FIDM Museum & Galleries, Scream Queens, Photo Romi CortierFIDM Museum & Galleries, Defiance, Photo Romi CortierFIDM Museum & Galleries, Marvel: Agent Carter, Photo Romi CortierFIDM Museum & Galleries, Game of Thrones, Photo Romi CortierFIDM Museum & Galleries, Outlander, Photo Romi CortierFIDM Museum & Galleries, Vinyl, Photo Romi CortierFIDM Museum & Galleries, Jane the Virgin, Photo Romi CortierFIDM Museum & Galleries, American Horror Story, Photo Romi CortierFIDM Museum & Galleries, Empire, Photo Romi CortierFIDM Museum & Galleries , Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Photo Romi Cortier
FIDM Museum & Galleries recently hosted their 10th annual “Art of Television Costume Design” opening reception. The kick off event was to celebrate the Emmy nominated Costume Designers of 2016, with over 100 costumes from 23 television shows in a variety of genres.
I have to admit that I’d heard of FIDM for years, but had never actually been to their college in downtown Los Angeles. Fortunately a longtime client of salon manicurist Lisa Preciado happens to head up this annual event. Therefore, she graciously extended an invitation to me when I heard them discussing the upcoming event. Having recently seen LACMA’s Reigning Men exhibit, I was more than intrigued about the possibility of seeing costumes from some of my favorite tv shows. The evening was so exciting and certainly didn’t disappoint. And if you’ve never seen an actual Emmy statue in person, this is your chance.
FIDM Museum & Galleries, Emmy Statue, Photo Romi Cortier
This current exhibit is free to the public, and will be on display until October 15, 2016. Gallery hours are from 10am – 5pm, Tuesday through Saturday. Location: 919 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90015.
Learn more about FIDM HERE, or sign up for future events.
After seeing the costumes in person, it will make it that much more exciting to watch the Emmy’s live on September 18, 2016.
FIDM Museum & Galleries, Photo Romi CortierFIDM event: Lori, Mathew Hancock, Lisa Preciado, Romi Cortier
Neoclassical Paneled Room, Getty Center, Los Angeles, Photo Romi CortierNeoclassical Paneled Room, Getty Center, Los Angeles, Photo Romi CortierNeoclassical Paneled Room, Getty Center, Los Angeles, Photo Romi CortierNeoclassical Paneled Room Detail, Getty Center, Los Angeles, Photo Romi CortierNeoclassical Paneled Room, Getty Center, Los Angeles, Photo Romi CortierNeoclassical Paneled Room, Getty Center, Los Angeles, Photo Romi CortierNeoclassical Paneled Room, Getty Center, Los Angeles, Photo Romi Cortier
I love this French Neoclassical Paneled Room at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. It’s so rich in neoclassical details from the Louis XVI (16th) period. Chairs with thin fluted legs, decorative items with garlands, swags, palmettes, and flowers, and a return to simplicity in shapes, such as the rectangular and circular motifs in the doors. Yes, there’s a lot going on here compared to todays much simpler rooms, but the attention to detail and the subtle gilded ornamentation helps the viewer experience the refined joy of this period.
The end of the Louis Louis’s, as my art history teacher used to say, was the lightest and leanest of the three periods. You can see by these delicate and symmetrical details how pleasant this room must have been to live in during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. The heavy Baroque and Rococo period gave way to these refined details thanks in part to Louis XV’s (15th) mistress Madame de Pompadour. Additionally, the discovery of Roman ruins at Herculaneum and Pompeii (1738-50) helped to turn the tide on the previously decadent and ostentatious period, with a return to the classicism of Greece and Rome. Note the grecian inspired women on the doorknob mechanism and the stunning wall mounted candelabra.
Visiting this room makes me feel as if I’m back in Paris visiting any number of my favorite places… I love to linger here and soak it up whenever I visit the Getty. It’ll have to hold me over until I can plan my next visit back to the mothership.
This salon, or main reception room, is from a residence in Paris called the Maison Hosten. It was built for Jean-Baptiste Hosten, a plantation owner from Santo Domingo. He Commissioned the architect Claude-Nicolar Ledoux to design his residence as the focus of a larger house complex that was to include fourteen other surrounding town houses. The Maison Hosten and six of the others were completed by 1795, when building stopped after Hosten fled the country during the French Revolution. The whole project was dismantled at the end of the 1800s. The complex is considered to have been among the most significant works of French domestic architecture by one of the leading architects of the 1700s. (per the Getty Center placard)
Reigning Men, LACMA 2016, Photo Romi Cortier, Right: Suit, Italy, c. 1770Reigning Men, LACMA 2016, Photo Romi Cortier Right: Naval Uniform Ensemble, England, c. 1820Reigning Men, LACMA 2016, Photo Romi Cortier, Court Suit, France, 1785 – 90Reigning Men, LACMA 2016, Photo Romi Cortier. Left: Court Coat and Vest, Italy, c 1800Reigning Men, LACMA 2016, Photo Romi Cortier, Suit, England, c. 1780Reigning Men, LACMA 2016, Photo Romi Cortier, Riding Coat and Breeches, England or France, 1780 -90Reigning Men, LACMA 2016, Photo Romi Cortier, Coat, France, c 1800
It’s Reigning Men at LACMA! And no I’m not talking about the Weathers Girls song from 1983, but reigning… as in occupying the throne like a King.
With over 300 years of regal wear, it would be hard not to find something to love at this exhibition. I’ve chosen my faves which represent the more genteel of garments from France, England and Italy. However, this show also features everything from a 1952 ‘Aloha Shirt’ to a 2014 Tom Ford Silk Dinner Jacket, to a 1970 Unisex Caftan.
One of the stunning things I truly loved about the exhibit were the meticulously crafted wigs by milliner Deborah Ambrosino. It took her two years to create them, with the help of assistant curator Clarissa Esguerra who did the research. The white wigs are correct for each specific period, without being a distraction to the final presentation of the garment.
When it came to the 131 mannequins required for these three centuries of mens garments, costume and textile specialist Melinda Webber Kerstein took 28 months to laboriously create the proper mens silhouettes from 5 basic mannequins. Over 40 mannequins were cut down and re-sculpted to fit the extant garments. Over 275 yards of batting and 400 yards of tulle were used to pad out the mannequins and mounts in the show, as well as 300 pairs of queen size control-top panty hose.
This exhibit runs until August 21, 2016 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Click HERE for more info on the show, and click HERE to read more about what it took to bring these Reigning Men to life.
Oh, and in case you have no clue about the Weathers Girls, you can watch their iconic 80’s video below.
Mille Fiori, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle, Photo Romi CortierMille Fiori, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle, Photo Romi CortierMille Fiori, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle, Photo Romi CortierMille Fiori, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle, Photo Romi CortierMille Fiori, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle, Photo Romi CortierMille Fiori, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle, Photo Romi CortierMille Fiori, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle, Photo Romi Cortier
There’s so much to Love at Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle, including this massive installation titled Mille Fiori. I was so taken back by this remarkable work of art, that I’ve chosen to do an entire blog post dedicated to this one room of blown glass.
Mille Fiori, Italian for a thousand flowers, is only one of eight interior galleries, as well as multiple exterior gardens that include blown glass objects on this 1.5 acre plot in the heart of Seattle. The pieces above look quite stunning in the absence of daylight, beautifully lit to expose the saturated quality of the glass, as well as their sinewy and amorphous shapes. Being in this room makes me feel like I’m standing on the ocean floor a thousand feet below the waters surface, watching molten lava emerge from the earth as it forms colorful new worlds.
Situated at the foot of the Seattle Space Needle, this extraordinary museum offers both visitors and locals a glimpse into the mind of probably thee most famous artist to ever come out of Tacoma Washington. As you may know, Chihuly has created notable installations around the globe such as: Chihuly over Venice,Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem, Chihuly at the V&A, and Dale Chihuly objets de vere, at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Palais du Louvre. This particular museum opened in 2012 and received LEED Silver certification due to the ‘repurposing’ of the existing building for the Exhibition Hall. I’d been hearing about this space for several years and am delighted that I can now cross it off my ‘to do’ list. That said, I have no doubt that I’ll be returning again and again with family members and friends to share the joy of this important space dedicated to one of Seattle’s own.
North Shore, Lake Superior, Oil on Canvas, Lawren Harris, Hammer Museum, Photo Romi CortierLake Superior, Oil on Canvas, Lawren Harris, Hammer Museum, Photo Romi CortierMt. Lefroy, Oil on Canvas, Lawren Harris, Hammer Museum, Photo Romi CortierPic Island, Oil on Canvas, Lawren Harris, Hammer Museum, Photo Romi CortierIcebergs, Davis Strait, Oil on Canvas, Lawren Harris, Hammer Museum, Photo Romi CortierLake Superior, Oil on Canvas, Lawren Harris, Hammer Museum, Photo Romi CortierMountain Forms, Oil on Canvas, Lawren Harris, Hammer Museum, Photo Romi Cortier
I almost missed the Lawren Harris exhibit, which just closed at the Hammer Museum. Fortunately my client and favorite gal pal Sharon Lawrence reminded me about the show. What a gift. I wish I would have had my photo taken in front of one of them to give you a sense of their scale. The larger pieces, like Mountain Forms above, are about 60 x 60 and remarkably stunning, especially when viewed from a distance.
There’s no doubt that Lawren’s use of color is both superb and stunning. However, it’s his remarkable stylized line work that screams Art Deco and truly draws me in. The dates on these pieces range from 1922 – 30, the height of the deco era. That said, the establishment refers to him as a pioneering modernist and a leading figure in defining Canadian art in the twentieth century. While Harris is a household name in his native Canada, he’s practically unknown in the United States.
My research shows that actor, art connoisseur and collector Steve Martin was instrumental in bring this show to the Hammer, as well as guest curating it. Ann Philbin, the Hammer’s director, had visited Martin’s home and was intrigued by his collection of Lawren Harris landscape paintings. Ms. Philbin delved further into the works of Lawren Harris and then invited Martin to curate the exhibit. Martin wisely chose not to include any works from his personal collection to avoid any conflicts interest. As you may know, every time a painting his hung in a museum exhibit, it adds to the provenance of the piece. That provenance will follow the painting to market any time it’s taken to auction, or sold to a new collector. Thus it would be in bad form to curate a show, add works from your collection, and then sell it at a later date touting its provenance that you helped create. Martin’s love of the work was his motivation for helping bring it to the Hammer, helping to open the doors to a new American audience. I for one am thrilled to have been exposed to this remarkable painting.
The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris will be on view at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) July 2 – September 11, 2016.
