The Unfinished Palazzo

Author: Judith Mackrell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780500294437
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Book Description
Abandoned unfinished and left to rot on Venice's Grand Canal, 'il palazzo non finito' was once an unloved guest among the aristocrats of Venetian architecture. Yet in the 20th century it played host to three passionate and unconventional women who would take the city by storm. The staggeringly wealthy Marchesa Luisa Casati made her new home a belle epoque aesthete's fantasy and herself a living work of art; notorious British socialite Doris Castlerosse (née Delevingne) welcomed film stars and royalty to glittering parties between the wars; and American heiress Peggy Guggenheim amassed an exquisite collection of modern art, which today draws visitors from around the world. Each in turn used the Unfinished Palazzo as a stage on which to re-fashion her life, with a dazzling supporting cast ranging from D'Annunzio and Nijinsky, through Noël Coward, Winston Churchill and Cecil Beaton, to Yoko Ono. Individually sensational and collectively remarkable, these stories of modern Venice tell us much about the ways women chose to live in the 20th century.

The Riviera Set: Glitz, Glamour, and the Hidden World of High Society

Author: Mary S. Lovell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1681775794
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
The author of the bestselling The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family brings her trademark brio and relish to the charming and fascinating world of the Château de l'Horizon on the French Riviera The Riviera Set reveals the story of the group of people who lived, partied, bed-hopped and politicked at the Château de l'Horizon near Cannes, over the course of forty years from the time when Coco Chanel made southern French tans fashionable in the twenties to the death of the playboy Prince Aly Khan in 1960. At the heart of dynamic group was the amazing Maxine Elliott, the daughter of a fisherman from Connecticut, who built the beautiful art deco Château and brought together the likes of Noel Coward, the Aga Khan, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and two very saucy courtesans, Doris Castlerosse and Daisy Fellowes, who set out to be dangerous distractions to Winston Churchill as he worked on his journalism and biographies during his 'wilderness years' in the thirties. After the War the story continued as the Château changed hands and Prince Aly Khan used it to entertain the Hollywood set, as well as launch his seduction of and eventual marriage to Rita Hayworth Bringing a bygone era back to life, Mary Lovell cements her spot as one of our top social historians in this captivating and evocative new book.

Michelangelo

Author: Carmen C. Bambach
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 1588396371
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 395

Book Description
Consummate painter, draftsman, sculptor, and architect, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) was celebrated for his disegno, a term that embraces both drawing and conceptual design, which was considered in the Renaissance to be the foundation of all artistic disciplines. To his contemporary Giorgio Vasari, Michelangelo was “the divine draftsman and designer” whose work embodied the unity of the arts. Beautifully illustrated with more than 350 drawings, paintings, sculptures, and architectural views, this book establishes the centrality of disegno to Michelangelo’s work. Carmen C. Bambach presents a comprehensive and engaging narrative of the artist’s long career in Florence and Rome, beginning with his training under the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio and the sculptor Bertoldo and ending with his seventeen-year appointment as chief architect of Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. The chapters relate Michelangelo’s compositional drawings, sketches, life studies, and full-scale cartoons to his major commissions—such as the ceiling frescoes and the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, the church of San Lorenzo and its New Sacristy (Medici Chapel) in Florence, and Saint Peter’s—offering fresh insights into his creative process. Also explored are Michelangelo’s influential role as a master and teacher of disegno, his literary and spiritual interests, and the virtuoso drawings he made as gifts for intimate friends, such as the nobleman Tommaso de’ Cavalieri and Vittoria Colonna, the marchesa of Pescara. Complementing Bambach’s text are thematic essays by leading authorities on the art of Michelangelo. Meticulously researched, compellingly argued, and richly illustrated, this book is a major contribution to our understanding of this timeless artist.

Confessions of an Art Addict

Author: Peggy Guggenheim
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062288369
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 115

Book Description
A patron of art since the 1930s, Peggy Guggenheim, in a candid self-portrait, provides an insider's view of the early days of modern art, with revealing accounts of her eccentric wealthy family, her personal and professional relationships, and often surprising portrayals of the artists themselves Peggy Guggenheim was born into affluence and a lavish lifestyle. Bored with her seemingly "pedestrian" life in New York, she headed for Europe in 1921, where she woudl sow the seeds for a future as one of modern art's most important and influential figures. In the midst of Europe's avant-garde circles, she reveled in her love affairs with prominent artists and also became a serious collector. Her Guggenheim Jeune gallery in London brought figures such as Brancusi, Cocteau, Kandinsky, and Arp to the forefront of the art scene. Later, her New York gallery would launch the careers of Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, among others. In her own inimitable and bawdy style, Peggy Guggenheim gives us an insider's glimpse into the modern art world with intimate, often surprising portrayals of its most significant players. Candid, clever, and always entertaining, here is a memoir that captures a valuable chapter in the history of modern art, as well as the spirit of one of its greatest advocates.

In-finitum

Author: Axel Vervoordt
Publisher: Exhibitions International
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Book Description
The trilogy as conceived by Axel Vervoordt establishes a perfect balance through the natural time-flow between its three chapters. 'In-finitum', will traverse into the other realm as it reaches into the universe of the unfinished and the infinite.

Lorenzo De' Medici at Home

Author: Richard Stapleford
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 027105641X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 231

Book Description
"An inventory of the private possessions of Lorenzo il Magnifico de' Medici, head of the ruling Medici family during the apogee of the Florentine Renaissance"--Provided by publisher.

Lives of the Renaissance

Author: Robert C Davis
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0500295069
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A fascinating history of the Renaissance told through the lives of people from all levels of society. Like every era, the Renaissance brims with stories. Fascinating, scandalous, and at times seemingly unbelievable stories from the notable lives of wily politicians, eccentric scientists, fiery rebels, and stolid reactionaries, as well as an acrobat, an actress, a poetic prostitute, a star comedian, and at least one very fretful mother are revealed. Some names are famous—Da Vinci, Luther, Medici, and Machiavelli—others are less well known, though no less remarkable. New in paperback, Lives of the Renaissance is an engaging, witty, and wonderfully illustrated compendium of one hundred notable men and women throughout Italy, Germany, France, Iberia, Scandinavia, Russia, and eastern Europe, who shaped and experienced one of the most creative and inventive periods in human civilization. Lives of the Renaissance reminds us that history is more than dates and abstract concepts: it is also the compilation of countless individual lives and stories.

Encounters with Peggy Guggenheim

Author: Stefan Moses
Publisher: Hardie Grant
ISBN: 9781784881870
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Born into a wealthy New York family in 1898, Marguerite 'Peggy' Guggenheim was one of the greatest art collectors of the 20th century. Using her inheritance to open her first art gallery, Peggy's love of art lead her to eventually settle in Venice, where she relaunched her life after becoming the star of the 1948 Venice Art Biennale. For her, a life without the inspiration of her artist and writer friends would have been unthinkable. In Encounters with Peggy Guggenheim, renowned photographer Stefan Moses reveals his collection of photographs of Peggy, taken between 1969 and 1974, many of which have never been seen before. Striking, eccentric and dramatic, Moses photographed Peggy in her favorite places around Venice, as well as in her private palazzo at Canal Grande. See Peggy as she glides on her gondola with her Lhasa apso dogs, wearing her iconic butterfly glasses made by Edward Melcarth -- the quickness and talent of Moses captures the character of this true eccentric. An inspiration for art-, photography- and fashion-lovers alike, Encounters with Peggy Guggenheim is a behind-the-scenes look at of one of the world's most eccentric and inspirational women.

The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice: The Stories of Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim

Author: Judith Mackrell
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0500773963
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 529

Book Description
The story of Venice’s “Unfinished Palazzo”— told through the lives of three of its most unconventional, passionate, and fascinating residents: Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse, and Peggy Guggenheim Commissioned in 1750, the Palazzo Venier was planned as a testimony to the power and wealth of a great Venetian family, but the fortunes of the Veniers waned midconstruction and the project was abandoned. Empty, unfinished, and decaying, the building was considered an eyesore until the early twentieth century when it attracted and inspired three women at key moments in their lives: Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse, and Peggy Guggenheim. Luisa Casati turned her home into an aesthete’s fantasy where she hosted parties as extravagant and decadent as Renaissance court operas, spending small fortunes on her own costumes in her quest to become a “living work of art” and muse. Doris Castlerosse strove to make her mark in London and Venice during the glamorous, hedonistic interwar years, hosting film stars and royalty at glittering parties. In the postwar years, Peggy Gugenheim turned the Palazzo into a model of modernist simplicity that served as a home for her exquisite collection of modern art that today draws tourists and art lovers from around the world. Each vivid life story is accompanied by previously unseen materials from family archives, weaving an intricate history of these legendary art world eccentrics.

Peggy Guggenheim

Author: Karole P. B. Vail
Publisher: Marsilio Editori
ISBN: 9788829701292
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A visual biography of the great patron and collector This book offers a thorough visual biography of the life of Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) as collector, through a selection of works from the world-renowned collection she established primarily between 1938 and 1946, and to which she would continue to add for the rest of her life. The selections from her collection, emphasizing lesser-known works, are accompanied by a series of previously unpublished photographs from her life during periods spent living in London, Paris and her native New York, as well as Venice, where she settled with her collection in 1949 and spent her remaining 30 years. Each period of Guggenheim's life is examined through contributions from 13 international scholars and researchers, which, along with the photographs, provide new insights into her colorful and impressive career building one of the world's most significant and widely visited personal art collections.