April 27, 2010

TINA BARNEY | SOCIAL STUDIES


Tina Barney, one of America's most renowned contemporary art photographers, has a new book coming out in May called Players. The book will feature commercial assignments along with Tina's editorial, portrait, and fashion photography. Players debuts on the heels of a recent documentary about Tina directed by Jaci Judelson titled Social Studies, that follows Barney as she sets out to photograph the upper class milieu of Europe.


Tina Barney's sets and subjects are completely intertwined aesthetically—creating a depth of personality with every photograph. This can be seen in the Spring 2010 fashion images she shot for Tory Burch {shown just above}. Having both grown-up in the same East Coast environments that are true to the brand's waspy personality, made Tina Barney a savvy pick by Burch.


Both the documentary and book can be purchased here.


April 26, 2010

MUSIC | THE CALIFORNIA SOUND

Summer is coming and it's a great time to load some new sounds on your ipod. The April issue of my favorite, C California Style magazine talks about some of SoCal's breakthrough bands. The budding music scene is full of homegrown bands whose sounds are grabbing international attention. In addition to My Space, it's college radio stations like Santa Monica College's KCRW who find these indie tunes and bring them to the airwaves. I like the clear California sound of the Long Beach-based band, Avi Buffalo. The band of 21-year-olds played its first gig in a local vegan restaurant. "Not unlike the urge among chefs these days to source their ingredients as locally and organically as possible, L.A.'s indie music boom is all about keeping things small scale and close to home."
~ C California Style

Sounds good to me.

<a href="http://avibuffalo.bandcamp.com/track/time-on-you">Time on You by Avi Buffalo</a>

April 23, 2010

GARDEN WRAP



I love these decorative papers featuring two of my garden favorites—ferns and Japanese anenomes from Kate's Paperie. Paper size: 28.25" x 18" with matte finish. Whether you plan to be in the garden or not this weekend, have a glorious time!

April 22, 2010

Please Help To Save Our Dolphins and Whales



Inspired by the Oscar-winning feature documentary THE COVE, stars from film, TV and music band together to help save Japan's dolphins. Please sign the petition and help us get the word out, www.takepart.com/thecove.

April 17, 2010

MONTHLY DIBS | 1ST DIBS



1st dibs is a fascinating place to shop and a treasure trove of inspiration—from any genre and any period. On Saturdays, 1st dibs features Saturday Sale, much like a flea market... and fun Saturday Shopping trips [virtual of course] with leading designers and style icons like Kathryn Ireland, Hutton Wilkinson, Clair Watson, and many more. My search today is for wicker and I've found a couple of things I love from an oversized 1890s French Wicker Basket to a pair of Bamboo Reed Wicker Chairs from the 1950s. From furniture and lighting to jewelry to haute couture, 1st dibs has it all.


April 16, 2010

FASHION | HIPPIE BLISS



I grew up in a big family in the 1970s—sisters, lots of clothes, a shared VW bug, and even a linen closet turned make-up closet—which amazed all of our friends. Yes, we bartered to share our clothes, living in wrap-around skirts and Mexican blouses, blue jeans with Indian-print tees and bandannas. All these years later, we still go nuts for a good hippie store—the cheaper ones, not the resort-y stores that sell Geeta gauzy kurtas for $65. We love them for $15. That's why I was so excited about shopping at The Water Monkey in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It's one of the good ones. It smells like Indian-print cotton with a dash of scented oils and incense thrown-in. The prices are just where they should be. My sisters and I laugh as we pay $5 for our old favorite Guatemalan belts that we plan to tie around our worn-in straw hats. And just for a minute, we are back in our Connecticut bedrooms as 15 year-old girls again. Sweet.


April 9, 2010

SUMMER & BEACH DAYS



I'm getting ready for beachy days here in Massachusetts. This week, it actually hit 80 degrees and I dove into the Atlantic [quickly]—but we still have plenty of spring days left with temperatures between 55-70. I love this time of year and scouting-out summer looks. Here are a few things I'm considering for beachy fun and summer days.



Hat: Bobo Hat - Calypso St. Barth, Sarong: Blue Amanda Pareo - Snappy Turtle, Clogs: Strappy Sky Clog - Calypso St. Barth, Set of Zipper Pouches: Amelia Brown Pouches - Robert Roller Rabbit


April 5, 2010

FRITZ BULTMAN | THE MISSING IRASCIBLE


Collage: Fritz Bultman, Red Lap Barrier 1971 [paper & gouache] In the Irascibles photo: Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Adolph Gottlieb, Ad Reinhardt, Robert Motherwell, Clyfford Still, James C. Brooks, Hedda Sterne, Jimmy Ernst, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Richard Pousette-Dart, Barnett Newman, Theodoros Stamos, William Baziotes, Mark Rothko. Irascibles Photo, Nina Leen/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Over the years, my godfather George talked about his friends, Fritz and Jeanne Bultman. Though he had not seen Jeanne for quite some time, he stayed in touch with her until her death in 2008. Her husband, Fritz Bultman who was part of the abstract expressionist group of painters in the 1940s, had died in 1985. My godfather spent summer days with the Bultmans in Provincetownalong with Tennessee Williams, Donald Windham, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner and the Hofmanns. Born in 1919 into a prominent New Orleans family, Fritz Bultman studied abroad where he met Maria and Hans Hofmann. In 1937, after a year of study at Chicago's New Bauhaus School [a school he thought was "anti-painting"]—he left and spent four years studying under Hans Hofmann in New York and Provincetown.


Bultman collages: Explorer: Sky and Water, 1968 | Rooting, 1975 | Sky Harp, 1977
[paper, gouache, crayon]

In 1950, Bultman started showing at the Samuel Kootz Gallery—prominent dealer of abstract expressionist paintings. On May 22, 1950 the New York Times published a front-page article with the headline "18 Painters Boycott Metropolitan Museum: Charge Hostility to Advanced Art."  The article was in response to an open letter to the newspaper protesting the organizations and the juries responsible for selecting the work for the Metropolitan Museum's American Art Exhibition, to be held in December of the same year. The group of artists responsible for the letter, became known as the Irascibles. A photo of the group was published in the January 15, 1951 issue of Life magazine—containing a who's who of the abstract expressionist movement.


The Way Up and the Way Down, 1975 | November Wave, 1978 | Mardi Gras, 1978 [paper and gouache]

Fritz Bultman was not present for the Irascibles photo. He was studying sculpture at the time in Italy and missed the most important photo opportunity of his life. I asked art scholar and curator of Fritz Bultman, Collages [1997 exhibition at the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia], Evan R. Firestone—if he thought Bultman's absence from the famous Irascibles photo, affected his success as an artist. "I think Fritz would have been somewhat better known in the 50s if he was in the Irascible photo, but he would not have attained the fame of most of the others in the photo. Much of Fritz's painting in the 40s was strong and tough, but not particularly ingratiating. There was a hiatus in his production in the early to mid-50s, and afterwards his work became increasingly Matissean, especially the collages—which I greatly admire—but the art world had moved on [Minimalism, Pop, Post-Minimalism, etc.]."


Other, 1981 | Daphne I, 1984 | Floating II, 1980 [paper and gouache]

Like his good friend, writer Donald Windham, Bultman never quite attained the name-recognition achieved by his contemporaries. In a letter from Butlman to Windham, Fritz writes: "I have long realized that your position, like mine, was untenable in the face of worldly acceptance and that the price of independence was obscurity. You must realize that character-wise you cannot make any other choice. Also there is no redemption thru time like in the 19th cent. It is only thru work that pleasure/reward will come to us, to make work the be all and the end all in itself."

I think the work of Fritz Bultman deserves another close look. And, once again... it's my godfather George who is leading me there.


Reap, 1981 | Interrupted, 1984 [paper and gouache]
Collage images from: Fritz Bultman Collages, 1997 exhibition catalogue, Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia

A thank you to scholar: Evan R. Firestone

Update on 4/19/13 - I have just learned that Edelman Arts has recently become the exclusive New York representation for the Bultman estate and is currently presenting a solo exhibition of his work. Visit here to learn more.