Art & Place

Photograph courtesy Phaidon Press.

   "Art made for a specific place can be the most spectacular and uplifting art and artists of the Americas have                    provided us with some of the most outstanding examples," says Amanda Renshaw, lead editor of                Art & Place: Site-Specific Art of the Americas. "Art sites have become increasingly popular destinations. I've    had the chance to visit many sites, but quickly realized that it is impossible to visit them all. The format of         Art & Place aims to bring some of the most extraordinary examples to life and enable most of us to visit these amazing places from home."

An overview of site-specific art across North, Central and South America, Art & Place offers an in-depth look at over 500 artworks in 15 countries, from the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west coast of Canada to Santa Cruz in Argentina--cave paintings to art of the present day. The works are installed in interiors, urban environments, deserts, and mountainous settings. In addition to earthworks and land art, art forms include paintings, carvings, murals, frescoes, mosaics, altarpieces, sculpture, stained glass, and tapestries.

     Some of the sites are instantly recognizable--Easter Island's moai--and others, such as Watts Towers in         Los Angeles, are tourist destinations. Several require prearranged tours (the Rothko Chapel in Houston and     Walter De Maria's Lightening Field in New Mexico) or are difficult to access (Peru's Andes and distant corners of British Columbia). Art & Place is arranged geographically, which creates unusual juxtapositions and comparisons because of the many different types of works, a variety of styles and movements are covered. 

Art & Place: Site-Specific Art of the Americas, book release is on November 1st, available in bookstores, on the Phaidon Press website. 

American Toile

Brooklyn Toile by Flavor Paper, design by Mike Diamond, Vincent Ficarra and Adela Qersaqi, nolar and canvas vinyl wallpaper, 2012. Photograph courtesy of Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 

Toile patterned fabrics have been used since the mid-18th century in Britain and France for furnishings and clothing. Today's American designers are retooling this classic, reinventing the traditional pastoral scenery with contemporary interpretations. 

"One of the newest trends in American toile is commemorating a town or city with images of its prominent buildings and bridges, either on fabric or wallpaper ... or both," author Michele Palmer writes in American Toile: Four Centuries of Sensational Scenic Fabrics and Wallpaper. "Homage has been paid to many American cities, but none more so than New York, with over a dozen patterns currently available."

Mike Diamond of the Beastie Boys designed a Brooklyn-themed toile wallpaper (above) for his Cobble Hill brownstone, in collaboration with Vincent Ficarra and Adela Qersaqi of Revolver New York, a boutique design collective. Flavor Paper produced the design as a digitally printed wallpaper--Brooklyn Toile. The vision was to pay tribute to all things Brooklyn in a way that would appear to be a traditional French country toile when viewed from afar, but stepping to the pattern reveals elements and vignettes about Brooklyn: Coney Island, the Bridge, graffiti, and subway cars. 

Toile de Alison by Flat Vernacular, paper, designed by Payton Cosell Turner. Photograph courtesy of Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 

For her restaurant, Alison Eighteen (a Flatiron spot), Alison Price Becker commissioned a custom biographical toile from designers Payton Cosell Turner and Brian Kaspr of Flat Vernacular, a Brooklyn-based company that specializes in original silk-screened wallpaper created from Turner's sketches. The result is a toile print of scenes of New York, Price Becker herself, people hanging out, and markets. 

The Battle of Buena Vista 1847 by F. Schumacher & Co., glazed cotton, 1952, reproduction of an 1848 print. Photograph courtesy of Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 

American Toile is a textile story and an essential reference for those seeking an introduction to the subject. Palmer, an independent fabric and fabric art curator, revisits four centuries of toile in the United States, from the 18th- to the 21st-century, observing its evolution into a figurative storytelling medium that depicts the people, events, landmarks, and everyday objects of America. This book examines toile in its many themes and topics: Colonists, the Early Republic, Civil War, country and city life, maritime and leisure activities, and the West. 

"Of all American toile patterns, Western themes have been among the most enduring," writes Palmer. "We never seem to tire of cowboys and cactus and the spirit of rugged individualism they represent. While still producing images of cowboys and their horses, fabric manufacturers have also created a new series of 'happy trails,' where the steeds have turned into cars and the cowboys into tourists." A historical introduction, identification guide and a resource section include antique, vintage, reproduction, and contemporary toile patterns. Illustrated fabrics are drawn from company and museum collections. 

Shore Leave by Flavor Paper, designed by Emily Minnie. Photograph courtesy of Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 

Owner Jon Sherman runs Flavor Paper, a producer of screen-printed wallpaper, from the company's Cobble Hill base (the Flavor Lab). His artisanal paper incorporates bold color into geometric, traditional, funky, and floral patterns. The Shore Leave toile, designed by Emily Minnie, blends sailors' pin-up girl tattoo art from the 1950s with nautical symbols to create an overall scallop pattern. "I've never been a 'white wall' kind of guy," says Sherman. 

Spring Fever Toile by Lilly Pulitzer, cotton, 2012. Photograph courtesy of Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 

Lilly Pulitzer starts each season with a bright palette and theme, developing prints and patterns that draw inspiration from Palm Beach, museums and gardens. Designers sketch, block print and watercolor the entire line. Spring Fever Toile is from their Spring 2012 collection, a jade green pattern with pink accents used for skirts, dresses and shorts. The look is colorful and tends to be preppy. 

California Postcard Toile by Hoffman California Fabrics, cotton, 2008. Photograph courtesy of Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 

This print features vignettes of California destinations in postcard-style images. California Postcard Toile is from the Tropicals and Conversationals collection by Hoffman California Fabrics in Mission Viejo. These are tropical-themed and novelty screen-printed fabrics, often made into resort wear, sundresses, sarongs, board shorts, and camp shirts. Fun prints, many by accomplished artists. 

Toile, the 18th-century classic, is having a contemporary revival. 

American Toile: Four Centuries of Sensational Scenic Fabrics and Wallpaper by Michele Palmer, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 

Poster Art 150

Molesey Regatta July 21st, artist unknown, 1928. All images: London Transport Museum, copyright Transport for London. 

At the London Transport Museum, "Poster Art 150--London Underground's Greatest Designs" features 150 posters created for the Tube from the Museum's collection of over 3,000. The show celebrates the service's 150th anniversary this year, from its outset in 1863, and illustrates the city's history and growth through advertising posters and graphic design--a selection from each decade over the last 100 years.

Speed Underground, by Alan Rogers, 1930. 

A culture of good design and 'fitness for purpose' was established by London Transport's first chief executive, Frank Pick. He commissioned distinctive poster art, a blend of Arts and Crafts and modernism. Calligrapher Edward Johnston designed the Tube font (Underground Sans) in 1913 and the roundel logo a few years later. 

Cycle and Motor Cycle Show, by Charles Burton, 1930. 

Posters in the Museum's collection (1908-present) were commissioned through designers, printers and artists until the 70s, when advertising agencies began to be used. The zenith of high-quality poster art occurred during the 20s and 30s. 

Play between 6 and 12, by Edward McKnight Kauffer, 1931. 

An Art Deco style design promoting use of the London Underground system. Many of the posters are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum's Prints collection. 

Trooping the Colour, by Margaret Calkin James, 1932. 

Wimbledon Tennis, by Herry Perry, 1935.

Your fare, by László Moholy-Nagy, 1936. 

A modernist image incorporating textiles and collage created by László Moholy-Nagy, former graphic design instructor at the Bauhaus. 

European Swimming Championships, artist unknown, 1938.

Fly the Tube, by Geoff Senior, 1979.

The London Transport brand was extended to all aspects of transport operation, from posters and tickets to corporate identity, vehicle design and station architecture. The brand was discontinued and replaced with that of Transport for London in 2000, which incorporates many of the former's design features into the current house  style--a dynamic poster legacy. 

Tate Modern, by Paul Catherall, 2003. 

On view through January 5th at the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden Piazza. 

Vegan Divas

Cover photograph courtesy HarperCollins, copyright 2013. 

"Raised in Brazil, a country known for using beef in many popular dishes, I am an unlikely vegan," writes     Fernanda Capobianco in The Vegan Divas Cookbook: Delicious Desserts, Plates, and Treats from the Famed New York City Bakery, a compilation of recipes based on her pastry shop offerings. "Growing up I had a host of health problems. I struggled with my weight, had severe acne, mood swings, chronic digestive problems, and recurring bouts of pneumonia. Eating a vegan diet has changed my life and radically improved my health." Previously a manager and owner of the Payard restaurant and pastry shops in Rio de Janeiro, she opened her Vegan Divas bakery in August 2012 on the Upper East Side. "My goal was to combine high-quality, wholesome ingredients and classic pastry technique to create a line of delicious vegan treats."

The book's recipes (desserts to quiches, sandwiches and breads) are cholesterol- and lactose-free. Ingredients include spelt flour, maple syrup, canola, and cold pressed coconut oil as replacements for butter, refined sugar, cream, and eggs. 

Vegan Divas Chocolate Mousse.

Vegan Divas Chocolate Mousse

"My aim with this recipe was to create the most chocolaty chocolate mousse ever, one that has the same silky texture of the classic version. Because this mousse is so decadent and creamy, I like to top it with some fresh fruit when plating it to add a little tartness: Blueberries, raspberries or strawberries. Or crunchy cacao nibs." Gluten-free, 42 calories per serving--a Vegan Divas signature sweet. 

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 cups vegan semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 and a half 12.3 oz. packages silken extra firm tofu

1 cup Sucanat sweetener

1 and 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Fresh fruit or cacao nibs

Directions:

Place chocolate chips and coconut oil in a heatproof bowl and set it over a saucepan half filled with simmering water. Heat, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. 

Place tofu, Sucanat, vanilla, and salt in a food processor and process until very smooth, about 1 minute. Add the melted chocolate to the tofu mixture. Continue to process until blended, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl, about 1 minute. 

Cover and refrigerate at least 5 hours before serving. 

Whether cooking and baking dairy- and egg-free for health reasons or to include more whole foods in your diet, this book outlines vegan basics, including how to stock your kitchen with meatless staples. 

The Vegan Divas Cookbook: Delicious Desserts, Plates, and Treats from the Famed New York City Bakery by Fernanda Capobianco, HarperWave, publication date: October 8. 

Forever Chic

Copyright Forever Chic: Frenchwomen's Secrets for Timeless Beauty, Style, and Substance by Tish Jett, Rizzoli Ex Libris, 2013. 

American fashion journalist and blogger Tish Jett draws on what she's learned from French women while living in a village outside Paris for the past twenty-five years. In her book, Forever Chic: Frenchwomen's Secrets for Timeless Beauty, Style, and Substance, she shares advice on skin and hair care, wardrobe basics and diet interspersed with beauty and health recommendations gathered from her interviews with French estheticians, dermatologists, pharmacists, internists, and nutritionists. A guide for aging gracefully with style, it's dedicated to women over 40--une femme d'un certain âge--also the name of Jett's blog. 

Readable for the skin care chapter alone, which outlines how to customize a daily, weekly and monthly regimen. She advises women to introduce anti-aging products into their beauty routine at 30, after consulting with an expert, "A dermatologist comes as close as one can to providing a prescription for the fountain of youth without general anesthesia." Although Jett is partial to the Avène and Eucerin skin care brands found at Monoprix, they're available in the United States in drugstores, online and through dermatologists. 

"Naturel is the mantra of Frenchwomen. They want their hair, their skin, their makeup, their figures, their style, their comportment, and their confidence to appear ever and always naturel--an extension of who they are." 

Forever Chic: Frenchwomen's Secrets for Timeless Beauty, Style, and Substance, by Tish Jett. Rizzoli Ex Libris, release date: October 15, 2013. 

Crown Point Press

John Cage (American, 1912-1992). Day Three, 1978, etching, drypoint, soft ground etching, and sugar lift aquatint. National Gallery of Art, Washington. 

Crown Point Press, a San Francisco Bay Area publisher, is renowned for its use of intaglio printing, one of the oldest printmaking processes. Since 1962, the Press has worked with artists to create prints. Founding director Kathan Brown is an artist, writer and printer credited with reviving etching as a contemporary art medium. An exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, Yes, No, Maybe: Artists Working at Crown Point Press, examines the stages of printmaking as a sequence of decisions, from revisions to the final print. Working proofs and prints produced by Crown Point between 1972 and 2010 are on display, representing 25 artists. 

Richard Diebenkorn (American, 1922-1993). Green, 1986, color spit bite aquatint, soap ground aquatint and drypoint. National Gallery of Art, Washington, copyright the Estate of Richard Diebenkorn. 

Kathan Brown printing in the first Crown Point Press studio, Point Richmond, California, 1962.

Brown refers to Crown Point as a studio rather than a printshop. The printing presses are integrated into the artists' workspace rather than occupying a separate area. 

John Cage, 75 Stones, 1989, color spit bite aquatint and sugar lift aquatint on smoked paper. National Gallery of Art, Washington. 

Julie Mehretu (American, b. Ethiopia 1970). Circulation (working proof 9), 2005, color etching, spit bite aquatint, aquatint, and engraving with ink wash, graphite and additions. Crown Point Press. 

Tomma Abts (German, b. 1967). Untitled (diagonals), 2009, color aquatint and soft ground etching. National Gallery of Art, Washington. 

To make an intaglio print (etching, drypoint, engraving), the artist makes indentations in the surface of a copper plate. The plate is then inked and the image transferred from the inked plate to paper with a printing press. Hard ground and soft ground etching produces lines, and lift ground and aquatint methods yield areas of tone. Multi-color prints require multiple plates. "Intaglio and relief prints are the only types Crown Point Press produces," says Brown. "This is partly because in general I like the looks of these processes better than those of silkscreen or lithography. In intaglio and relief prints the artist's drawing and the print are usually quite different, something that seems a virtue to me." 

Pia Fries (Swiss, b. 1955). Falc, 2007, color soap ground aquatint, spit bite aquatint, photogravure, and roulette. National Gallery of Art, Washington. 

Artists making etchings at Crown Point are representative of a wide variety of contemporary art approaches. For many, the Press has provided their introduction to printmaking. "We've worked with Conceptual artists, Minimal artists, realists, and artists hard to characterize," says Brown. "Many of them have said that using old, slow, cumbersome printing processes has helped them to understand better what they are already doing in painting and sculpture. They often express how valuable it is to see their images pulled apart and broken down into layers. These layers can be individually moved within the image, and colors easily changed before arriving at a finalized image. They also are left with a physical record of all of the working states of their image along with this final print. No other medium other than printmaking allows for this kind of flexibility." 

Pat Steir (American, b. 1938). Kweilin Dreaming 88, 1998, color woodcut with painting and pen-and-ink drawing on silk mounted to paper. Crown Point Press, copyright Pat Steir. 

Printers Renée Bott and Daria Sywulak in the Hawthorne studio, 1991.

Printers work closely with the artists to produce original prints in limited editions, they also act as curators for the editions. They assist the artist to realize their best work in the printmaking medium through their skills and craftsmanship. A three-year apprenticeship is required to become a printer at the Press. The average two-week print project that an artist participates in equals a printer's work of approximately half a year. A project's development can be unpredictable, depending on the artist's idea for the print, revisions to the plates and proofing leading to the artist signing the OK to Print Proof. Editions are small, usually from ten to thirty-five impressions. 

Richard Diebenkorn, High Green Version 1, 1992, color spit bite aquatint, soap ground aquatint, soft ground etching, and etching with pasted element. National Gallery of Art, Washington. 

Crown Point publishes the prints and exhibits them in their gallery. "We can only do five projects a year, so that really limits the artists we can work with," says director Valerie Wade. "We usually only invite five or six artists a year and we often repeat the artists. So that would leave maybe one or two spots open for a new artist which is not very many compared to other galleries that have twelve exhibitions a year. We take our suggestions both from looking at museum shows and from artists that we have worked with ourselves for a long time. We are interested in choosing an artist who represents the best of a certain stylistic trend within the time period they're working in." 

John Cage, 17 Drawings by Thoreau, 1978, uniquely inked color photo-etching on Japanese paper. National Gallery of Art, Washington. 

After five decades, with its diverse group of artists and projects, Crown Point Press has evolved into one of the leading fine art publishers.

The National Gallery of Art, on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW. On view through January 5th. 

Vermeer and Music

Jan Molenaer (about 1610-1668). A Young Man Playing a Theorbo and a Young Woman Playing a Cittern, 1630-2, oil on canvas. Copyright the National Gallery, London. 

The National Gallery, London shows Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure, a selection of paintings with musical themes by Vermeer and his contemporaries, instruments and songbooks. Although music permeated public life in the Dutch Republic, most musical activities occurred within the home; artists produced works depicting interiors and courtyards with scenes of music as a leisure pastime. "This exhibition presents a marvelous opportunity to understand the key role that music played in 17th-century Dutch art and society," says curator Betsy Wieseman. 

Anon, Cittern, early 18th century, Italy. Spruce, maple, metal, ebony, ivory or bone, ink, pigment, and gilding. Copyright The Art Archive/ Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 

Stringed instruments and keyboards were the most popular for solo and ensemble playing. These are the instruments depicted most often in genre paintings (scenes of everyday life). Ensembles might include one or more singers accompanied by a stringed instrument such as a cittern, lute or theorbo, or a combination of instruments. Baroque music, originating in Italy around 1600 with opera, was not assimilated into the Dutch Republic until the 1650s. Composers followed the Dutch style based on the 16th-century Renaissance tradition. Music was a blend of Italian madrigals, French chansons and a few Dutch compositions. 

Johannes Vermeer, A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal, about 1670-2, oil on canvas. Copyright the National Gallery, London. 

Twelve of Johannes Vermeer's thirty-six surviving paintings illustrate musical themes or include an instrument. This painting shows a muselar, a type of virginal (harpsichord) that has the keyboard placed to the right, typical of instruments made by the Ruckers workshop in Antwerp in the 1640s. Female keyboardists were a common subject in 17th-century Dutch art. 

Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684). A Musical Party in a Courtyard, 1677, oil on canvas. Copyright the National Gallery, London. 

Thousands of paintings were created for the Dutch art market during the seventeenth century. For the first time in the history of Western art, painters produced works commercially for buyers of different cultural backgrounds receptive to a variety of styles and subject matter. The general public became potential collectors and houses were usually decorated with at least a few paintings--portraits, genre scenes, still lifes, and landscapes. In almost every town there was a group of painters, as well as in the art centers of Amsterdam, Delft, The Hague, Leiden, and Haarlem. 

Title page from songbook, Den nieuwen verbeterden Lust-Hof (The New Improved Pleasure-Garden), 1607 by Michiel Vlacq. Copyright: By permission of the British Library, London. 

Simple, catchy songs were widely disseminated, people commonly exchanged printed or manuscript music. There were music books (tablature, printed scores) and songbooks. The Dutch songbook typically contained tune indications but no musical notation, interspersed with engraved illustrations and varied typography. Texts were adapted to the tunes of Dutch folksongs or melodies. This songbook, showing the title page's engraved plate, originally contained madrigals, chansons, poetical texts, and sonnets. 

Anon, Lute, about 1630, Venice. Pine, ivory and ebony. Copyright The Art Archive/Victoria and Albert Museum, London/V&A Images. 

A versatile and harmonizing instrument, the lute was used to play vocal music arrangements, song accompaniments and dance music. Many people were all-round musicians and played a variety of instruments. Dutch genre painters often kept a lute as a studio prop. 

Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667). A Man and a Woman Seated by a Virginal, about 1665, oil on oak. Copyright the National Gallery, London. 

The Dutch palette had no more than a few paints, limited pigments were compensated through techniques such as varying paint consistencies, application, underpainting, and glazing. Artists did not paint directly on the canvas, instead they followed a schedule of three separate phases--"inventing" (drawing or sketching), "dead-coloring" (underpainting) and "working-up" (application of detail and color or finishing)--the typical studio method of Northern European artists. 

Jacob van Velsen (about 1597-1656). A Musical Party, 1631, oil on oak. Copyright the National Gallery, London. 

Out of domestic musical practice grew the institutions known as collegia musica--music clubs--the precursor to modern public concerts. Many homes were centers of musical activity. 

Johannes Vermeer, The Music Lesson, about 1662-3, oil on canvas. Royal Collection Trust, copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013. 

Listen to music featuring the various instruments. 

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London. On view through September 8.