Jean-Michel Frank, Hermès and New York

"OHMYGAWD!", I hit a high note. "What now?" my grumpy husband complained.

"I have goose bumps. Furniture items by the legendary designer Jean Michel-Frank are being reissued here in the United States."

My husband shoots me an incredulous look momentarily pulling his head away from a basketball game on tv. clickety-clack went the heels of my little shoes across the stained Brazilian wood plank floors. I leaned my head against the window and stared out into the empty street.

Frank's harmonious forms, simple lines, exotic veneers and soft palette embody great design. His works have been widely copied but rarely matched. Each item he created is understated, but resonates immense power and depth.

In 1924 Frank collaborated with Hermès on a collection of furniture. His restrained club chairs and sofas have been endlessly copied since that time -- they are stark, exquisitely proportioned forms wrapped in the most luxurious finishes.

The short, slight, nervous, and intense, self-taught designer who walked on the balls of his feet spouting bits of poetry, and known to dress in drag to formal occasions was THE designer and decorator of the Parisian haute-monde of the 1930s and 40s.

In spite of his immense talent and success, his life was tragic and full of heart break. He died at the young age of 46; what other miracles would we have had from him had he lived longer?


On March 8, 1941 Frank’s body was found lifeless on the sidewalk at Third Avenue and 63rd Street. A cousin had to identify him. The New York Times found fit to only run a 100-word obituary about the greatest furniture designer of his generation. His name from then on was consigned to oblivion.

The design cognoscenti in the 1970s quietly appreciated "le style Frank" and thankfully, many of us will too. Those distinctive cubic designs with leather and wood veneers have been re-issued and will soon again be available in the New York Hermès store in April.

Vivre Jean-Michel Frank!

(top image from T Magazine, photo of JMF scanned from Pierre-Emmanuel Martin-Vivier's Jean-Michel Frank: The Strange and Subtle Luxury of the Parisian Haute-Monde in the Art Deco Period, and remaining two images from Luxist.)

Esther Howland, Valentine's Day and the Birth of the Card

I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s Day. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it as a kid. Eagerly awaiting the holiday, my classmates and I would each spend the weekend before the magical day carefully crafting and decorating shoe boxes as a receptacle to hold all of our cards. My mom would cut a slit in the top of the lid and then help me wrap the box in thick colored paper. I would cut out paper hearts in red and pink and affix them on top of white paper doilies I had carefully attached to the box with my glue stick. Sometimes I would further decorate by making a heart-shaped stamp out of a starchy Idaho potato dipping the form over and over in thick, messy paint. Then I set out to do my favorite part: make individual cards for all of my friends, and the teacher too.

As time passed on, the meaning of the holiday changed. The target of my affections went from friends and family to boys. So I stopped making cards and never made one again. Even today, I miss the process of creating a hand-made card.

In 1847 a teenager named Esther Howland became memorized when she received her first V-day card from England. It had an elaborate border of lace and decorated with ornate flowers that had been cut-out of paper, colored and pasted on. In the center was a small, pale green envelope containing Valentine's Day sentiments. She showed it to all of her friends and asked her father who owned a book and stationary store in Worcester, Massachusetts to import and sell ones like it in his store.

Then Esther tried making one. She liked it and made more creating nearly a dozen different designs. She sent these prototypes with her brother who a salesman for their father’s company. He made his rounds and returned with over $5000 orders.

From England and New York she ordered colored pictures, lace, silk, satin and ribbon. Then she set up her business in her parents’ home hiring several of her friends. Two years later, Esther Howland was firmly launched in the valentine business. By 1879, The New England Valentine Company was established and eventually grossed $100,000 annually.

Esther never married. Joan P. Kerr wrote in her book The Amorous Art of Esther Howland, that she was remembered as a “woman with high color and glossy chestnut hair”. She drove “high-stepping horses and looked like an aristocrat.” She was good looking and “dressed in fashion and had facials,” Esther understood the importance of sending a Valentine’s Day card to friends so she published a book of verse for her customers who could select one and include it in their card. One example: “May friendship’s constant kiss be thine/From this sweet day of valentine.”

She retired in 1881 to take care off her father and sold the business to George C. Whitney Company who turned the designs out by machines. With the machine age came a decline of quality. By the early 20th century, most valentines were just a folded sheet. And with that, the intricate handmade designs of Esther Howland became a thing of the past.

Images from Worcester Historical Museum.

Designer of the Day: Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (b. 1935)

Porsche, yes as in the car, is the grandson of the founder and the first son of the sports car founder Ferry Porsche. Known to his family as “Butzi” as a kid, FA Porsche never considered himself and artist, but rather a craftsman. He studied engineering before he became head of the design division at the car company. He was involved in creating many of the body designs we know so well: 904 Carrera (1963) and of course, Porsche 911 (1964).

“Design must be functional and functionality must be translated into visual aesthetics, without any reliance on gimmicks that have to be explained,” FA Porsche said.

In 1972 he established the Porsche Design Studio, where he designed numerous products including quite stylish men’s accessories (such as watches, sunglasses, and writing implements), utilitarian wares and household appliances. He designed bathrooms and kitchens and the items that go into these rooms. And, apparently, even furniture::

Love this lounge chair’s restrained line which is technically perfected. It is classical and functional, and evokes a similar feeling of tension as Carlo Mollino's chairs (but not quite… ).

Love, love, love.

This chair, Model: IP 84 S, is in a white lacquered metal and upholstered in white leather. Produced by Interprofil.

(images from Porsche.com and for sale at Room of Art.)

Some Things Never Change: HR3 and the History of Art

I would love to write posts about butterflies and tulips, I really would, especially during these bitterly freezing temperatures. But good god, I cannot remain silent on this one.

Many of you have heard about the proposed HR3 bill.

The GOP wants to limit federal funding for abortions. The bill provides an exemption from the abortion ban "if the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the subject of an act of forcible rape".

This post is not about abortion. Nor is it questioning where you want or do not want your tax dollars to go. I am simply wondering: who the hell gets to sit and judge what rape is?

'No', apparently, does not mean 'No'. I guess this bill is to say congress doesn’t think we know what rape is. Drugged, underage or mentally challenged women are not included. Inebriated women or those who wore a skirt 2” above their knees, were at their own peril. There were no busies on her face. A gun wasn't used. He didn't really hold her shoulders down; a nail in the floorboard must have caught the back of her sweater. Slipped a roofy? She wasn't awake for it anyway.

Really? Have we not come very far? Let's take a very brief trip through history:

During the middle ages, it was believed a woman could only get pregnant if she had an orgasm. In the case of rape, if she did conceive, then she must have enjoyed it.

The history of art has shown us that rapists were heroic, their female victims eroticized.

Jacopo Tintoretto’s Rape of Helen (1578/79), at the Prado, Madrid.

Helen is knocked over like a candlestick in the midst of chaos, yet she gratuitously gives us a booby shot.

Giovanni da Bologna's Rape of a Sabine (1581/83) in the Loggia dei Lanzi on Florence's Piazza della Signoria. Theatrical, as if we are watching dancers on stage dressed in our finest.

Peter Paul Rubens's Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (1615 to 1618) Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Very dramatic, twisting contorted naked women, you can almost hear the opera music turned up full blast in the background.

And... I can go on and on, really I can, but I am running late for work... my favorite: Susanna and the Elders.

Few artistic themes have offered such an opportunity to blur the lines of rape. Much like this bill. While Susanna is bathing, two old judges spy on her. They approach her with blackmail and when she declines accuse her of adultery.

Some artists put their own spin on the subject. Tintoretto (good lord, examples of this subject matter he depicted are endless) perhaps seems to blame Susanna (1555/56) with her vanity? After all, she was naked and admiring her own beauty in the mirror?

again by Tintoretto (1552?) Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

Susanna gives the old man a break and leans in.

Alessandro Allori (1535–1607) version at the Musée Magnin

Note the affectionate touch Susanna gives to the man above and the freak-leech below whose hand disappears between her legs. We, the viewer, shouldn't worry, her little toy dog isn't too concerned.

Even Rembrandt's Susanna (1647) looks to us to keep quiet as she makes sure the coast is clear. Staatliche Museum in Berlin.

Hide/Seek: the silencing still prevails...

Two days ago, I viewed the exhibition “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” at the National Portrait Gallery.

The exhibition explores such questions as gender, sexual identity, and the AIDS epidemic. 105 works were selected by artists with varying perspectives; how same-sex love has been portrayed in art for the past 120 years or so, beginning with a photograph of Walt Whitman, to oils by Thomas Eakins and John Singer Sargent, works by Georgia O'Keffe, Marsden Hartley, to breeders like George Bellows and Andrew Wyeth, to Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol; and photographers such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Annie Leibovitz. It ended with "Felix" by A.A. Bronson.

Communicating same-sex attraction is nothing new in the history of art. Seventeenth-century Dutch genre painters used symbiosis in their works. Barely a hundred years before in Italy, Caravaggio painted titillating images of partially-clad, dewy, taut muscular young boys commissioned by the Pope that would stir a certain somethin' somethin' among even the most rigid heterosexual woman. Before that, artists used special codes when referring to same sex interests. Before Christ even, images of daily life and the relationship between men were graphically depicted on ancient Greek vase painting.

I fail to understand the outrage the media has created around this exhibition. It depicts life -- a life that has always been in plain sight; a life which has been a part of us.

One work was pulled from the exhibition. The Smithsonian removed a video by David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992) which was completed in 1987 and entitled "A Fire in My Belly". (The original 30 minute video was edited down to four minutes to make it more 'suitable' for the majority of museum visitors.) Still, pressure from certain Congressmen, the new Speaker of the House and the president of the Catholic League proved too much for the museum to withstand.

I cannot understand why.

I viewed this work which was available in Museum of Censored Art -- a makeshift cold trailer stretching across two parking spaces on the street in front of the museum. As I stood there watching the video, I felt all kinds of different emotions. Above all, I remained perplexed.

The video represents the artist’s anger; Wojnarowicz not only lost his friend, mentor and partner, but also faced death from AIDS. When the work was first included in the exhibition, the public got most upset over eleven seconds of four minute footage depicting ants crawling over the body of a small Mexican crucifix. Most of the people speaking out had never set foot in the exhibition to view the works and read the text panels in the manner in which they were designed to be viewed. Many critics, as I understand, were sent links from Youtube which took the work out of context and made it difficult to understand the message of both the artist and the curator.

Regardless of what religion anyone may or may not embrace, Jesus Christ was a figure in history who was betrayed into the hands of his enemies by one of his own apostles. A person whom he trusted. He was mocked, scourged, spit on, a crown of thorns was pressed into his skull, his hands and feet nailed to wooden posts and then sentenced to death by crucifixion, because he was seen as different, as an outsider.

Surely people -- homosexual or not, god-fearing or not -- have questioned the mercy of Jesus Christ when they have witnessed the death of a loved one or faced the prospect of their own. Haven’t we all asked why? Why her? Why him? Why me?

Does it really matter who we sleep with at night, to whom we pray, who we turn our backs on and who we welcome, inevitably our stories still end the same way: with death.

The image of the artist in the video piercing his lips with a needle and sewing them shut is powerful and shocking -- reason enough not to sensor the work but to lay it out so we can each make our own decisions about the silencing of one another as we continue to live our lives surrounded by hatred, fear and segregation.

above image: We Two Boys Together Clinging (1961) by David Hockney

Stylish Blogger Award

Thank you pgt of Little Augury who gave me the honor of the Stylish Blogger Award. I disappeared a bit, then quietly reappeared and she graciously noticed. I humbly accept from a most talented, unique blogger. My gratitude to you.

Luxury Item of the Week

Tired at the end of the day and want to make your bathing time a bit more special?

Nothing screams decadence more than a bath tub that costs as much as a V8 sports car, or a plot of land on the Ecuador's central coast, or tuition for one year at a private college, or adoption fees for a three and a half-year old Russian orphan in Siberia....

It took three years for Lori Gardner to painstakingly affix each and every one of the 44,928 small pink-colored Swarovski crystals by hand to the exterior of a nineteenth-century style cast iron, claw foot tub.

Does soap scum and gummy hair spray residue coat your bathroom frequently? Gardner has hidden one real diamond among all the crystals. You can search for it while cleaning the tub. Rather your cleaning lady can. With a price tag of $39,000 for the tub, who would be cleaning their own bathroom?

A portion of the proceeds from the sale will go toward Breast Cancer Research. Or another charity of your choice.

Still think it is too expensive? The bathtub features another secret: when you're crawling around on the floor to swifter up those tumble weeds of long hair that always seem to collect, you can place a mirror underneath the tub and see a surprise.

If pink doesn't match your current tile color, you can custom-order another color.

The Diamond Bathtub is on display at Fleur de Lys, 369 E. 17th Street in Costa Mesa, CA. For more info visit: The Diamond Bathtub.

Auction Results: Morbid? Wrong? Ka-Ching!

On November 25, 1963 in Washington DC representatives from more than 90 countries came to President John F. Kennedy's funeral. Millions watched it on tv.

In Forth Worth, Texas Lee Harvey Oswald's body was laid in a simple, pine coffin.

A fierce legal battle erupted between Marina, Oswald's wife, and Robert, his brother. People didn't believe Oswald was really the one who was buried in that pine coffin.

On a crisp autumn day in October 1981, the coffin was dug up and Oswald's body pulled from it. Tests were run to determine if it was, indeed, really Oswald's.

Water had seemed into the burial vault and damaged the coffin. Oswald's body was reported to be covered in a "most of mold". (Note: I urge others not to read the medical autopsy report as I mistakenly did out of curiosity while eating lunch.)

One of the funeral directors who participated in the autopsy swapped the old coffin for a new one and kept it in storage. Then he decided to put it up for auction in December 2010.

Bidding opened at $1,000 at an auction house in Santa Monica, California. And soon escalated. It finally closed two hours after deadline to an anonymous bidder for over $87,000.

The coffin originally cost $300.

Oswald's brother tried to stop the auction. He wasn't aware of the auction and felt the coffin should have been destroyed in 1981. He was the one who originally paid for the coffin.

Image from Nate D. Sanders, Inc. Auction.

April Food Day

Most of us view hunger as a condition that has changed over time. We perceive our society as better prepared today. After all, most of us don't think twice when we drive to the grocery store to get what we need, but there are many others who can't.

America is the land of the plenty, isn't it?

History has told us that the first settlers in this country were subject to disease, raids and poor crop outcome. Population rapidly declined. That was 400 years ago. Conditions are much improved today.

In the eighteenth century, having overcome disease, hunger and wars, the colonists were gaining strength. They possessed the space, better resources and organization. But there was still hunger. Conditions are much improved today.

In the nineteenth century, hunger was perceived by some theorists as the result of a flawed individual. In reality, hunger was an unavoidable situation. There was mass starvation, illness, crowded living conditions, horrendous working environments and lots of child labor. Conditions are much improved today.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, hunger began to gain a new understanding. Humanitarian groups, social reformers, political activists and scientists all saw that hunger was a political and economic force out of their control.

During the Depression, there was tremendous hardship, hemorrhaging unemployment and millions of Americans starved. Many of us heard stories told by our grandparents as we watched them keep their pantries full of canned foods. Just incase, my grandmother always told me. That was then, I would tell my grandmother, "Oh no Grammy, conditions are much improved today".

We've learned from the Depression, didn’t we?

Hunger is invisible to most of us, but today people young and old are lining up at food banks in this land of plenty. It is a reality and it isn’t going away. Supplies are dwindling and pantries worry they might not be able to help provide what so many of us take for granted: food. Please consider contributing: HERE

Thank you Meg for making many of us more aware.

Yes, No, Maybe So? Josef Hoffmann's Flatware

Often times I look at various designs and try to place myself back in time when these object were first created. I wonder if I would have found them too different or utterly fantastic. I also try to look at them today with fresh eyes and wonder if (of course with an enormous pretend disposable income) I would want them.

I find this set of flatware eye catching. However, being practical, I wonder if the proportions of the fork (the handles being as thick as the tines) might cause me to poke myself in the mouth. I have this thing about flatware -- being a Libra and all -- I have to have balance in my hand. I don’t like for the bowl of a spoon or the tines of a fork to be too heavy in relation to the handle. And vice versa.

So what do you all think? Yes, No, Maybe So -- would you like a set?

Hoffmann's sketch

Josef Hoffmann designed this set of flatware for the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903-1904. All three founding members -- Hoffman, Koloman Moser and Fritz Wämdorfer -- ordered a set for their own.

Hoffmann made available three versions: silver plate, sterling silver and gilded silver. It was first publicly displayed at an exhibition in Vienna in 1906. Critics felt the smooth geometric shapes and broad surfaces not very practical. They didn’t like how stark and austere the design was devoid of any ornamentation except for the row of beads at the end.

crab fork and butter knife

A German newspaper described the service as “uncomfortable” and the shape suggestive of doctors’ tools. Another newspaper stated that Hoffmann made “geometry, not art” and his flatware was doomed to catch on with the public.

This line called Flaches Modell (Flat Model) included thirty-three in the set, and had a limited production from 1904-1908. Hoffmann went on to create other versions similar in style.

(Top image from Hiesinger and Marcus, Landmarks of Twentieth-Century Design; last two available from Bel Etage, Vienna)

Be back soon. In meantime, please feel free to catch up on the adventures of Soodie & Scout. Next week they are sure to get a phone call...

Nice!

$47.00 maple dresser at a junk shop +

overly expensive crystal knobs +

the help of one very talented painter named Kevin

=

Women in Design: Gertraud von Schnellenbühel (b. ? – d. ?)

Scores and scores of books have been written and exhibits have been presented featuring many well-known designers of the Art Nouveau style. But one designer, in particular, has been forgotten. Her output was not great, but one of her creations...

A masterpiece: 19” high silver-plated brass 24-light candelabrum created in 1913. This is the only work by Gertraud von Schnellenbühel known to survive. A profusion of swirled spirals organized in a rational manner -- it is rhythmic, mesmerizing and creates a sort of restrained freedom. The metal branches seem buoyant which defies the weight of the material.

Her creation was dubbed: The Flowering Tree.

So what happened to Gertraud von Schnellenbühel? How can one designer create something so brilliant, so striking yet there is barely any information about her?

This work was shown in 1914 at the Cologne Werkbund exhibition and received very positive reviews. Most Jugendstil designers harmoniously married elements of both Arts + Crafts with Art Nouveau styles. They merged whiplash lines and organic forms with medieval motifs or geometric silhouettes. Although Gertraud’s work follows the style, it is a creation indomitably its own.

The painter Wilhelm von Debschitz and the sculptor Hermann Obrist opened a private school in Munich’s Bohemian area on January 3, 1902 and called it The Debschitz School. It offered to artists and amateurs foundation courses combined with hands-on workshops. The school was a fertile seed for the emerging industrial design boom to come forth in Germany. It served as an important model for the Bauhaus – well known for integrating art and design education. The school was sold in 1914.

By 1913, The Desbchitz School had grown into the largest institution of its kind. By this time, 240 students were enrolled -- the majority women – and among them Gretraud. Students who attended this school thirsted for something new. They wanted to learn under different teaching methods and to actually make the creations they drafted on paper come to life.

What of Gertraud? One hit wonder? Married and became a haus frau?

It is interesting to note that the candelabrum ended up in the possession of Hermann Obrist, the schools co-founder and Gertraud’s teacher…

(images from Hiesinger and Marcus, Landmarks of Twentieth-Century Design; Beate Ziegert, "The Debschitz School, Munich: 1902-1914", Design Issues :The MIT Press, 1986 .)

Designer: Johan Carpner

Johan Carpner is a Swedish designer who created a light fixture. And I think I am in love.

The lighting fixture, dubbed Glänta, is available in two different sizes, both as a suspension and ceiling mounted fixture, and in three different colors: black, gray and white.


Made from sheet metal and acrylic he designed for Blond a couple years ago.

I'm starry-eyed for this light and can clearly see the suspended version in black hanging in my white subway tiled kitchen in a herringbone pattern over my breakfast nook with a built-in banquette softened with bright cushions... all of which I don't have.

Carpner received his degree from Konstfack in Stockholm. He has produced textile patterns and carpets inspired by nature for Swedish companies such as H&M, Åhléns and Svenskt Tenn and Kasthall.

This pattern is called Vinterek. And I love it too. It is haunting, yet serene.

Carpner also designs book covers the major Swedish publishing houses. You can clearly see how he carried this creativity over to different applications and materials.

He is most known for is his outdoor trellis called Tin Tree Spaljé which trains plants to grow upwards in a pleasing shape, but also brings beauty to the garden in the Winter when everything is dormant and brown.

This winter seems like a long one.

Amazing how your mood can lift when your eye falls upon great design.


(All images from Johan Carpner’s site and Scandinavian Design.)

Inga Sempé (b.1968)

A French furniture designer who created a small, compact sofa to work in proportion with smaller apartments. This design caught my eye when I was craning my neck to read the Financial Times House & Home Section over the shoulder of someone sitting on a plane. The sofa is light and airy. Made from a beechwood frame, it is upholstered in a sort of quilted duvet with cross-hatching of interrupted seams. She named her work: Ruché.


Although it looks as if a comforter cover was simply thrown over a stiff frame, the construction of the sofa is much more complex. It similar to a mattress and has a combination of layers of memory foam for comfort and sprung steel grill for stability. Sempé wanted her sofa to appear uncomplicated -- raised from the ground by a simple structure supporting a comfortable seat. The legs terminate in beveled feet which lends to more of a refined shape.
The height of the armrests is the same as the back. And if the thought of nestling yourself in a duvet cover while watching your favorite BravoTV show wasn’t enough, the armrests are mounted on elastic webbing which allows you to lean back comfortably while you sip on some wine and munch on white cheddar cheese flavored popcorn.



Ruché also is available in a one-arm settee version with an integral table surface at the end so you can conveniently place your bottle of wine without having to wait to get up during the commercials to pour yourself another glass.


This is a great idea for a narrow room or a small space -- a sofa and table all in one. Made for Ligne Roset, Ruché marries the unusual and the traditional; comfortable and practical. You can choose from a few velvety colors and stained or natural wood finish.



Her former employer? The design doyenne Andrée Putman.



Sempé pictured above (love her tights). See Sempé's site with many more great designs: HERE.

(images from DesignBoom and Sempé's site)

Time for a Little Bubbly?

Last weekend in a hotel room in downtown Washington DC, we were toasting to Andrea's birthday -- a friend, colleague and dedicated, hard worker. Her favorite drink of choice: champagne. The hotel did not have any champagne glasses; instead they brought wine glasses to the room. We made toasts and sipped from the glasses frequently pouring the bubbly contents from the thick green bottles again, and again, and again. I dare say… these wine glasses were much easier to drink from.

Flutes are awkward. When you raise a flute to sip, you need to turn your head away so as not to hit the face of another person. And although I love the look, ease and versatility of the coupe.... well, after drinking a few glasses of the bubbly libation, the mouth of the glass seems to somehow widen -- the contents sloshing about and spilling on the floor.

Little did I know (little do I really know as I prefer to sip my red wine from a small juice glass after all) that wine glasses are a perfect receptacle from which to drink champagne.

Stacy Downs has written yet another fantastic article in today's Kansas City Star on the subject of champagne glasses. read HERE

Though I probably will not be sipping champagne for this Valentines Day, (more likely a hearty pint of Guinness), I have always loved the ringing sound a crystal glass resonates when lightly touched with another. In the late 17th century, when lead was added to glass it not only increased brightness, clarity and the light-reflecting quality, but it also gave that ring sound. The tradition of clicking glasses after a toast developed during this time in England -- it was believed the bell-like ring sound had the power to send the devil away.


However, the problem is after one too many glasses of champagne -- regardless of the type of glass -- I tend to want to do exactly as the image above illustrates the following morning to the empty bottle of champagne ...

(images from Casablanca (1942), Notorious (1946), and Casino Royale (1967); to read more about the types of champagne glasses click: HERE)