Vladimir Kagan's Blog

“New York, New York, it’s a Hell of a Town”

 

 

A Brief Visit to New York

Copyright Vladimir Kagan, March 25, 2014

 

When I go to New York, I hit the ground running; compressing weeks of meetings into four hectic days… and on the way accumulate enough material to keep you entertained with Blogs.

 

A capsule:

First Day: –Popping off the plane in Newark New Hersey, I high-tailed it to my “Archive Museum” in Clifton to meet visiting clients to discuss future projects… An interesting and productive meeting – upshot: I made new friends and discovered that we have “Russian Standard” vodka Martinis in common.

  

Chaira, chairs everywhere in my warehouse in Clifton, N.J.

Second Day: - A visit to New York is not complete without sticking my head into the D&D building, the mecca for New York decorators in search of everything grand and expensive. My friend Luigi Gentile opened his Bespoke showroom of comfort furniture, (no competition to mine…. otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about it… ha ha.) Luigi is a talented designer and competent on all things electronic and mechanical… I had always wanted to see 3-D printing first hand… Naturally, Luigi had the latest gadget hooked up in his small showroom and prints out miniature models to show to his clients… (Must have one myself!)

By now it’s lunch time, and I take my  “wing man”, Chris, to P. J. Clark, a hip bar on 3^rd Avenue, where I took my wife Erica on our first date some sixty years ago! The hamburgers are still the best and the place hasn’t changed a bit since it became a designated N.Y. Landmark.

 

 

P. J. Clark as it is today and as it has always been

Our day’s goal was to see the Architectural Digest Home Show at the Piers. This is a showcase that has evolved over the years into a fine three-ring circus of everything for the home; from toilets to skinks, kitchens, sleep products, a special section to showcase Dining by Design… and what caught my attention – an inspiring wing devoted to young craftsmen and women showing their own creativity.

 

Architectural Digest Home Design Show

Dining by Design

      

of course I don't remember the designer's names... I am a visual kinda guy - and these were the exhibits that struck me.

 

Just a few immages from the general show

A wacky excercise bike - right - My old client, Roche Bobois' forty year old mattress sofas

In the same exhibit with the wacky bike were these two gorgeous chairs by Italy's Giorgetti company

 

The Art & Craft wing of the exhibit

I found these delightful people and their works


Who said that a cabinet makers has to be tough and burly, Virginia Blanchard is the craftsperson who made all of these exqusite Art Nouveau and Art Deco pieces in her workshop in Maine

 

 

Greg Klassen from Seattle made these outstanding tables as part of his  River Collection

 

I love Aaron Scott's sculptured furniture -  is a very versatile craftman who work in in Brooklyn NY

 

Aaron Scott sitting with one of his sculptured tables - (right) John Dodd's geometric designs combine wood and concrete in a sophisticated way 

Amy Eisenfeld Genser created interesting wall art out of rolled paper - She hails from West Hartford CT

I really liked her work as well as any I have seen in museum art shows.

Patrick Weder, works in Williamsburg, Brooklyn... he is immensely versatile and worth watching. These light sculptures are made with twisted wire fencing and wrapped with paper machete

 

 

 

This might have been the right time for most people to go home, put their feet up and watch the evening news…. but not for me. My exuberant daughter Jessica whisked me off to a friend’s fabulous art-filled loft in Soho for a superb dinner and, surprise, surprise, a room-full of my furniture.

 

Day three: Back to my factory in Clifton to work with my staff on developing and critiquing new products in work… I’d really like to show them to you but must keep them under wraps until their introduction later this year.

 

Day four: My book, THE COMPLETE KAGAN, is finally out of print - I am told that copies are selling for up to $400, and a signed version has sold for $1,000 (If you own one… you’re rich!) The morning was devoted to a meeting with my charismatic publisher, Suzy Slesin of Pointed Leaf Press to plan a revised edition…(look for it in early 2015) it will be larger, heavier and more expensive… and yes, with about fifty NEW pages devoted to Kagan NOW… (I could have told you that the 2004 version was not complete!) We worked out the time schedule for the revised edition and all the work that I must do now to make it happen!

 

Next, we went gallery hoping in Soho… First, meeting up with my friend, Sebastian Errazuriz, the most talented young designer to hit the art-scene in recent years. He had a show in a hidden little gallery called Storefront for Art and Architecture at 97 Kenmare Street. His show, “Tough Love” is art that would be hard to show in an uptown environment. Sebastian took a few friends and me on a personal tour. His message is mind-boggling and wrenching: “50% of all construction workers are undocumented” – “Homeless population in NYC rises 13 percent” – “Every 40 seconds in the United States, a child becomes missing or abducted” – 800.000 children are reported missing every year – “Every 2 minutes another American is sexually assaulted” - “97% of rapists never spend a day in jail” etc. etc.

   

you know the little guy - The smiling big fellow is my friend Sebastian Errazuriz

 

Sebastian explaining the gruesome Newspaper headline - a photographer caught the gruesome last seconds of a doomed man's life - Sebastian's comment: Could he have saved the the man instead of taking the photo - we will never know

 

 

 

 

 

Last year's Boston Marathone's surviving terrorist - in this painting Sebastian is commenting on the innosence of this teenager dragged into this tragedy by his older brother. He painted this direct from a news paper photogrpah in the style Coragio, giving it a somber museum look

 

my friend Constance listening attentively to Sebastian's description of his works

 

The Athlete's "Letter Jackets" are symbolic of the student rapes on colledge campuses

Overwhelmed by the depressing message, we decided the only cure was a bourgeois lunch at Balthazar, (one of New York’s more trendy Bistros - at 2:30 it was still standing room only… we had reservations!)

 

Satiated, we visited Atelier Courbet, on Baxter Street, the sophisticated new gallery owned by Melanie Courbet and her partner Ashlee Harrison… A few weeks earlier I had been invited to an elegant Champagne opening where the ladies introduced a collection of luxurious silk rugs by Paris based Sabine De Gunzburg designed by a cadre of salubrious designer: Francis Picabia, Serge Poliakoff, Matthias Bitzer, Frank Gehry and Vladimir Kagan… Surprise, surprise! Frank Gehry’s and my rug had not arrived… ostensibly stuck in customs.…I was confident that by today they’d surely be hanging …. I was wrong!…To the girl’s utter embarrassment, they are still in limbo somewhere between Paris and New York…. Never mind, it was fun just visiting with the two beautiful young owners.

 

Bemused by my friends loss of my rug, I played a little joke on them with a 'fake' spilled coffee-cup on one of their imported French stools

Finally, on a personal note: My adorable grand-daughter Gigi, who is staying with her parents in my apartment in Palm Beach, developed appendicitis and had to have an operation while I was in New York, (by the time I arrived back in Palm Beach she had happily recovered). But here’s my little tale: For the past three years we have had a lonely canary occupying a huge aviary cage in my New York apartment; (he travels regularly to Nantucket for his summer vacation). “Conrad” always sings for his supper in search of a mate – to make Gigi and “Conrad” happy, I purchased a beautiful “blonde” to keep him company… We will be waiting with baited breath for the two to produce a bevy of offspring.

 

A bachelor's happy ending - with a beautiful blonde bride

Finally - Sunday: It’s time to return to Palm Beach. My dear friend and neighbor made a special farewell brunch - my favorite NY Deli food: “everything” bagels lathered with a cream-cheese “schmear”, herring, white anchovies, chopped liver and much more… Stuffed and happy, I am writing this little epistle at 32,000 feet on Jet Blue’s flight #1161 back to Palm Beach…

 

Stay tuned! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

Going Antiquing with a modernist

Vladi’s Choice

Copyright Vladimir Kagan, March 16, 2014

 My daughter, Jessica Kagan Cushman visiting me in Palm Beach

My daughter Jessica is my severest critic … she does not like me writing political Blogs. “Stick to what you know best… write about design”

Nothing can be more boring for me… but West Palm Beach is blessed with Antique Row: 46 shops plus four convenient cafes catering to the frenzied shoppers. These shops stretch a leisurely 5 miles along both sides of South Dixie Highway. (Dixie Highway is also known as route A1A – A road, which, if you are so inclined, can be driven all the way from Key West to Boston and beyond. Why has no one written a Rhapsody in praise of A1A … the only road glorified in song is “Route 66”… A1A is long overdue!)

 

As I am a closet antique buff, Jessica thought I should write a Blog showing you the bits and pieces I found on a recent shopping spree. Good idea – except I managed to cover only five shops in one afternoon. (Not even a ¼ mile) If my mathematics are correct, it would take me eight more Blogs to cover the territory… But don’t worry, I will be selective.

Visiting these shops is like eating M&Ms… you can’t stop. Firstly, it is refreshing to walk into some and not be recognized as a modernist in disguise as an antiquarian… until you drop into a Mid-Century dealer… the mask comes off and we launch off into long reminiscences.

 

My taste is not parochial; I may have missed the finest antique in favor of the novelty standing cheek to jowl with it. Perhaps what hit me first was the cramped clutter in which so many of these treasures were buried. You could never display, much less sell a piece of modern in such tight quarters. Lighting is another thing missing… dim lighting makes the discovery all the more personal.

 

So what has intrigued me?

 

An Elephant tureen for my Republican friends - a hybrid mix between a Turtle and pachyderm

- at D&G Antiques

A "beastly bench" carved from one piece of root-wood - probably by an American primitive - but country of origin was listed - I found this at L & G Antiques

   

Two delightful small chairs - the first probably French, the second possibly English... I admire small chairs for their remarckable comfort in spite of the dimiuative size at L & G Antiques

 

Two Lounge chairs: one Victorian the other modern - both sling chairs separated by 150 years of designI at Neo Studio

I'm a sucker for things bamboo so this little stand-up bar with its chinoisery paitned facade appealed to me. L & G Antiques 

Mechanical "things" are always my thing - I Ioved this wind-up bellows for my fireplace

...and how about a British Airways Concord model - the slikest airplane ever to fly

I fell in love with this flower table the moment I laid eyes on it

The latter items are from Elena's Cherry Pickings - the bellows from L & G Antiques

This is a reproduction of an English Fire Screen Desk - Which is intended to stand in front of a roaring fire and kept your feet warm and face cool - as the desk is free standing and on wheels - the back view is as important as the front... here decorated with faux books - Your antiquarian reporter looking on in the background

I admire diminutive tables that serve a personal purpose like this one to pull up over your belly while sitting in a comfortable old wing chair reading your book or scribing a note... This was not the finest example of the genre, but served to illustrate my likes...

Spanish roof tiles - the dealer had a cabinet full of them - make beautiful wall sconce – L& G Antiques


Jessica found this choker displayed in this amusing ceramic horse - (we resisted buying it)

An almost Bertoia chair - and a funky leather and bamboo? chair from Neo Studio

A very beautful Art Ceco French chandelier at Neo Studio

+++++

If you enjoyed this rambling tour of Antique Row... let me know and I will ferret out some more goodies...

 

Farewell Afghanistan Welcome the Taliban

 

 

Bing West and the Afghanistan Conundrum

Copyright Vladimir Kagan March 11, 2014

“Bing” West

 

Francis J. “Bing” West is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Middle East Institute, the Military Order of the Carabao, and the Infantry Order of St. Crispin, he appears frequently on C-SPAN and The News Hour on PBS.

  

At a private luncheon held at the Sail Fish Club in Palm Beach, 55 members of the Coudert Institute were treated to an earful of Bing West. He started his talk with four questions about Afghanistan:

 

What happened?

Why Failure?

What are the Consequences?

What’s the future in a larger context?

 

Bing is one tough honcho… It is good to understand that there is no such thing as an ex-Marine only a retired one! Bing is one thousand percent Marine… he earned his “wings” fighting in Vietnam and later as former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs during the Reagan Administration. He’s been embedded with the front-line troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan as a journalist and made 16 extended trips to Iraq and six to Afghanistan. West has written numerous books about military strategy, the fighting on the ground, his life with the troops on combat patrols and the counterinsurgency. He has stared down the barrel of insurgent fighter’s guns; he is no stranger to bullets whirling around his ears or death by improvised roadside mines IEDs.

 
Bing illustrating his talk with a slide of the ground soldiers carefully walking a narrow path with  hundreds of IEDs frequently buried on either side of the road

West minces no words. He speaks from first-hand experience and is highly critical of our war efforts. “Misguided". West argued that the current doctrine of nation-building and winning hearts and minds by economic development is no way to win insurgent wars. This philosophy was inspired by our country’s success with our own democracy, that took us decades to produce. Conversely, we gave freedom and democracy to people who are still physically and mentally back in the 9th century.

 

West has grave reservations about the effects of our counterinsurgency strategy. He thinks that insurgencies proceed from the bottom up, and must be dealt with at the local level. He believes that warriors defeat warriors, not the well-meaning words of Diplomats. America's mistake in both Iraq and Afghanistan was to concede all control to appointed local authority. We invade as liberating saviors, wanting to democratize the natives and bring them out of their medieval slumber… We are the eternal do-gooders, “Let’s rid the country of its brutal dictators, give them democratically elected leaders.” Except that is not what they want… these countries are made up of hostile tribes, deeply-rooted religious hatred for each other, and religious beliefs foreign to our democratic philosophy. The few that are enlightened leave; most do not want our interference in their way of life.

 

it is mandatory for platoon leaders to meet with village leaders on a regular basis - looking at their faces, Bing points out that they do not appear to be our best friends... 

West compared the conflict in Afghanistan with Napoleon’s defeat in Russia – (as depicted in Tolstoy's War & Peace). The Russian prince and his entourage were baffled by Napoleon’s attack; at Bordino; the prince decided that the spirit of nationalism - a shared belief in Mother Russia would defeat the invaders, So the Russian troops were allowed to sleep through the night. Napoleon on the other hand prep-talked his troops all through the night: First came the Generals, then the Colonels, next the captains and finally an awe-inspiring harangue to his soldiers… in Napoleon’s camp, there was no sleep that night… by morning they were exhausted and unfit for battle. The liaise fair Russians, refreshed by a good night’s sleep, routed Napoleon - it was the start of his defeat.  

 

What is the point? President Bush believed in "top-down" leadership. He was gravely in error. The peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan did not share his vision. 

 

Our expressed mission in Iraq was to rid the country of WMD and depose a tyrannical dictator … what we discovered was that there were no Weapons of Mass Destructions. We succeeded killing the hated Hassan Husain. In his place we empowered new leaders as corrupt and brutal as their predecessor. The country today is in a bitter conflict between the Shi’ite majority and the Sunni minority… Fallujah has once again become a bloody battleground of tribal warfare.

 

We invaded Afghanistan in retaliation for 9/11 determined to ferret out Al Qaeda and destroy Bin Laden… Afghanistan is a nation the size of Texas, consisting of 31 disparate tribes, each separated by 10,000 feet high mountains. This impenetrable countryside might be a mountain climber’s paradise, but not for an army in pursuit of an illusive enemy capable of disappearing into its jungle and impenetrable mountains…. Afghanistan has a 1500-mile porous border with Pakistan… That’s about the distance between New York and Florida… a perfect place to hide forever. We chased the “bastards” right up to the Pakistan border and stopped. (You don’t invade the borders of a neutral country)… Al Qaeda escaped un-opposed into the friendly territory of Pakistan. Unbeknownst to us, Al Qaeda had dug into tunnels and underground bunkers and Bin Laden was securely hidden. These tunnels proved indestructible by aerial bombardments… only penetrable on the ground with hand-to-hand combat, or annihilating the enemy one by one with our drones.

 

Al Qaeda gone, the new enemy was the Taliban: the brutal rulers that controlled Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not one homogenous country, it consist of 31 tribal fiefdoms not friendly to each other but co-exist in their 9th century world.

 

America’s armed forces boasts an unsurpassable Air Force, an efficient Navy and an Army trained to fight on the ground with tanks and other 21st Century ordinance… they were not prepared for the Afghans, where the battle must be fought on dirt roads, mountains and in villages of hostile natives… we were back to fighting with infantry troops in man to man combat; fighting an invisible enemy, not troops in uniforms but local farmers, poppy growers and store keepers. We were fighting people that hate us and do not see us as liberators but we are the occupiers of their land. Again we supported a leadership that is corrupt – corruption is endemic in these lands – you pay for every favor – every assist. Our military was not prepared to flight this kind of war…

 

Our arcane Generals indoctrinated our troops with the rules-of-engagement: A soldier on the ground is forbidden to shoot unless first shot at… every civilian kill is investigated by military lawyers and the soldier is under interrogation and considered guilty until proven innocent. Every platoon has a lawyer attached to it to assure adherence to these rules…West considers our Generals to be noble Napoleonic warriors fighting a partisan war where the enemy is everywhere; the enemy hidden amongst the native who universally hate us.

 

The Taliban knows that time and terrain will defeat the Americans… and so it has… President Obama’s scheduled withdrawal provided the Taliban with a time-table… time is on their side… wait for the American’s to leave and take over. . West believes that we over-reached. Eventually, the Afghan government and the Taliban will work out understandings that we cannot possibly comprehend. But we can detect and bomb any new Al Qaeda sanctuary, as we do in Pakistan and Yemen. In short, we fought for too long for too small a gain. In a few years, we will forget about Afghanistan.

 

+++++++++

 

In the military, the system rewards conformity: Generals work in a hierarchical chain-of-command. They advance to their exalted position by starting as low ranking officers; then climbing the ladder rank by rank with diligent adherence to the rules. Slowly, they arrive at their lofty status. (The process can take thirty-five years or more). This hierarchy is built on the buddy system… no one will criticize a higher-ranking officer; no general will contradict a colleague in arms… they have all been together too long; dependent for their promotions on the support of their fellow officers.

 

 +++++++++++

 

Below is a footnote written by Bing West for this article: (Some of the views expressed by Mr. West do not necessarily reflect those of the writer)

 

 “Our next battleground will be decidedly different… Conflict is inevitable but we won’t know when or where. Our military must remain prepared but tailored to a new reality. We are slashing Defense as if there will not be another war. West believes Defense is the nation's insurance policy. It has taken about 6% of our wealth. Now we are about to cut it in a few years to 3%. Would we do that with our houses and our life insurance for our loved ones? Defense is not the cause or the solution of our huge debt; our selfishness and preposterous promises to the elderly - West notes that he is 74 - are the fault of our debt. Afghanistan was a dumb over reach by both Mr. Bush and Obama. But it is foolish to react by burying our heads in the sand and ignoring events like the 150,000 dead in Syria and Putin's sneers. If we choose to become weak - and we have chosen to do so - we will be pushed around. It will do us no good to complain that our two presidents tried to do too much in Afghanistan. Spare us in the future, because we made a mistake in the past. Want to bet the nation on that plea?”

 

 P.S.

 An article in yesterday's New York Times illustates the vast difference between our culture and that of the Afghan's 

'2 Star-Crossed Afghans Cling to Love, Even at Risk of Death'

 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/world/asia/2-star-crossed-afghans-cling-to-love-even-at-risk-of-death.html?emc=edit_th_20140310&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=61363280

 

BOOKS BY BING WEST

• Small Unit Action in Vietnam, Summer 1966. ISBN 0-405-00018-9.

• The Village. ISBN 0-7434-5757-9.

• The Pepperdogs: a Novel. ISBN 0-7434-5643-2.

• The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the US Marines. ISBN 0-553-38269-1.

• No True Glory: a Front-line Account of the Battle of Fallujah. ISBN 0-553-80402-2.

• The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq (Random     House, 2008) ISBN 1-4000-6701-4

• The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan ISBN 1-4000-6873-8.

• Into the Fire: 2012

 

 

 

 

A Philadelphia Story

Copyright Vladimir Kagan, March 1, 2014

 

“I spent a week in Philadelphia the day before yesterday”

 “I came to Philadelphia last Sunday, but it was closed”

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."

W.C. Fields

 

And so I was in Philadelphia for three days this week. Philadelphia was once a beautiful city, thanks to the town fathers’ adhering to an unwritten rule: “thou shall not build higher than the brim of William Penn’s hat” - the statue on top of City Hall. This rule survived for almost a hundred years until the real estate industry took over; their lust to build taller and taller towers to aggrandize the image of the mega-corporations that have made this city their home, have spoiled the skyline of this historic city. Comcast was not satisfied building the tallest tower in town… they are now embarking on a second one to house their latest acquisitions…

 

When builders had a respect for tradition - the statue of William Penn dominated the skyline

 

…I came to town at the invitation of The Philadelphia University, Department Architecture and Design as their guest speaker. On what subject?.. ME - Ah, the magic of living long enough to become an icon! Let it suffice that I had a lovely attentive audience of 250 students and teachers with standing room only…

 

My primary commitment fulfilled, I had two days of leisure to enrich my cultural experience…two crisp days of light snow to welcome the spoiled Floridians. (I was traveling with my “Wing-man”, Chris Eitel)… We visited the new Barnes Foundation in downtown Philadelphia (we’re not allowed to call it a museum for political reasons) and the Winterthur Museum in Wilmington.

 
Barnes' original Foundation house - the new home of the Foundation in center city

The almost secretive entrance to the new Foundation building

The lobby of the new Foundation building

A great mix of pictures, furniture and artifacts that were the hallmark of Barnes' vision

Barnes was an inventive genius, who in the early ‘20s discovered an anti-gonorrhea drug before the advent of antibiotics. This made him a millionaire many times over and gave him the means to indulge his first love; collecting Impressionist and Modernist masters. This he did with great gusto, owning 800 paintings and over 2,500 objects. Going through the collection in its new home, I was overcome by Barnes’ voracious appetite for modern art… He was a hoarder and vacuumed up every available Matisse, Renoir, Cézanne and any other impressionist painters that he could lay is hands on…

Everything about Barnes invited controversy; his method of collection, his placement of the art on the walls, even the transfer from his private residence to the new magnificent Barnes Foundation building.

Barnes created a foundation to house his collection and envisioned it to be available to a privileged audience by appointment only… This policy proofed near fatal to the Foundation as they ran out of funds to maintain this principle… Many directorial changes, backbiting and in-fighting later, it was agreed to move the collection to its new quarters in the heart of Philadelphia. The Foundation is now housed in an elegant building designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, New York Architects. Visiting The Foundation; I came away with the impression that it is an art warehouse - not a museum edited by curators. … Barnes had the uncanny skill to intermix paintings with obtuse industrial and house objects. In his vision, they achieved symmetry of form and color with the paintings, but with a total disregard for context. The collection of iron object is staggering; hinges, locks, escutcheons, cutlery… not rusted or blackened but all polished to a dull luster, displayed on wheat colored fabric covered walls. The rooms are faithful replicas of the original Barnes mansion that housed the collection.

Walking through the unprepossessing slab-wall entrance of the new building, I was impressed by the baronial height of the lobby running the full length of the museum with a sliver of light piercing the roof and a wall-to-wall window at the far end.

 +++++

 The following day, we were treated to a private tour of the Winterthur Museum in Wilmington, Delaware. Winterthur was once the private home of Henry Francis du Pont and his father Henry Algernon du Pont built 1839 it in the style of an 18^th and 19^th Century European country house. It was a far cry from what it is today. What you see now is the vision of Henry Francis du Pont, inspired by his interest in American architecture and fine decorative arts.   Construction took place between 1929 and 1931; the whole façade was changed, and an enormous extension built. It really bears little relation to what it looked like before, both inside or out.

 

The Winterthur Museum in the snow

Henry Francis du Pont was an avid antique collector and in 1951 turned the mansion into a museum. Over the years, he added numerous additions to the house that increased it to 175 rooms, now displaying 85,000 objects! The Museum is nestled in the midst of a bucolic thousand-acre park, accessible to all Wilmingtonians to use and enjoy. … 

 
Two of the 175 decorated rooms in Winterthur Museum

The exquisite oval spiral stairs that Mr. du Pont installed to surprise his wife

A crewel embroidered sample and students working in one of the study rooms of the museum

Though eons apart in their respective collections, there was a marked subliminal similarity between Albert Barnes and Henry du Pont. They were personal friends, entertained each other for dinner, and when together they spoke French. Both Barnes and du Pont carefully placed art and objects to create room settings that were all about shape, color, proportion, balance etc.  That is what the two of them had in common. Du Pont’s passion was for American decorative arts while Barnes was engrossed by the impressionists. They had a similar interest in things simple and functional; both displayed their collections in a seemingly random mish-mash clutter with total disregard to curatorial accuracy. However, there was nothing unintentional about either Barnes or du Pont.  Both were very visual and placed every little thing in just the exact spot that they considered to be “right” - ironwork on the wall for Barnes, embroidered pocketbooks to give points of color for du Pont.  For du Pont, historical accuracy was always trumped by aesthetics.  Unlike the Barnes, where a very restrictive will prohibited any changes in the rooms, Winterthur’s interiors (which du Pont said were his works of art, and that the process of collecting was his artistic medium) were constantly changing throughout his lifetime, and generations of curators have continued to make changes after his death.  Some rooms, like the Chinese Parlor, were “frozen” to prevent major changes, and they are supposed to reflect H.F. du Pont’s visual aesthetic.  Both collectors had a vision of the unintentional corollary between forms and color. They both nonchalantly integrated these into their voluminous collections.

 

For a designer of modern furniture, there is nothing more humbling than seeing the glorious cabinetry and decorative details of 18^th and 19^th Century furniture creations.

 

The bonus of our tour at Winterthur Museum was the behind-the-scene visits to the Furniture Restoration shops, the Textile Conservation Studio and the Embroidery Study Room, which was one of the highlights of our visit. Winterthur is one of the prime institutions selected to receive a portion of the Erica Wilson Archives, which consist of over 2000 examples of her designs and creations.

 ++++++

We were the guests of my friend Lance and Christina Funston, who have converted an old carriage house into an eclectic home, displaying their own diverse collection Asian art and artifacts… Three days in Philadelphia were really not long enough…. Mr. Fields, we are coming back!

 

 

The Funston's converted carriage house beautifully decorated by Christina Funston

 Slugging through the snow and loving it... Lance Funston and me

 

++++++

 

The Winterthur Museum just opened the Downton Abbey exhibition; costumes from the popular BBC  series now showing on PBS.

 Movie to see:

“The Art of the Steal” (about the Barnes Foundation)