Celerie Kemble’s Peacocks or Samurai Armour…Which Do You Prefer?

After my butterfly finds post last week, I have had a little voice in my head whispering to me over that small detail about the stuffed peacock in the Celerie Kemble designed apartment in the newest Lonny magazine. I had mentioned that taxidermy peacocks have been all the rage for some time now, but as trends go, they don’t do it for me quite the way butterflies do. Here’s the aforementioned bird in the dining room.

But why did it all feel so familiar? The article mentioned that Kemble had designed this space previously as a model apartment for the building’s developer, but that wasn’t it. I knew Kemble herself had a peacock on the wall in her living room, but it was definitely a different one.

She can’t be credited with starting the trend – for instance, here is Anna Sui’s NYC apartment resplendent with pattern and peacock from an autumn 2009 Elle Decor issue…

…and prior to that I can recall the one in Jeffrey Bilhuber‘s gorgeous place, featured in the New York Social Diary.

The recent September Elle Decor featured the San Francisco home of Alexis and Trevor Traina with their peacock filled dining room, which I was also decorated some time ago and shown earlier elsewhere. But I am getting off tangent and I don’t really mean to be writing a post about the trend of dead birds in decorating! If I was really planning on doing that, I’d need to get all historical on you…

Then it finally hit me! Kemble’s dining room, which I had featured in a previous post, was basically the same room. Maybe her clients live in the same building in a similarly laid out apartment? After all, it is a big new building. And Kemble’s dining room had quite unusual display items too – a pair of samurai warrior armor. Do you remember these?

At the time of that post, I asked what you thought of the armor. So I guess today’s question is which do you prefer? Stuffed birds or stuffed suits?

And while we are talking about peacocks anyway, I simply cannot avoid getting all historical on you. I have to put in a pitch for the most extraordinary peacock related place in the world – James McNeill Whistler’s Peacock Room – the showpiece of the Freer Gallery in Washington D.C. Recently restored to its original splendor…

…the curators have taken yet a further step by temporarily taking down the blue and white style porcelain that Frederick R. Leyland originally displayed in there and installing Charles Lang Freer’s (who later purchased the room and brought it to America) original collection of ancient Asian ceramics. In effect, the room has been rewound to 1908. Furthermore, on the third Thursday of each month, the shutters on the windows will be opened, allowing visitors to view the room in natural light. This is truly a special opportunity and not to be missed! The full history and further information can be found here and here.

Courtney mentioned it this summer and a few friends from the D.C. area wrote to me about it as well. I plan on making a pilgrimage (and when talking about the Peacock Room, that is the correct word) there this summer with the girls. Anyone want to join me?

Photo credits: 1. Lonny September/October 2011, photo credit: Patrick Cline, 2 & 6. Lonny October/November 2010, photo credit: Patrick Cline, 3. Elle Decor September 2009, photo credit: Eric Bowman, 4. New York Social Diary July 13, 2007, photo credit: Jeffrey Hirsch, 5. Elle Decor September 2011, photo credit: Simon Upton, 7-8. Freer/Sackler website

Oct 17, 2011 By tokyojinja in Artist Spotlight, Interior Design, Porcelain and Pottery 9 Comments Tags: Celerie Kemble, Charles Lang Freer, Frederick R. Leyland, Freer/Sackler Galleries, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, James McNeill Whistler, Jeffrey Bilhuber, peacocks, samurai warriors, taxidermy, The Peacock Room

Artist Spotlight…A Final Dose of Japonisme for the New Year

After that Christmas orgy of William Merritt Chase, I can’t resist adding just a few more paintings by his contemporaries for your viewing pleasure this New Year’s Eve…

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

Whistler La Princess du Pays de la porcelain — La Princess du Pays de la Porcelain

Purple and Rose The Lange Leizen of the Six Marks Whistler — Purple and Rose The Lang Leizen of the Six Marks

Symphony in White, No. 2 The Little White Girl Whistler — Symphony in White, No. 2 The Little White Girl

The_Balcony_1864_70 Whistler — The Balcony, 1864

The_Artist_s_Studio_ca_1865 Whistler — The Artist's Studio, c. 1865

James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902)

James_Tissot_-_Young_Women_Looking_at_Japanese_Objects — Young Woman Looking at Japanese Objects

Gustave Leonard de Jonghe (1829-1893)

The Japanese Fan, by Gustave de Jonghe — The Japanese Fan

Edmund Charles Tarbell (1862-1938)

Edmund Charles Tarbell Cutting Origami — Cutting Origami

Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911)

lefebvre-the_language_of_the_fan — The Language of the Fan

Roberto Fontano (1844-1907)

fontano_roberto_a_young_girl_holding_a_fan — A Young Girl Holding a Fan

When I was a child, my mom and I would always play “pick your favorite” about any decorative item, whether it was a painting in a museum or a ballet costume in a performance. So my end of year question: If you could choose 1 painting to own, from this post or any of the others this month (check here, here, here and here), which would it be and why? Please leave me a comment!

Happy New Year all!! Here’s to 2011!!!

Dec 31, 2010 By tokyojinja in Artist Spotlight 19 Comments Tags: de Jonghe, Edmund Charles Tarbell, Impressionism, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Japonisme, Lefebvre, Roberto Fontano, Tissot, William Merritt Chase

Artist Spotlight…Whistler, Hiroshige and the Best Coffee Table Book of All Time

Whistler Caprice In Purple And Gold No 2 The Golden Screen — Caprice in Purple and Gold No. 2 -The Golden Screen, James Abbott McNeill Whistler 1864

It doesn’t get better than this – Whistler’s mistress Joanna Hifferman in kimono, gazing at prints by Hiroshige, in front of a gilded scenic Japanese screen. Proving that Hiroshige’s work was not yet well-known in London when the painting was first exhibited, critics in 1865 didn’t understand what they were seeing – one referred to Joanna looking at “”a picture, drawing, fan or whatever it may be” – never even realizing she was looking at Japanese prints. It was just 10 years since the opening of Japan, five years since the first visit by Japanese to the West, yet the aesthetic influence of Japan had begun, coming to the West like an unstoppable steamroller. Japonisme was the term coined for this influence and considering the other posts I have in the hopper, it looks like it will be a common theme this month.

The painting itself is a commentary on these ukiyo-e prints, with its flattened point of view and the mimicking of a traditional pose. Whistler even designed a special frame, with kamon-like (Japanese family crests) decorations around the edge, to extend the Japonisme effect.

For a modern-day replication of this scene, go out and pick up a vintage kimono, but more importantly, this book – Hiroshige: 100 Views of Edo – by Melanie Trede and Lorenz Bichler. Measuring a huge 17 inches by 14 inches, it reminds me of the very funny Seinfeld episode when Kramer creates a coffee table book (about coffee tables) that has small fold out legs and is a coffee table. I think you could do that with this book. But this really is no ordinary coffee table book and the photos below do not begin to give a sense of how large and special it is! The outer binding is separate, covered in pink silk. The interior book pages also have a silky cover and look hand-stitched. It is held closed with two small toggles. The 120 images are reprints of an original set of woodblock prints belonging to the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo. Each print has details and descriptions and it would be amazing to sit with a glass of wine and just absorb a few here and there.

The cover…

the interior…

and some sample pages.

It makes a perfect holiday gift for anyone interested in ukiyo-e, Japonisme or just beautiful books!!!! From a decorating point of view, this could be the lynchpin of a well styled coffee table.

Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen is one of the Whistler highlights (from among a collection of 1300) at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., along with the reconstructed Peacock Room and other paintings. A definite “bucket list” item.

The Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo in Omotesando runs an ever changing series of exhibits from their huge (12,000) collection of ukiyo-e.

Image credits: 1. Freer/Sackler Museum, 2-3. Barnes and Noble, 4-5. Taschen Books.

Dec 8, 2010 By tokyojinja in Artist Spotlight, Books, Movies & TV 2 Comments Tags: Hiroshige, Impressionism, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Japonisme, wood block prints