tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50473826001768433072024-03-13T12:25:10.277+01:00NOTED<i>@ Architectural Watercolors</i>Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-14411802419144571402018-08-02T18:26:00.001+02:002018-08-02T18:26:56.022+02:00Villa Hügel hosts Josef Albers
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<span lang="en-US"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6wrMe9g-9-8/W2MtZSPvkeI/AAAAAAAABqY/dbxMIo5ojJ00oshC6X2tonqC3bAJQGAEQCLcBGAs/s1600/Villa%2BHugel%2BJosef%2BAlbers%2BHomage%2Bto%2Bthe%2BSquare%2B1954.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="640" height="327" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6wrMe9g-9-8/W2MtZSPvkeI/AAAAAAAABqY/dbxMIo5ojJ00oshC6X2tonqC3bAJQGAEQCLcBGAs/s400/Villa%2BHugel%2BJosef%2BAlbers%2BHomage%2Bto%2Bthe%2BSquare%2B1954.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A canvas by Josef Albers, 1954</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span lang="en-US">Should
you be near Essen (the Ruhr Valley) this summer …</span></div>
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…<span lang="en-US">don’t
miss the Josef Albers exhibition “Interaction” at the Villa
Hügel, running until 7 October 2018.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7y2rNL834M/W2MthwBV6YI/AAAAAAAABqc/0rNyj1cc0a8jMOozosDvvFKbklrZnB-igCLcBGAs/s1600/Villa%2BHugel%2BI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="950" height="260" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7y2rNL834M/W2MthwBV6YI/AAAAAAAABqc/0rNyj1cc0a8jMOozosDvvFKbklrZnB-igCLcBGAs/s400/Villa%2BHugel%2BI.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="en-US">Villa
Hügel</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="en-US">One
could hardly imagine a more dramatic contrast than the abstract,
geometrical work of Josef Albers (1888–1976) and the backdrop of
his first retrospective in thirty years, the neoclassical Villa
Hügel. The villa, home of the Krupp family from 1873 until long
after WWII, is today owned by the Foundation Alfried Krupp von Bohlen
und Halbach and is open to the public.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g_5Yc4xL7Jk/W2Mtqhg7tyI/AAAAAAAABqk/Htoj4nVLKI400xzYyLv7gCguJlHBra4qQCLcBGAs/s1600/Villa%2BHugel%2BAlfred%2BKrupp%2Bby%2BJulius%2BGrun.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1243" height="260" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g_5Yc4xL7Jk/W2Mtqhg7tyI/AAAAAAAABqk/Htoj4nVLKI400xzYyLv7gCguJlHBra4qQCLcBGAs/s400/Villa%2BHugel%2BAlfred%2BKrupp%2Bby%2BJulius%2BGrun.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portrait of Alfred Krupp by Julius Grun</td></tr>
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<span lang="en-US">Commissioned
by Alfred Krupp (1812–1887) and—despite the ongoing
Franco-Prussian war—finished in 1873, the villa was one of the
largest private houses in the world. Overlooking the artificial lake
Baldeney, the house is the center of a meticulously maintained
landscape park of 28 hectares. The estate's scale and picturesque
beauty rival the grandest English country houses, and it even boasts
its own railway station. Alfred Krupp, one of the richest men in
Germany, was a perfectionist; he believed in technology and wanted
his house to showcase state-of-the-art construction features,
including double-pane windows, hot and cold running water and a
sophisticated air conditioning system which—to his chagrin—never
functioned properly during his lifetime. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8Clj9x1xO8/W2MuQCysAVI/AAAAAAAABqs/RF4EMDxOnPQ1GFjoaF4hbU8XlrXhNF5SQCLcBGAs/s1600/Villa%2BHugel%2BII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="981" height="270" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8Clj9x1xO8/W2MuQCysAVI/AAAAAAAABqs/RF4EMDxOnPQ1GFjoaF4hbU8XlrXhNF5SQCLcBGAs/s400/Villa%2BHugel%2BII.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The co<span lang="en-US">zy (<i>gemütlich</i>) rec</span>eption hall</td></tr>
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<span lang="en-US"> </span><span lang="en-US"></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US">Among
the main building's almost 270 rooms are two great reception halls,
each measuring 4300 sq. ft., a challenge even for today’s heating
technologies. The original villa was as austere as Alfred Krupp, who
in 1865 refused to be ennobled by the king of Prussia, saying that
being a Krupp was sufficient. Later generations of Krupps would turn,
among others, to Ernst von Ihne, one of the most accomplished German
architects active before the Great War, to render the house more
livable. </span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dMyQ9XfUe-w/W2MvWHIHGzI/AAAAAAAABrE/ws9EgnwnbVI1d55Cbc8KJlW1Fvce4uUEQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Villa%2BHugel%2BKrupp%2BFamily%2Bby%2BGeorge%2BHarcourt%2B1930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="836" height="232" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dMyQ9XfUe-w/W2MvWHIHGzI/AAAAAAAABrE/ws9EgnwnbVI1d55Cbc8KJlW1Fvce4uUEQCEwYBhgL/s400/Villa%2BHugel%2BKrupp%2BFamily%2Bby%2BGeorge%2BHarcourt%2B1930.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Krupp family by George Harcourt, 1930</td></tr>
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<span lang="en-US">During the Kaiserreich, Villa Hügel was the backdrop of
grand scandals and even grander receptions. In 1902 Friedrich Krupp,
Alfred Krupp’s son, committed suicide after having been accused of
homosexuality. After inheriting the company, he had shifted the firm’s
activity to arms manufacture, further enlarging the family's vast
fortune and creating intimate links between the company and the
government. Upon his death his daughter took over the reign and
received Wilhelm II various times. </span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-361NrdFKqAo/W2MutJissJI/AAAAAAAABq8/4wlgYajYNXcEae2uuvmRw9OFb4HWcMDwgCLcBGAs/s1600/Villa%2BHugel%2BJosef%2BAlbers%2BPortrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-361NrdFKqAo/W2MutJissJI/AAAAAAAABq8/4wlgYajYNXcEae2uuvmRw9OFb4HWcMDwgCLcBGAs/s320/Villa%2BHugel%2BJosef%2BAlbers%2BPortrait.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Josef Albers</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span lang="en-US">That
Villa Hügel serves as the scenic and impressive backdrop for a
retrospective of Josef Albers' work is a wonderful occasion to
reacquaint oneself with one of the twentieth century’s most
important artists. From 1923 to 1933 Albers taught at the Bauhaus
and was among the first artists to leave Hitler's Germany in 1933. In
the United States he first taught at Black Mountain College and in
1950 became director of the Design Department at Yale. 170 items are
on exhibit, from paintings to works on glass, photos, drawings and
furniture designs. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hAtXyTUilis/W2MucGmxgII/AAAAAAAABqw/EAHBT56KVlEkSek7zznDixJclUkxbnIuQCLcBGAs/s1600/Villa%2BHugel%2BJosef%2BAlbers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hAtXyTUilis/W2MucGmxgII/AAAAAAAABqw/EAHBT56KVlEkSek7zznDixJclUkxbnIuQCLcBGAs/s400/Villa%2BHugel%2BJosef%2BAlbers.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A small portion of the exhibition</td></tr>
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<span lang="en-US">The most important part of the exhibition is of
course the encounter with Albers’ lifelong obsession, the square (a
thoroughly Teutonic preoccupation, truth be told). He painted almost
2000 canvases of stunningly lyrical precision, constantly
re-evaluating the impact and meaning of color's optical effects,
making him an important precursor of kinetic, op and American Pop
Art. His paintings—austere yet rich, minimalist yet seductively
decorative—stand in marked contrast to the villa, yet each
represented and distilled modernity and the avant-garde of their
respective times. A wonderful dialogue! </span>
</div>
Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-38385140596254855382018-07-09T13:15:00.000+02:002018-07-18T12:41:33.873+02:00Vicenza<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Po-kdLujXD4/W0NAqph-bJI/AAAAAAAABpc/9YNLiYGLOtYg1egr4WZf23ROeiFl-HaswCLcBGAs/s1600/Rotonda%2BPalladio.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="323" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Po-kdLujXD4/W0NAqph-bJI/AAAAAAAABpc/9YNLiYGLOtYg1egr4WZf23ROeiFl-HaswCLcBGAs/s400/Rotonda%2BPalladio.png" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrea Palladio</td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Should
you ever find yourself in Venice...</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
…<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US">don’t
hesitate to leave. A day trip to nearby Vicenza could be the perfect
antidote to the languid, effervescent beauty of </span><span lang="en-US"><i>la</i></span><span lang="en-US">
</span><span lang="en-US"><i>Serenissima</i> and </span><span lang="en-US">the
swirling flocks of tourists and pigeons milling about St Mark's Square. After
all, tiny Vicenza’s austere classical architecture offers a
refreshing relief from Venice's relentless picturesqueness and
effortlessly re-calibrates one's visual standards with a healthy dose
of Palladian monumentality. </span></span></div>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iur/?f=1&image_host=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fa0%2Fec%2Fef%2Fa0ecef105fc0962cbe8872846217cb5d.jpg&u=http://i.pinimg.com/originals/a0/ec/ef/a0ecef105fc0962cbe8872846217cb5d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="534" height="400" src="https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iur/?f=1&image_host=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fa0%2Fec%2Fef%2Fa0ecef105fc0962cbe8872846217cb5d.jpg&u=http://i.pinimg.com/originals/a0/ec/ef/a0ecef105fc0962cbe8872846217cb5d.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vicenza photographed by Salvorio Bortolamei</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US">Grandiose facades line Vicenza's empty, echoing
streets, heralds of the heroic moment that was the Renaissance, when
beauty was a cherished ideal based on classical mathematics and
Humanist proportions which found their meaning in the exaltation of
ideal man. The concerns of today’s architecture—rigidly
ideological, relentlessly conceptual and highly arbitrary in its
worship of individuality—would have elicited astonishment in the
age of Palladio. Beauty was not an idiosyncrasy found in the eye of
the beholder but rather was a concrete, non-negotiable principle. For
such a small city, Vicenza is brimming with palazzi whose
introspective grandeur defies both style and fashion; their nobility
and aloofness both demands our respect and commands our attention. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kg_DQEi3AaQ/W0NA8M1eAuI/AAAAAAAABpk/h7n-8Hf9v_ca6EKHnyQfIfYWCSz0qjbhQCLcBGAs/s1600/Rotonda%2Bext..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="800" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kg_DQEi3AaQ/W0NA8M1eAuI/AAAAAAAABpk/h7n-8Hf9v_ca6EKHnyQfIfYWCSz0qjbhQCLcBGAs/s400/Rotonda%2Bext..jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Villa Rotonda</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XJS1DdabKPk/W0NBNZPWJPI/AAAAAAAABps/uxbQgmugbnIwZEnNi3MrWK6JN3DeeiX6ACLcBGAs/s1600/Rotonda%2Bint.%2BI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="620" height="310" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XJS1DdabKPk/W0NBNZPWJPI/AAAAAAAABps/uxbQgmugbnIwZEnNi3MrWK6JN3DeeiX6ACLcBGAs/s400/Rotonda%2Bint.%2BI.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Villa Rotonda's Rotonda</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Of
course the city’s most famous structure, the Villa Rotonda (also
called the Villa Valmarana after its current owners), is neither a
palazzo nor does it sit in the old town. Instead, the Rotonda
overlooks Vicenza from a distant hilltop, commanding picture-perfect
views across the city. Built between 1566 and 1571 for the apostolic
prelate Paolo Almeri, the villa is Andrea Palladio’s masterpiece,
perfection in stone, and it would announce and even define modernity
for centuries to come. A cold star immovably fixed in the firmament
of architectural history, the Villa Rotonda has instructed, inspired
and challenged architects for nearly half a millennium. Like Mies
van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, it has become an icon and an
unrivaled example of what erudition, talent, taste and money can,
with the rare spark of genius, achieve.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h9f2Vmn9jUs/W0NBikO2_yI/AAAAAAAABp0/DswZsrDF23sF2UJcZtT78-uLDMKUIGTfACLcBGAs/s1600/Teatro%2BO%2Bint.%2BI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="1024" height="286" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h9f2Vmn9jUs/W0NBikO2_yI/AAAAAAAABp0/DswZsrDF23sF2UJcZtT78-uLDMKUIGTfACLcBGAs/s400/Teatro%2BO%2Bint.%2BI.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Teatro Olimpico's stage screen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-408Qp2sT-6o/W0NByjB5wfI/AAAAAAAABp8/SrqrYMPdgwQYdEuw-eeGiEn9rSoG4Q6AwCLcBGAs/s1600/Teatro%2BO%2Bint.%2BII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-408Qp2sT-6o/W0NByjB5wfI/AAAAAAAABp8/SrqrYMPdgwQYdEuw-eeGiEn9rSoG4Q6AwCLcBGAs/s400/Teatro%2BO%2Bint.%2BII.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Th<i>e teatro's</i> ampitheater-inspired seating</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
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</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Overshadowed by the
blinding fame of the Villa Rotonda, another of Palladio's
masterpieces leads a more quiet existence in the old town of Vicenza.
Near to the Palazzo Chiericati and hidden behind the thick walls of
medieval fortifications, the Teatro Olimpico is a breathtaking
discovery. Commissioned for the town in 1580 by the Olympic academy,
a body of the leading citizens (Palladio was a founding member), the
<i>teatro</i> was the first indoor theater to be erected since Roman
times and consequently is also the oldest extant modern theater in
the world. It was inaugurated to great acclaim on the 3<sup>rd</sup>
March 1585 with a performance of Sophocles' <i>Oedipus Rex</i>.
Palladio died the year construction began and so if fell upon his
protege, Vincenzo Scamozzi, to oversee the theater's construction.</span></div>
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JrH4lfmavbo/W0NCFCLNyII/AAAAAAAABqE/mSlVsAi2y5Y0M4YJ2cXa1JLZg2gb12G9QCLcBGAs/s1600/Teatro%2BOlimpico%2Bplan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="474" height="276" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JrH4lfmavbo/W0NCFCLNyII/AAAAAAAABqE/mSlVsAi2y5Y0M4YJ2cXa1JLZg2gb12G9QCLcBGAs/s400/Teatro%2BOlimpico%2Bplan.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The theater's plan</td></tr>
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<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> In
a brilliant gesture, Palladio turned the awkwardly shaped lot of the
old fortress into the structure's greatest asset. Inspired by the
hemispherical plan of Antique theaters, he planned the seating about
an elegant half-oval facing the stage. The rings of seats rise just
like in any open-air amphitheater, while the stage is defined by a
triumphant architectural screen recalling the grandeur of ancient
Rome. The elaborate, sophisticated stage wall, enriched with numerous
sculptures and busts and made of wood painted in trompe l'oeil to
resemble stucco and marble, was only finished after Palladio’s death
and so must be considered Scamozzi’s masterpiece. To him we also
must attribute the three forced-perspective archways piercing the
stage wall, an optical trick which gives the shallow stage depth and
drama and overcomes the constraints of the actual space. In
reference to Antiquity, the ceiling was painted to imitate open sky,
inspiring countless thousands of cloud- and putti-bedecked imitators.</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--rHCywIrvBY/W0NCTGiRHcI/AAAAAAAABqI/z0PSYCdjalEVUdXnn15VDHqAshCwAGqyQCLcBGAs/s1600/Rotonda%2BScamozzi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1115" data-original-width="857" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--rHCywIrvBY/W0NCTGiRHcI/AAAAAAAABqI/z0PSYCdjalEVUdXnn15VDHqAshCwAGqyQCLcBGAs/s400/Rotonda%2BScamozzi.jpg" width="306" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vincenzo Scamozzi</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h2>
</h2>
</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Though
overshadowed by its famous English contemporary, the Globe, the
<i>teatro</i> is the true progenitor of all modern theaters and so it
is that court theaters across Europe, from Gripsholm to the
Hermitage, derive from this unique creation. However, this apogee of
architectural and decorative accomplishment so seemingly effortlessly
displayed in Vicenza would never be reached again. There the
illusion is perfect, art and artifice prevail over reality and
nothing is more magical than to attend a performance of Monteverdi’s
<i>The Coronation of Poppaea</i> in such a perfect setting.</span></div>
Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-75078476025017563682018-05-31T16:23:00.000+02:002018-05-31T17:23:03.859+02:00Huis Doorn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kW7-cyYuIEQ/WxAAHIo209I/AAAAAAAABok/q20yRoabG4Yl0A0zP5BKwm0G0PAB3vT3gCLcBGAs/s1600/DOORN%2BEXT%2BI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kW7-cyYuIEQ/WxAAHIo209I/AAAAAAAABok/q20yRoabG4Yl0A0zP5BKwm0G0PAB3vT3gCLcBGAs/s400/DOORN%2BEXT%2BI.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If
you ever find yourself in the Netherlands near Arnheim...</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> … <span lang="en-US">be
sure not to miss Huis Doorn (in the town of Utrechtse Heuvelrug), a
beautifully sited moated castle first mentioned in1289, though the
actual building dates to the eighteenth century. Placid waters, </span><span lang="fr-FR">green lawns and venerable shade trees constitute the estate's
handsome English-style park, the perfect backdrop for the quaint yet
picturesque residence. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en-US"> Huis
Doorn was rescued from certain obscurity when Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia, chose this small castle, in truth more a
manor than a royal dwelling, as his residence-in-exile after
Germany’s defeat in 1918. The kaiser was staying at his
headquarters in the eponymous Belgian town of Spa when revolution
broke out in Kiel and Berlin. With vivid recollections of the fate of
his cousin the </span><span lang="fr-FR">czar,
Wilhelm</span><span lang="en-US">
II deemed it wise to solicit an invitation from Count Godard </span><span lang="fr-FR">van
Aldenburg-</span><span lang="en-US">Bentinck
to lodge at his château of Amerongen in the neutral Netherlands.
After some eighteen uneventful months at Amerongen and not desiring
to overstay his welcome, the emperor resigned himself to the task of
finding a new, permanent home. Huis Doorn was purchased from Baroness
Heemstra de Beaufort to serve as Wilhelm </span><span lang="fr-FR">II's
Saint-Helena</span><span lang="en-US">
and renovations began in 1920. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ckBw77X49YU/WxAAYO5g2tI/AAAAAAAABoo/kQMNpiuG1H8iZd-_jrc6EBn-XkDB151QwCLcBGAs/s1600/DOORN%2BWILHELM%2BII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="700" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ckBw77X49YU/WxAAYO5g2tI/AAAAAAAABoo/kQMNpiuG1H8iZd-_jrc6EBn-XkDB151QwCLcBGAs/s400/DOORN%2BWILHELM%2BII.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kaiser Wilhelm II</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en-US"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en-US">His
wife, Empress Auguste Victoria, still feeling insecure and slightly
awkward about the unfortunate abdication business, for which nobody
wanted to be blamed, was relieved to occupy herself with furnishing
the new imperial and royal household. Naturally, nothing could
diminish the couple's chagrin at the loss of 65 castles and palaces
scattered about Germany, but the former imperial staff in Berlin
cleverly selected and carefully packed 59 freight cars worth of
paintings, furniture, objets d'art, tapestries, carpets and personal
belongings to help ease their adjustment to newly reduced
circumstances. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S8_ZR9psmCg/WxABG3GwxbI/AAAAAAAABo0/H3x1dlh88wMc-Xd-hfa1qcgCvjA4U9ewACLcBGAs/s1600/DOORN%2BINT.%2BI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1064" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S8_ZR9psmCg/WxABG3GwxbI/AAAAAAAABo0/H3x1dlh88wMc-Xd-hfa1qcgCvjA4U9ewACLcBGAs/s400/DOORN%2BINT.%2BI.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dining room</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en-US">These highlights of the imperial <i>apparat</i> allowed
Auguste Victoria to create a faint but comforting simulacrum of the
exceedingly opulent Prussian palaces they had once called home but
were forced to flee. In time the little court-in-exile—</span><span lang="fr-FR">headed
by Wilhelm II, who halfheartedly assumed the rôle of gentleman
farmer—</span><span lang="en-US">fell
into a placid routine far removed from any official demands or
obligations, a fact rather minded by the emperor and his wife, who
were—not unlike the Stuart pretenders ensconced at St-Germain by
an obliging Louis XIV—convinced that soon enough, with patience,
their countries would see reason and their exile would be recognized
as folly and life would return to its normal and natural order.
Alas, the royalist press reported, the lingering new order—although
temporary—nonetheless broke and finally stilled the empress’
heart (her son Joachim's suicide did nothing to make things better)
and her funeral in Potsdam in 1921 was a sombre, belated monarchist triumph.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3I6ehdZAvDU/WxAAkQ5zb4I/AAAAAAAABow/xPk5683gDEoTYr45wCFN6JvqOXgX3a42QCLcBGAs/s1600/DOORN%2BAUGUDSTE%2BVICTORIA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="221" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3I6ehdZAvDU/WxAAkQ5zb4I/AAAAAAAABow/xPk5683gDEoTYr45wCFN6JvqOXgX3a42QCLcBGAs/s400/DOORN%2BAUGUDSTE%2BVICTORIA.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Empress Auguste Victoria </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en-US">Devastated,
Wilhelm II was obliged to remain </span><span lang="fr-FR">a</span><span lang="en-US">t
Huis Doorn; he had neither received permission to return to Germany
nor was he interested in trodding on republican soil. The
spectacular, theatrical outpouring of public grief rekindled the
emperor’s hopes of also returning home—but triumphant and alive,
of course. This hope too dissipated over time and the tiny
court was forced to concede that an immediate restoration was not in
the offing and that it would be best to make do with life at Huis
Doorn for the time being. Considering Germany's hyper-inflation and
the poverty and desperation left in the wake of crushing defeat,
court life in Huis Doorn appeared relatively pleasant in comparison, if at times
claustrophobic. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qRyodbh67eQ/WxABjQE23ZI/AAAAAAAABo8/4zpKrog9XlAAVyXjf-jfT4YLszuO6ao1ACLcBGAs/s1600/DOORN%2BCASTLE%2BINT.%2BI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="1009" height="352" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qRyodbh67eQ/WxABjQE23ZI/AAAAAAAABo8/4zpKrog9XlAAVyXjf-jfT4YLszuO6ao1ACLcBGAs/s400/DOORN%2BCASTLE%2BINT.%2BI.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A sitting room</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span lang="en-US">To
enliven the daily routine, a new marriage for the widowed emperor was
concocted behind the scenes, and like a </span><span lang="en-US"><i>deus
ex machina</i></span><span lang="en-US">,
young princess Hermine von Schönaich-Carolath appeared one day at
the door. Daughter of Heinrich XXII Reuss, she was issue of a former
reigning family and thus held the perfect pedigree for the match,
having grown up in a tiny though independent princely state, the
court of Greiz. Decidedly not beautiful, she nonetheless had
interesting features, retainers remarked hopefully. Her youth, her
determination, her slightly unconventional manners (notably her
shockingly avant-garde views on women’s rights), as well as her
erudition brought a spark of life and wit to the aging court upon
their marriage in 1922. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Or9nqHc_xcI/WxAB2qQ5eZI/AAAAAAAABpM/SdCmKd5UDnwoDhK5b5SeoaeBsGsL5DaXACLcBGAs/s1600/DOORN%2BHERMINE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="420" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Or9nqHc_xcI/WxAB2qQ5eZI/AAAAAAAABpM/SdCmKd5UDnwoDhK5b5SeoaeBsGsL5DaXACLcBGAs/s400/DOORN%2BHERMINE.jpg" width="325" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hermine, Wilhelm II's second wife</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en-US"> Like the emperor, Hermine was a stickler for
etiquette and reveled in court protocol, insisting on being addressed
as empress—a presumption that scandalized German monarchists, who
believed it dishonored the emperor’s first wife. Clever as she
was, Hermine had insisted on a prenuptial agreement assuring her the
right to regularly visit her vast properties in Silesia, where she
ran her affairs with great knowledge and business acumen. Initially
considered a marriage of convenience, the relationship grew to become
a great success and for almost twenty years Huis Doorn was a
contented home for the last kaiser and his second wife. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hM49Dgy5y-8/WxABQi3-4cI/AAAAAAAABo4/hsheOyIJ7A4gVKa9wahdoWxb6f4WCFyJACLcBGAs/s1600/DOORN%2BINT.%2BII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="267" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hM49Dgy5y-8/WxABQi3-4cI/AAAAAAAABo4/hsheOyIJ7A4gVKa9wahdoWxb6f4WCFyJACLcBGAs/s400/DOORN%2BINT.%2BII.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Emperor's study</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en-US"></span><span lang="en-US"></span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en-US">Though
furnished in the early 1920s, the residence is still redolent of the
decorative sensibilities of the Victorian age, most notably its
horror vaccui. Wilhelm II was Queen Victoria’s favorite grandson;
she died in his arms in London in 1901 and much of his taste was
influenced by his many youthful visits to England. The halls, salons
and smaller rooms of Huis Doorn are crammed with Prussian heirlooms,
heralds of former glory; every wall is covered and desks bow under
the weight of picture frames, and despite an undeniable grandeur, the
interiors have an almost bourgeois coziness about them reminiscent of
certain English country houses. The spirit of its former inhabitants
still seems to reign over this small and strangely enchanted and
enchanting kingdom. </span></span></span>
</div>
Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-80432945848791491812015-09-02T11:28:00.001+02:002018-05-31T15:47:46.072+02:00Louis XIV, 300 Years and a Day<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Louis_XIV_of_France.jpg/800px-Louis_XIV_of_France.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Louis_XIV_of_France.jpg/800px-Louis_XIV_of_France.jpg" width="449" /></a></div>
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Three hundred years ago and a day, Louis XIV died but five days
before his 77th birthday. He had reigned for 72 years and 110 days, the longest
of any monarch since the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses the Second, who died aged
ninety in 1213 BC. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Like Ramesses, Louis was named "the Great," and
not to be outdone, Voltaire named a century after him, <i>"le si<span style="font-family: "zapfhumnst bt"; font-size: 11.0pt;">è</span>cle de Louis
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</xml><![endif]--> the century of Louis the Great. The Durants, Will and Ariel, those Eisenhower-era icons of
hardcover, multi-volume world history, did Voltaire one better and named an age
after him, "the Age of Louis XIV." He was also christened
Louis-Dieudonné (Louis, Miracle of God) for the very real wonder of being the issue
of Louis XIII, sickly and enfeebled, who died when Louis was a small child. Fatherless, he was formed by the wily Italian cleric Cardinal Mazarin, Louis XIII's first
minister, reputed lover of his mother, Anne of Austria, and regent and mentor to the young
monarch. He was also named l<i>e Roi Soleil,</i> the Sun King, for his unprecedented
patronage of the arts and his willful conflation of his own person with the sun
god Apollo.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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He defined absolutism, raised the vast palace at Versailles
and many others besides, stumbled by revoking the Edict of Nantes, waged a
succession of half-remembered Continental wars that earned him few friends but
a good deal of territory and prestige, and perfected both state bureaucracy and
state propaganda and in so doing became the radiant figurehead for the state
and the kingdom of France and so in turn became the model for and envy of all
other rulers of Europe and more profoundly the prototype of the ruler in the
modern age. </div>
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<br /></div>
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His taste in all things was slavishly copied, as were his
pretensions. He also bankrupted France with his endless wars and inveterate
building and so ultimately set the stage for the French Revolution.</div>
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<br /></div>
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He notably loved women, flattery, ballet, hunting, building,
military sieges, his own reputation, children, flowers, France and God, though
he came late to the last of that randomly ordered list. Mazarin formed his
political mind and fundamentally he was more clever than smart; he was also one of the most civilized personages ever to live, which gives a perhaps-misplaced sheen of great intelligence through perfected manners. He knew how to delegate and was a fair though not exceptional judge of character and ability, and he kept a vast
number of secrets and never committed to anything when directly asked, always
replying, <i>"On verra."</i> One will see. </div>
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Having outlived most of his own family and all but one of
his direct heirs, he died a horrible death of gangrene that began in one leg
and gradually consumed him over a period of weeks. He also died as he had
lived, without complaint, with exceptional good humor and exquisite
consideration for those about him and with great dignity.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When the future Louis XV was brought to him on his deathbed,
he advised the child, "Do not follow the bad example which I have set you;
I have often gone to war too lightly and sustained it for vanity. Do not
imitate me in this, but be a peaceful prince, and strive for the
betterment of your people."<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "zapfhumnst bt"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He was eminently
quotable, even to his last words. All those attending him agree that those
words were "<i>Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera
toujours.</i>" ("I am departing, but the state will endure."</span>)</span></span></span></div>
</div>
Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-55127094257176803552015-06-04T22:45:00.000+02:002015-06-06T03:46:38.917+02:00The Frick garden is saved<br />
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<a href="https://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/davisbrody_frickcollection_elevation_phase04_060514_2000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/davisbrody_frickcollection_elevation_phase04_060514_2000.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Wonderful news for all who love the unique ambiance of The Frick Collection and its delightful Russell Page garden: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/nyregion/frick-museum-abandons-contested-renovation-plan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0" target="_blank">The museum has announced today </a>that it is abandoning its ambitious expansion plans, designed by Davis Brody Bond. The additions would have subsumed Page's elegant garden beneath a massive, six-story-plus addition (<i>seen to the right of the entry in the above rendering</i>) that also would have overwhelmed the original two-story, Louis XVI-style Frick residence, the heart of the museum, and left it a mere appendage.<br />
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<a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53d6b68ae4b01cdbaa06f1df/t/53fc925ae4b0f0206f642f4a/1409061467226/l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53d6b68ae4b01cdbaa06f1df/t/53fc925ae4b0f0206f642f4a/1409061467226/l.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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The press release states that the Frick will regroup and develop a new expansion plan, and that the second-floor<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "ZapfHumnst BT"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>will be converted to exhibition space. Having visited and dined in these rooms several times, we can attest that they will make excellent additions to the museum's exhibition space, though the executive staff will lose a magnificent perk and be forced from the old Frick residence.<br />
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The statement reads: <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The Frick remains committed to furthering its mission by attaining its
goals, among them having additional space for the display of works of
art, including galleries on the historic second floor of the mansion,
dedicated classrooms for education programs, updated facilities for the
care of our art and research collections, and better public access
between the museum and the Frick Art Reference Library. We also plan to
improve visitor amenities in general while offering equal access for
visitors with disabilities. At the same time, preserving the unique
residential character and intimate scale of the Frick will remain our
top priority.</i></blockquote>
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Well, no one can argue with that<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "ZapfHumnst BT"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>at least until we see the new plans. Part of the solution should be to rein in ambitions and ponder how best to enhance the Frick while ensuring that it remains what it is<span style="font-family: "ZapfHumnst BT"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>the best small museum in the world, with an accent on <i>small</i>. Does the Frick truly need to expand both its mandate and its facilities to so great an extent as first proposed? Or will expansion destroy this unique <i>house </i>museum? After all, the Frick is a house, albeit a grand one, and to ensure success in this venture, those guiding it must not lose sight of that fundamental, defining fact. Logic and moderation counsel that the Frick should maximize its existing assets, purchase or lease administration space adjacent to the property and seek creative and judicious rationalization of the built fabric it already has. <br />
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In the meantime, we can all rejoice that Page's oasis of verdant civilization has been spared from New York's relentless redevelopment mania. The Frick is unique and should be thoughtfully preserved; after all, what other building in New York can boast its own front yard bordering Fifth Avenue and Central Park? <br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Henry_C_Frick_House_009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Henry_C_Frick_House_009.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-30264845573792790172015-05-19T13:22:00.000+02:002015-05-19T15:56:14.507+02:00Chelsea Flower Show: Clone wars & that '50s vibe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03309/chatsworthnew_3309503k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03309/chatsworthnew_3309503k.jpg" height="248" width="400" /></a></div>
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The winning designs of the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show have been announced, and Dan Pearson's preternaturally natural recreation of a slice of woodland at Chatsworth (<i>above, from the UK's </i><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/chelseaflowershow/" target="_blank">Telegraph</a>) has won Best in Show. Another microplot of meticulously contrived virtual reality, James Bassen's Perfumer's Garden in Grasse (<i>below</i>), was awarded a gold medal.<br />
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<a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03309/chelsea-perfumersg_3309117k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03309/chelsea-perfumersg_3309117k.jpg" height="248" width="400" /></a></div>
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Both gardens are stunning recreations, kudos to both design teams for jaw-droppingly flawless execution, especially Bassen, whose garden is particularly lyrical. But the thought occurs, Should one really call them gardens? They seem more like extraordinary clones, the Dolly the sheep of garden design. They also remind one of the current hyper-realist waxwork fixation in contemporary art, exemplified by artists such as the Japanese photographer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshi_Sugimoto" target="_blank">Hiroshi Sugimoto</a>, who fashions remarkably lifelike wax effigies of historical figures and then photographs them in "portraits" (<i>below, HRH Princess Diana, in wax</i>).<br />
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<a href="https://jbxtrjb.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/diana-princess-of-wales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://jbxtrjb.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/diana-princess-of-wales.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
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One frankly designed garden, an elegant chessboard based on de Stijl geometries by Marcus Burnett, may not have been particularly innovative but it was so expertly balanced and flawlessly executed that it also won a gold medal. <br />
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<a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03309/chelsea-telegraph_3309025k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03309/chelsea-telegraph_3309025k.jpg" height="248" width="400" /></a></div>
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Unsurprisingly, with our current hipster-driven fixation upon elevating nostalgia for days of future past into a cultural obsession, a number of winning designs seem to have come straight from the well-thumbed pages of that postwar horticultural bible, <i>America's Garden Book</i>, specifically the chapter on contemporary garden design from the iconic 1958 edition. Bush-Brown's Eisenhower-era masterpiece encapsulated the heady design moment when America discovered pebble-encrusted concrete pavers, the Southwest, and redwood plank.<br />
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<a href="https://img1.etsystatic.com/036/1/7322507/il_340x270.607365783_rzs9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://img1.etsystatic.com/036/1/7322507/il_340x270.607365783_rzs9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Below, gold-medal winning gardens by Harry and David Rich, Adam Frost, and Chris Beardshaw.<br />
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<a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03306/Chelsea_Flower_Sho_3306089k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03306/Chelsea_Flower_Sho_3306089k.jpg" height="248" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03308/chelsea-morganstan_3308958k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03308/chelsea-morganstan_3308958k.jpg" height="248" width="400" /> </a></div>
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For complete coverage, we'd highly recommend a visit to the website of the UK's <i>Telegraph, </i>which has devoted an <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/chelseaflowershow/" target="_blank">entire section</a> to the Chelsea Flower Show.</div>
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<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-29724517582989046082015-05-17T13:10:00.000+02:002018-05-31T17:22:37.141+02:00Chinoiserie notecards in World of Interiors<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the better-late-than-never department, we would be remiss if we didn't note the March issue of <a href="http://www.worldofinteriors.co.uk/" target="_blank"><i>World of Interiors</i></a>, which featured <span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION">Aglae Auersperg's watercolors of her family's Chinese pavilion in the gardens at </span><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION">Vlašim, a Bohemian estate in the modern-day Czech Republic. The pavilion (<i>above</i>) has been impeccably restored and the watercolors are atmospheric and charming, and the issue was, as usual, intriguing, informative and visually stunning.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1JCKM4h2ZQw/VVhydqRnhnI/AAAAAAAABnE/0fgK_-45Cbk/s1600/WoI_Mar2015x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1JCKM4h2ZQw/VVhydqRnhnI/AAAAAAAABnE/0fgK_-45Cbk/s400/WoI_Mar2015x.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The issue's<i> Inspiration</i> page featured our boxed <a href="http://architecturalwatercolors.com/shop/boxed-stationery/tea-house-cards/" target="_blank">Tea House silhouette notecards </a>and one of our folding cards reproducing our watercolor of the <a href="http://architecturalwatercolors.com/shop/chinoiseries/pagoda-rheinsberg/" target="_blank">Pagoda at Rheinsberg</a>, which once stood an extensive eighteenth-century folly garden created by Prince Heinrich of Prussia, brother of Frederick the Great</span>. </span></span>Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-51711589348478121112014-12-30T11:46:00.000+01:002015-01-23T19:08:37.528+01:00Shared holiday photos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b15Q-_M6rB4/VKKCL-AVt-I/AAAAAAAABlE/NelfUsoZXEQ/s1600/Tea%2BHouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b15Q-_M6rB4/VKKCL-AVt-I/AAAAAAAABlE/NelfUsoZXEQ/s1600/Tea%2BHouse.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
We rarely receive such delightful and unexpected messages as that which came to us on Christmas Eve from a customer in Fairfax, Virginia, who shared with us her photos of our Tea House (<i>above</i>) and Nutcracker Pavilion table lanterns in her home.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6OIpXiergBE/VKKCVLbRPII/AAAAAAAABlM/2i5xjertmPc/s1600/Nutcracker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6OIpXiergBE/VKKCVLbRPII/AAAAAAAABlM/2i5xjertmPc/s1600/Nutcracker.jpg" height="320" width="298" /></a></div>
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They are so evocative that we requested to share them here, and she graciously accepted.<br />
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Happy holidays and all the very best for the new year!<br />
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<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-89492286017315785712014-12-07T12:37:00.001+01:002014-12-07T12:39:30.527+01:00Lecture and Master Class at the ICAA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GYBGNNDi2Dg/VIQ6XwQbHPI/AAAAAAAABk0/A6-F6Wbo_pc/s1600/TentMonceauWeb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GYBGNNDi2Dg/VIQ6XwQbHPI/AAAAAAAABk0/A6-F6Wbo_pc/s1600/TentMonceauWeb.jpg" height="242" width="400" /></a></div>
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We would be remiss if we did not mention our recent lecture at the ICAA, the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art in New York, entitled <a href="http://www.classicist.org/programs/courses/detail/pencil-and-brush-architectural-watercolors/" target="_blank"><i>Pencil and Brush: Architectural Watercolors</i></a>, held on the evening of the 23rd October. It was an illustrated lecture on the history of French classicism from the 17th to the 19th centuries, and we were delighted to see many familiar faces and speak to a sold-out house.<br />
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<a href="http://www.classicist.org/poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.classicist.org/poster.jpg" height="196" width="400" /></a></div>
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As the body of the lecture was illustrated with images of rather staid classical buildings, we ended the talk on a lighter note with the image of this tent <i>(at top) </i>once in the gardens of the Parc Monceau here in Paris, and an audible gasp actually went through the audience. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MRbWpvC03oU/VIQ5VH2R6eI/AAAAAAAABks/CHS1FanCETU/s1600/unnamed-2-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MRbWpvC03oU/VIQ5VH2R6eI/AAAAAAAABks/CHS1FanCETU/s1600/unnamed-2-.jpg" height="323" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Saturday following, we held a <a href="http://www.classicist.org/programs/courses/detail/architectural-watercolors-master-class/" target="_blank">master class on watercolor technique</a> for architectural rendering, sharing our trade secrets to an over-subscribed audience. It was a day-long affair, from 10 am to 6 pm, with an hour's pause for lunch. We enjoyed giving both presentations immensely and the organizers were very pleased with the response, and we look forward to a new series of talks next year. Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-53875504112003813072014-11-29T19:54:00.002+01:002014-12-03T12:45:31.717+01:00Our Architectural Desk Boxes Featured in Traditional Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tqHvgk3bBuE/VHoVXDv8NnI/AAAAAAAABkE/qar8lA2hu6I/s1600/DeskBoxes3Set.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tqHvgk3bBuE/VHoVXDv8NnI/AAAAAAAABkE/qar8lA2hu6I/s1600/DeskBoxes3Set.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
A far-too-long hiatus, but we are back to report that <i>Traditional Home</i> has featured our new desk boxes in their holiday issue. A small neoclassical ensemble for your desktop.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XMtqKgAONOU/VHoVi7xLWwI/AAAAAAAABkM/iksygOkLU_U/s1600/PalaceDisplay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XMtqKgAONOU/VHoVi7xLWwI/AAAAAAAABkM/iksygOkLU_U/s1600/PalaceDisplay.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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There are three boxes, each of them in architectural shapes: the Tower stacking box, the Orangerie pencil box and the Palace letter caddy (<i>above, with the original watercolor</i>).<br />
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You can find them at our <a href="http://www.architecturalwatercolors.com/product-category/boxes" target="_blank">AW online shop.</a><br />
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And here is the <i>Traditional Home</i> clipping:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4DFpJtsaJJU/VHoVIqbV61I/AAAAAAAABj8/yzEvebjT5No/s1600/Traditional%2BHome-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4DFpJtsaJJU/VHoVIqbV61I/AAAAAAAABj8/yzEvebjT5No/s1600/Traditional%2BHome-2.jpg" height="400" width="181" /></a></div>
<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-23303262939982010932014-06-18T15:31:00.000+02:002014-06-18T15:31:35.343+02:00A new video featuring AW journals, boxes, stationery and table lanterns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/x-CiD7OKErg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Recently, we've been busy in the editing room and are happy to post a new video compilation of the first two seasons of paper products we've designed for Libretto Group of NYC.<br />
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The video runs just over two and a half minutes and showcases our boxed note and correspondence cards, hardbound journals, desk boxes, table lanterns, nesting boxes, and holiday items as well. Enjoy.<br />
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To locate a store near you, visit <a href="http://www.libretto-group.com/" target="_blank">Libretto Group</a>, or order at the <a href="http://www.architecturalwatercolors.com/shop" target="_blank">AW online shop</a>.<br />
<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-60091220493477730502014-06-01T17:06:00.000+02:002014-06-01T18:11:08.444+02:00A new video of our book CENTRAL PARK NYC: An Architectural ViewWe are delighted to post this new video of our Rizzoli book,<i> CENTRAL PARK NYC: An Architectural View. </i>It runs two minutes and features numerous images, both our watercolors and photography old and new, that enrich the book's pages.<br />
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Enjoy.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/nfEGu4Pjl1o?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-21809742173631796212014-04-23T19:36:00.000+02:002014-04-23T20:53:43.523+02:00An ICONic Article<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VumsRJwqWMc/U1f5Mdj-j7I/AAAAAAAABh4/1o5JjYGMZ2U/s1600/Seite+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VumsRJwqWMc/U1f5Mdj-j7I/AAAAAAAABh4/1o5JjYGMZ2U/s1600/Seite+1.jpg" height="400" width="283" /></a></div>
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We are delighted to note that, this past Sunday, our work was featured in <i>Welt am Sonntag</i>, the Sunday magazine of Berlin's newspaper of record. In a rare honor, the watercolor vignette of <i>A is for Acanthus</i> from our <i>Architectural Alphabet</i> was featured as the cover illustration.<br />
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But of course it was Einkuss, Bernd's Belgian pug, who stole the show. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Mozg0Raqac/U1f5UR8w6jI/AAAAAAAABiA/DZ3toOtnnbQ/s1600/Seite+50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Mozg0Raqac/U1f5UR8w6jI/AAAAAAAABiA/DZ3toOtnnbQ/s1600/Seite+50.jpg" height="640" width="452" /></a></div>
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<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-6547668342999940742014-02-05T14:28:00.003+01:002014-02-05T14:34:38.088+01:00Table lanterns, journals and boxed stationery now available at the AW online shop<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cof75bTCH-M/UvI3mb_C-FI/AAAAAAAABgk/qnVu5mkXu9k/s1600/TeaHouseEnvelopeWeb.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cof75bTCH-M/UvI3mb_C-FI/AAAAAAAABgk/qnVu5mkXu9k/s1600/TeaHouseEnvelopeWeb.jpg" height="400" width="373" /></a></div>
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Some weeks ago, we had announced that, after a much-too-long hiatus, our ever-popular table lanterns have returned, now distributed worldwide through Libretto Group. We are pleased to announce today that the lanterns are also now available at the <a href="http://www.architecturalwatercolors.com/shop" target="_blank">Architectural Watercolors online shop</a> for all those who do not have Libretto retailers in your area.<br />
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To accomodate these additions, we have reorganized the AW online shop, adding product categories for the table lanterns as well as our new lines of boxed stationery and hardbound journals.<br />
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We are also happy to report that Libretto will soon be releasing three new table lantern designs and several other stationery products for the spring season, and we will be posting about them shortly.<br />
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Below are photographs of these new AW products and hotlinks to them:<br />
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<a href="http://www.architecturalwatercolors.com/shop/the-belvedere" target="_blank"><i>The Belvedere</i> table lantern</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.architecturalwatercolors.com/shop/the-tea-house" target="_blank"><i>The Tea House</i> table lantern</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.architecturalwatercolors.com/shop/mr-jeffersons-folly" target="_blank"><i>Mr. Jefferson's Folly</i> table lantern</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.architecturalwatercolors.com/shop/1865" target="_blank"><i>Pagodas, A year of watercolors</i> hardbound journal</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.architecturalwatercolors.com/shop/love-triumphant" target="_blank"><i>Love, Triumphant</i> hardbound journal</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.architecturalwatercolors.com/shop/pagodas-note-card-folio" target="_blank"><i>Pagodas</i> notecards folio </a></div>
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<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-32899083506552101182014-01-22T04:14:00.000+01:002014-01-29T10:22:55.144+01:00Help Save the Rizzoli Bookstore in Mahattan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Rizzoli Bookstore and its iconic Beaux-Arts home at 31 West 57th Street in Manhattan <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/rizzoli-bookstore-demolition-57th-street-building-lacks-significance-landmark-protection-says-nyc" target="_blank">has been slated for demolition </a>to make way for luxury high-rise apartments.<br />
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We ask everyone concerned for historic preservation to take a moment to <a href="https://saverizzoli.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">sign the petition here</a> to ask the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to reconsider its ruling and to designate the 109 year-old structure and its sumptuous interiors as a deserving landmark--<i>how could such a worthy building not already be landmarked?</i>--for future generations.<br />
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Prior decisions have been reversed but time is of the essence, and every voice does indeed count to bring enough public pressure to bear to save one of New York's most beautiful literary landmarks from the wrecking ball.</div>
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Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-41660349861506510042014-01-18T15:16:00.000+01:002014-01-20T04:34:03.889+01:00La Maîtresse en Titre, an enduring French tradition <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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As the BBC is fond of calling him lately, "the man said to be the President of France" was—<i>"perhaps"</i>—infamously photographed in a crash helmet, leaving a purported love nest shared with a well-known actress while his chauffeur-driven <i>moto</i> waited at curb. The chauffeur of the Presidential Scooter, <a href="http://www.closermag.fr/people/politique/enquete-closer-francois-hollande-et-julie-gayet-ils-saiment-depuis-2-ans-260051" target="_blank"><i>Closer </i>magazine </a>reported in an explosive seven-page exposé, also delivered fresh croissants in the mornings.<br />
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Hollande, a committed bachelor, has refused to explain himself, citing a longstanding French tradition of not delving too closely into the private lives of its public servants (with good reason), and<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25768016" target="_blank"> the implicated actress has now sued <i>Closer</i> for libel</a>, another longstanding French tradition for public figures who find themselves facing the unwelcome glare of unwanted publicity. <br />
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Meanwhile, in a dramatic development worthy of a soap-opera plot twist, the current Somewhat First Lady of France, Hollande's companion Valerie Trierweiler, has precipitously <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25778621" target="_blank">secluded herself in a Parisian hospital, suffering from "shock."</a><br />
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Unsurprisingly, President Hollande's abysmal poll numbers have rebounded by several percentage points, since <i>en ce pays-ci </i>respect is axiomatically accorded a virile leader, whatever his politics or abilities. With the latest revelation that he had managed to keep the alleged affair secret for over two years, including a hotly contested presidential campaign, the thinking goes that Hollande may indeed have hitherto unremarked managerial skills. And after all, Hollande presides over a country which actually has a name for the just-after-work hours so propitious for infidelity—<i>l'heure bleue</i>—and which also has a tradition of selecting iconic sex symbols such as Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve as models for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne" target="_blank">Marianne</a>, the official state muse.<br />
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During the Ancien Régime, mistresses, most famously <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_de_Pompadour" target="_blank">Madame de Pompadour</a>, lover of Louis XV, were routinely ennobled and held a high official rank—<i>Maîtresse en titre</i>—and
often wielded great sway over affairs of state. Madame de Pompadour not
only reigned over patronage of the arts in the Rococo age but also
influenced the choice of ministers and the strategy of the Seven
Years' War. Her brother, the Marquis de Marigny, was appointed to the
coveted post of Superintendent of Royal Buildings and so oversaw all
government construction in the realm. A woman of considerable acumen,
Pompadour created the infamous Parc aux Cerfs, an exclusive royal
bordello in the town of Versailles, to satiate the king's voracious
appetites and secure her position once her own charms had waned. <br />
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After her death, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_du_Barry" target="_blank">Madame du Barry</a>, a nubile denizen of the Parc, ascended to la Pompadour's position but never her station. <i>(Below, François Boucher's odalesque of Jeanne Bécu shortly before she became a countess.)</i><br />
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But the quintessential concubine was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7oise-Ath%C3%A9na%C3%AFs,_marquise_de_Montespan" target="_blank">Madame de Montespan</a>,<i> l'Athenée</i>—well-born, clever, scheming, haughty and ambitious—who had bewitched Louis XIV in his early middle age (quite literally and scandalously with a love philtre procured from a satanist who also brewed very efficient poisons, but that is another story). The king sired four illegitimate children with her, all later ennobled, one of whom was later exiled as an insurrectionist. While in royal favor, "La Montespan" reigned as de facto queen, with a suite of rooms at Versailles that eclipsed those of the actual queen, the homely and devout Infanta, Maria Theresa. <br />
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Louis XIV's German sister-in-law, la Princesse Palatine, in her posthumous letters reported that during the Dutch Wars, Louis XIV dutifully spent much of each campaign season at the front, presiding over war councils and generally being deferred to, though “he took quite a long time dressing; he had his moustache curled and sometimes spent half an hour before the mirror arranging it with wax.“ (With victory in sight, the undertaking degenerated into showmanship and farce, as when the king invited his decorator and gardener to tour the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Cambrai_%281677%29" target="_blank">siege of Cambrai</a> in 1677, instructing his minister Colbert to pay Le Brun and Le Nôtre each 1500 <i>livres</i> for their pains.)<br />
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And it was at Cambrai—a jump-the-shark moment if ever there was one—that the king joined his armies with the queen and two mistresses in tow like a band of gypsy camp followers. German mercenaries heckled Madame de Montespan as they marched in revue, whistling and shouting, <i>“Konigs Hure!"</i> At dinner that evening, the king inquired how she had liked the maneuvers and Montespan replied, “Perfectly lovely, only I find the Germans far too naïve for insisting upon calling everything by its proper name.“ <br />
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It was also understood that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7oise_d%27Aubign%C3%A9,_Marquise_de_Maintenon" target="_blank">Madame de Maintenon,</a> a late and pivotal mistress of Louis XIV, controlled state affairs by forcing all ministers and petitioners to pass through the gauntlet of her <i>appartements</i> at Versailles if they hoped to gain access to the king. She was known at court as "Madame de Maintenant" (Madame Now), and had doubtless married the king privately, though this was never officially acknowledged. <br />
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Like just about everything else during the Ancien Régime, the changing of the guard was also handled with aplomb. In one of those almost-too-good-to-be-true moments of history which are nonetheless true, Madame de Montespan, on her way out, and Madame de Maintenon, on her way in, first met on a staircase in Versailles. Madame de Maintenon was ascending and Madame de Montespan descending. The former remarked, "I see that you are going down, Madame, while I am going up." <br />
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Upon her fall, which was both spectacular and precipitous, la Montespan exiled herself to a nunnery and occupied herself with expiatory good works, in keeping with another longstanding tradition of discarded royal mistresses, as hospitals in that century were where the destitute were brought to die. <br />
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<i>Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.</i>Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-77606435481469076802014-01-06T12:12:00.001+01:002014-01-09T00:23:21.016+01:00Strawberry Fields<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br /> Following is an augmented excerpt of the chapter "Memorials and Monuments" from our latest book,</i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Central-Park-NYC-Architectural-View/dp/0847840794/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375714921&sr=8-1&keywords=central+park+NYC">Central Park NYC</a>,<i> published this past September by Rizzoli. </i><br />
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Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow, conceived Strawberry Fields as a living memorial to her slain husband and dedicated the site on what would have been the singer’s forty-fifth birthday, October 9, 1985. The two-and-a-half-acre informal garden occupies a sloping triangle of land at Central Park West and 72nd Street near the Dakota Apartments, the family’s residence and the site where Lennon was murdered on the evening of December 8, 1980. Ono worked with landscape architect Bruce Kelly and the <a href="http://www.centralparknyc.org/">Central Park Conservancy</a> to transform the parcel into a Garden of Peace with plants donated by over 120 nations.<br />
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The garden, of course, is named after one of Lennon's most famous Beatles songs, <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Fields_Forever">Strawberry Fields Forever</a>,</i> a haunting psychedelic reminiscence of his childhood secret garden, the grounds of the Strawberry Field orphanage in Woolton, Liverpool. The iconic Imagine mosaic, a simple round set in the pavement at the heart of the garden, has become a shrine to Lennon’s memory, collecting notes, flowers and votive candles from his myriad fans, and it is the site of annual vigils to celebrate his birth and mourn his death. <br />
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Though often described as interpreting traditional Roman patterns, the design is actually far more expressive than this reading allows and alludes to Lennon's uniquely provocative pacifism and strongly Buddhist leanings and worldview. <i>(Above, Lennon and Ono staging their famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed-In">bed-in for peace</a> in Amsterdam in 1969.) IMAGINE,</i> the title of Lennon’s famous 1971 peace anthem, holds the center of an abstracted lotus flower made of thirty-two radiating segments, the number of Buddha’s virtues. <i>(Below, Buddha on the lotus throne.)</i><br />
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In Buddhist traditions, the fully opened lotus, rising above muddied waters, symbolizes enlightenment, and a white lotus connotes purity of mind and spirit. The duality of black and white represents matter and spirit, the mud from which the lotus blooms and the blossom of understanding. And finally, the flower signifies rebirth in a figural and literal sense, entirely appropriate to honor a musician who integrated Buddhist mantras into his music and Buddhist philosophy and a Buddhist worldview into his life.<br />
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Disarmingly simple, a single word centering an abstracted flower, Lennon’s memorial owes an enormous conceptual debt to Maya Lin’s revolutionary 1982 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial">Vietnam Veterans Memorial</a> in Washington, D.C., which overturned traditional notions of a monument’s form and conceptual underpinnings. <br />
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However, the <i>Imagine</i> mosaic takes Lin’s abstraction a step further by renouncing three-dimensionality entirely and setting its single-word message into the earth, where it can be trod upon or reverenced—a wry and profoundly insightful evocation of Lennon’s humanity and spirit.<br />
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And finally, and as Buddha himself would have observed, there is nothing new under the sun and we find a remarkable conceptual precursor in the 18th-century French garden of <a href="http://www.chateau-ermenonville.com/en">Ermenonville</a>, the Altar of Reverie—a simple cylindrical socle, artfully aged, inscribed with the invocation, "To Dream."Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-15460434437133936452013-12-17T17:10:00.000+01:002014-11-29T19:59:12.822+01:00Franco Maria Ricci's extraordinary labyrinth<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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On
the fertile agricultural plain surrounding Parma, Italy, you can drive for days
while visiting the region's spectacular Renaissance towns, churches and villas
(<i>below, the view from the terrace of the Castello di Fontanellato</i>) without ever laying eyes on a single cow that gives the milk that is aged to
its glorious Parmesan cheese, nor will you ever see one of the pigs that
eventually yield its succulent Parma ham. One dines spectacularly
well there, even by Italian standards, but exactly how this is achieved is
one of Parma's small mysteries—though an occasional noxious breeze, pungent enough
to strip paint, will assure you that these beasts do indeed lurk somewhere hidden in those broad green fields, just beyond sight. </div>
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Franco
Maria Ricci, the legendary publisher, lives on his ancestral lands in
Fontanellato, which he has transformed according to his own unique aesthetic
vision. He is the man who near single-handedly<a href="http://www.riccieditore.it/online/Bodoni.aspx?idArea=411&lang=ITA&do=opera&idArt=32" target="_blank"> revived the work </a>of the great
neoclassical typographer, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giambattista_Bodoni" target="_blank">Giambattista Bodoni</a>, who had made Parma
his home in the late eighteenth century. Ricci comes from ancient Parmesan
nobility and has dedicated his life to the cultivation and dissemination of all
that is extraordinary, remarkable and beautiful, by way of the pages of his
namesake magazine, <a href="http://www.riccieditore.it/real/home.aspx?idArea=0&lang=ITA" target="_blank">FMR</a> ("the most beautiful magazine in the world") and a host of magnificent publications.
Fortuitously, pronouncing his initials in French yields the word <i>ephémère</i>,
ephemeral, and it is this aura of felicity and harmony that this most
cultivated of men has cultivated throughout his life, seemingly effortlessly.</div>
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This
past summer, I spent several days with friends visiting Ricci and his charming
companion, Laura Casalis, who graciously welcomed us with their generous
hospitality. A warm, sunny day was reserved for visiting Ricci's estate, and
after traversing miles of sun-struck, open fields with barely a poplar in
sight, we passed a simple modern gate and drove down a long, shaded
and sun-dappled allée of bamboo to find ourselves in another world—a verdant
compound set in a bamboo glade that could just as well be found in Mexico. An
old farm building has been converted into a contemporary entertaining space of
impressive scale—an aerie looking into the bamboo canopy, with an inky-dark
lake to one side. </div>
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The
contrast between the sun-struck fields without and the bamboo forest (or
perhaps jungle) within was vivid and delightful; Ricci has crafted his own
private world—even his own private micro-climate. Further on, Ricci has
renovated the ground floor of the crumbling ancestral villa into an elegant
suite of rooms with a barrel-vaulted, neoclassical library which houses the
largest collection of Bodoni's printed works in the world. Like the vast,
Barragan-esque patio compound, the neoclassical grotto beneath the overgrown ruins is a complete, shocking, satisfying surprise.</div>
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Further on, some ten minute's walk, lies the most remarkable
of all Ricci's marvels, his bamboo labyrinth, covering 17.5 acres, by a factor of five the largest
maze in the world. The labyrinth, of course, is an ancient cipher representing
man's path through life; its circuitous course, from periphery to center,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>symbolizes life's journey from ignorance to
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The plan of Ricci's labyrinth, two overlapping squares,
evokes Renaissance fortifications, and over a dozen species of bamboo have been
planted to form its high, dense allées. Inside its precincts he has constructed
a museum and study center which will house his library and collections, as well
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The compound, built of warm rose Roman brick, is
designed in a neoclassical vocabulary and laid out in a series of symmetrical,
generously scaled courtyards, perhaps better called atria.<br />
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A triumphal arch
greets visitors entering the compound, and the main axis culminates with yet
another surprise, a pyramidal folly. </div>
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The scale of the undertaking is commensurate with the
audacity of Ricci's vision. He chuckled when he said, leading us unerringly through
the maze, that no one would be allowed to enter the labyrinth without a portable
phone, but indeed the rule will be necessary once the kilometres of paths are opened to the
public.<br />
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On a final note, Rizzoli has recently published Ricci's book, <a href="http://www.rizzoliusa.com/book.php?isbn=9780847841646" target="_blank"><i>Labyrinths</i></a>; needless to say, it too is exceptional.</div>
<span style="font-family: "ZapfHumnst BT"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span>Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-23924421948332781152013-12-06T23:13:00.001+01:002013-12-16T15:58:20.457+01:00Aux barricades, comrades!France toys with its next revolution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Mon dieu!</i> Where to begin? the French government, in a bout of historical amnesia, has decided to erect a nationwide network of electronic
"éco-tax" barriers straddling its major highways (which have been
privatized into corporate-owned toll-roads, but that is another matter) to collect an environmental tax
upon the country's long-distance truckers.</div>
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Well, apparently this was the tax too far, the<i> impot</i> that broke the
camel's back, and Brittany—that poor, agrarian and fiercely self-aware region
that French nationalism never fully managed to tame—has gone into open revolt.
Red Phrygian caps, or "red bonnets," symbol of the French revolution of 1789, have become all the rage, sported by enraged <i>citoyens </i>who gather to wave the Breton flag and to set fire to these newly erected electronic tax barriers, while the nation's truckers have organized to block the country's major vehicular arteries for the last several weekends. </div>
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<a href="http://images.midilibre.fr/images/2013/11/05/des-milliers-de-bretons-aux-bonnets-rouges-contre-l-ecotaxe_722030_510x255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images.midilibre.fr/images/2013/11/05/des-milliers-de-bretons-aux-bonnets-rouges-contre-l-ecotaxe_722030_510x255.jpg" /></a></div>
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Open revolt. That, in a nutshell, is what is currently
brewing <i>en ce pays-ci</i>, which coincides with record levels of popular discontent
with the government and a record-low approval rate for the Président de la
République, François Hollande. Hollande has plumbed the lowest depths
of approval (and conversely the apex of popular disapproval), reaching 16%
overall approval in the latest national polling—just<a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/congressional_performance" target="_blank"> nine percentage points ahead of the US Congress</a>.<br />
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In an unprecedented display of public discontent,<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/11/francois-hollande-booed-protesters-arrested-armistice-day" target="_blank"> Hollande was publicly booed and heckled while observing solemn Armistice celebrations</a> at the base of the Arc de triomphe this past November 11. For the moment, civil disobediance and organized arson are reserved for weekends and national holidays, in the French tradition of protest as wholesome family entertainment. However, all this could change with further incitement, leading to an escalation to public strikes—another French tradition <a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/social/2013/11/11/09010-20131111ARTFIG00299-thierry-lepaon-le-climat-est-tres-tendu-c-est-explosif-partout.php" target="_blank">that even the leader of the nation's most leftist union has publicly disavowed, fearing to become the spark that sets off a mood that is "explosive all over."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.focusur.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/hollande-hu%C3%A9-champs-elysees-11-novembre-demission-interpell%C3%A9s-70-personnes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://www.focusur.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/hollande-hu%C3%A9-champs-elysees-11-novembre-demission-interpell%C3%A9s-70-personnes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Meanwhile, the country's <i>préfets</i>, akin to county executives, sent <a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2013/11/13/01002-20131113ARTFIG00612-fronde-sociale-et-fiscale-les-prefets-sonnent-l-alarme.php" target="_blank">a confidential, leaked memo to the Elysée</a> that stated in the starkest of
terms that conditions in France are a "tinderbox," that the
populace has never been more resentful of the unrelenting onslaught of
increasing taxes and stagnating incomes, and that the government had better
take heed of, and gingerly diffuse, this volatile situation or face a "<i>fronde sociale</i>," or popular revolt.</div>
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So, what did the government do? Why, it also decided to
increase the national sales tax, or TVA, come the new year. <i>Bonne année! </i> Only problem,<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2013/11/12/sondage-ras-le-bol-fiscal-64-hausses-impots-81-systeme-injuste_n_4260066.html?utm_hp_ref=france" target="_blank"> fully 81% of French citizens find the current tax system unjust and want the country's finances completely revamped</a>.<i><br /></i></div>
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A few tidbits of history, to put all this in perspective.
The last time France had a revolution, in 1789, it was incited by increasingly onerous taxation by a deeply indebted government, culminating with the construction of a physical Berlin wall of tax barriers about Paris, imprisoning the city's populace (we even blogged about it, <a href="http://architecturalwatercolors.blogspot.fr/2012/03/ledoux-all-seeing-eye.html" target="_blank">here</a>).</div>
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<a href="http://www.ghamu.org/IMG/jpg/Barriere-Versailles-Ledoux-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://www.ghamu.org/IMG/jpg/Barriere-Versailles-Ledoux-.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Also note the uncanny resemblance of President Hollande to
Louis XVI, and the uncanny resemblance of his policies to those of the late,
beheaded monarch: blind allegiance to
the status quo in the face of increasing popular discontent during <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25402881" target="_blank">a prolonged period of deepening economic adversity</a>. One should
also remark that Hollande shows none of the creativity or intestinal fortitude
necessary to reddress the mounting crisis of confidence in the
competence and direction of the French government itself, to say nothing of a fundamantal realignment, overwhelmingly demanded by the citizenry, of its implacably oppressive tax structure. </div>
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<a href="http://www.contrepoints.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Hollande-Louis-XVI-majest%C3%A9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.contrepoints.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Hollande-Louis-XVI-majest%C3%A9.png" width="275" /></a></div>
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Today,<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/world/europe/27france.html?_r=0" target="_blank"> the <i>New York Times</i> reports</a> that the
populist, far-right Front National is the most popular political party in
France, with the Socialist Party of Hollande trailing badly. You do not need to
be an oracle or a political pundit to divine that the present moment is about the absolute worst time for the government to re-erect a modern version of the tax barriers that incited the French
Revolution. </div>
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Willful amnesia, and <i>déjà vu </i>all over again.</div>
Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-69998042299552009942013-12-02T20:14:00.000+01:002013-12-02T20:22:29.728+01:00Celebrating Central Park NYC at Librarie Galignani, Paris<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BimWqtp-bPw/UpzbBZlA4BI/AAAAAAAABcU/8r11NViWwT8/s1600/Galignani.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BimWqtp-bPw/UpzbBZlA4BI/AAAAAAAABcU/8r11NViWwT8/s400/Galignani.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
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We're delighted to announce that Paris' premier bookstore, the august <a href="http://www.galignani.fr/" target="_blank">Librarie Galignani</a> on the rue de Rivoli, will be hosting an evening celebrating publication of <i>Central Park NYC</i> on the fourth December<i>--hélas</i> by invitation only, but we hope if you have recieved your invitation that you'll join us then.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPcsi5F_2b4/S30Z20TAJDI/AAAAAAAAABM/4kfWxrzBZtg/s1600/Galignani_Z%2526D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPcsi5F_2b4/S30Z20TAJDI/AAAAAAAAABM/4kfWxrzBZtg/s400/Galignani_Z%2526D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We will give a short talk about the book and Central Park, and then be available to sign copies. These are festive evenings that mingle current events and the love of books, and Galignani has created a wonderful authors' program that has made it a center of Parisian culture. Needless to say, we are honored and are looking forward immensely to the <i>soirée.</i><br />
<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-89226800579761006402013-11-27T17:27:00.000+01:002013-11-28T11:18:44.929+01:00A Year of Pagodas agenda<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGudO7jwwMA/UpYa4Urn3jI/AAAAAAAABb0/Ca3rMXQ4Bco/s1600/YOP+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGudO7jwwMA/UpYa4Urn3jI/AAAAAAAABb0/Ca3rMXQ4Bco/s400/YOP+cover.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
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As a part of our first season of paper products for Libretto Group, we have also designed an agenda, <i>A Year of Pagodas</i>, that features a dozen spreads of our Chinoiserie fantasy watercolors, one for each month of the year (<i>below is a sample spread for October</i>).<br />
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<i>Pagodas</i> is a B5 format, hardbound notebook (7" x 10") with 144 ruled pages, twelve double-page spreads and a ribbon marker. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f2liD6roDrg/UpYbqvAYGoI/AAAAAAAABb8/QFvHBTjFcig/s1600/YOP+spread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f2liD6roDrg/UpYbqvAYGoI/AAAAAAAABb8/QFvHBTjFcig/s400/YOP+spread.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The cover features a crisp blue-and-white toile de Jouy pattern, reversed for the endpapers (<i>bottom</i>), which also include a whimsical bookplate. The page ends are gilded and each month's ten lined pages are crowned with that month's pagoda silhouetted in miniature.<br />
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As with the other items in the collection, <a href="http://libretto-group.com/stores.htm" target="_blank">please follow this link to find a retailer near you or contact Libretto Group directly.</a><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VBCLEsgK1IM/UpYb6fDnF7I/AAAAAAAABcE/mN4EU_RHqi8/s1600/Year+of+Pagodas+endpapers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VBCLEsgK1IM/UpYb6fDnF7I/AAAAAAAABcE/mN4EU_RHqi8/s400/Year+of+Pagodas+endpapers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-88683125359925524552013-11-17T23:35:00.000+01:002014-02-05T14:31:45.255+01:00Table lanterns are back<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fOTuHyaM8wI/UolC4ZjqSuI/AAAAAAAABbU/yPdQU2iQTzE/s1600/101521367_p.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fOTuHyaM8wI/UolC4ZjqSuI/AAAAAAAABbU/yPdQU2iQTzE/s400/101521367_p.jpg" height="400" width="308" /></a></div>
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In our last post, we mentioned that we have a new design partnership with Libretto Group of New York, manufacturers and distributors of innovative paper products. Libretto's other design partners include Christian Lacroix, the <i>New York Times</i> and London's Victoria & Albert Museum.<br />
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In addition to the Chinoiserie note cards featured in our last post, Libretto is also distributing our ever-popular <a href="http://libretto-group.com/architectural_watercolors.htm?product=Lanterns" target="_blank">table lantern designs</a>: the Belvedere (<i>above</i>, a neoclassical pavilion), the Tea House (below, a Chinoiserie pagoda) and Mr. Jefferson's Folly (<i>bottom,</i> a Georgian/neoPalladian pavilion). These paper lanterns have been extremely popular and unfortunately they have also been out of stock for some time, but we are delighted to announce that they are once again available<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MfMuzzjVUvY/UolDn5RoMxI/AAAAAAAABbc/Sy-CxSenSZ8/s1600/TeaHouseEnvelopeWeb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MfMuzzjVUvY/UolDn5RoMxI/AAAAAAAABbc/Sy-CxSenSZ8/s400/TeaHouseEnvelopeWeb.jpg" height="400" width="373" /></a></div>
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Also, Libretto will be launching a new series of lanterns early in the new year, with an even greater variety of designs to choose from, and we will be posting about them in due course.<br />
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If you wish to purchase, <a href="http://libretto-group.com/stores.htm?type=ONLINE" target="_blank">please look here for a store near you or contact Libretto Group directly for your nearest retailor</a>. Also, Libretto will shortly be expanding their website to include an advanced store finder to make finding a retailer an easy task.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xup0Y0e8S_g/UolD8gEjPRI/AAAAAAAABbk/LRuDz4NXyCw/s1600/JeffersonEnvelopeWeb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xup0Y0e8S_g/UolD8gEjPRI/AAAAAAAABbk/LRuDz4NXyCw/s400/JeffersonEnvelopeWeb.jpg" height="400" width="295" /></a></div>
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<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-45772209425500351222013-11-04T17:26:00.000+01:002013-11-04T19:47:27.597+01:00Chinoiserie note cards in Architectural Digest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PLPDMB4peIE/UnfItOpj27I/AAAAAAAABas/tmjePzq_WSU/s1600/Pagoda+notecards+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PLPDMB4peIE/UnfItOpj27I/AAAAAAAABas/tmjePzq_WSU/s400/Pagoda+notecards+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Architectural Digest</i> has featured our new package of Chinoiserie note cards in their latest issue (<i>screen capture below</i>), available at <a href="http://www.frick.org/shop" target="_blank">The Frick Collection museum shop</a> in Manhattan and at select retailers worldwide.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yahf8vpDPbc/UnfI7R_djwI/AAAAAAAABa0/WMUf-IZat2U/s1600/photo.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yahf8vpDPbc/UnfI7R_djwI/AAAAAAAABa0/WMUf-IZat2U/s640/photo.PNG" width="480" /></a></div>
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There are two folding cards each of four motifs, reproducing our watercolors of fantasy pagodas framed by a deep red Chinoiserie fillet/border. The reverse of the cards feature the pagodas in silhouette against richly colored grounds (<i>below</i>). The images are printed on a heavywieght laid paper and are packaged with envelopes in a handsome paper wallet.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ezaNWCdTkaU/UnfJRjOXFmI/AAAAAAAABa8/J_ts1XZfVLY/s1600/Pagoda+notecards2+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="323" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ezaNWCdTkaU/UnfJRjOXFmI/AAAAAAAABa8/J_ts1XZfVLY/s400/Pagoda+notecards2+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The card set is part of our first season of designs for <a href="http://libretto-group.com/" target="_blank">Libretto Group</a>, manufacturers of innovative stationery and paper products. Libretto is a dynamic company based in Manhattan with a worldwide distribution; their other design lines include Christian Lacroix, <i>The New York Times</i> and the Victoria & Albert Museum. <br />
<br />Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-49551876830387710322013-10-31T20:20:00.000+01:002013-10-31T23:07:18.270+01:00Central Park NYC Exhibition at Didier Aaron, Manhattan<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ_Fhx1Cn4o/UnKrNcZzkjI/AAAAAAAABaQ/7jzhmToQiXg/s1600/T+Magazine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ_Fhx1Cn4o/UnKrNcZzkjI/AAAAAAAABaQ/7jzhmToQiXg/s640/T+Magazine.jpg" width="553" /></a></td></tr>
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<i>The New York Times T Magazine</i>, 24 October 2013 </td></tr>
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This past month has been a very busy time as we launched our latest book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Central-Park-NYC-Architectural-View/dp/0847840794/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375714921&sr=8-1&keywords=central+park+NYC" target="_blank">Central Park NYC</a>, </i>and prepared an exhibition of the watercolors illustrating that book at <a href="http://www.didieraaron.com/en/homepage/22/278-central-park-nyc.html" target="_blank">Didier Aaron, Inc.</a> in Manhattan.<br />
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The eponymous exhibition opened on the 22nd with a private preview for the Woman's Committee of <a href="http://www.centralparknyc.org/" target="_blank">The Central Park Conservancy</a>, and it was an ebuillant evening and a true pleasure to meet so many dedicated benefactors of the park. New York itself was as vibrant as we've ever experienced it, and it was an enormous pleasure to spend even such a short time in our former home.<br />
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The following evening was the exhibition's general opening, and shortly after the <i>New York Times T Magazine</i> <a href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/gallery-the-buildings-and-statuary-of-central-park-in-gorgeous-watercolor/?_r=1" target="_blank">published this online review</a>, with a gallery of six watercolors from ths show.<br />
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The exhibition at Didier Aaron, Inc. runs until November the 8th. The gallery is open from 10 AM to 5:30 PM, Monday to Friday, tel. 212-988-5248.Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5047382600176843307.post-5818782155869820292013-09-15T12:00:00.001+02:002014-01-06T13:04:02.297+01:00Central Park NYC: "redefines the coffee table book"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XrAdkdbQLns/UXMzE3FCbmI/AAAAAAAABYQ/_0UPBFOXyp0/s1600/CP+cover+axo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XrAdkdbQLns/UXMzE3FCbmI/AAAAAAAABYQ/_0UPBFOXyp0/s400/CP+cover+axo.jpg" height="400" width="353" /></a></div>
We are extremely pleased to announce that <a href="http://www.rizzoliusa.com/book.php?isbn=9780847840793" target="_blank">Rizzoli </a>published <b><i>Central Park NYC: An Architectural View</i></b> this past Tuesday, September 10, accompanied by a review in that same day's edition of the <i>New York Times.</i> <br />
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From<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/nyregion/books-about-the-world-trade-center-and-the-traces-left.html?_r=2&" target="_blank"> the <i>Times</i> review</a>: <br />
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...in <b>“Central Park NYC: An Architectural View”</b>
(Rizzoli, $75), the artist-authors Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Dams explore
the park’s multitude of overlooked smaller structures, statues, benches
and bridges.</div>
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Their original watercolors and photographs and revealing text redefine
the coffee table book: More than just pretty pictures to be savored,
these images will enrich and deepen the reader’s experience of the park.
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</blockquote>
We are delighted that the <i>Times</i> recognized and lauded the underlying rigor of this book. We should also point out that beyond the park's structures and ornaments, our true focus is rather upon the park's design, divided into thirteen chapters that examine important features, such as the Mall, Bethesda Terrace and the Belvedere, and others devoted to design elements, such as the park's monuments, its bridges and arches, its water features, and its rustic structures.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XCJO5OHGQEk/Ujb0fgt8CGI/AAAAAAAABZo/FMh0YL6JKzc/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XCJO5OHGQEk/Ujb0fgt8CGI/AAAAAAAABZo/FMh0YL6JKzc/s400/photo.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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To peek inside, you can visit this link to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Central-Park-NYC-Architectural-View/dp/0847840794/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375714921&sr=8-1&keywords=central+park+NYC" target="_blank">the book's Amazon page</a>, where you can access an interactive pdf with a shocking number of the book's pages put online for your perusal. While pasting the link, we were delighted to see that <i><b>Central Park NYC</b> </i>has already reached the #1 position in Amazon's landscape architecture category, and horrified that only 2 copies remain in stock. Our thanks to everyone who made this possible!Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Damshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912921769853176053noreply@blogger.com0