diaphanous drapery

gossamer...diaphanous drapery
highly expressive, swirling folds
as depicted in paintings and sculpture
makes my heart skip a beat
represented here by some of the greats.

primavera by sandro botticelli

primavera (detail)

portrait of josephine by francois gerard

laure regnaud de saint-jean d'angély by francois gerard

since this post is quickly becoming one about gerard, 

here is yet another by him exploring the same

neoplatonic theme as the above primavera.

human soul and divine love united… 

psyché et l'amour by francois gerard

another botticelli...incidentally, i was reading here that the plant depicted 
in the lower right corner is datura stramonium also known as "poor man's acid" 
– a hallucinogen. so perhaps mars isn't just sleeping. i can sleep through severe 
thunderstorms, but i'm quite sure trumpet-blowing satyrs would have no trouble waking me.

venus and mars

venus and mars (detail)

the three graces by rubens

lucretia by cranach

perseus and andromeda by anton raphael mengs

morpheus and iris by pierre narcisse guerin

the pleiades by elihu vedder

now let's turn to illusionary transparency as a formal device in sculpture defined in 

looking at greek and roman sculpture in stone: a guide to terms, styles and techniques as…

"an impression of a diaphanous fabric for the clothing of a sculpted figure. 
It was especially popular among sculptors working in the last thirty years 
of the fifth century B.C. In order to appear like gathered and transparent fabric 
a successful rendering of illusionary transparency depended on substituting 
raised ridges for the incised grooves of the modeling line technique to depict drapery."

venus genitrix , roman copy of 5th century greek original

another roman imperial copy of venus genitrix, late first-early second century AD

three maenads, altar of dionysos, 5th century b.c.




another votary of Dionysos...

relief with a dancing maenad ca. 27 b.c.–14 a.d.; augustan roman copy of a greek relief attributed to kallimachos, ca. 425–400 b.c.

 

ludovisi throne, early 5th century b.c.

to think that many other objects of art from the same time period were broken, 

buried, reused, melted, used as in-fill, sunk and therefore lost forever reminds me of this.

  

eastern section of the parthenon frieze representing poseidon, apollo and artemis, executed by alkamenes, 447 – 432 b.c.

 

nike unlacing her sandal from the parapet of the temple of nike, late 5th century b.c.

stele of hegeso, late 5th c.

i realize i'm hopping around in history by adding this two-layered 
arabian onyx cameo from after 10 a.d., but look how perfectly it 
illustrates the subject. to imagine the gem cutter executing such 
incredible detail over an area measuring 7.5 inches tall by 9 inches 
wide makes me weak in the knees.

 gemma augustea, created by dioscurides or one of his disciples

the nike of paionios, the work of paionios of mende in the chalkidike peninsula, c. 420 b.c.

unlike the nike of paionios, the identity of the sculptor(s) is often unknown.
instead scholars must attribute a work to "the sculptors" or "follower of the sculptor".

such is the case with the winged victory of samothrace, for a dedicatory inscription
has yet to be found. who was this man who sculpted one of the most famous statues
of antiquity? we don't even know your name, except that you may've been from the island of rhodes.

winged victory of samothrace, 190 b.c.

only a handful of greek sculptors are known to us by name, such as
skopas, lysippos, paionios, pheidias and praxiteles, and yet they greatly
influenced the history of sculpture, artists of the italian renaissance, as
well as modern art, fashion and dance. however, as sir john beazley said,
"the name of the artist is of little importance, since we are privileged to
have before us his own work, which conveys the highest artistic messages,
as well as the spiritual and religious exaltation of those distant times."

for a closer look at the winged victory of samothrace

watch a video about the parthenon sculptures

taste and the antique: the lure of classical sculpture, 1500-1900
the beazley archive
 

image credits: 1-2, 4) wikipedia; 3, 10-11) the hermitage; 5, 14, 23) the louvre; 6-7) the national gallery; 8) museo nacional del prado; 9) gemäldegalerie der akademie der bildenden künste, wien; 12, 15-16) the metropolitan museum of art; 18-20, 22) the greek museums published by ekdotike athenon s.a.; 21) behind the image by federico zeri

i'll never do this again

i FINALLY finished a project i've been putting off for a long, long time. i won't even say how long it took me to do this, let alone the fact they've been up a year and a half, packaging wrinkles and all. 

we bought some drapery panels for the living room windows, but they weren't long enough, so i thought, surely it won't be any trouble to get an extra panel, cut it up and and add length to each one. well, there are 6. i'm not good at sewing. i'm too ambitious for my own good. i would rather be doing something else. 

i debated over how to cover the seam and where to add the length. initially i planned to buy some trim, but i couldn't find the right width and color at a price we could afford. so instead of letting that hold up the project – did i mention it had already been a year and a half! – i got started and went with a french seam near the top, because i wanted the wrong side to be finished, since the fabric is sheer.

i read the instructions over here, and started on the first panel. it wasn't until i had spent an hour and a half sewing and cutting that i noticed my mistake. instead of putting WRONG SIDES TOGETHER (she clearly noted this using caps), i did the opposite. this is always what happens when i sit down to sew. but the beauty about this is that i no longer had to worry about covering the seam with tape or trim, because the french seam was facing the outside...and didn't look like an accident!

here's a before shot. forgive the dim picture. it was overcast that day.

as you can see, the original panels had a rod pocket treatment at the top, which i thought i would keep, but once i  re-hung them, i didn't like how scrunched they looked. complicating matters further and prolonging this project to the point of being intolerable, i decided to add drapery rings. what i didn't know is that little rings of metal run $3 apiece. i needed 50. so i went through my stash of chain and found some circular brass links, which i cut apart and sewed on.

now they touch the floor, are wrinkle-free, and are coming with us if and when we leave this house, because i'm never doing this again.

idarica gazzoni – pientre decoratrice

these rooms with their light, mix of patterns, and patina really speak to me and though very different in style, remind me of how my mother-in-law has created a home where you feel peaceful and comfortable. no wonder she says, "guests, like fish, start to smell after 3 days." that's because when people come to visit, they never want to leave.

these beautiful images are from the website of idarica gazzoni. inspired by italian frescoes she saw as a child, she later went on to study decorative painting in brussels.

i wouldn't change a thing about this room with its checkered carpet and papered ceiling.

wallpapers printed with turkish moons and suzani-inspired patterns from the arjumand collection.

idarica gazzoni

dreaming of windows

danske

Seeing windows in your dream means bright hopes, vast possibilities and insight.

henri matisse explored the window theme, often with a still life set before it. looking at these paintings with their light and color and characteristic pattern brings me peace and happiness. better than meditation, which usually puts me to sleep, though i do feel rested afterward.

interior with black notebook. 1918

 still life in the studio, nice. 1923

interior with egyptian curtain. 1948

open window at collioure. 1910

image credits: danske; metropolitan museum of art; history of modern art by h.h. arnason; web museum of fine art

a week without mirrors

as someone who should probably look in the mirror more often, this shouldn't be terribly difficult. the idea is an exercise from twyla tharp's book – the creative habit – designed to clear time and mental space to focus you. 

make-up mirror 1950s by thurston hopkins

mary jane russell in dior by louise dahl-wolfe

outtake from a series taken by mark shaw for LIFE magazine in 1960. pictured is a model wearing dior.

couple d'amoureux dans un petit café by brassai

a bar at the folies-bergère by édouard manet

the comtesse d’haussonville by ingres

las meninas by diego velazquez

just above the infanta margarita's head is a mirror reflecting the king and queen, though some believe it may instead be a reflection of the painting the artist (velazquez) is working on.

another velazquez - the rokeby venus

rubens's venus in front of the mirror

 rauschenberg's tracer

if you look in the upper right corner, you can see rubens's venus with her mirror & the dark-skinned maidservant behind the red box. this was one of my favorite paintings to stop at when i worked at the nelson. as soon as the students made out the profile of the maidservant, their eyes lit up as if they had just seen a rainbow.

venus with a mirror by titian

the arnolfini portrait by jan van eyck

detail of the mirror

another ingres – madame moitessier

 

new york, réflexion by jean-marc bernard

a building near times square reflected as seen from the artist's hotel room window on the 34th floor.

 ***

could you go a week without looking in the mirror? 

 image credits: 1) surfaceview; 2) louise dahl-wolfe: a retrospective by vicki goldberg; 3) andrew wilder gallery; 4)  metropolitan museum of art; 5) getty museum of art; 6) artnet; 7) museo nacional del prado; 8) the national gallery, london; 9) liechtenstein museum; 10) nelson-atkins museum of art; 11) national gallery of art; 12-14) the national gallery, london; 15) yellowkorner