Why Don't You...

[I've been pouring over old books for images of Geoffrey Bennison rooms; this is a phone camera shot of Suzanne Trocme's Influential Interiors open to a brief section on Bennison.]

So here's my admittedly less fanciful take on Diana Vreeland's famous Why Don't You...? columns for Harper's Bazaar: Cover a set of books with a Bennison-esque print.

[Another picture of an open book: Caroline Clifton-Mogg's Decorating with Antiques.] 

Revisiting architect Piero Castellini Baldissera's red cabinet filled with pattern-bound volumes got me thinking about this (his collection of bound vintage magazines appeared in a past post on storage). If you want a touch of faded floral but aren't ready to recover a chair or do curtains, a summer book-covering project could be just the thing.

Paper Source has book-binding supplies for beginners. Alternatively, if you decide to eschew fabric and go the paper route, Kate's Paperie has a nice soft blue-and-white pattern.

[Also from a past post, books via Joslyn and Nichole.]   

Summer Flowers

[Rachel Ruysch, Vase of Flowers, 1700. Oil on canvas. Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague. Image via the de Young.] 

In a month, Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis opens at the High. Along with Vermeer's masterpiece, 34 other 17th-century works will be on view including a still life from the extraordinary Rachel Ruysch, an ahead-of-her-time woman known for lush, textural botanicals, who served as court painter to Johann Wilhelm of Bavaria and enjoyed commercial success throughout her life.

Flower paintings always resonate but with the Old Masters currently having such a big impact on a new generation of floral designers and stylists,  I think Ruysch's Vase with Flowers will have added impact. Also, if the offerings in the de Young gift shop (the exhibition is in San Francisco right now) are any indication, floral- and Dutch genre-themed wares should be abundant at the High. The wrapper on the chocolate, above, highlights the work of Abraham van Beyeren.

[Image of Althea via Lee Jofa.]

Blousy sprays of flowers are appearing more often at North Carolina's Modern Fabrics, too. This Charlotte-based reclaimed fabric business sells cutting room remnants and unused bolts. While trad florals aren't their main focus, prints from Lee Jofa, Brunschwig & Fils and Schumacher can be found.

Collecting

 [Lori Vrba Spun Gold, selenium and sepia toned silver gelatin print. $250. Posted with permission from Jennifer Schwartz Gallery.]

Lori Vrba's work has appeared on this blog several times before. But Jennifer Schwartz, her gallerist, announced today a new collaboration with Zatista that aims to make original art more accessible to new collectors. As it happens, Vrba's series, Southern Comfort, evokes childhood and time spent outdoors during the late spring and summer. After yesterday's devastation in Oklahoma, the photographs seem all the more poignant.

To learn how the Red Cross is helping tornado victims, click here.

String of Pearls

[17th-century mother-of-pearl English purse with silver-gilt braid. V & A collection.]  

Even if I hadn't been there to focus on the costume design, Catherine Martin's use of pearls in The Great Gatsby couldn't have escaped my attention because Tiffany's pearl-filled Gatsby Collection windows happen to be adjacent to the elevator that leads to the theater where I saw the movie.

[Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby.]

[© Tiffany & Co.]

Leaving the theater, some of the objects still in my head were the tasseled pearl strands and the pearl hand jewelry (see sketches in this Vogue video). Does the V & A have a hand piece like that, I wondered? Something from the 20s? Doing a search, I got distracted and zeroed in on the much older, less glitzy, little mother-of-pearl bag pictured at top. But come fall 2013, visitors to the Museum can see a host of opulent examples in Pearls, on view September 21 through January 19, 2014. The exhibition will span many centuries, from early Rome to 20th century NYC,  exploring the significance of natural and cultured pearls. Look for designs from Cartier, Bulgari, and Tiffany, including art deco styles.

Looking at Vases

[Image via]

Knowing that porcelain with blue-and-white decoration is still produced en masse by factories in Jingdezhen, China, two art professors -- American ceramicist Barbara Diduk at Dickinson College and Chinese artist Zhao Yu at Hunan Normal University -- became fascinated with the remarkable variety of the myriad hand-painted surfaces. Although, they point out, this distinctiveness is something you really notice after closer inspection. Beginning around 10 years ago, they organized an installation, The Vase Project: Made in China - Landscape in Blue, to highlight the region's vase painters who ordinarily remain anonymous.

In conjunction with its own related exhibition, New Blue and White, the MFA, Boston is stocking The Vase Project book.

[Designed by Rodarte, produced by Nicholas Kirkwood, Pair of woman’s shoes, 2011. Museum purchase with funds donated by the Fashion Council, Museum of Fine Arts Boston.]

And don't forget, the MFA show (featuring Ming porcelain-inspired pieces by Rodarte acquired with help from one of the Museum's Friends groups) closes July 14.

Art Works

[Stoneware vase by Walter B. Stephen, 1931. Asheville Art Museum.]

Thanks to recent exhibitions at various U.S. museums, younger audiences have been introduced to the work of 20th-century Southern potter Walter B. Stephen. Self-taught and active, in one form or another, from about 1904 to 1961, Stephen is known for evoking regional landscapes with luminous, colorful surfaces and cameo decoration (designs in relief, inspired by iconic Wedgwood).

[Pisgah Forest and Nonconnah pottery by Walter B. Stephen via McKissick Museum.]

In addition to English ceramics and his own natural environment, Asian pottery was another source of inspiration.

[Nonconnah Pottery, American (Tennessee) 1904-1910. Earthenware. Given to Memphis Brooks Museum of Art by Decorative Arts Trust.] 

In its permanent collection the Brooks has a really lovely example from Stephen's early phase -- actually a collaborative piece done with his mother, Nellie Stephen, who decorated it. This teapot, pictured above, was molded by W.B.; Nellie added natural white frost daisies with green leaves, built up in relief, on a soft blue ground.

One of the Museum's support groups, Decorative Arts Trust, purchased the piece for the public to study and enjoy. Like Collab, this is another volunteer group that's great for design professionals or anyone with a passion for decorative arts. Having been on the Memphis scene for more than 30 years, the organization welcomes newcomers. Four-term president of the Board of Directors, John J. Tackett (an architect who previously worked at Parish-Hadley in NYC before establishing his own firm), just completed his final term and explained to me that DAT membership fees -- lower than those at other museums -- are kept within reach for a wider range of design enthusiasts with help from upper level contributors.

[Wikimedia commons]

"Among my earliest memories is visiting the Brooks Museum as a preschooler with my older brother's class. When I was a child, admission was free and I would often go alone in the summer after age 12 or so; a friend of my mother's was the director and I would stop in her office to say hello. But otherwise, it was just me and the occasional guard in the galleries back in those days. So I am happy to help bring people in to enjoy the museum as much as I have," he added.

 [Screengrabs from John Hughes commentary about the Art Institute of Chicago scene in front of Marc Chagall's America Windows.]  

[Earthenware vase with crystalline glaze, circa 1935, by Walter B. Stephan. Via Memphis Brooks.]

John notes that DAT currently consists of about 400 members, almost as many men as women, with their common ground being interest in design. Apart from decorative arts, most love architecture, interior design and gardens, too. Benefits of participation include private tours of outstanding houses and collections, and admission to special talks. Dr. Stanton Thomas, the Brooks curator of European Art and Decorative Arts, serves as liaison between DAT and the Museum. If you're in the Memphis area and have a schedule flexible enough to attend evening and weekend events, click here to learn more. The next generation of supporters is definitely encouraged to get involved.

And speaking of keeping art accessible, the Brooks will offer free admission tomorrow, May 18, in celebration of International Museum Day.

Small World

[Click for full view. Photo by Erica Shires for Erica Tanov.]

For a while now we've been hearing that small is the new big (excluding Baz Luhrmann's realm, of course).

Bay-area designer Erica Tanov's recent foray into bedding and other housewares includes small prints and intricate embroidery -- some pieces representing collaborations with artist Emily Payne and Creative Growth.

[Pop child's chair by Enzo Mari, styrofoam, Italy, 2004. Collection of Philadelphia Museum of Art.]

And across the country, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is scaling down with Design for the Modern Child, opening May 25. This summer exhibition will highlight textiles, wallpaper, toys, tableware and furniture.

As it happens, the Museum has a volunteer group specifically oriented to design professionals: Collab. They've been supporting the institution's modern and contemporary design collections since 1970 and have a special focus on outreach, not just to the established design community, but to students as well. One annual project, for example, is the college level Student Design Competition. Membership fees are far more accessible than at other museums, by the way. Find details here and look for more on decorative arts and design friends groups, on this blog, during the next few weeks.

Multilingual

[Photography in The Met's slideshow is by Bruce J Schwarz.]

With all eyes focused on The Met Gala last week, you may have missed a short presentation posted by the Museum as part of its ongoing 82nd & Fifth series. Here decorative arts curator Ellenor Alcorn explores a vessel that may or may not have connections to Sir Walter Raleigh or Elizabeth I but what's most interesting about the piece is its design: an international mash-up with Chinese blue-and-white taking the lead.

[Cate as Elizabeth via Google.]

French and African

[Woven silk furnishing fabric by Rodier, French, 1920s. V & A collection.]

Explaining what some call a polarizing choice of music for his new film, The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann says he wants audiences, especially younger movie goers, to react as teens and young adults in the 1920s responded to jazz, with it's African and African-American roots. This made me think about the visual realm and how African patterns influenced fabric design in Europe during the same period. So, wrapping up the week of Roaring Twenties style, here's an example by Rodier.

The soft grey and white palette reflects a French sensibility, the mix of shine with matte threads seems to be on trend for the era, and according to the V & A, the chevron pattern shows a penchant for African-inspired graphics.

[Silk with metallic thread. Woven by Bianchini-Férier, Lyons, France. Collection of Philadelphia Museum of Art.]

At first glance, Raoul Dufy's printed satin La Chasse à l'arc feels quintessentially Parisian. The 1928, black and gold lamé design is a whimsical floral with creatures from Africa -- lions and elephants --incorporated among the densely packed blossoms. But, in a way, Dufy's preference for flattened, highly stylized interpretations of flowers shows how European artists of the day took cues from abstract African art.

Slightly random note: I read that Gatsby production designer Catherine Martin opted to use fanciful inflatable zebras in a party scene after finding similar play things in period photos.

Lipska's Range

[Silk and metal embroidery attributed to Sarah Lipska, circa 1920-29. 

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.]

So the countdowns continue: three days until the Atlanta premiere of Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby and six 'til the opening of Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929 at the NGA in D.C. The embroideries highlighted here are a nod to both.

[Wool silk and metal embroidery attributed to Sarah Lipska, circa 1920-29. Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.]

Sarah Lipska (1882-1973), the set and costume designer, fashion designer and sculptor known in part for her work with Leon Bakst and the Ballets Russes, designed and possibly executed these pieces. At top is an example of the previously mentioned Egyptomania that took hold in Europe and the States during the 20s. It's characterized by lux, intricate metallic needlework in a geometric pattern.

In contrast to that is the colorful, more free-form abstract design set against brilliant yellow. For me it sort of calls to mind some of the work Matisse will do in paper two decades later. The Met says the whip-stitched applique and sense of fantasy typifies Lipska's style.  

[Wool, silk and metallic textile by Rodier. Design attributed to Sarah Lipska. 1920-29. Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.]

And this paisley-ish design within a geometric is reminiscent of another Lipska piece posted here last year. Within one textile we see two 20s trends: sharp Deco-influenced angles and soft florals. More on Rodier, the Paris-based textile manufacturer involved with the piece, here.

Petal to the Metal

[Panel of silk crêpe with typical large-scale motif designed by 

Michel Dubost for Atelier Ducharne, Paris, circa 1925. V & A collection.] 

Continuing our look at the 1920s aesthetic, here's an example of the era's affinity for metallics, specifically soft silver. (The V & A points out that Egyptologist Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of King Tut’s tomb seemed to popularize, back in the West, all things gilt.) This bold, stylized blossom with leaves -- a rather fresh, modern take on the floral theme -- by professor and textile designer Michel Dubost shows the type of work he was doing for silk specialist Atelier Ducharne, based then in Paris' artistic quarter, Montmartre. At the Atelier, young women and men lacking textile experience had an opportunity to receive training.

Sunday Rose II

Just one more 70s Gatsby image because it loosely relates to an upcoming lecture at the Barnes: Roses: A Natural History of the Queen of Flowers. Led by instructor Nicole Juday, this May 16th program explores the rose's place in culture, past and present, and includes a tour of the Foundation's rose garden.

The screengrab, above, is from the scene with falling roses but, I have to say, Gatsby's suit seems to me to be -- in this light, at least -- more of a Mountbatten pink than a dusty rose.

[My own photo snapped last week at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. ]

The Twenties in the Seventies

[Click to enlarge.]

I've only seen the 70s version of The Great Gatsby on the small screen. My computer screen, actually. For the visually inclined, a Netflix stream or iTunes download makes constant pausing hard to resist. There's just so much to see: the soft colors, Daisy's hats, her yellow bathtub, the iconic yellow car, the use of sheer fabrics, and, not to be overlooked, the use of flowers.

Whether you've seen the movie a dozen times or perused lots of Gatsby-focused tumblr pages, you're probably already well-acquainted with memorable elements like Jay Gatsby's pale pink suit, his splendid sea of pastel shirts and the architecture of his manse (French-influenced Rosecliff, in real life). But there are other wonderful things -- some very humble. It's all about natural light, summer heat, and a 1970s appreciation of the 1920s. Let's review:

There's the mound of daisies springing up out of an urn in the Buchanan garden.

[Image of white wicker, below, via Sue Balmforth.]

Wicker comes on strong too, especially with the vases sent by Gatsby to Nick's white-washed cottage. Also in Nick's place: bamboo roller shades, an amazing, probably Audubon bird print and an understated leather wing chair.

Faded grandeur appears with needlework daisies on antique French chairs...

and there are scrapbooks and sterling silver picture frames and of course full garden roses everywhere.

To learn about the book jacket design for Fitzgerald's novel, see this past post. More on a terrific Zelda bio from the 70s here.

[Scott and Zelda in North Africa, 1930.]

The book jacket shown at top is via Princeton University Library. Except where credited otherwise, all other images are screengrabs from the film.

Friends of the Arts

Come Monday night I'll be over at The Met's site, watching Vogue's live stream of The Met Gala Red Carpet. Obviously I'm curious to see the clothes and, hopefully, a bit of this year's Costume Institute show, Punk: Chaos to Couture, but exhibition openings also make me think about all the work that's gone on behind the scenes -- the efforts of the curators, institutional staff and volunteers.

At the moment, I'm researching museum support groups around the country: comparing and contrasting the demographics of various groups and the accessibility, in terms of cost, of membership. (I know first hand how rewarding it can be to get involved with a museum's education department.) Architect John Tackett, aka The Devoted Classicist, has been sharing with me his experiences as President of the Board of Directors of Decorative Arts Trust at Memphis Brooks (more on his group will be posted shortly). If you're also involved with an interesting "Friends of" group, I'd love to hear from you too.