Algodon Mansion, a new destination

A new luxury boutique hotel and spa, the Algodon mansion opened last month in the posh Buenos Aires neighborhood of Recolea. From the team behind Algodon Wine Estates, one of Argentina's premier Malbec wine producers, a six-story 1912 mansion turned into 10 sleek suites. Housed in a French-Style mansion, the hotel offers all the luxury accommodations, such as personal chef, Frette linens, modern design furniture, ebony wood floor, lavish bathrooms and more. The rooftop features a pool and a Vinotherapie spa (see L'Ile aux Oiseaux), a relaxation technique using organic products from Algodon's wine estate in Mendoza.

Images, courtesy of Algodon Mansion

Old Goooooooooooooooooal!*

Before everyone gets caught up in this year’s World Cup, I wanted to share these vintage soccer-team photos I bought at the flea market in Buenos Aires.

Something about the strange purplish background and the thickly inked emerald jerseys, made me stop and pick up the clipped-out magazine pageof F.C. Oeste , above. Perfect souvenir, I thought, from a land of devout Soccerites (Maradona, of course, is God). Before I knew it, the dealer--yes, vintage ephemera can be very addictive-- had brought out a 6”-thick stack of El Graphico team pictures for me to look at.

Since I do not work for Ralph Lauren (he's actually more of a rugby man), taking the whole pile was out of the question, so I just tried to pick out a moderate handful. Having little knowledge of soccer (or football, or futbol), my selection was based solely on appeal--an attitude, interesting colors, cute players, or details like the black armbands worn by the Quilmes team, or the two Estudiantes players posing with their kids (bottom photo).

I’ve loaded these images at a larger size than I usually do, so you can click to see more detail.






*Go here for audio/video.

Fortunato Lacamera

During my visit to Buenos Aires a couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to stumble into an opening reception at the The Benito Quinquela Martín Museum in La Boca. The wine and lovely foccacia pizza being served really hit the spot. I had been exploring the city on foot for the previous three or four hours and was in serious need of refreshment. But the real treat was that I got to to discover the work of Argentine painter Fortunato Lacamera.

Lacamera (1887-1951) was one of the 'Painters of La Boca', an early-20th century group of artists who painted all aspects of life and commerce associated with the teeming industrial port. The best know of this group was Quinquela Martín who painted monumental works of ships, laborers, and life on the docks. He used intense color, high contrast, expressive brushwork, and dramatic vantage points. A collection of his works, his studio, and living quarters are housed in what is now the museum, which also exhibits the work of other Argentine artists.

Lacamera, though very attached to La Boca—he was born there, he died there, and it is said that he rarely left the barrio—produced work of a more contemplative and introspective nature. In addition to plein air and studio paintings of the port, he painted many interiors and still lifes, always with a restrained palette and subtle tonality. Whatever the genre, the sense of place is always communicated--one can always detect the haze-filtered sunlight of an industrial port.

Please excuse the angled photos, I had to use a flash and it was the only way shoot without a reflection.

Argentine Bus Tickets

Though the contents were a collagist/ephemera-lover’s dream, it was only with the utmost restraint, that I resisted the old bus ticket dispenser at the flea market in Buenos Aires this past fall. Rolls of newsprint-thin paper printed with a glorious variety of fonts and colors. The catch? I couldn’t just buy a few tickets; I would have to buy the whole thing. And no matter how low the price went, I kept picturing myself six months from then, still not having found a spot for the hunk of metal in my tiny NYC apartment, yet being incapable of throwing it out.

While writing a post about the buses themselves, I found an entire site dedicated to Argentina's buses, for background. That's where I spotted LA HISTORIA DEL BOLETO, and found way more tickets than I could have possibly brought home ...

Rubber Stamp Catalog

One of my vintage ephemera finds from Buenos Aires.

Pimp My Bus

From the moment I saw my first Linea 17 turquoise bus, on day one in Buenos Aires, I was hooked.




There are 144 different bus lines in BA all privately owned and operated.







An eye-feast of color and typography ...




But really nothing compared to the old days when buses were rolling works of genuine folk art. See pre-1970s buses covered with the scrolling flourishes of ‘fileteado’ here and here.






Interiors, too, are personalized-- there was at least one instance of fuzzy dice, and fancy cut glass mirrors are installed over many of the windshields.