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Showing posts with label Oscar Wilde. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oscar Wilde. Show all posts

greening libraries

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"Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence.
If you gain fifteen minutes a day it will make itself felt at the end of the year." Horace Mann*



This might have sounded Ludicrous -let's say 100 years ago-1911.
150 years ago-  that would be 1861- Preposterous! 200 years ago-1811-Treason!



(reading 1 page a day will get you through 1- maybe 2- of these.)




Now it seems all we can do is get through a book full of pictures. 
What are  you reading now? Are you?




(striving for 2 or 3 pages more would get you at least 1 of these titles read)




I suggest you try  
the Canterville Ghost 
by
 
Irresistible.



Never, in a brilliant and uninterrupted career of three hundred years, had he been so grossly insulted. He thought of the Dowager Duchess, whom he had frightened into a fit as she stood before the glass in her lace and diamonds; of the four housemaids, who had gone off into hysterics when he merely grinned at them through the curtains of one of the spare bedrooms; of the rector of the parish, whose candle he had blown out as he was coming late one night from the library, and who had been under the care of Sir William Gull ever since, a perfect martyr to nervous disorders; and of old Madame de Tremouillac, who, having wakened up one morning early and seen a skeleton seated in an armchair by the fire reading her diary, had been confined to her bed for six weeks with an attack of brain fever, and, on her recovery, had become reconciled to the Church, and broken off her connection with that notorious skeptic Monsieur de Voltaire. He remembered the terrible night when the wicked Lord Canterville was found choking in his dressing-room, with the knave of diamonds half-way down his throat, and confessed, just before he died, that he had cheated Charles James Fox out of £50,000 at Crockford's by means of that very card, and swore that the ghost had made him swallow. 



For a moment the Canterville ghost stood quite motionless in natural indignation... he fled down the corridor, uttering hollow groans,emitting a ghastly green light...



Sadly-  books are emanating that same green light-a ghostly luminescence-hardly making them visible anymore.










*in 1848 Mann was elected to Congress and in his first address to that body he spoke these words:
“I think the country is to experience serious times. Interference with slavery will excite civil commotion in the South. But it is best to interfere. Now is the time to see whether the Union is a rope of sand or a band of steel.”

*From age 10 to 20 years old, Horace Mann never had more than six weeks' schooling during any year-At the age of 20,  he enrolled at Brown and graduated in 3 years.




The Canterville Ghost at The Project Gutenberg here
better yet- buy the book at ABE BOOKS here

photographs my own.
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into the Wildes:

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& less is MORE.




Frances Howard countess of Somerset,
attrib. to William Larkin c 1612-15 
NPG Painting 

the Countess seems to concur.






Simple pleasures are always the last refuge of the complex.
Oscar Wilde





coming up with 7 wonderfully stylish blogs is easier than
talking about myself after publishing this blog for two years- that  is harder. 

when I am given an opportunity to tap7 blogs with a stylish blogger award I jump at the chance-this is a required part of  the receiving of it.

also a part of  the receiving is the sharing of 7 things about Me. that is when I balk.  Easy too- is the introduction of- if you don't already know her blog- Moira's SKEINS OF THOUGHT. One of her ongoing topics is "this is romance"... Old Movies are the topic-
I'm a fan.
& since rules are made to be broken- and I enjoy that- Here are YOUR NEW MUST READS and you can say I said so-


you will love these



Ingres
The Turkish Bath 1862




ACRAVAN

BRUTTI MA BUONI


 GARDEN HISTORY GIRL

  
SYBARITIC


ST TYL

THE TRAVELER



where I break the rules 


the Getty Museum © Man Ray Trust ARS-ADAGP 
Le Violon d'Ingres Man Ray
silver gelatin print 1924


THIS IT WILL TELL YOU 7 THINGS ABOUT ME-at least.
I think the biggest problem with the BLOG MANTRA one of live and let live -is fear of no reciprocity from fellow bloggers.  There are diffierent blogs and there is something for everyone. Designers have always sought to find a clientele by giving them something not everyone else can find. Rendering up a beautiful room that has not been filled to the gills with stuff-stuffed into it, mediocre furniture and trendy fabrics will be a designer's calling card. If that is what a client is seeking-don't call me.
Few  bloggers will commit to separating themselves from other blogs by simply eliminating  from their blog lists  bloggers who repost a story from a publication and cut and paste the pictures & have heavy sponsorship on their pages.
It puts me in mind of a new blog called PIMP MY BLOG
I am always looking for new &  interesting original blogs to add to my blog list. If a person is writing to express themselves, educate, illuminate- they are elevating the medium they work in. I don't think for bloggers that are cutting and pasting from other web sources-  story and text are in the least concerned with originality.. taking an idea from other sources should be a way of  inspiring, expanding, offering something beyond a "copy."plagiarism is another expression- too harsh? 
Yes, well-I did say you would learn something about me here.
at this juncture in blogging-  it's the wild wild west out there- but at some point states are going to be annexed.





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Sugimoto's History Lesson

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Sugimoto rekindles the dialogue between painting and the medium of mechanical reproduction. Sugimoto isolated wax figures from staged vignettes in waxworks museums, posed them in three-quarter-length view, and illuminated them to create haunting Rembrandt-esque portraits of historical figures, such as Henry VIII, Napoleon Bonaparte, Fidel Castro, and Princess Diana. His painterly renditions, lush with detail, recall the various paintings from which the wax figures were originally drawn. Through layers of reproduction—from subject to painting to wax statue to photograph—these images most consciously convey the collapsing of time and the retelling of history. taken from the Guggenheim here



  
Arthur Wellsley, Duke of Wellington, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.104. © Hiroshi Sugimoto





the Duke of Wellington by Robert Home





the WaxWorks at Tussuad's in LONDON

from picasa here






Napoleon Bonaparte, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.114. © Hiroshi Sugimoto





Napoleon by David





The artist's believes photography is a time machine,  preserving and picturing memory and time.







Jane Seymour, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.101. © Hiroshi Sugimoto





JANE SEYMOUR

 the Holbein portrait l,   r at Madame Tussuad's in London






Henry VIII, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.113. © Hiroshi Sugimoto





...putting the Light of the Holbein portraits of Henry and his six wives on the photographs of the Madame Tussuad figures enabled Sugimoto to create a portrait of the period.










 Anne of Cleves, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.105. © Hiroshi Sugimoto




ANNE of CLEVES
the Holbein portrait at left





 the 6 Wives of Henry the VIII by Sugimoto from historiful here
 Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.






Sugimoto's ELIZABETH in the home of designer Robert Couturier






 Elizabeth I, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.111. © Hiroshi Sugimoto





& where would we be without Wilde




Oscar Wilde, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.89. © Hiroshi Sugimoto








read more at pbs here



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dining with darling Reggie: Boy, L'ABSINTHE & the Rules

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it is true-I dined with Reggie Darling and Boy - at - of all places- their L'Absinthe.

The restaurant L'Absinthe and Reggie are everything purported, reported and more.
Much more.

Reggie and Boy, in turn, looking admiringly on as I sip.


Confession-
I was a bit nervous. I mean really-dining with Reggie & Boy. I am a little bit of a rebel as Reggie already knew from my blog and my comments on his own.
Have you read Reggie's Rules for Popular Party Guests? Well, I have. For this dinner date, I printed them out for quick reference as the night-fittingly Bastille Day- approached.
Of course Reggie knew it was Bastille Day and I nodded a reciprocal- OH! Of course, OH Yes Reggie Darling! Bastille Day, Yes. Yes.
I knew the 'RRPPG' would not quite the same for brasseries -but-all the same, I took NO chances.
In lieu of an actual RRPDGL'A (Reggie's Rules for Popular Dinner Guests at L'Absinthe)- it would have to do.
Of course it adapted beautifully-I'd expected NO less.


Dressing



One of RRPPG is Dress Appropriately. Make an Effort. It was as if RD had even given me a hint about what would be the thing for L'Absinthe in his review :

Not surprisingly L’Absinthe tends to be somewhat dressy for dinner during colder months, when many of the men dining there arrive wearing sport jackets (and older men often wear ties) and ladies arrive dressed, wearing jewelry.

I did all that. I had a rouge absinthe Isabel Marant dress that I wore with jeans.
Was the jeans thing ok?
Super looking black Ferragamo strappy buckled heeled sandals-did they even get to see those?
Some African wire bracelets (that was the jewelry). I forgot my ring in the rush -a whooping Indian ruby. (um-hum)
 & what was Reggie wearing? He was flat out Elegance in a suit. Boy the same- with more of a slightly hip Elegance- Elegance with a twist you might say. 
& it was HOT. very HOT. So I think we all did mighty well in the DRESS APPROPRIATELY department.


Reggie says in his review:
We always sit at the same banquette whenever we dine there, which is at least once every several weeks and sometimes more frequently. I have eaten at L’Absinthe so often over the years that I almost don’t need to look at the menu, whatever the season. And they know exactly how I like my martini: Beefeater gin, up, with olives, very cold, and very dry.


I was LATE. (this wasn't good, but maybe to be expected after all it was little ME in the big city) My driver- it seemed knew less than I did. Friendly-HE, but I was to preoccupied with the air conditioner vents and getting them just so- So I didn't wilt.  Wilted  in rouge absinthe isn't the thing-by a long shot. I did call RD- Nothing but gracious and understanding. I went back to the ac, while HE chatted away.  As we approached HE strategized on his actually getting me to the right place.
Could I call Reggie Darling again? Reluctantly I did so. Let it ring once. Hung up. I was paying a driver to get me there late and I was doing all the work.
So sorry RD doesn't answer.





We did arrive. There was an older-elegantly turned out couple getting a wheelchair oriented into the restaurant. I smiled and waited, holding open the door for the pair. Just what I needed.
Civilization.
The hostess showed me the way, complementing me on my jewels (wire bracelets)- this was going quite well. The hostess was impressed.

They were waiting, just as RD said- in a banquette near the bar. Smiles flashing, RD & BF stood up (of course).
Hugs.
Girlish giggles from Me as I slid into the banquette beside Boy.



RD & BF waiting for LA




Reggie says- Do not feel compelled to arrive bearing a gift. For us the pleasure of your company is sufficient.  I certainly won't object to receiving a small gift, but I don't expect it.
I took Reggie at his word on this & figured it was a bit premature- I would wait-Let it be a surprise when they least expect it. Still working on that one-What do you get the aesthetes who have everything? Everything I want- I should say. Just take this Paris Porcelain loot for instance, or this, my favorite of all their collections- Darlington House itself. Picture Perfect.

Reggie does a beauteous job describing L'Absinthe. Decorated in high Belle Époque style, its walls are covered with large mirrors and framed cartes and posters, and the room is beautifully lighted by gorgeous, flowery Art Nouveau chandeliers and wall sconces.


L'Absinthe's bronze & crystal tulip chandeliers


We talked.
Keep it light.  Leave your worries at home. Conversation at parties should be light-hearted, topical, or amusing.  It is not the venue for describing in detail the miseries of your gallstones ordeal  from RRPPG
Our conversation spilled over right onto our menus. I lost my appetite and rather- dined on clever and warm conversation. I did not wine- None the night before a flight. It is a "superstition" of sorts. I did say I was superstitious more than once-So you la reader should know. The waiter had to come back several, several times-always patiently to get our orders.
We ordered.

How easily we talked. All chattering away (magpies come to mind). Sharing so many "un"common interests-there was limitless conversation.
Who would you dine with if you could choose anyone famous?
Of course presently company excluded, We agreed on Oscar Wilde. RD added Lady Diana Manners-that suited me fine and I added Lady Mary Wortley Montague. I think Boy suggested Horace Walpole. The did not get along- so one wonders how they would get on with Oscar and Diana? Who would dominate? I have contended that a dinner with Oscar would cover all conversation. His. Mine. Whatever the dynamics- I want to be seated and dressed appropriately.
I'm so there.

Boy and I swapped design stories and agreed on most everything. I extricated a date for scouring  the Flower District on my next trip to the city with him.
True to his word (natch)- Boy and I almost always start out with a plate of briny, perfectly shucked oysters flown in from the East and West coasts.
 We all tucked in. Dinner was delicious. Everything flowing. Tastings from one plate to another (Not sure about this-I followed their lead) And again truer words were never uttered. The cuisine, eliciting “oohs” and “ahs” of pleasure from delighted diners, (that would be me) was outstanding, but I could break bread in any joint with these two guys and it would be manna from heaven.


Finishing off -Reggie ordered dessert. It felt like a pact. No-Not Faustian- More like we will  meet again, eat again- sealed with shared profiteroles and three forks- Not Absinthe.



Reggie, that darling, coyly said-
"I’ve tried it several times... with little effect, but I understand that one must drink rather a lot of it to feel much of anything. 
 All the more reason to go back ..."



 RD quotes from his posts are in large font-click on any words to read his post
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& Ladies of the Club: Rockers, Oscar, Ts















read more about Bebe Buell at Fashion Beyond Fashion here
some of the Classic Ladies of Rock bebe buell (wearing Oscar), janis, joan jett, yoko, debbie harry (aka blondie)
all on worn free here,
a new must have-

on Hypocrisy: words from Wilde, the son

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anyone that is regularly reading little augury knows of my fondness, admiration-for Oscar Wilde. I have just finished reading VYVYAN HOLLAND'S ,Son of Oscar Wilde, Vyvyan was Wilde's youngest son who for all practical purposes lost the father he loved at the age of 9 years. The memoir is worthwhile for any Wildean.

There are tender passages from a son to his father. Tender words that show Oscar Wilde to be a loving involved father.

These words from Vyvyan towards the end of the book about his father's unjustified arrest and sentencing struck me as apropos of the world we live in and look out on-


The self righteousness...
was really camouflage to disguise its own hypocrisy, 
and the people who were loudest in their condemnation 
of my father were often those whose own lives 
could least bear investigation. 


 Nothing makes the transgressor so indignant 
as the transgressions, 
of a different kind, of his fellow-men; except, 
perhaps, transgressions of the same kind. 
Vyvan Holland



these incredible images from Neu Black here , by Helmo here
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Dorian Gray at HERMES

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"Nowadays people know the price of everything 
and the value of nothing."

 "'what does it profit a man 
if he gain the whole world and lose'-
how does the quotation run?-'his own soul'?"


"There were moments 
when he looked on evil simply 
as a mode through which he could realise 
his conception of the beautiful."

"But beauty, real beauty, 
ends where an intellectual expression begins. 
Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, 
and destroys the harmony of any face."


"The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. 
They can sit at their ease and gape at the play."


"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. 
Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing 
for the things it has forbidden to itself, 
with desire for what its monstrous laws have made 
monstrous and unlawful."

"My dear boy, 
no woman is a genius.
Women are a decorative sex. 
They never have anything to say, 
but they say it charmingly. 
Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, 
just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals."


"He was a hero to his valet, 
who bullied him, and a terror to most of his relations, 
whom he bullied in turn. 
Only England could have produced him, 
and he always said that the country was going to the dogs. 
His principles were out of date, 
but there was a good deal to be said for his prejudices."


"She behaves as if she was beautiful. 
Most American women do. 
It is the secret of their charm."


"Young men want to be faithful, and are not; 
old men want to be faithless, and cannot."

so said Oscar Wilde in his the Picture of Dorian Gray 
Sarony image from wikipedia



all images are from style.com
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