Photo from The Decoration of Houses, Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman
I do!
Napoleon's bathroom in the Palazzo Pitti 
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
In light of current events...
I thought I would post some photos of the Charleston Earthquake of 1886. This earthquake, which was a 7.3 on the Richter scale, was one of the largest and most devastating of any in the Southeastern United States. Over 2,000 buildings were damaged causing 6 million dollars worth of damage (almost 150 million in modern terms).
Although the event devastated the city and surrounding areas, the resulting photographs are hauntingly beautiful and surreal.
Note the large section missing from the upper portion of the spire of St. Philip's on Church Street. To the left is the old Planter's Hotel, now the Dock Street Theatre, and to the right is the French Huguenot Church...
The effects of the earthquake necessitated many large homes to be demolished, fortunately these two homes still stand on Broad Street. Note the small piece of furniture still in place in the gable room of the home at right...
This large antebellum building which stood at the corner of Broad and Meeting Streets was so badly damaged that it was demolished...
Tombstones in the graveyard of the Unitarian Church on Archdale... note how the marble obelisk has moved three or four inches from its original position... the church attached to this graveyard was so damaged that much of the gothic ornamentation was removed. Please see here for my previous post on the Unitarian Church.
This is one of my favorite photographs from this series... the elaborate doric column was thrown to the left and has partly planted itself in the ground. The capital lies about two feet farther to the left, and the urn finial is to the right...
and finally my favorite photograph: a double exposure of a church and the granite works showing toppled over marble and granite tombstones.
The Graduate
This has been one of my favorite films since I was about 12... I discovered this poster the other weekend while working at Julia Santen Gallery, she deals in extremely rare and vintage posters. The price isn't that bad... I just wish I had a wall for him.
I mean, what could get better than Dustin Hoffman and a hot pink leg?
Friday, August 19, 2011
Mad Men Style: Part 1
After having to watch a few episodes of the latest season against my will a few months ago, I've finally become a Mad Men devotee. I was told you have to watch them from the start and so I have... obsessively pressing "Play Next Episode" on Netflix every few nights. The acting is superb and the subject matter is surprisingly interesting. However, my favorite part, as with any film or theatrical performance, is the set...
This zebra patterned wallpaper feels so fresh and modern...
I love this gilded wall with silhouetted bamboo...
Miss Menken's Manhattan apartment is decidedly chic. The sofa, table lamps, side tables, and coffee table are all fantastic...
The Draper residence is pretty conventional... almost boring. However, these taupe chairs edged in a monochromatic trim are a definite favorite...
Betty Draper's family home... the portrait of her mother above the mantle is amazing...
The barn Betty Draper rides at couldn't be much more idyllic... not to mention I love this guy's crimson jodhpurs...
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wrestling: an art form
Andy Warhol, Greco-Roman Figures, 1986
Italian late 19th Century marble copy of The Wrestlers
Italian Grand Tour Bronze of The Wrestlers, late 19th century
Stereoscopic view of The Wrestlers in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence
An Italian Charcoal Drawing, Circa 1755, Giovanni Domenico Campiglia
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Alexander Louis Leloir, 1865
Thomas Eakins, 1899
Photographic Study, Thomas Eakins, 1883
Art Students Wrestling, Thomas Eakins, 1883
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
My new purchase
While visiting one of my favorite antiques malls in Charleston, 17 South, I discovered this fantastic tole tray with decoupaged classical busts and insects. The tray appears to be an authentic Victorian tole tray that received a new decorative treatment in the 1960s...
The back has a large dragonfly and is signed "Alice H. Balterman" who worked in Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm completely in love with it and want to have a stand made for it so it can be used as a cocktail table.
The style of the tray reminds me a lot of Fornasetti...
such as this trompe l'oeil tray...
Classical busts were common decorative motifs used by Fornasetti such as this amazing umbrella stand...
It even reminds me of this custom Fornasetti decoupaged chest with lithographic classical images. It is dated 1962 and sold for over $85,000 during a 2oth Century Decorative Arts sale at Christie's in 2010...
Decoupage was also popular in the 19th century as seen in this mid-19th century Spanish chest...
and also this 19th century New England architect's table which is completely covered in images...
Even Elsie de Wolfe loved decoupaged decorative arts...
as seen in her bed which was decorated by Tony Duquette with 18th century floral engravings and lithographs for her home "After All." He also completed a matching secretary, which is just out of the frame of the photograph to the right.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Home is where the harp is...
... or the harp case.
I love them... they're so bizarre and unusual.
Almost macabre; like a coffin for an inanimate object.
From Installations Antique on 1stDibs...
From Jayson Home & Garden on 1stDibs...
This might be my favorite...
I love the bright orange stripes and the dates with different cities where the harp was transported
From Boo Radley's on 1stDibs...
Now on to what I would want to find inside these cases...
Maybe a 19th century American gilt-wood harp?
From Berkshire Home & Antiques on 1stDibs...
or maybe an antique harp covered in tar?
by artist Mattia Biagi from Twentieth Art & Design on 1stDibs...
or a bar for cocktails?
I'm so stealing this idea one day... except I'm either mirroring the entire interior, or painting it ox blood red.
From Off the Wall Antiques on 1stDibs
Saturday, August 6, 2011
A Place (not) in the Sun
After seeing this fantastic photograph of Hardy Amies on Little Augury ...
it got me thinking about summer houses, tea houses, and garden pavilions...
I'm in love with this photograph of an octagonal summer house...
The trellis-work on this example at Rosedown Plantation in Louisiana is fantastic...
Could it get any better than this chinoiserie Thomas Chippendale inspired summer house at the Ashhurst Estate in Mount Holly, Burlington, New Jersey?
Love the pretense of the Derby Summer House at Glen Magna Estate in Essex, Massachusetts...
This Roman Revival example stands on the grounds of Gaineswood
Another example of formal classicism at Kykuit, Westchester, New York...
A rustic, wisteria-clad example...
Locally in Charleston....
A heavily modified octagonal garden pavilion at the Charles Kerrison House at 138 Wentworth Street... the interior contains a domed plaster ceiling...
Formerly thought to have been cow houses, these Gothic follies built on the grounds of the Aiken-Rhett House at 48 Elizabeth Street in the 1840s were most likely originally garden pavilions...
At the end of this drive on Montagu Street sits a circa 1840s Gothic tea house... a popular form seen on the grounds of many early nineteenth century Charleston homes...
This new garden and pavilion is a theoretical recreation of what could have once been at the Francis Simmons House at 14 Legare Street...
A trellised temple at the back of the garden of the Harth-Middleton House on South Battery... coincidentally, the gates in the foreground were moved circa 1910 from a house I lived at on Rutledge Avenue.