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Tuesday 26 April 2011

Inspirational Blues in John Stefanidis Fabrics

"Every shade of blue is my favourite colour; as well as pink and grey and green and red."



Patmos, Greece ~ John Stefanidis 'Bells' in Soft Blue

  

Beach in Scotland ~ John Stefanidis 'Spitalfields' in Azure/Magenta on silk



Aspro Nisi, Greece ~ John Stefanidis 'Diamonds' in Ultramarine


  

Bora Bora, South Pacific ~ John Stefanidis 'Claudia' in Cobalt/Coffee


Available from:

London:          Tissus d'Helene, Chelsea Harbour, London, SW10 0XF
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7352 9977
                        Email: tissusdhelene@mac.com
                        Website: tissusdhelene.co.uk

Miami:            Monica James, 40 NE 40th Street, Miami, FL  33137
Phone: + 1 305-576-6222
                        Email: sales@monicajames.com
                        Website: monicajames.com

Los Angeles:   Harbinger, Almont Yard, 636-A North Almont Drive, CA 90069
                        Phone: +1 310 858 6884
                        Email: Info@HarbingerLA.com
                        Website: harbingerla.com

Thursday 21 April 2011

Manet exhibition at Musee d'Orsay, visited by John Stefanidis

Cultural News

It’s a cliché, but Paris is incomparable in the spring!  If you go, do not miss the blockbuster Manet exhibition at the Musée’d’Orsay: 
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html
Very evocative at the time, most instructive and quite wonderful, despite the absence of so many of Manet’s best paintings that are sitting happily in London and Washington, etc.


Musée de la Vie Romantique 16, rue Chaptal, 75009 Paris

Well worth a visit is the Musée de la Vie Romantiquehoused in the Scheffer-Renan mansion in the 9th arrondissement – a hidden treasure with a charming exhibition Jardins Romantiques Français and an excellent catalogue - until July 17, 2011

Salzburg, Austria - visited by John Stefanidis

  
Spring tulips and delicious vegetables

'Extinction' by Thomas Bernhard

FOR THOSE WHO READ BOOKS IN HARDBACK, PAPERBACK OR KINDLE

I was given the nudge about Thomas Bernhard and read 'Extinction' (Auslöschung, 1986), translated by David McLintock (1995), over three hundred pages without a paragraph break - a marvellous rant which lead me to re-read 'By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept' by Elizabeth Smart, a masterpiece of poetic prose, described at the time of publication in The Spectator as ...'a cry of ecstasy, which without changing volume or pitch, becomes a cry of agony!... Wow!

Tuesday 19 April 2011

MODERNISM TO THE FORE

Do read The New Yorker article DESIGN FOR LIVING Modernist vacation homes with a mission by Paul Goldberger [April 11, 2011].
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2011/04/11/110411crsk_skyline_goldberger
A similar project was Commerce by the Great Wall of China [The Great Wall always in sight of the twelve houses built]The project was presented at the La Biennale in Venice in 2004  and designed by twelve Asian architects from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan - my favourite house by Kengo Kuma - known as the Great [Bamboo] Wall house - is spectacular!

How to Read Poetry and Why by Josephine Hart

Josephine Hart's poetry readings are highlights of London life.  Poems recited by great actors in places such as the British Library and the National Theatre.

Read and listen to her books on poetry [which also contain CD's of recited poems] 'Catching Life by the Throat' and 'Words that Burn' by Josephine Hart.

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Spring leads to thoughts of love...

At Long Last Love by Cole Porter

...Is it a breakdown or is it a break?
Is it real Porterhouse or only a steak?
What can account for these strange
pitter-pats?
Could this be the dream, the cream, the cat's?
Is it to rescue or is it to wreck?
Is it an ache in the heart or just a pain in the neck?
Is it ivy you touch with a glove
Or is it at long last love? 
 The enormous Palazzo Ca' Rezzonico in Venice, 
once rented by Cole Porter

Monday 11 April 2011

Crash....at Gagosian Gallery - London, 2010

On reflection, the most stimulating exhibition of contemporary art last year.  


 

PABLO PICASSO
<i>Marie-Thérèse avec une guirlande</i>, 1937 
<nobr>Oil and pencil on canvas, 24 x 18 1/8 inches (61 x 46 cm)</nobr>
Private Collection © 2011 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
 


 
·     Picasso and Marie-Thérèse, curated by Picasso biographer, John Richardson, together with  Marie-Thérèse’s granddaughter, art historian Diana Widmaier Picasso at the Gagosian Gallery in New York will be stunning!
·     From April 14, 2011

SABBATICAL; BOOKS