Uplifting Clouds at Kenzo

photo St Tyl

It has been cloudy lately in Paris - even inside at Kenzo at la place des Victoires.

photo Kenzo

day clouds

photo Kenzo

night clouds

photo Kenzo

There's always an eyeful of original fabrics there. 

more on their site Kenzo

Salon des Fleurs Chateau de Compiègne

photo St Tyl

This is the Salon de Fleurs in the Château of Compiègne, formerly a royal and imperial residence. I wandered these rooms over the week-end when I went to see the exhibit Folie Textile, a wonderful show that explores the exuberant production and use of textiles at the time of Napoleon III, 1848-1871. That exhibit and some important restoration work in historic sites is making the 19th century weigh heavily in decorative world's time line these days, provoking a certain rediscovery of  decorative arts of the mid to late part of the century. More on that soon, but for today...

The Salon des Fleurs was a game room for Empress Josephine - specialty tables are scattered for playing  trictrac, quadrille, bouillotte. 

(Trictrac is backgammon. Does anyone know the names of these other games in English?)

source: Napoleon III

An important thing to remember is that in the 19th century very often fabrics were used that were woven for a prior reign (new olds) and older decors were sometimes kept by the various regimes that succeeded each other - Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, Charles X, Louis-Philippe, Napoleon III.  The reasons: availability, economy, emulation.

During the Second Empire of Napoleon III, the salon was used as a bed chamber for the Imperial Prince  The young prince scratched the date 4 décembre 1868 into the marble table 

and

Bourdelin, (c) RMN

played his games in another well-dressed room. 

photo St Tyl

The Salon des Fleurs takes its name from its decoration. The oil panels painted in 1809 and 1814 

by Dubois were  based on the work of Pierre-Joseph Redouté.

photo St Tyl

The armchairs and settees by Jacob-Desmalter are covered in Gobelins tapestry.The 18th century floral design by Louis Tessier of was chosen by the Empress Josephine and delivered in 1809 - once again,  

an example of  the blending of stylistic frontiers. 

photo St Tyl

detail of the canapé

The ground of the tapestry is a fair lilac shade with a band 

of crisp, violet grosgrain to give  the finishing touch. 

These tones will deepen in textile design as the century progresses even to deep purple and become very popular with the advent of color-fast aniline dyes.

photo St Tyl

A tender, watercolor quality still comes through in this 1st Empire /early 18th century tapestry.

 château de Compiègne

Nureyev rests in peace below a draped carpet

photo: kinettelamossa

There has always been cross-over and borrowing in the decorative arts. The links between mosaic and textile motifs are evident, particularly in Byzantine and Coptic art. 
Author and archeologist, Gabriel Millet, called mosaics colorful, durable carpets for all eternity.
The comparison couldn't be more fitting for today's post. 

Ezio Frigerio chose to create an amazing modern mosaic that imitates not just the pattern, but the folds, drape, and rich colors of a rug, for the funerary sculpture he was commissioned to design for Rudolf Nureyev.

photo: kinettelamossa

The sculpture, an armature of metal with bronze fringe covered with mosaic, drapes Nureyev's tomb in the Russian cemetery of Sainte Genevieve Sous Bois south of Paris. Frigerio was Nureyev's set designer and a  friend who knew him well. He wished the design to be very personal and had the idea of ​​a big multicolored carpet to drape the tomb with “all the suggestions of Oriental art that were so close to the spirit and profound nature of his great departed friend.”* 

Nureyev was an enthusiastic collector of carpets and textiles and the association of rugs with a nomadic lifestyle seemed appropriate for the legendary dancer exiled from the USSR. From his very first entrance into the world, he was already in movement when his mother gave birth to him aboard a Trans-Siberian train skirting the sparkling Lake Baikal in southern Siberia.

House and Garden photo of Nureyev in the last year of his life at Li Galli 

Frigerio was inspired by a Caucasian rug in Nureyev’s collection.  It was one of his favorites and one that he chose to take with him when he travelled. Even in his final days of suffering from AIDS, he brought his rugs with him to his Li Galli island retreat near Amalfi. 

Rudolf Nureyev funerary sculpture 
1996, Studio Akomena in collaboration with the Paris Opera
* the story of of the sculpture told by Sabina Ghinassi

Truly wall-to-wall

© Palazzo Grassi

The Rudolf Stingel exhibit at the Palazzo Grazzi in Venice has a very special scenography. 

© Palazzo Grassi

© Palazzo Grassi photos Stefan Altenburger

see more of Rudolf Stingel's art and photos by Stefan Altenburger here: 

Rudolf Stingel  Palazzo Grassi

Persan textile tales: the rose and the nightingale

photo St Tyl

 It's not easy to get a good picture in a dark setting and this one is dim and grainy. Textile tracking is that way. It leads us into dark spaces and demands that we stand close and sometimes, to use a little imagination.  This lovely 17-18th century Persian textile is from the recent exhibit Mille et une nuits at l'Institut du monde arabe. The exhibit explored the influence of The Arabian Nights on art and craft, from its its initial spread to Europe with translations in France by by Antoine Galland in the very beginning of the 18th century and a more poetic, sensuous version 200 years later by Dr Joseph-Charles Mardrus. 

Scheherazade by Barbier

This second version of was even more influential; where would literature, theater and fashion, painting, opera, photography and film be without these stories? Scheherazade saved her life and changed her own destiny by telling wondrous tales each night to a cruel king and she changed ours, too. 

photo St Tyl

This fabric, whose frequently seen theme seems purely decorative, yet it is related to a very recognizable tale of the Thousand and one Nights. The Savavid motif was often used in painted miniatures and lacquered work as well as textiles. It refers to the story of the great and pure love of a nightingale for a beautiful white rose. The nightingale so loved the rose that he continued to sing to her despite the piercing thorns that would be his demise. The blood shed by the nightingale would forever give roses a beautiful red tint.

A closer look shows the delicacy of the brocaded silk motif on a sumptuous ground of silver and gold threads in this variation of samitum or weft-faced compound weave. The fabric was loaned by the Musée des Tissus, Lyon.

Metropolitan Museum

More more rose and nightingales in staggered rows

Metropolitan Museum

Musee des Tissus Lyon

The museum in Lyon has the same fabric as the Metropolitan Museum

Iranica on line

Iranica-on-line describes this Persian theme in more detail. We also learn of another case linking textiles to roses:

 "The role of roses in Safavid cultural life may also be seen in references to customs now fallen into disuse, such as the “festival of roses” (ʿid-e golrizi) and the presentation of floral bouquets (Herbert, pp. 261-68; Della Valle, II/2, pp. 115-16; Francklin, I, p. 84; Tavernier, p. 144). These references, taken together, evoke a luxury- and pleasure-loving society. Such a “culture of flowers” was undoubtedly encouraged by the economic prosperity of the Safavid period. In a telling example, the bi-colored rose gave its name to an important Persian innovation in weaving technology, the two-sided (do-ruʾi ) silk.

Material swagger, bow-ties and Monsieur Jean-Yves

Félix Moati monsieur Jean-Yves fait son cinéma, Paris 2011

artistic direction Garlone Jadoul, photography Markus Lambert

How can the tie, that little bit of fancy folie for men, be up-dated 

into a fashion-art statement? 

Monsieur Jean-Yves has found the way. He has taken that object of lesser affection, the bow-tie, and with the artistry of his knots and the exclusiveness of his specially made fabrics, he is on the edge of a sartorial revolution. The bow-tie - noeud papillon - has the zest of the outsider who wins us over. Those who chose the bow-tie in the recent past were always a little on the renegade side. The problem is, they weren't always as well-dressed as they wanted to be.  Lack of quality? There's no excuse anymore.

all photos: Monsieur Jean-Yves

Monsieur Jean-Yves' celebration of Cannes

The glory of fabric is key

a subdued peacock

authentic fine feathers

and it goes on. Really, the choice is difficult...

Contemporary Parisian dandies are not legion but they are everywhere. Up to them to peruse these haute façon accessories to find their own. Tying is optional, do-it-yourself or pre-tied, some bows will fête the most special occasions and others will add spank to a simple denim shirt.   

If you do not find your bonheur in his vast and varied collections,

Monsieur Jean-Yves also has a bespoke tie service.

Those of you who know me, know I've always liked ties and any way of celebrating the day with a bit of color and precious textile. Monsieur Jean-Yves has found the way to do so by uniting tradition and technology with the spirit of the today.

for more, Monsieur Jean-Yves

Contemporary rugs: Chevalier éditions

Rugs still...  now for something joyous underfoot!

photo espace-chevalier

Rug Paris by Julien Kolmont de Rogier 

wool and silk

photo espace-chevalier

Rug Panier by Stephen Burks

wool and silk

photo espace-chevalier

Rug Radiation by Eric Gizard

wool and silk

photo espace-chevalier

Rug Stries by Stephan Lanez

wool and silk

photo espace-chevalier

Rug Cirle 7 by Stephan Lanez

wool

I can't stop pointing to the beauty. Every moment and place says, 

"Put this design in your carpet!"

Djalâl ad-Dîn Rûmî

1207-1273

for more rugs, Chevalier Editions