A FLIGHT WITH HARALD VLUGT

Harald Vlugt makes a huge collage for an ocean liner...

Probably finished by now, this film is of 2011... But I had it in store and wanted to post it.

Harald Vlugt - "Nieuw-Amsterdam" - a clip by Ger Poppelaars 

AS DANDY DOES 1

What's the dandy's doing nowadays? 2 centuries in the picture, how, why?

The dandy, he's always just back, on the wane, history or has always been there. The dandy, edgy masculinity and viewed by his audience with some skepticism [all in the game] but always finding his audience somewhere. 
Anyone can show dandy-like traits, not everyone can be dandy. The dandy is the leader of "the club" and a club has rules. The rules are set by the members to distinguish them against the "others", the "not dandies".

Those rules can be boring and rigid ...  
Rule number one of 'The Manifesto of The Chap' says: THOU SHALT ALWAYS WEAR TWEED. No other fabric says so defiantly: I am a man of panache, savoir-faire and devil-may-care, and I will not be served Continental lager beer under any circumstances.

In short tickling materials and no Heineken.


What makes dandyism so interesting is the believe to live according to an idea, a concept. As in the above example, the material [Tweed] is the message.

Men with their "lifestyle" convey messages of all time, singers like David Bowie, Boy George, David Sylvian. The multi-talented Dickon Edwards and dandy diarist Sebastian Horsley.

All fed by great nineteenth century examples, Beau Brummell, Oscar Wilde? 
Or closer by in time, Louis Couperus, Gabrielle d'Annunzio, Rudolph Valentino and Cecil Beaton?

Also, but not necessarily, there's the deep desire for secession by wanting, 'to hide in the spotlight, coûte que coûte!

The dandy is a person, not a group. Like somewhere in 2002 the metrosexual was invented, with figurehead David Beckham.  
Unfortunately without style, nor quirks, well ...

Listen to genius Wilde: "The dandy is the future".

The dandy is not only well dressed but also a leader in modern society. In itself a work of art: impassive, unapproachable and, if nessesary, inedible. Like Oscar Wilde's dandyism showed at the end of the 19th century in his plays and novels.

According to Alice Ciolini's book, "The New English Dandy", the dandy "again" has a future. It is a search for the successor of the metrosexual and the subsequent übersexual [George Clooney, sic.].
Looking for that new dandy, she distinguishes; the Neo-Modernist, the Terrace Casual, the Celebrity Tailor, the East End Flaneur, the Gentleman and the New Briton. An interesting survey...


Added july 18. 2012 [title links]

Introduction: The Literary Dandy (A Special Issue)

Posted on 11 July 2012

When was man first freed from the drudgery of earning his income? And who was the first to dedicate himself to the art of living well? At what point in history did an entire leisure class of hedonistic egoists first appear? And what is dandyism after all? It is merely an excessive delight in clothes and fashionable living?

There is a long and colorful history of dandyism. Such men have always appeared, it seems, during eras of luxury and excess, whether during the Days of the Caesars, or the Age of the Virgin Queen. They have gone by many names. During the Restoration of King Charles the Second, they were “bucks” or “beaus” or “exquisites” or, more meanly, “fops.” During the Regency, they were “rakes” and “blades.” Throughout La Belle Epoque, they were “aesthetes” and “dandies.” This last name has become their common name—and a term used as both description and reproach.

The dandy has always inspired mixed feelings among his fellow citizens. According to Baudelaire, the dandy has a “burning need to create for himself a personal originality.” Such characters incite envy or contempt among their fellow man: it is a “burning desire” which strikes others as too ambitious or arrogant. The dandy has always been unmoved by such resentment; the pursuit of “idle perfection” is not done for applause. As Robert de Montesquiou once said (and his indifference to criticism could be called archetypal):  “It is better to be hated than to be unknown.”

We will not concern ourselves with dandies who wrote little of consequence –great though they were in their manner of life – such as Alcibiades or Beau Brummell. It is too much off the point to entertain the anecdotes that surround such figures, not to mention their peers such as the Duke of Buckingham, or Ludwig the Second (the Swan King of Bavaria), or the Counts Boni de Castellane or d’Orsay. Examples are too abundant. As one author reminds us:

MOLLINO

tabletop

Domus had a wonderfull article on Carlo Mollino's Casa Miller. I'm not going to cite, but to invite: Have a look HERE.

No idea who Carlo Mollino is? Well an intriguing Italian designer. A bit dark, very elegant, something of an erotic photographer, independant. I guess much looked at and, no worry,  inimmitable.

Ok then, some examples:

table

living room

OBSERVATORY [1] JANTAR MANTAR JAIPUR INDIA

Observatories, it has a has a sort of sound to it of mistery and intrigue. Knowledge not simply shared, but sought after and for those that 'speak the language'. India has some fine architectural wonders, where astronomers could read the planets, sun and other stars and maybe our future...

One day I would like to wonder around these complex buildings.

Jantar Mantar Observatory in Jaipur 

Information at wiki

The Jantar-Mantar of Delhi. The Indian astronomer Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II (1688-1743 AD) built a series of stone observatories throughout India. Pictured here is an overview of the observatory in Delhi. The structure to the right is the gnomon of a great sundial (those are normal sized stairs leading up its edge).

Jantar-Mantar Delhi

The Zodiacal instruments of Rashi Yantras

The Zodiacal Instruments (Rashi Yantras). These instruments in Jaipur were used to observe the latitudes and longitudes of the sun and planets. Although they appear to be sundials, they are in fact quite different. The angle and orientation of the gnomons are related to the positions of individual Zodiacal signs at the time of observation (any one instrument can only be used for about 2 hours of any day).

Now here's a replica of Jantar Mantar and an stone circle. I don't know where it is, but it looks like it's a different climate...

ROME [1] DOMENICO GNOLI

It is quite some time ago when I visited The Galleria Nazionale D'Arte Moderna eContemporanea. I guess it is still there, at the Viale delle Belle Arti and did not merge into the new MAXXI.

The interesting thing of the museum is it's chaotic [Italian?] charm. A lot of different painters 'hurled', more or less chronologically into the halls. 

I love a museum like this. It gives you a chance to discover new names. It also offered the opportunity to see some Gnoli's. 

His oeuvre is not that big and his work is seldom on show.

Now there was suddenly some exposure. I discovered it on Trendland. 

Domenico Gnoli with Black Hair, s'Estaca, Valldemossa, Mallorca, Spain, Summer 1969

Life exerpt: Is there any question more vexing for the devoted fan than what could have been? Admirers and collectors of the late Italian artist Domenico Gnoli must surely be asking themselves this question yet again this week now that New York’s Luxembourg & Dayan gallery has mounted the first U.S. show devoted to Gnoli since his death four decades ago. In 1969, after a successful solo show at the trail-blazing Sidney Janis gallery in New York, the beautiful, bohemian dandy with an abundance of talent—he was also a leading illustrator and stage designer early in his career—was poised to become a major art star. But his career was cut tragically short, when he died a few months later of cancer, at only 36.

Read more on Wmagazine

For NY-ers: Luxembourg & Dayan on show untill june 30 [2012]

Source: http://www.wmagazine.com/w/blogs/thedailyw/2012/05/01/artist-domenico-gnoli.htm#ixzz1ysaldGCt

DONALD JUDD

I Always liked the work of Donald Judd, but exept for exhibitions or assignments from Dutch intitutions, his work never seemed available to us. Now there is a chance to get Judd. In Eindhoven, at Piet Hein Eek's winkel... His website states:

Medio oktober 2011 Donald Judd

Vanaf medio september 2011 presenteren we permanent het werk van Donald Judd en in het bijzonder zijn meubel ontwerpen. Donald Judd geldt internationaal als een van de belangrijkste na -oorlogse kunstenaars en een van de grondleggers van het zogenaamde'Minimalisme'.  Met de Donald Judd Foundation, gevestigd in Marfa & amp; New York, hebben we, met gepaste trots, afspraken gemaakt om zijn werk in Nederland te vertegenwoordigen. ...


Where? Here at Piet Hein Eek 


More if not all of Donald Judd at his Foundation's website, here.

NINO ROTA

A special selection of the composers work:

8 1/2

LA STRADA

LA DOLCE VITA

ROMEO AND JULLIET

AMACORD

IL GATTOPARDO