Butterfly hunting

Posted on Posted in Animal friends, Littérature, Museum, Philippe Halsman, Photography, Vladimir NabokovLeave a comment
Philippe Halsman ~ Vladimir Nabokov, Montreux, Switzerland, 1966
My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music
 My pleasures are the most intense known to man: writing and butterfly hunting

Memorable, haunting, enchanting…

Posted on Posted in Fashion, Fragrance, Guerlain, Littérature, Michel Tournier, Newspapers and magazines, Vintage Advertising and IllustrationLeave a comment
It all began in 1912 when Guerlain launched Heure Bleue.  Anyone who caught a whiff of that iris, heliotrope, 
jasmine and Bulgarian rose felt transported into the first twilight of the world, when the first stars were scintillating ...  
The Midnight Love Feast by Michel Tournier
➔ La Maison Guerlain
L’ Heure Bleue, 1912
Jacques Guerlain, Perfumer
Raymond Guerlain, Bottle Designer, in collaboration with Baccarat
New York Magazine ~ May 4, 1970

Few companies, French or otherwise, have as romantic and regal a history as GUERLAIN.  The company was founded in 1828 by Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain at a time when perfume – indeed the entire world of beauty products – wasn’t yet an industry.  But Guerlain would change all that.  Before the century was out, the house had won the favor of Empress Eugénie (wife of Napoleon III) and had made specially commissioned scents for clients as diverse as Balzac and Sarah Bernhardt…
[New York Magazine Jun 5, 1989] 

Roses

Posted on Posted in Flowers, George Eliot, Littérature, Photography, Poetry, Robert MapplethorpeLeave a comment
Robert Mapplethorpe ~ Rose, 1988

leaf.gif

You love the roses – so do I. I wish
The sky would rain down roses, as they rain
From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and white
And soft to tread on. They would fall as light
As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be
Like sleeping and like waking, all at once! 

George Eliot  [Mary Anne Evans]

 

Capra dixit

Posted on Posted in Chanel, Ed Feingersh, Film, Frank Capra, Marilyn Monroe, PhotographyLeave a comment
Breasts she had.  And a wiggly figure. 
But to me sex is class, something more than a wiggly behind. 
If it weren’t, I know 200 whores who would be stars.
Frank Capra

 
Ed Feingersh ~ Marilyn in her New York hotel suite putting the finishing touches to her

evening attire with a touch of Chanel No. 5, 1955 

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away ♩♪♫♬♪

Posted on Posted in Fashion, Kodak, Paul Simon, PhotographyLeave a comment
➔ Reclining Model
ca. 1950 

leaf.gif

Kodachrome  

When I think back 

On all the crap I learned in high school
It’s a wonder
I can think at all
And though my lack of education
Hasn’t hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome
You give us those nice bright colors
You give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah!
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they’d never match
My sweet imagination
And everything looks worse in black and white 

Kodachrome
You give us those nice bright colors
You give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah!
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away  

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away…
Paul Simon, 1973
Sadly, on June 22, 2009, Kodak officially retired Kodachrome color film after 74 years

Tula’s Samovars

Posted on Posted in Anton Chekhov, Museum, PostcardLeave a comment
‘To take one’s own samovar  to Tula‘, a well-known Russian idiom coined by Anton Chekhov, is similar to the Western saying, ‘carrying coals to Newcastle‘.  
[meaning: to do something pointless and superfluous]
        
➔ Арсений Николаев’s Gallery

1. Globe-shaped samovar with leaves. 1920s. Nickel-plated brass.
2. Pot-shaped samovar, magazine. Early 20th cent. Brass
3. Samovar “Florentine Vase” 1870. Copper
4. Vase-shaped samovar “The Russian Field”. 1986. Nickel-plated, Steel.
5. Semi-Vase-shaped Samovar. Late 19th cent. Brass
6. Tea-pot samovar. Late 18th сent. Red Copper.
7. Traveler’s samovar. Early 19th сent. Copper
8. Pear-shaped samovar. Late 19th сent. Brass
9. Vase-Shaped Samovar. Late 19th – early 20th cent. Copper
10. Vase-shaped samovar ”Scythos.“ 1800. Brass