McQueen M’Quakes – Mind, Mythos, Muse, Minis

June 28, 2023 | Posted by Lesley Jakobsen | ART, CRAFT, Embroidery & Stitchery, HISTORY |

(Special display at NGV, Melbourne, April 2023) The blurb – “Alexander McQueen (1969–2010) is one of the most original fashion designers in recent history. Celebrated for his conceptual and technical virtuosity, McQueen’s critically acclaimed collections synthesised his proficiency in tailoring and dressmaking with visual references that spanned time, geography and media. Showcasing more than 120 garments and accessories, Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse offers insight into McQueen’s far-reaching sources of inspiration, his creative processes and capacity for storytelling…” All true of course. And the NGV has put on a show for the ages; to see these works up-close is a great…

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The Lady and the Unicorn

April 28, 2018 | Posted by Lesley Jakobsen | ART, CRAFT, HISTORY |

NSW Art Gallery, Sydney, April 2018 Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870), author of Carmen (1845), while Inspector-General of Historic Monuments of France, discovered these old wall rugs, c. 1500, hanging wanly at the otherwise inconsequential Chateau de Boussac, a couple of hundred kilometres south-east of Tours. Recognising their vivid design and luminous finish, he began the tortuous task of acquiring them for the State, where they were finally ensconced, safe from rats and the damp, in the Musée de Cluny in Paris. From early February until late June, they are in Sydney where all and sundry, even The Varnished Culture who objects…

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The Little Village

April 26, 2018 | Posted by Lesley Jakobsen | Annabel Lee, ART, CRAFT, TRAVEL |

New York City, April 2018 – The Whitney moved from the upper East side to the charmingly-named meat-packing district, swelling the capacity to display its great stock of American art, but it left behind, over the road, a little piece of pixie masterpiece. The elegant building on 940 Madison Avenue is now an ‘Apple’ store, and nestled in the top right office ledge is a tiny village… This is one of several created by Charles Simonds. “Since 1970 Simonds has created Dwelling places for an imaginary civilization of “Little People” who are migrating through the streets of neighborhoods in cities throughout…

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Little Miracles: the Thorne Gallery

April 21, 2018 | Posted by Lesley Jakobsen | ART, CRAFT, HISTORY, USA History |

English Roman Catholic Church model, portraying a standard of its type as at the late 13th Century (recent addition)

Art Institute Chicago, April 2018 – The Thorne Miniature Rooms were painstakingly built, on a scale of one inch to one foot, according to models conceived by Mrs. James Ward Thorne of Chicago and constructed between 1932 and 1940.  They are presented in framed booths in the Thorne Gallery in the lower level of the Chicago Art Institute, which have, in addition, superb, tasteful and realistic back-lighting. These are wonderful in their detail, whether we are offered a paper-walled Japanese room: …or early American interiors, in all their homely glory, whether kitchens: …or this Virginia parlour: French style is also beautifully presented,…

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Embroidered Garden Flowers by Kazuo Aoki

Roost Books (to be published in January 2018). In the twenty-first century, while the traditional embroidery styles sashiko (“little stabs”) and nihon shishu (ornate symbolic stitchery), have continued to enchant and engross stitchers, there has also developed a less-stylised kind of Japanese decorative stitching. This popular kind of embellishment is more varied than the darning-style stitching of sashiko and less painstaking than the fine satin-stitch of nihon shishu. One category of modern Japanese embroidery often features ‘kawaii’ figures in stem and outline stitch – animals, people, household implements – and is popularly used on children’s clothing. Another school focuses on the botanical – landscapes, plants,…

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