Wednesday, August 1, 2012

A Pinch of This, A Dash of That...























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And now for a little romp through history.

The Three Graces, Pompeii, circa 79AD, or earlier























The Three Graces, by Botticelli, Florence, dated 1478























The Three Graces, by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Germany, 1531.























Les Trois Graces, by Niki de Saint Phalle, 1999
(Public display on Park Avenue, 2012)




















So did your mother ever say to you "Stop making such a public display of yourself!", or anything like that? Here is a little shrine honoring women making public displays of themselves, courtesy of the late Niki de Saint Phalle, the Nohra Haime Gallery and the Niki Charitable Art Foundation. Of course, like everyone else, they mustn't make public displays of themselves for too long, and will be taken back inside to behave themselves in November.























Behind the above Grace is Lever House, the first "curtain wall" skyscraper, and an example of international style architecture.

Below, the Seagram Building, designed by Mies van der Rohe, is in the background. Notice what a stud muffin this Grace is -- studs on both her arms, and across her head.























According to wiki.name.com, the three Graces were Aglaia (splendor, glory), Euphrosyne (mirth, merriment), and Thalia (festivity, flourishing). It's not clear which of these is which, but their names suit them well.













































Did you want a closer look at the materials and the workmanship? Extra points if you can also find the hidden IF self portrait.


















And did your parents also warn you not to play in traffic? And did you play just as close to it as you could?























Far enough away to technically obey the rule, but close enough to appear to be doing exactly as you pleased, rules be damned?























And all the while were you dreaming up a suitable caption for your public performance? Maybe "I dreamed I played in traffic in a Maidenform bra fiercer than any that anyone at Maidenform ever even imagined"?



















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There’s a Pinterest called Rockin’ the Silver, that shows nothing but women with fabulous gray hair, so we thought you ought to know about it.

Below are just a few of the many, many great photos on it.

The first one is a photo we ourselves took of an unknown woman, and posted here last summer. We also appear on Rockin' the Silver, wearing top hats and tails. We confess we don't know how Pinterest works, and we didn't upload either the one BY us or the one OF us. So we would like to say thank you to the person or persons who did that!

One of the wonderful things about Rockin' the Silver is that many of the women are simply That Fabulous Gray-Haired Woman Next Door. There are some household names in there, too - Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Jane Alexander, Maya Angelou and Vanessa Redgrave among them - but if you're looking for a way to love your gray hair, you don't have to be a celebrity. Click on Rockin' the Silver for probably One Hundred Ways to Look Great in Gray.



























































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And we include this last photo as a little coda to our previous two homages to Yayoi Kusama and her love affair with polka dots.

To quote the late Jimmy Durante: "Everybody wants to get into the act"!


3 comments:

  1. stunning,love it,love it…the fashion is just so awesome,love the images…love your blog xo

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  2. The 'public displays' are very fun, colorful, reinforcing. As is the Pinterest site. Makes me want to grow out my hair!

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  3. The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas and Niki de Saint Phalle? A marriage made on Park Avenue. Thanks for your artful, witty and loving observations. I am sharing them with followers of Mosaic Art NOW on Facebook and Twitter. You two totally rock.

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