Saxon Henry's Blog, page 10
August 29, 2016
Stalking Petrarch in Parma
We feasted on this gigantic wheel of parmesan in Parma. Human suffering. Unrequited Love. Not likely the first two descriptions you’d think of when identifying the Italian town lauded for the best prosciutto and Parmesan cheese in the world, I bet! Though I enjoyed more than my fair share of these gastronomic marvels during a trip to Parma, one of my greatest pleasures was spending three days channeling the despondent state of mind for which Petrarch, one of the town’s most famous former resi...
August 20, 2016
Vigée Le Brun’s Passion for Painting
“Marie Antoinette in Court Dress” was Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun’s first portrait of the queen, a painting sent to the monarch’s mother. APassion for Painting Billowing ruched fabric, pointy toes of dainty shoes visible from beneath flounced skirts hemmed in gold fringes and ornate trims. A bejeweled crown on a pillow festooned with gold fleurs-de-lis; and a red velvet tablecloth flowing downward, its gold trim cascading onto a floral rug. Sumptuousness at every turn. Painting in its mo...
July 16, 2016
This Side of Paradise
Michael Berman at Theodore Alexander as he launches his Califolio Collection during High Point Market. Image Saxon Henry. I looked forward to meeting Michael Berman during the Spring 2016 High Point Market when he was there to debut his Califolio collection for Theodore Alexander, and, not at all a surprise, the party was packed. As more and more people filed in, I noticed the serene setting he had created with more than 75 pieces he’d designed kept the backdrop chill. As I walked through th...
July 6, 2016
Transitory Spaces
A bundle of letters rests on a side table in Garrow Kedigian’s space in the Kips Bay Decorator Show House. Image Saxon Henry. The beginning of one of Napoléon Bonaparte’s earliest letters to Joséphine de Beauharnais simply oozes sensuality: “Seven in the morning. I awaken full of you…the memory of yesterday’s intoxicating evening has left no rest to my senses…Sweet and incomparable Joséphine, I draw from your lips, from your heart, a flame which consumes me…A thousand kisses, but do not give...
June 29, 2016
Rewriting the Myth of Pandora
This portrait of Pandora de Balthazár was taken by Jana Perenchio during Round Top. I’ve always been fascinated by the myth of Pandora because the most widely accepted explanation of this parable—that feminine curiosity “is responsible for all the woes from which mankind suffers”—may not be accurate according to some scholars. The quote, from Frances E. Sabin’s book Classical Myths That Live Today, goes on to say, “Another version of the story says that Pandora brought the box with her and th...
June 12, 2016
A Midcentury Cougar on the Prowl
An acclaimed cougar lounging in her den beneath a tiger-striped throw: brilliant staging for the ultimate femme fatale. The nickname cougar, signifying women who have “a thing” for younger men, hasn’t been around for as long as they’ve been cropping up in popular culture. Before she had an epithet, she wasa moody manipulator whose wardrobe was as chic as it was sexy, her story the perfect narrative for a midcentury cougar. Her interiors were equally cosmopolitan, her milieu a long unfolding o...
June 5, 2016
A Summer Reading List à la Vincent van Gogh
The house in Cuesmes, in the Borinage, which van Gogh called home during the time he decided he wanted to become an artist. Image courtesy WikiMedia. Irving Stone curated and edited down the copious letters that Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, turning the most meaningful ones into a volume titled Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent van Gogh. In these outpourings to his sibling, he speaks of books he is reading and art he is studying, even while he is being primed for the minis...
May 22, 2016
Peggy Guggenheim Visits Oculus Gallery
The cover of JoAnn Locktov’s new book Dream of Venice Architecture. In 2009, I trekked to Venice with my dear friend JoAnn Locktov, the founder of Bella Figura Publications whose newest book Dream of Venice Architecture has just debuted to acclaim. We spent several contented days wandering through the city’s museums—first the Punta della Dogana where Tadao Ando, who has written an essay for JoAnn’s latest book, created a serene backdrop for edgy modern art.
The view from lawn of the Punta d...
May 14, 2016
Norway Nasjonaldagen at ICFF
The Say My Name table lamp, designed by Morten & Jonas for Northern Lighting. Image by Kristofer Johnsson. I’m in New York City attending ICFF with my client Global Lighting and two of the company’s manufacturers from Europe—Secto Design from Finland and Northern Lighting from Norway. Tuesday just happens to be Norway’s Constitution Day, which commemorates the signing of the country’s constitution at Eidsvoll on May 17, 1814. The day in the Norwegian dialect is called syttende mai, meaning Ma...
May 9, 2016
Heaven Shall Be Here
Alan Rickman is reunited with his “Sense and Sensibility” co-star Kate Winslet in “A Little Chaos.” Image courtesy of BBC Films. In the film A Little Chaos, Alan Rickman, who plays an unlikely Louis XIV, declares, “Heaven shall be here.” He’s speaking of a ballroom he has commissioned for the gardens at Versailles, which will be realized by one of the most visionary landscape architects during the 17th-century, André le Nôtre (played by Matthias Schoenaerts), and a fictional character in the...
