27.6.09

SOTHEBY'S SELLS PICASSO'S 'HOMME A L'EPEE' FOR $11.5 MILLION


PABLO PICASSO'S CHERRY RED MUSKETEER PAINTING "HOMME A L'EPEE" HAS SOLD FOR AN AMAZING $11.5 MILLION AT SOTHEBY'S RECENT IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART SALE. THE 1969 WORK DATES TO A PERIOD IN THE ARTIST'S LIFE WHEN HE WAS OBSESSED WITH SWASHBUCKLERS AND THEIR CASANOVA LIFESTYLES. IN THIS VERSION, THE MUSKETEER STANDS BEFORE A VELVETY RED BACKGROUND IN A YELLOW JACKET, AND HE HOLDS A SWORD AS IF POSING FOR AN OLD MASTER PORTRAIT. AMID THE CURRENT ART MARKET WHICH HAS BEEN HIT HARD BY THE RECESSION PICASSO IS PROVING TO BE A RELIABLE MASTER AT AUCTION EVEN WHEN THE SUBJECT MATTER VEERS INTO HIS AVANT-GARDE OEUVRE

26.6.09

QUEEN ELIZABETH II INSTALLS VEGETABLE GARDEN AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE


FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR, VEGETABLES ARE NOW BEING GROWN IN BUCKINGHAM PALACE'S GROUNDS ALONGSIDE THE GRAND ORNAMENTAL PLANTINGS. THE MOVE COMES AMID A RECENT SURGE IN DEMAND FROM PEOPLE UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY TO HAVE THEIR OWN ALLOTMENT TO GROW THEIR OWN FOOD DURING THE HARDENING RECESSION. THE QUEEN'S ORGANIC GARDEN IS ABOUT 10 YARDS BY EIGHT YARDS IN SIZE, AND IS AT THE REAR OF THE GARDENS IN AN AREA WHICH IS KNOWN AS THE 'YARD BED'. GUESTS ATTENDING THE QUEEN'S GARDEN PARTIES WILL BE ABLE TO SEE HER NEW ALLOTMENT OVER THE SUMMER MONTHS. IN 1918, THERE WAS A VEGETABLE GARDEN AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE WHICH WAS USED TO GROW TURNIPS, AND DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR VEGETABLES WERE ALSO GROWN AT WINDSOR CASTLE.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE'S GARDENS COVER OVER 40 ACRES, AND IT INCLUDES A HELICOPTER LANDING AREA, A FOUR ACRE LAKE, AND A TENNIS COURT WHERE KING GEORGE VI OFTEN PLAYED. IT IS HOME TO 30 DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BIRDS AND MORE THAN 350 DIFFERENT WILD FLOWERS AND PLANTS, SOME EXTREMELY RARE AND ENDANGERED. THE GARDENS CAN COMFORTABLY ACCOMMODATE MORE THAN 7,000 GUESTS AT EACH OF THE QUEEN'S ANNUAL GARDEN PARTIES.

25.6.09

ERTE




RUSSIAN BORN FASHION DESIGNER AND ARTIST ROMAIN DE TIRTOFF (23.NOVEMBER.1892 - 21.APRIL.1990) , WHO CALLED HIMSELF ERTE AFTER THE FRENCH PRONUNCIATION OF HIS INITIALS, WAS ONE OF THE FOREMOST FASHION AND STAGE DESIGNERS OF THE EARLY 20th CENTURY. ERTE IS PERHAPS MOST FAMOUS FOR HIS ELEGANT FASHION DESIGNS WHICH CAPTURED THE ART DECO PERIOD IN WHICH HE WORKED. HIS DELICATE FIGURES AND SOPHISTICATED, GLAMOROUS DESIGNS ARE INSTANTLY RECOGNIZABLE, AND HIS IDEAS AND ART INFLUENCE FASHION INTO THE 21st CENTURY. HIS COSTUMES AND SETS WERE FEATURED IN THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1923, MANY PRODUCTIONS OF THE FOLLIES BERGERE, AND GEORGE WHITE'S SCANDALS. IN 1925, LOUIS B MAYER BROUGHT HIM TO HOLLYWOOD TO DESIGN SETS AND COSTUMES FRO A FILM CALLED PARIS. THERE WERE TO MANY SCRIPT PROBLEMS SO ERTE WAS GIVEN OTHER ASSIGNMENTS TO KEEP HIM BUSY. BY FAR HIS BEST KNOWN IMAGE IS SYMPHONY IN BLACK, DEPICTING A TALL, SLENDER WOMAN DRAPED IN BLACK HOLDING A THIN BLACK DOG ON A LEASH. THE INFLUENTIAL IMAGE HAS BEEN REPRODUCED AND COPIES COUNTLESS TIMES. ERTE CONTINUES WORKING THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE DESIGNING REVUES, BALLETS AND OPERAS. HE HAD A MAJOR REJUVENATION AND MUCH LAUDED INTEREST IN HIS CAREERS DURING THE 1960s TO THE EARLY 1980s WITH THE ART DECO REVIVAL. HE BRANCHED OUT INTO THE REALM OF LIMITED EDITION PRINTS, BRONZES, AND ART TO WEAR. NUMEROUS MUSEUMS AROUND THE WORLD PURCHASED DOZENS OF HIS ART WORKS FOR THEIR COLLECTIONS. ON HIS DEATH IN 1990, HE WAS HAILED AS THE "PRINCE OF THE MUSIC HALL", "FATHER OF ART DECO" AND "A MIRROR OF FASHION FOR 75 YEARS".