POLLYTALK FROM NEW YORK
by Polly Guerin
April 14, 2008
The Glitterati Lions…Were You There?
All the lions stood a-roaring and you could not
see the flooring for the literary men; novelists
discussed together metaphysics and the weather,
claret, sandwiches, and sin, while the painters and
musicians shyly mentioned their ambitions and the
women drank it in. Then said Mr. Y politely to jolt
the literary zoo, "Have you heard the works of
Horse?" " Everybody knew they knew, "Yes, of
course," said everybody. Did he paint, compose or
write? Why is he not here tonight?
(A.P. Herbert)
Pierre Cardin, the 86-year old king of licensing was there, hands down the shining star at the
(SCAD) Savannah College of Art and Designs' Etoile award ceremony at the Cultural Services of
the French Embassy. The glitterati lingered in the embassy's foyer, where Cardin, a Commander
of the Legion of Honor, greeted guests who paid homage to the great designer. (www.scad.edu).
SCAD student/models, posed in Tableau Vivant within framed replicas of famous paintings, were
a silent ceremonial spectacle representing works including Edgar Degas and Henri Toulouse-
Lautrec. Commenting on these splendid frozen in time pantomimes, Dr. Kelly Lancaster, Liberal
Arts Department said, "Graduate students from the Performing Arts Dept. were picked for their
lookalike characteristics of the figures depicted in the paintings." The pretty fair-skinned blonde
student posed in Le Bar aux Folies Bergere by Edouard Manet was a stunner as was the male
impersonator wearing a bowler hat with green apple replicating Le Fils de L'Homme by Rene
Magritte.
Cardin became acquainted with SCAD in Lacoste, France where he owns the Marquis de Sade's
former chateau and a great deal of property, and so does the college, which has a satellite
campus there. The designer said, "Without the past you can't have tomorrow." Cardin, recognized
in part for his historic restorations and cultural contributions, received the "Etoile" award to
standing ovations. I just wish you were there. I understand that the fictitious Mr.Horse was there,
but I'm not quite sure, he never showed his face.
Cut a Rug, get in the groove, alight on a magic carpet and go to the New York Historical
Society's "Woven Splendor from Timbuktu to Tibet" exhibit, through August 08. (www.nyhistory.
org). Featuring dozens of dazzling, exotic rugs and textiles from New York Collectors, the exhibit
celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Hajji Baba Club, the nation's oldest and most prestigious
rug collecting club founded in l932, and named after the hero of a 19th century English novel,
whose name literally means "pilgrim father." The diverse functions of carpets and textiles as
clothing, decoration, and furnishings or as ceremonial artifacts and religious objects are a
fascinating ode to the era.
Picture yourself in an opulent Ottoman parlor and take in the NYHS' companion exhibit, Allure of
the East: Orientalism in New York, which chronicles the city's infatuation with the Near East in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. Discover the powerful impact of this collective fantasy on
design and the popular imagination. See how the intelligentsia embraced Orientalism in portraits
of New Yorker's clad in Middle Eastern costume, and photos of sensuous interiors decorated to
capture the ambiance of an Ottoman smoking lodge.
Do you fancy becoming a painter? Nicolas Poussin, the tutelary deity of plein-air painting said,
"Painting is a learned activity." One of the supreme masters of landscape painting nature is viewed
"through the glass of time" and is endowed with a poetic quality. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
through May 11th examines Poussin's Venetian-inspired pastorals to grandly structured and
austere works in which the artist meditated upon Nature, its transformation, and its renewal. Do
go!!! It's a viewer's delight. Poussin puts us in a mood of majestic reverie. (www.metmuseum.org)
Cornered in convenient nooks, the literary zoo knew a thing or two. Although the elusive Mr.
Horse had considerable force, they wondered if he really was there at all. Well, so much for the
know-it-alls. Next time count yourself among the glitterati. Ta Ta see you next week.
info@pollytalk.com.
by Polly Guerin
April 14, 2008
The Glitterati Lions…Were You There?
All the lions stood a-roaring and you could not
see the flooring for the literary men; novelists
discussed together metaphysics and the weather,
claret, sandwiches, and sin, while the painters and
musicians shyly mentioned their ambitions and the
women drank it in. Then said Mr. Y politely to jolt
the literary zoo, "Have you heard the works of
Horse?" " Everybody knew they knew, "Yes, of
course," said everybody. Did he paint, compose or
write? Why is he not here tonight?
(A.P. Herbert)
Pierre Cardin, the 86-year old king of licensing was there, hands down the shining star at the
(SCAD) Savannah College of Art and Designs' Etoile award ceremony at the Cultural Services of
the French Embassy. The glitterati lingered in the embassy's foyer, where Cardin, a Commander
of the Legion of Honor, greeted guests who paid homage to the great designer. (www.scad.edu).
SCAD student/models, posed in Tableau Vivant within framed replicas of famous paintings, were
a silent ceremonial spectacle representing works including Edgar Degas and Henri Toulouse-
Lautrec. Commenting on these splendid frozen in time pantomimes, Dr. Kelly Lancaster, Liberal
Arts Department said, "Graduate students from the Performing Arts Dept. were picked for their
lookalike characteristics of the figures depicted in the paintings." The pretty fair-skinned blonde
student posed in Le Bar aux Folies Bergere by Edouard Manet was a stunner as was the male
impersonator wearing a bowler hat with green apple replicating Le Fils de L'Homme by Rene
Magritte.
Cardin became acquainted with SCAD in Lacoste, France where he owns the Marquis de Sade's
former chateau and a great deal of property, and so does the college, which has a satellite
campus there. The designer said, "Without the past you can't have tomorrow." Cardin, recognized
in part for his historic restorations and cultural contributions, received the "Etoile" award to
standing ovations. I just wish you were there. I understand that the fictitious Mr.Horse was there,
but I'm not quite sure, he never showed his face.
Cut a Rug, get in the groove, alight on a magic carpet and go to the New York Historical
Society's "Woven Splendor from Timbuktu to Tibet" exhibit, through August 08. (www.nyhistory.
org). Featuring dozens of dazzling, exotic rugs and textiles from New York Collectors, the exhibit
celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Hajji Baba Club, the nation's oldest and most prestigious
rug collecting club founded in l932, and named after the hero of a 19th century English novel,
whose name literally means "pilgrim father." The diverse functions of carpets and textiles as
clothing, decoration, and furnishings or as ceremonial artifacts and religious objects are a
fascinating ode to the era.
Picture yourself in an opulent Ottoman parlor and take in the NYHS' companion exhibit, Allure of
the East: Orientalism in New York, which chronicles the city's infatuation with the Near East in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. Discover the powerful impact of this collective fantasy on
design and the popular imagination. See how the intelligentsia embraced Orientalism in portraits
of New Yorker's clad in Middle Eastern costume, and photos of sensuous interiors decorated to
capture the ambiance of an Ottoman smoking lodge.
Do you fancy becoming a painter? Nicolas Poussin, the tutelary deity of plein-air painting said,
"Painting is a learned activity." One of the supreme masters of landscape painting nature is viewed
"through the glass of time" and is endowed with a poetic quality. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
through May 11th examines Poussin's Venetian-inspired pastorals to grandly structured and
austere works in which the artist meditated upon Nature, its transformation, and its renewal. Do
go!!! It's a viewer's delight. Poussin puts us in a mood of majestic reverie. (www.metmuseum.org)
Cornered in convenient nooks, the literary zoo knew a thing or two. Although the elusive Mr.
Horse had considerable force, they wondered if he really was there at all. Well, so much for the
know-it-alls. Next time count yourself among the glitterati. Ta Ta see you next week.
info@pollytalk.com.
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