Saxon Henry's Blog, page 12

The Built Legacy of Henry VIII

After Joseph Mallord William Turner “Hampton Court Palace,” a drawing thought to date back to 1829; image courtesy the Tate.

The 2016 Academy Awards are handed out this coming Sunday so I’m celebrating a film that showcases Henry VIII’s built legacy today to delve back into the subject, which I began here on February 2nd. The movie that showcases Henry VIII’s architectural heritage so beautifully is A Man for All Seasons, which swept the Oscars in 1967 by winning awards for Best Picture; Bes...

I Met Virginia Woolf in This Room

Michael Gregson (Charlie Edwards) and Lady Edith in the London flat she inherits after he disappears; image courtesy Carnival Films.

Who else is relieved that Lady Edith Crawley, played by Laura Carmichael, is finally finding happiness on Downton Abbey? Having binged on all of the episodes of the sixth and final season as I was flying to and from Paris last month, I was thrilled to see that showed her some good will by the end of his storyline, which finishes in the US with a...

Find Your Red Carpet

Currey & Company’s Brand Ambassador Denise McGaha and Vice President/Creative Director Cecil Adams.

“Find Your Red Carpet,” urged Currey & Company’s Brand Ambassador Denise McGaha during a presentation in the company’s Manhattan showroom last week. The point of her talk, When Worlds Collide, was to inspire her audience of design professionals to consider the attitudes that make the fashion industry so dynamic—a timely topic given New York Fashion Week takes to the runways tomorrow.

Be First...

Renovating During the Tudor Era

Armored horses and riders in The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Arms and Armor Court, in the John Pierpont Morgan Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image Saxon Henry.

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say. Looking back in time from this great distance, it’s easy to see how barbaric a sport jousting was. But before you feel all modern and lofty, consider America’s devotion to football, even after the discovery of its deadly occurrence of brain trauma.

A Hans Holbein the Younger portrait of Henry...

What Is Art?

The Fen chandelier in the new Currey & Company product introductions.

“It is assumed that everyone knows and understands what is meant by the word beauty,” Leo Tolstoy wrote. “And yet not only is this not known, but now, after mountains of books have been written…the question of what beauty is remains completely open.” This statement, along with others just as weighty, is included in the book What Is Art? —asmall but powerful exploration of aesthetics completed by the Russian author in 1897....

Through the Looking Glass into Devon

A mad tea party, illustrated by Charles Robinson: “What day of the month is it?” he said, turning to Alice. Image courtesy WikiMedia.

“‘What is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversations?’” “What is the use of a hotel,” thought Timothy Oulton, “without whimsy and curiosities?” With Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as his inspiration, the designer set out to transform the interiors of the Glazebrook House Hotel into a sophisticated backdrop with hints of surrealism t...

God’s Articulate Finger

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel vaulted ceiling and Altar Wall depicting “The Last Judgement.” Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel

In this last entry of the year, I wanted to share a piece of my own creative writing to say ciao to 2015. I’ve chosen “Art:History” from Anywhere But Here, my first book of poetry published this year by Sharktooth Press. I was inspired to write the poem after studying the Sistine Chapel vault and the The Last Judgment, both envisioned and produced by Michelangelo. T...

Dining with History

A square cachepot in the Marie Antoinette pattern produced by Bernardaud.

A month from Sunday, I’ll be winging my way to Paris to attend Maison & Objet, and I’m thrilled to say I’ve been invited to Limoges to visit the Bernardaud factory while I’m in France. This invitation from the porcelain manufacturer means so much to me because I will be able to see, in person, The Historic Table, a collection of patterns that stem from Louis XVI’s founding of the Ancienne Manufacture Royale (AMR) in 177...

Narratives That Illuminate Design

A picture of Edith Wharton on the terrace of Castel Sainte-Claire, which I foundduring a trip to the Beinecke Library at Yale to comb through their archives.

If you believe that design-centric coffee table books contain nothing more than visual surveys of portfolios, I am out to change your mind today. What has prompted this quest? Two intelligently written books in Rizzoli’s holiday catalog—both of which were published earlier this year.

Books That IlluminateDesign

You will find visual sensu...

The Red Carpet Treatment

The entry of The National Arts Club, nestled at the edge of Gramercy Park. Image copyright Dmadeo, courtesy Wikimedia.

There is a momentum to writing that, once interrupted, is challenging to reboot. I’ve experienced this first-hand during the past two months as I have made some significant life changes, the most chaotic being a relocation of sorts. I’m no longer a full-time New Yorker, as I will now be splitting my time between New York City and Chattanooga, Tennessee, where I grew up.My NYC...