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| www.pittimmagine.com |
Wishing I was in Florence right this minute and LOVING the entire menswear collection presented on Thursday by Marni as guest designer of Pitti Uomo.
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| Helena Rubinstein holding one of her masks from the Ivory Coast, 1934. Photograph: George Maillard Kesslere. Helena Rubinstein Foundation Archives, Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY, Gladys Marcus Library, Special Collections. |
I have been waiting for months, with very bated breath, for Helena Rubinstein: Beauty is Power at The Jewish Museum. It finally opened in October, and I just managed to get myself there after a super busy fall. It was indeed worth the wait. I have long been fascinated by Helena Rubinstein, a self-made global cosmetics magnate, entrepreneur, art collector and patron. She had a brilliant 60-year career and, arguably, single-handedly changed the way beauty and beauty products and treatments were perceived and made accessible in the first half of the 20th century. She also significantly set the standard for the salon as experience, hers each uniquely designed and filled with works of art. This stunning exhibition presents some 200 objects from Rubinstein’s personal collection, including paintings, jewelry, and clothing, as well as advertisements and samples from her cosmetics line. She was an early and important collector of African and Oceanic sculpture, which is amply represented in the show. She was also friend to and subject for many European modernists whose work, including a number of portraits of Rubinstein herself, form an essential part of the installation. Standouts for me were the selection of Helena Rubinstein products and packaging and the numerous beauty manuals and books she wrote. And there was something about her Venetian Rococo Mirror that drew me in, so personal and so evocative and reflective of a remarkable life lived, in absolute beauty.
www.jewishmuseum.org
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| Pablo Picasso and Jacqueline Roque circa 1957. Photograph by David Douglas Duncan. Estate of Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2014. |
My weekend was made even better by Picasso & Jacqueline: The Evolution of Style, a terrific exhibition at Pace Gallery’s 25th Street and 57th Street locations. Included are some 140 works created by Picasso that depict his last wife Jacqueline Roque, in addition to over 50 photographs of the couple taken by the celebrated American photojournalist and close friend of the artist, David Douglas Duncan. It is absolutely fantastic to see these works presented together within the context of Duncan’s gorgeous photographs. This show represents the last twenty years of Picasso’s life and career and is the first to focus solely on Jacqueline as, arguably, his most important muse. And many of these pieces have never been on view to the public before now. The paintings in particular seem so personal and so loving — I honestly can’t recall even one in which she is distorted in any way. Quite illuminating!
Picasso & Jacqueline: The Evolution of Style is on view through January 10 — this Saturday! — at Pace Gallery, 534 West 25th Street and 32 East 57th Street, NYC
www.pacegallery.com
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| Mourning ensemble, 1870-72, American, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Martha Woodward Weber, 1930. www.metmuseum.org |
I am so pleased that the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art has once again presented a fall exhibition and that the lower level galleries are firmly back in use! Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire is a fantastic installation and felt very much to me like a total work of art, with gorgeous period music in the background and a 19th-century female silhouette slowly moving along the wall. The years considered are 1815 to 1915 and the dresses are marvelous. I especially loved seeing a mourning dress worn by Queen Victoria herself which, of course, gave one a very real sense of her stature. There are three paintings on silk, one of which is a portrait with embroidery, that I found rather enchanting. But my favorite pieces, however, were the jewelry, stunning and so romantic — rings and necklaces with locks of hair or miniature portraits that quite intimately honored the departed.
Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire is on view through February 1, 2015.
www.metmuseum.org
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum reopened yesterday after a major renovation and transformation. We were so happy to attend the (VERY CROWDED and VERY FESTIVE) opening reception on Thursday night — it was just great to be back in the mansion. And the space, by the way, looks amazing. I especially love that part of all of this renewal is a new typeface, Cooper Hewitt. Commissioned expressly for this occasion and designed by Chester Jenkins, it is the perfect way to honor this most significant and relevant institution. Take a look at this fascinating Design Talk about the creation of the new typeface.
www.cooperhewitt.org
The Inspired Home: Nests of Creatives is easily one of my favorite design books of the year. Gorgeously photographed and keenly curated, it presents some very cool spaces of some very cool creators. Standouts for me include all of the inherently modern Danish residences, and the homes of Rogan Gregory and Moby. Such an inspired book, very much befitting its title.
The Inspired Home: Nests of Creatives by Kim Ficaro and Todd Nickey with photography by Ditte Isager (Rizzoli, 2014)
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| PABLO PICASSO © David Douglas Duncan, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Austin www.gagosian.com |
We are swooning over the newest collection from KOBO Candles — Lotta Jansdotter for KOBO. This very inspired collaboration features eight gorgeous scents such as Citrus Quince and Alpine Fern in equally gorgeous reusable vessels. And the pièce de résistance, the packaging breaks down into a set of postcards created by Brooklyn-based Swedish designer, Lotta Jansdotter. A perfect fusion of Japanese and Swedish modern, function and cool.
www.kobocandles.com www.jansdotter.com
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| Photograph: Breton Tyner-Bryan |
YOU HAVE HAD A REMARKABLE CAREER AS A PERFORMER, CHOREOGRAPHER AND TEACHER. WHAT LED YOU TO CREATE THE FRANCESCA HARPER PROJECT?
I was lucky to have examples growing up. My mother directed the Alvin Ailey School for 26 years so I got to grow up close to Alvin Ailey himself. I was always inspired by his story and the story of Martha Graham. They both started their Companies when they were in Broadway shows to help finance their endeavors. I was performing in my second Broadway show, All Shook Up, when I started my Company. I used my salary to lay down the foundation for the Company.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST REWARDING PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT TO DATE?
Receiving my Living History Award for Black History Month.
WHICH ARTISTS INSPIRE AND INFLUENCE YOU MOST?
I would say my mother Denise Jefferson and my Aunt, Pulitzer Prize winning writer Margo Jefferson first, William Forsythe, Alvin Ailey, Pina Bausch, Arthur Mitchell, Virginia Johnson, Sarita Allen, Carmen De Lavallade, Debbie Allen, Paula Kelly, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, LaChanze, Angela Robinson, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Cyd Charisse, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Dinah Washington and the List goes on…
WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY?
My family and love.
COMB OR BRUSH?
FINISH THIS SENTENCE. MY AGE IS…………….
WHAT’S FOR DINNER TONIGHT?
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| Sandro Miller, Arthur Sasse / Albert Einstein Sticking Out His Tongue (1951), 2014 www.edelmangallery.com |
The much-anticipated, Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters, opens tomorrow at Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago. A collaboration between American photographer Sandro Miller and longtime friend John Malkovich, this exhibition celebrates thirty-five iconic portraits that have influenced Miller’s prolific career. It really is astounding how Malkovich embodies each of the subjects, resembling quite closely and at once, individuals such as Jack Nicholson, Andy Warhol, Bette Davis and Salvador Dalí. And Miller’s recreation of each of these images is simply tremendous. A very good reason to head to Chicago.
Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters is on view through January 31, 2015
www.sandrofilm.com www.edelmangallery.com