, but completely livable. After strolling the grounds be sure to enjoy a glass of wine at the café on the terrace.

From top: The Mount, Edith Wharton's estate and gardens in the Berkshires; The gardens; Restoration staff hangs reproduction curtains in Edith Wharton's boudoir (images from edithwharton.org).

Poiret: King of Fashion

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York • on view through August 5, 2007 • www.metmuseum.org

New York, NY • I have always loved the Iribe and Lepape renderings of Poiret's ensembles, so it was a treat to see the actual gowns - with all their beautiful draping - in person. Many of the dresses on display were designed for Poiret's wife, Denise, and the exhibition explores her role as muse. Additionally, the exhibition makes the case for Poiret as a "prophet of modernity" not only because of his revolutionary approach to dressmaking, but his ability to successfully market his brand simultaneously across the realms of fashion, interior design and fragrance. The hand-painted perfume flasks for his Parfums de Rosine were a delightful surprise.



Left: to right Georges Lepape (French, 1887-1971), Hand-Colored Pochoir from Les choses de Paul Poiret, 1911; Georges Lepape (French, 1887–1971)"Serais-je en avance?" from Gazette du bon ton, 1912, gouache on paper (images from metmuseum.org).

On a related note, the Poiret inspired spread photographed by Steven Meisel in the May 2007 issue of American Vogue was utterly stunning.




Above: Steven Meisel, "Vogue: Fashioning the Century," Vogue (May 2007).