Vom 13. November 2009 bis 28. Februar 2010 präsentiert das Städel Museum die erste monografische Ausstellung zu Sandro Botticelli (1444/45–1510) im deutschsprachigen Raum. Ausgehend von seinem monumentalen Weiblichen Idealbildnis, einem der Hauptwerke der Sammlung des Städel Museums, zeigt die Ausstellung rund 500 Jahre nach Botticellis Todestag (17. Mai 1510) zahlreiche Werke aus allen Schaffensphasen des großen Meisters der italienischen Renaissance. mehr unter

Pendientes mellizos camafeo El nacimiento de Venus de Botticelli_18€+gastos de envío
De metal fino y ligero y cristal.

Sandro Botticelli, La calunnia di Apelle, 1490-1495. Tempera su tavola, 62X91cm. Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi.

Una donna bella, ma che “par nel viso troppo astuta“, trascina per i capelli un giovane con le mani giunte. Questi prega, si dispera, chiama a testimoni gli dei, ma nessuno lo ascolta. Recita, insomma, una sorta di inutile mantra. Due donne adornano e coprono l’implacabile femmina, mentre un individuo dall’apparenza ripugnante, la conduce per mano al cospetto di un re imbesuito dalle chiacchiere e i bisbigli di due velenosi consigliori. In disparte una figura paludata a lutto si volta, piangendo, verso una dea diafana, adorna solo del suo crine che indica mesta il cielo. Tra il 1490 il 1495 Sandro Botticelli, seguendo alla lettera l’invito dell’Alberti di prender spunto dalle istorie narrate dagli antichi, ricostruisce un dipinto perduto del grande pittore Apelle. Del quadro, intitolato “La calunnia”, non rimane che la descrizione fatta da Luciano di Samosata, uno scrittore del II secolo dopo Cristo. Luciano afferma di aver visto personalmente l’opera e di essere stato aiutato da una guida nella comprensione del soggetto. La presenta come un’allegoria ispirata a un fatto realmente accaduto ad Apelle: l’accusa falsa di aver ordito un complotto a Tiro contro il re Tolomeo e la sua tardiva e fortunosa riabilitazione. 

Avendo come unico riferimento Luciano, Botticelli trasforma l’antichissima ekphrasis(descrizione) in una sorta di drammatica messa in scena che si svolge in uno spazio di impianto classico seppur fantasiosamente complicato. La sala in cui tutto si compie, delazione-condanna-pentimento-ristabilimento della verità, sembra attraversata da una corrente sferzante che agita persino i rilievi sullo sfondo. Una sorta di furore o di indignazione o di divorante curiosità impedisce alle statue nelle nicchie di restar ferme e anzi, come appare chiaro da quelle situate di scorcio nei fornici degli archi, si mostrano decisamente in aggetto rispetto alla superficie delle pareti. Il prezioso linearismo della Primavera e della Nascita di Venere si ingarbuglia in forme concitate e nervose. Se si considerano gli eventi degli anni immediatamente successivi al dipinto non possiamo non ricoscere alla Calunnia una potente aura profetica. Basti ricordare la scomunica del Savonarola e la sua condanna nel 1498, con false accuse, per eresia: il terribile frate, del quale i fiorentini si liberarono con un sospiro di sollievo dopo averne seguito le furenti prediche e aderito ai suoi “falò delle vanità”, è stato recentemente riabilitato e la sua causa di beatificazione avviata nel 1997.

Unter dem schlichten Titel BOTTICELLI zeigt das Städel in Frankfurt/Main bis zum 28. Februar 2010 mit ca. 80 Werken die erste große Werkschau des Renaissancekünstlers in Deutschland, die sicher zu den wichtigsten Ausstellungen des Jahres 2009/10 zählt.

Besonders gefällt mir die witzige Kampagne, die Botticellis Meisterschaft in der Wiedergabe luxuriöser Stofflichkeit zum Anlaß nimmt, ihn als modernen „Brand“ à la LOUIS VUITTON oder PRADA zu inszenieren:

(Klick vergrößert Bild)

Wie wenig weit dies hergeholt ist, bewies vor kurzem GUCCIs Kampagne für das Parfum „Flora“ (das allerdings weniger auf Botticellis »Primavera« denn auf »Die Geburt der Venus« zurückgreift):

(Klick zeigt Detail)

[via]

Botticelli gehört zu meinen frühen Kindheitserinnerungen, blickte ich doch von meinem Bett auf dieses Bildnis, das mein Vater an meinen Kleiderschrank geklebt hatte, wohl, weil er es für eine hübsche Alternative zum BRAVO-Starschnitt hielt. Ich besah mir die Haartracht tagein, tagaus – es grenzt an ein Wunder, daß ich nicht das Friseurshandwerk ergriffen habe. Und als wäre das nicht Grund genug für einen Ausflug nach Frankfurt, trägt die Rezension der FAZ die umwerfende Überschrift: „Die tugendhafte Nymphe, wer wünschte sie nicht?“

Abschließend noch ein Schmankerl:

di Pierpaolo Pasolini
ALLA BANDIERA ROSSA

 

Per chi conosce solo il tuo colore,

bandiera rossa,

tu devi realmente esistere, perché lui

esista:

chi era coperto di croste è coperto di

piaghe,

il bracciante diventa mendicante,

il napoletano calabrese, il calabrese

africano,

l’analfabeta una bufala o un cane.

Chi conosceva appena il tuo colore,

bandiera rossa,

sta per non conoscerti più, neanche coi

sensi:

tu che già vanti tante glorie borghesi e

operaie,

ridiventa straccio, e il più povero ti

sventoli.

di Pierpaolo Pasolini
ALLA BANDIERA ROSSA

Per chi conosce solo il tuo colore,

bandiera rossa,

tu devi realmente esistere, perché lui

esista:

chi era coperto di croste è coperto di

piaghe,

il bracciante diventa mendicante,

il napoletano calabrese, il calabrese

africano,

l’analfabeta una bufala o un cane.

Chi conosceva appena il tuo colore,

bandiera rossa,

sta per non conoscerti più, neanche coi

sensi:

tu che già vanti tante glorie borghesi e

operaie,

ridiventa straccio, e il più povero ti

sventoli.

a primeira coisa que faço ao ligar o computador no trabalho – depois de passar alguns segundos suspirando pela  vênus do botticelli que ilustra a tela na minha área de trabalho – é dar uma olhadinha no sáite learn something everyday.

todo dia leio uma informação que não vai mudar absolutamente nada na minha vida. mas é sempre divertido. e adoro a programação visual, as cores, a síntese entre ilustração e texto…

é a minha receita para começar bem o dia.

ps: nove em cada dez imeios espertinhos contendo listas de curiosidades bizarras copia o sáite descaradamente.

Der weltberühmte italienische Maler  Botticelli hat dieses aussergewönliche Kunstwerk geschaffen:  Die Geburt der Venus

Interessanterweise wurde die Venus bereits voll ausgewachsen gebohren! Ein Ausschnitt aus diesem Gemälde zeigt die extreme Fertigkeit Botticellis!

Kein Wunder also, daß diese unglaubliche Schönheit auf eine italienische Münze geprägt werden mußte und welche  ich dann ebenso aussägen mußte  um einen Münzanhänger daraus zu fertigen:

Natürlich ist es unmöglich einen solchen Detail-Reichtum zu prägen, aber trotzdem bin ich sehr froh, diesen besonderen Münzschmuck anbieten zu können. 

Nasterea Venerei

Venus din Urbino

Luate separat, Nasterea Venerei de Botticelli si Venus din Urbino de Tizian sunt doua tablouri extraordinare. Impreuna, provoaca un superb joc al asemanarilor si diferentelor.

Ambele o infatiseaza pe zeita dragostei, numai ca pictura lui Botticelli o plaseaza intr-un cadru mitologic (o zeitate a vantului, poate Zefirul, o impinge usor spre taramul oamenilor, asa cum dragostea ii impinge usor pe unii spre pierzanie), pe cand cea a lui Tizian are un aer foarte lumesc (in planul secund sunt niste servitoare care scotocesc intr-un cufar).

Daca din punct de vedere al compozitiei lucrarea lui Tizian este mai realista si detaliile ajung la un nivel mult mai inalt (priviti numai cutele cearceafului sau ale draperiei verzi), cea a lui Botticelli are un colorit care pe mine m-a captivat mai mult prin modul cum pana si culorile indeobste denumite reci contribuie la luminozitatea tabloului si, implicit, la potentarea aerului alegoric al scenei.

Elementul care a asociat in mintea mea cele doua tablouri este gestul delicat cu care ipostazele Afroditei isi ascund comoara cea mai de pret. Insa acest gest capata conotatii diferite la fiecare.

Venera lui Botticelli este mai plina de pudoare, iar privirea ei, absenta. Este o fiinta nepamanteana, inaccesibila, un simbol al frumusetii abstracte.

Venus a lui Tizian, in schimb, este o femeie in carne (si ce carne reuseste maestrul venetian sa redea!) si oase. Mana ii atarna relaxata, privirea ii este usor provocatoare, atitudinea cocheta, iar frumusetea este aceea menita sa infierbante sangele barbatilor. Figura ei parca spune: Ma vrei? O sa ai de munca!

Sa nu indrazniti sa ma intrebati care dintre cele doua picturi imi place mai mult!

*

Non c’è niente da esprimere,

niente con cui esprimere,

nessuna capacità di esprimere,

nessun desiderio di esprimere,

insieme all’obbligo

di esprimere.

(S. Beckett)

*

This is the blog for Group 1: Fourteenth to Sixteenth Century European Painters. Each group member should leave information on chosen artist and catalog as a comment on this blog.

Primavera, Sandro Botticelli 1485-87

Below is a news story that I have distributed to the press today:

Devils, magic, death, heaven and hell all feature in Victorian tarot cards, the same symbolism as for Hallowe’en

The walking dead, black magic, monsters, and anything occult are familiar images of Halloween. One hundred years ago this month a young designer called Pixie put the finishing touches on 80 beautiful, yet some say sinister, illustrations that were to become the famous Arthur Waite Tarot Cards.

Her images were rooted in the same Halloween mythology. Nearly 80 million decks of these cards have been sold yet she herself never received financial recognition or critical acclaim for its sensational appeal and longevity.

‘Pixie took the design commission from her friend and esoteric scholar Dr Arthur Edward Waite,’ says Aberdeen-based medieval re-enactor and tarot reader, Shirley Muir, ‘She meticulously researched, planned and designed 80 beautiful illustrations with great application, intricate skill, historical knowledge, and layers of embedded religious, alchemical and occult symbolism.

‘The result was a deck of stunning and colourful tarot cards, published in December1909, and still available today through high street booksellers and specialist shops.’

History tells us that Dr Waite paid Colman Smith a very small amount of money for her efforts – we don’t know how much, but she apparently said she was short of cash very soon afterwards. And she never became rich.

The Christian connections of heaven and hell and the devil and magic are as real at Halloween as they are in these cards. Colman Smith’s tarot deck of cards includes The Devil, The Magician, the Hanged Man, the High Priestess, the Last Judgement, and other powerful images. These cards have been used as ominous metaphors to great effect in films, such as Bond film Live and Let Die, The Exorcist 3, Scoop and were featured on TV recently in Coronation Street.

Until 1909 most tarot decks had to be imported from France, because tarot card games were popular on the continent of Europe, but not in the UK. In the UK the cards were more and more being used by dabblers in the occult and so they attracted the sinister connotations they have today.

Colman Smith’s tarot cards coincided with an early 20th century upsurge in interest in the occult and spirituality, producing a demand for tarot decks. During the Victorian era interest in mysticism and the occult had flourished, and pastimes such as fortune-telling, consulting psychics, tarot, magic, and spiritual healing had found thousands of new followers.

The Rider-Waite deck has sold astonishingly well over the past century and it is acknowledged as the most influential tarot deck of the last 100 years.

‘I am interested in medieval history,’ says Shirley, ‘and am actively involved in medieval re-enactment to bring the 15th century alive. As a maker of medieval costumes myself, I am impressed with Colman Smith’s attention to historic detail – the rich, flowing gowns made from heavy, elaborately patterned fabrics, the court cards with kings and queens in truly regal costumes and settings, and even the armour worn by the knights on horseback. All has been well researched and is a fairly accurate representation of fifteenth century life.

’And her representations of the devil and of the grim reaper who is on the Death card are truly spine-chilling.’

A hundred years on tarot itself is again seeing another resurgence. There are thousands of different tarot decks of cards now on the market* – for fortune-telling or game-playing – angel cards, dragon cards, lovers’ cards, Shakespeare cards, cat cards, Australian animal cards, Baseball tarot, and there is even a Halloween deck of tarot cards.

In the UK, as the Christian churches see fewer and fewer members in their congregation, and scientific progress – like evolutionary theory – casts real doubt on literal interpretation of the scriptures, people are turning more and more to New Age mysticism to find modern ways of managing the conflicts and dilemmas of daily life in the 21st century.

‘Perhaps the global recession is fuelling people’s need for guidance and a peek into the future,’ says Shirley, ‘but there is certainly a lot of interest in self-awareness, spiritual healing, psychic powers, and complementary medicine and therapies, as well as tarot.

‘Tarot is not magic, it’s not occult, but it’s an interesting and fascinating pastime,’ says Shirley, who is herself a successful tarot card reader called Lady Cristobel.

Tarot parties are becoming popular, where ladies get together in groups and have a night in – and everyone has a reading done. It’s a different girlie evening – an unusual girlie night or a hen night, and there is always a frisson of expectation when the tarot cards are dealt and the person sees what ‘the future holds’.

‘One thing Is for sure – if you draw the Death card it certainly does not mean you’re going to die. It’s much more exciting than that.’

I was delighted and amazed to discover the artistic connection between Pixie’s three of cups tarot card and Botticelli’s The Three Graces, thanks to TarotTeachings.com.

What a clever way to invoke friends, happiness and enjoying life with a truly a classical connection.

Tarot card pictures are copyright of US Games Inc

Adoro escrever textos que surgem de conversas, por mais triviais que elas sejam. Às vezes as coisas ditas me fazem refletir por horas, dias a fio. Essa veio de mais uma troca de SMSs com uma amiga que gosta de filmes sci-fi, entre eles O Exterminador do Futuro, que eu não gosto muito. Em comum entre nós está o gosto por Star Wars, embora eu não seja fanática. Disse que gosto de Star Wars por causa dos toques épicos, quase medievais da história do filme. Disse também que gosto do passado. “Preferia Os Flintstones aos Jestsons”, arrematei. Hoje veio a resposta dela. “Então você prefere o passado ao futuro?”. Ao que prontamente respondi: “Sou uma saudosista inevitável.”

Foi então que comecei a pensar uma série de coisas sobre isso. Realmente eu prefiro o passado ao futuro, por uma série de coisas. É verdade o que eu disse, sou natural e inevitavelmente saudosista. Sinto falta de tantas coisas. Acho que quando eu era bebê devia sentir falta da barriga da minha mãe. Apego-me facilmente ao passado e sou criticada por isso algumas vezes. É uma tendência minha valorizar o que já aconteceu. Tenho uma caixa enorme onde guardo minhas lembranças. Cadernos, recortes, brinquedos, fotografias, anúncios, qualquer coisa que tenha ficado para trás. Além disso, tenho o hábito de escrever diários, desde os 10 anos de idade, quando ganhei o primeiro.

Guardo essas coisas pensando nos que virão depois de mim, minha descendência, sabem? Quero que meus filhos e netos leiam meus diários e olhem as coisas que eu guardei para saber o que as pessoas faziam no final do século XX e início do XXI (porque pertenço a privilegiada geração que viu uma passagem de século. Hehehe). Quanto ao sentimento, simplesmente não consigo explicar. Realmente sinto uma atração imensa pelo passado, algo que não consigo controlar, e é aquela velha história: antes, tudo era melhor. Sei que aos 20 anos pode se parecer bem jovem para falar que “no meu tempo não era assim”. No entanto, essa frase sai da minha boca com uma freqüência absurda. Assim como qualquer pessoa na faixa dos 50 anos, eu falo que a minha infância foi melhor, que os programas de televisão eram mais educativos, não tinha tanta pornografia e cultura inútil, que nós brincávamos de coisas saudáveis e até jogávamos menos vídeo game (até mesmo porque nem todo mundo tinha). As ruas eram menos violentas, o ônibus era mais barato, enfim.

Art Noveau

Não adianta, sempre fui assim, sempre tive uma queda pelas coisas do passado. Outra coisa, não disse por que não gosto do presente, tampouco do futuro. Vamos pelo presente. O presente não é bom porque sempre falta alguma coisa. O presente nunca satisfaz, porque o passado foi melhor ou você tem a sensação de que podia/poderá fazer algo de um jeito melhor. O presente nunca é o suficiente para nós, ou pelo menos para mim. Raras vezes estive satisfeita com o presente. Aliás, vale ressaltar que estou em um desses momentos em que o presente me satisfaz totalmente. Rapidinho ele se esvai, com o primeiro transtorno, tenho certeza.

E o futuro. “O futuro é incerto.”, disse meu irmão mais novo, um reflexo de meu próprio raciocínio na primeira vez que me perguntei sobre o futuro enquanto divagava sobre isso. Ele também não gosta do futuro. O que é o futuro? Ninguém sabe. Aí é que está. Não gosto de surpresas. Fora que a maioria das previsões para o futuro estão erradas, ou estavam erradas. No desenho Os Jetsons, por exemplo. Claro que é um desenho animado, porém é baseado no que as pessoas da década de 1960 acreditavam que seria esse século XXI. Carros voando, com cadeiras ejetáveis e empregados robôs. Alguém viu isso por aqui, sem ser naquelas feirinhas de tecnologia no Japão? E olhe lá que o carro voador ainda não saiu, não é? Por qual razão vou me preocupar com um futuro que pode nem chegar? E se o mundo acabar em 2012, como nas previsões dos maias? Porque devo buscar o horizonte com tanta sofreguidão, se o que conta mesmo é o agora, o presente em que me encontro, e as coisas que fiz no passado para chegar até aqui. Embora às vezes eu não esteja satisfeita com o presente, tenho plena segurança e convicção do que fiz para chegar até aqui. Conseguem entender meu raciocínio?

Maria Antonieta

Agora, falando historicamente do passado, que é o que mais gosto de fazer, a vantagem dele em relação ao presente é gritante. Claro, reconheço todos os avanços tecnológicos que tivemos até aqui, enfim. Mas, olhem para trás. Vocês verão o nascimento da civilização. Milhares de homens e mulheres descobrindo meios de facilitar suas vidas e continuar existindo em um mundo hostil. Você tem microondas? Gosta dele? Pois é, isso não existia na “época das cavernas”, como é popularmente conhecida. A descoberta do fogo foi primordial para isso. E até a primeira metade do século XIX, um pouco mais, não existia luz elétrica, e todos aqueles teatros maravilhosos e as ruas das cidades eram iluminados por velas ou lâmpadas a gás. Nós, essa geração de agora, não tivemos que lutar por coisa nenhuma, não tivemos que descobrir nada de cunho prático. E a guerra? Adoro o exemplo da guerra. Não que eu seja a favor de qualquer conflito armado, longe disso. Hoje, se um país declara guerra a outro, o presidente vai lá, aperta o botão vermelho e o rival vai pelos ares, não é (um pouco exagerado, mas é)? Assista 300. É ficção, naturalmente, mas tudo é baseado em registros históricos. Antigamente os homens lutavam de verdade, no braço, dizendo a grosso modo. Existe genialidade maior, também, do que a formação de batalha do exército romano nos tempos dos Césares? Acho que não. Alexandre, Gengis Khan, conquistaram meio mundo usando espadas, lanças e arco e flecha.

Certas épocas também exercem grande fascínio sobre mim. Digo mais uma vez, não consigo evitar. Tenho pilhas de DVDs, e organizando-os outro dia percebi que uns 90% são épicos, isso quando não são produções antigas e épicas, como é o caso de Cleópatra (que entrou na lista dos 100 Piores Filmes. Eu gosto, não importa), Lawrence da Arábia, Doutor Jivago e Cantando na Chuva. Gosto do Egito faraônico, da Grécia Antiga (em especial da mitologia grega), dos séculos XVIII e XIX e da década de 1980 do século XX. Diversos fatores me atraem. O brilho de um, a moda do outro. O pensamento de um, o estilo de outro. Histórias de monarquias e famílias reais. De bandas e de artistas plásticos, escritores, atores.

Acabo trazendo isso para a minha vida pessoal. Às vezes meu modo de falar ou escrever parece meio arcaico. E a decoração do meu quarto? Misturo anjos barrocos com reproduções de Botticelli, pôsteres de filmes, bonecos e bibelôs de biscuit e porcelana, bordados, CDs de rock, cortinas de babados, uma mistura confusa que reflete meu interior perfeitamente. Sou o meu quarto. E assim como em mim, mudaria algumas coisas nele.

Robert Smith (The Cure)

Assim sou eu. Sempre terei um pé no que ficou para trás, sempre vou suspirar por algo que eu tenha vivido (ou não). Acho que há certo glamour nas coisas antigas, pensar em quantos já andaram por aquelas ruas, pés que não caminham mais, mãos que não tocam mais aquela renda, ou fazem aquela música que tanto me encanta e encantou tantos outros que também não mais existem. É o passado que cria o presente. Esse texto amanhã será passado. Será passado para mim assim que eu terminar de escrever, e para você quando mudar a página. Espero que se lembre dele de vez em quando.

Escrito ontem, dia 13 de outubro de 2009

16th century King Philip II of Spain is a significant historical figure for me, although I enjoyed more of Cate Blanchett’s 1998 “Elizabeth” than the 2007 sequel “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”, I’m  amused to watch one of my favorite actor Jordi Mollà on the latter playing the part of the king where my country of birth was named in his honour.

With the holy water, I got baptized into Christianity, my spanish name Navo, my mother Elvira and my father Cesar, both names of spanish origins, unlike me, the Philippines has more name changing than a witness on a protection program, the ancient Greeks called the archipelago of 7,107 islands “Maniolas”, Chinese traders named it “Ma-yi”, which means “Land of Gold”, the Portuguese born-Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan baptized it “Archipelago of St. Lazarus”,  few years after and another explorer of mother Spain Ruy López de Villalobos renamed the colony “Felipinas” in honor of Prince Felipe (later crowned as King Philip II), later evolved to “Filipinas”, the Americans called it “The Philippine Islands” and at present time “Republic of the Philippines”.

Most people familiar with my work are surprise I’m not a “60 yr old overweight blond caucasian dude” the first time they meet me, another creative or a model, or someone I bump into a line for my venti iced caramel macchiato in starbucks, the top inquiry is, “where is that accent from?” Il’d reply-“Philippines”, they’ll say- “Oh, Manny Pacquiao“, suddenly it hit me, the modern world has renamed the island of my ancestors “Republic of PACMAN”. The ancient Greeks will see the “Maniolas” renamed after the gladiator PACMAN, as America “the United States of Britney Spears” to the middle east, as far as I remember when I was living there. But this is not about Filipino gladiators in the world history of Sports, but the Filipinos who made a name and headlines in the world of Fashion.

It’s fascinating and sometimes appalling to read or watch the news to know that a visionary magazine editor, a notable fashion designer, an iconic first lady, a groundbreaking model, and a controversial Versace murderer has altered and continue changing the course of the world’s fashion history as we speak. Quoting the author Hodding Carter “There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other is wings.”

Stephen Gan

Creative director at Harper’s Bazaar, co-founder of Visionaire, editor-in-chief of V Magazine and Vman magazine.

Born (1966) and raised in the Philippines, arrived in New York City when he was 18, immediately becoming a prominent NYC club kid Gan studied at Parsons School of Design and began his career as a photographer. In 1986—while he was still a student—legendary Times lensman Bill Cunningham shot a photo of Gan on the street in SoHo, took him for coffee and a cookie, and gave him a quarter to call Annie Flanders, the soon-to-be editor of Details. Gan’s meeting with Cunningham proved fortuitous: Flanders later offered him the position of fashion editor at Details. After the magazine was sold to Condé Nast and Gan was kicked to the curb, he used $7,000 of his severance pay to print 1,000 copies of Visionaire with co-founders James Kaliardos and Cecilia Dean.

In 1999, he launched V Magazine, an offshoot of Visionaire focusing on young art, fashion, and culture. His day job, though, is at Harper’s Bazaar, where he was named creative director in 2001, one of Glenda Bailey’s first hires as editor-in-chief. Gan is also director of Dream Project, a creative powerhouse, with advertising clients such as Calvin Klein, Dior, Fendi, Shiseido, Olay Colour Europe, Tommy Hilfiger, D&G and Missoni.

Monique Lhuillier

Born (1971) and raised in Cebu, Philippines, fashion designer based in the United States. She’s the daughter of Michel Lhuiller, a successful businessman of mixed French Filipino descent, and Amparito Llamas, a society figure & former model of Spanish-Cebuano Filipino descent. Lhuillier’s family is prominent in Philippine society. Lhuillier demonstrated good taste and great imagination at an early age. At 15, she was an outstanding student in Lausanne, Switzerland and hoped to become successful in the fashion industry. Her parents sent her to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM), where she met the man she married, Tom Bugbee. Lhuillier and Bugbee, a young, dynamic husband and wife team, founded their company in 1996 and launched their first bridal collection. The line was extremely well-received by fashion-savvy brides, editors, and celebrities.

The breakthrough came after Monique designed the gowns for her wedding entourage. These captured the fancy of couture circles. Having had a difficult time finding her own gown, Lhuillier, a 23-year-old newlywed at the time, decided to begin sketching her own line of dresses. She made the news with two high-profile celebrity weddings in a row. She designed Christine Baumgartner’s wedding dress for her Fall, 2004 wedding to Kevin Costner shortly after designing both of Britney Spears’s dresses for her wedding to Kevin Federline. She’s also designed the wedding gown of US former Vice President and former Second Lady Al and Tipper Gore’s youngest daughter, Sarah G. Lee, for her marriage to Bill Lee, and also Heidi Montag’s wedding dress to Spencer Pratt. Also, one of her gowns is used by Hilary Duff when she plays Sam in A Cinderella Story. Subsequently Lhuillier added evening wear to her line, and several of her efforts showed up on red carpets before awards shows. For the Fall, 2007 season she branched off into more typical runway collections. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monique_Lhuillier

Anna Bayle

Born (1959) and raised in the Philippines, a Filipina model who achieved success in the late 1970s and 1980s. She became one of the highest paid models of her time.

Bayle worked for numerous New York designers and became a design consultant to some established fashion houses. She did national and international campaigns for fashion houses and major department stores, as well as calendars for Elite Modeling Agency and Shiseido Cosmetics. She was featured in numerous fashion books, such as Mugler, Chanel, Scaasi, Valentino, Versace, YSL, Dior, Fashion Illustrations by Antonio, etc. Bayle was photographed by fashion photographers including Helmut Newton, Norman Parkinson, Sante D’ Orazio, Peter Beard, David Seidner, Olivero Toscani, Arthur Elgort, Patrick Demarchelier, Peter Lindbergh, Skrebneski, Alex Chatelain and Paolo Roversi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Bayle

Andrew Cunanan (1969 – 1997)

An American spree killer who murdered at least five people, including fashion designer Gianni Versace, during a three-month period in 1997, ending with Cunanan’s suicide, at age 27. On June 12, 1997, Cunanan became the 449th fugitive to be listed by the FBI on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Cunanan was born in National City, California, the youngest of four children to Modesto Cunanan and Mary Anne Shilacci.

In 1981, his father enrolled him in The Bishop’s School in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California. At school, Cunanan was remembered as being bright and very talkative, testing with an I.Q. of 147, but he was often bullied. As a teenager, he developed a reputation as a prolific liar, given to telling fantastic tales about his family and personal life; he was also adept at changing his appearance according to what he felt was most attractive at a given moment. After graduating from high school in 1987, he became a student at University of California, San Diego, where he majored in American history.
 After graduating from UCSD, he settled in the Castro District of San Francisco. There, he frequented high-class gay bars and prostituted himself to wealthy, older men. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cunanan

“Still, there was a lot of surface masquerade going on. There was a lot of Andrew Cunanan that Andrew Cunanan did not like. He began to, using author Clarkson’s word, “reinvent” himself almost as a cause celebre. Glamour became the keyword; he wanted to be glamorous. Firstly, he did not like being Filipino, so he suddenly became Latino and acted out the part with the verve of an Antonio Banderas. At the bars he was known as either Andrew DaSilva or David Morales. A chameleon, he changed faces and figures with a pair of stylish glasses or a trim of his sideburns, or through the transformation from a suited Clark Kent to a T-shirt wearing Superman. Even though he was Personality A on Friday night, he could be Personality B at the same spot on Saturday and get away with it. Those who spent hours with him at the bar one night would not recognize him the next.” http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/cunanan/index_1.html

Imelda Marcos

The widow of former President Ferdinand Marcos, and is herself an influential political figure in the Philippines. Imelda was born on July 2, 1929 in Manila. Her own branch of the family was not political. Her father was a scholarly man more interested in music and culture than in public life. Her mother, Remedios Trinidad, a dressmaker who grew up in an orphanage in Manila, said to have been an illegitimate offspring of a friar.

Marcos’s extravagant lifestyle reportedly included five-million-dollar shopping tours in New York, Rome and Copenhagen in 1983, and sending a plane to pick up Australian white sand for a new beach resort. She purchased a number of properties in Manhattan in the 1980s, including the $51-million Crown Building and the $60-million Herald Centre; she declined to purchase the Empire State Building for $750m as she considered it “too ostentatious.” Her New York real estate was later seized and sold, along with much of her jewels and most of her 175 piece art collection, which included works by Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Canaletto.

After the Marcos family fled Malacañang Palace, Marcos was found to have left behind 15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 1000 handbags and 3000 pairs of shoes. In February 2006, Marcos insisted that her husband acquired his wealth legitimately as a gold trader. By the late 1950s, she claimed, he had amassed a personal fortune of 7,500 tons of gold, and after gold prices climbed in the 1970s, the Marcos family was worth about $35 billion. However, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has no record of the Marcos family declaring or paying taxes on these assets, and the source of their wealth remains open to investigation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imelda_Marcos

More than 110 masterpieces of two centuries of Italian art, among them several paintings by the most famous Italian geniuses representing various schools and stylistic trends, are on display at the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts in an exhibition that should not be missed. The display titled From Botticelli to Titian, Masterpieces of Two Centuries of Italian Art, can be visited from October 28, 2009 to February 14, 2010.
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I always feel that I have so many blessings that I should be doing something to help those that have been hit with bad times. October is the breast cancer awareness month, and I have been trying to do some art about it for the last 3

Venus Amazona (c) Constanza Ehrenhaus 2009

years. However, due to poor planning, not remembering on time and lack of time, I am never able to do that. This year I remembered early enough and I started drawing in late August. I thought I was going to be done well in advance, but the truth is that I have been so overloaded with work that I could only work on my Venus on and off during short periods of time about one day a week, if at all. So I just finished her (Click on her to see the full size image)! And I am rather happy with her, she is not perfect, but I wanted to keep a lot of the anatomy errors of the original Venus, and she still looks elegant and graceful.

I recently read a very sad and bitter comment from a woman who had survived breast cancer and had a mastectomy. She was absolutely enraged about this Barbie doll that was beautiful and honoring breast cancer survivors. Her point was that the doll was beautiful and had her breasts and she did not, and did not feel beautiful.

This is my tribute to all those women that have gone through mastectomy. I chose Venus by Botticelli as my muse, since she is a representation of ideal beauty. Even having gone through a mastectomy, a woman is still a woman, and she can be beautiful. Beauty is more than breasts, she can still be elegant and graceful, still womanly and gorgeous. It is in each of us the choice of feeling pretty regardless of having lost a breast. Do not give up feeling like a woman, being a woman!

This illustration is available as a print, and all the profits will be donated to foundations that fight breast cancer. Besides, the digital file has been donated to the Susan Komen Foundation for them to use as they see fit.