One of the most fascinating exhibitions in Paris right now can be found at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Dries Van Noten: Inspirations. It’s not quite a career retrospective, nor even a fashion exhibition, but rather, a show about the creative process of the brilliant Belgian designer himself. Contained within some 15,000 square feet, it feels remarkably intimate in its vast, two level space. The content itself, more than 400 pieces, feels intimate too — a first-time invitation into the world of Dries Van Noten and his tremendous array of inspiration which includes film, photography, fine art, music, nature and fashion, from multiple centuries and multiple countries. Cecil Beaton, Bronzino, Elizabeth Peyton, Jacques-Émile Blanche, Paul Poiret, Francis Bacon, Balenciaga. Van Noten’s far-ranging stylistic references are another important element in the installation such as feathers, butterflies, Orientalism, India and the uniform. And I loved David Michalek’s Slow Dancing film, with his wife Wendy Whelan as one of the featured performers, a special commission for this exhibition.
Dries Van Noten: Inspirations runs through August 31, 2014
www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/
Despite a fair amount of time spent in Paris over the last several years, I visited the Montparnasse Cemetary for the very first time last month. I can’t believe it has taken me this long! The art and architecture contained within this dense, peaceful 47-acre space (created from three separate farms in 1824) is very inspiring.
I must have spent at least two hours there, some of it just wandering aimlessly and some of it purposely seeking out my artistic and intellectual heroes of the last century. This venerable list included Constantin Brâncuși, Henri Laurens, Tristan Tzara, Brassaï, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Charles Baudelaire, and Jacques Demy, along with many others. I was particularly pleased to discover, by chance, the captivating marker of the celebrated French aviator, Maryse Bastié. And I was particularly grateful to the lovely gentleman, carefully tending to the grave of a family member, who offered to help me search for the rather hard to find grave of Man Ray and Juliet May Ray, simply in exchange for a tissue. There is indeed a wealth of kindness in this world.
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| Fortunato Depero, Skyscrapers and Tunnels (Gratticieli e tunnel), 1930. MART, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: © MART, Archivio Fotografico |
What looks to be an amazing exhibition is opening today at the Guggenheim Museum. Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe is a major multidisciplinary installation including fine art, film, fashion, design, performance, architecture and the written word (to name a handful) from this tremendously influential, avant-garde movement that essentially revered the new — technology, speed, industry, youth, urbanism. The first show devoted to Italian futurism in the United States, it includes more than 300 works organized chronologically over its 35 year period, and is poised to be one of the standout exhibitions of the year. I know where I’ll be this weekend.
Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe runs through September 1 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
www.guggenheim.org
I recently had the great pleasure of seeing Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq during its run at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. I certainly knew of Le Clercq — a ballerina with New York City Ballet, George Balanchine’s muse, his fifth and last wife, who was stricken with polio at age 27 while on tour in Copenhagen in 1956 at the height of her career. She never danced or walked again. I had read Varley O’Connor’s 2012 novel, The Master’s Muse, about Le Clercq. But I had never seen her dance. This lovely film, directed by Nancy Buirski, is full of wonderful footage and photographs of Le Clercq, clearly one of the greatest ballet dancers of the twentieth-century. Gorgeous and beguiling, I really didn’t have a sense of her and her tremendous legacy until this film, and I am so glad that Buirski made it. And my particular screening was made even more special by the presence of the marvelous Arthur Mitchell, former NYCB principal dancer, founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and close friend of Le Clercq who spoke of her after the film. He turns 80 this year but appears so much younger, just brilliant.
Take a look at the trailer here.
When the Academy Award nominations were announced this morning I was really hoping The Crash Reel would be included for Best Documentary Feature. And although it wasn’t nominated, it most definitely is, in my opinion, one of the finest documentaries of 2013. Twice Oscar-nominated director Lucy Walker tells the story of champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce (son of glass artist Simon Pearce) and the half-pipe crash on New Year’s Eve 2009 that resulted in a traumatic brain injury that forever altered his life. This intimate, powerful, intelligent, beautifully edited film is remarkably multidimensional and reaches far beyond snowboarding and the risks inherent to extreme sports. And the soundtrack is genius.
www.thecrashreel.com
I just finished reading The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel, in anticipation of the soon-to-be-released film of the same name. It is the story of the allied force of quite notable art professionals including museum curators and directors, conservators, architects, artists and art historians that volunteered to risk their lives to protect, save and recover Europe’s most important buildings and landmarks and stolen works of art, cultural objects and personal property during and immediately following World War II. It is completely fascinating. The Rape of Europa, both the book by Lynn H. Nicholas and the subsequent documentary, is a brilliant telling of this most tragic moment in history and one whose aftermath still exists to this day. Edsel, actually a co-producer on the documentary, later focused his own tremendous research specifically on those men in the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives unit (MFAA) and their remarkable and heroic efforts to preserve the artistic heritage of Europe. I can’t wait to see the film and I can’t wait to read Edsel’s new book, Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures from the Nazis, published last spring.
The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter (Center Street, 2009)
www.monumentsmen.com
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Greta Gerwig photographed by Christopher Anderson
Magnum Photos/New York Magazine |
We just received the “Reasons to Love New York Right Now” issue of New York Magazine and opened right up to Reason No. 17, Because for Greta Gerwig, New York is Still a Fairy Tale. Gerwig starred in and co-wrote, with Noah Baumbach, Frances Ha, absolutely one of our favorite films of the year, brilliant in every way. In talking about her love of this city in New York Magazine, Gerwig perfectly and unabashedly stated, “I still have moments when I’m walking down the street and I start crying because I can’t believe I live here.” We hear you Greta, we do too.
www.franceshamovie.com www.nymag.com
I recently watched What Maisie Knew (having missed it while it was in theaters in the spring), a contemporary and quite good adaptation of Henry James’ novel of the same name. For some reason I couldn’t stop thinking about it and so felt compelled to read the book as well. Although the filmmakers describe it as a reimagining of the novel, which it definitely is, some of the most striking subtleties are in place. It makes complete sense to make a modern-day retelling of this very modern late 19th-century work. It is heartbreaking for sure, especially on film, and especially with a rather exceptional cast that includes Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgård, Steve Coogan and Joanna Vanderham. But the very best part of What Maisie Knew, all of the beauty and earnestness and perfect nuances, exist in the brilliant performance of Onata Aprile as Maisie. Quite unbelievable actually.
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Vivian Maier (1926-2009), Self-portrait, 1955
The Maloof Collection |
I have been following the work, and the remarkable story of its discovery, of American street photographer Vivian Maier since it was introduced to the world in 2009, just six months after her death. She is now widely considered to be among the most important photographers of her generation. I love her eye and the way she portrayed the world through her images — often humorous, quite intellectual, always considered.
Born in Manhattan in 1926 to a French mother and Austrian father, Meier was raised mainly by her mother in New York and also in the French Alps for a time. It is believed she began taking pictures in the 1940s in Europe. In 1951 she accepted her first position as a children’s caretaker, a position she would hold with a number of families throughout her life, which enabled her to pursue photography, her mostly secret avocation. By the mid-1950s, Maier had relocated to Chicago where she would remain and whose streets became her subject matter.
To say that Maier was prolific is an understatement, to say that she was intensely private is not. After falling behind on rent payments at the storage facility where she kept her undeveloped rolls of film, negatives, slides and 8mm films, these tens of thousands of items were divided and sold at auction. One of these collections, containing some 30,000 negatives, was purchased by Chicago historian John Maloof. Her work had never been shown in public during her lifetime, it was Maloof who first showed us. In addition to numerous exhibitions, Maloof has also directed a documentary, Finding Vivian Maier, that premiered in September at the Toronoto International Film Festival and will be released in 2014. And last week, Vivian Maier: Self Portrait opened at Howard Greenberg Gallery, a wonderfully curated show and one definitely not to be missed.
Vivian Maier: Self Portrait runs through December 14 at Howard Greenberg Gallery, 41 East 57th Street, NYC www.howardgreenberg.com
http://www.vivianmaier.com/film-finding-vivian-maier/
The new series city.ballet. premiered yesterday on AOL On Originals. I must admit I watched all 12 episodes straight through, each less than 10 minutes long. For the New York City Ballet enthusiast or any fan of dance for that matter, this is certainly a series worth watching. Produced and narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker, it offers a fascinating behind the scenes look at NYCB with each episode focusing on a different aspect of the company or the life of a ballet dancer. The series feels rather intimate in fact, with quite a lot revealed.
city.ballet. is just one of a number of series from AOL On Originals. Another we like very much is Inspiration Point with Jonathan Adler, who, based on this series, is as fun and fantastic as we always imagined, perhaps even more!
http://on.aol.com/show/cityballet
