The dark side of Oscar Feb 23, 2008
The best films were so over-the-top, so rococo in their violence and baroque in their construction, so arch in dialogue, that it was like a big finger up to naturalism. Thank God for it. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
More of this story Feb 23, 2008
They explore the trend toward rococo and chinoiserie, or fascination with Asian culture, in 18th-century Europe, Higa explained. Eastman, who was born in Berkeley and now lives in L.A., uses acrylic, spray paint and glitter in her representations of a fountain at Versailles and a dog on a bench with an ornate tapestry in the background. (Los Angeles Downtown News, CA)
Is that a cello on your shoulder? Feb 13, 2008
He now believes that the instrument we now call the cello only came into being in the rococo period. Before that, instruments from the diverse bass viol family - not the cello -- played bass lines in baroque music; the viola da spalla was used for solo cello parts, such as the violoncello piccolo solos in Bach's cantatas. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Unsung heroes of fine art get belated recognition Feb 4, 2008
More complex, he says, is the decision about whether to keep a later frame that is beautiful but irrelevant, such as the rococo 18th-century frame on a 17th-century Poussin. The Sydney art dealer Michael Reid says paintings are usually valued without their frames, "except when the frame is of historical value". (Sydney Morning Herald)
Valentine's Day Museum Exhibitions Feb 4, 2008
This international loan exhibition of more than 30 paintings, drawings and books from public and private collections is dedicated primarily to late works by French Rococo painter and draftsman (1732-1806). Previously on view at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (October 28, 2007-January 21, 2008), Consuming Passion. (Suite101.com)
* [ART JOURNAL]: First and last Jan 17, 2008
One festive piece in the show, Visions Beyond the Pearly Curtain, is shaped like a chador, cape or kimono, although with its gathered swags and melon-orange curlicues it has the theatrical punch of a rococo opera curtain about to rise. When Kushner finished this piece in 1975, Ptaking off. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
18th-Century European Portraitists Jan 4, 2008
Carriera (1675-1757), Venetian Rococo artist, decorated snuff boxes with miniature paintings done on an ivory surface ... Scottish Rococo painter Sir Allan Ramsay (1713-1784) was the artist responsible for the majority of the paintings of Queen Charlotte. (Suite101.com)
Designers declare where the money is for 2008 Jan 3, 2008
Hello: Golden harvest yellows, rococo pinky red and snorkel blue. "I see pattern expanding into a larger scale, almost simplifying things in a classic way.". (San Francisco Chronicle)
Too many menorahs? From gifts to collection Nov 30, 2007
Early American lamps were revivals of European Baroque or Rococo styles, said Susan Braunstein, curator at the Jewish Museum in New York. Green patinated imports from Israel became available in the 1940s, and after World War II, descendants of the sleek Bauhaus style became common. (North County Times)
Show spotlights 18th-century French artists' drawings in Eternal City Nov 30, 2007
The artists and architects who came to Rome were in agreement on one thing: They wanted to move away from the immensely popular stylistics of the rococo, with its embrace of lavish detail and ornate curves. It dominated French art and design in the first half of the 18th century. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Holland, Belgium for $1,699 Nov 27, 2007
In Belgium, the first stop is Ghent, located in east Flanders province, renowned for its varied architectural styles, including Romanesque and rococo. The Castle of the Counts and the Cathedral of St. Bavon home to Van Eyck brothers' 12-paneled Adoration of the Lamb are among Ghent's highlights. (MSNBC -- Travel)
Travel the Romantic Road, Germany Nov 25, 2007
Bad Mergentheim with a large Teutonic Order castle and a wonderful Rococo church ... Steingaden has an interesting parish church with Romanesque exterior and Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo elements in its interior ... It is considered the definitive Bavarian Rococo church and thus on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage. (Suite101.com)
'Las Vegas Diaspora' at the Vegas Art Museum Nov 20, 2007
Nearby, lovingly described slabs of raw meat and entrails, gaily marbled with fat and painted in slick oils by Victoria Reynolds, seem right at home in their elaborate Rococo frames. No guts, no glory. (Los Angeles Times)
A library's remarkable renaissance Nov 13, 2007
Views of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library's Rococo hall ... A cube of floor-to-ceiling glass encases a Rococo balustrade, its blue paint and gold detailing charred and smoke-stained ... "A lot of that has to do with the fact that this was one of the first real public libraries in Germany. It wasn't just open to royalty, but to the people as well." On Nov. 1, more than three years after an electrical short triggered the flames and a week after politicians, city officials and a battalion of media... (International Herald Tribune)
Marcel Marceau and his art Sep 25, 2007
After the performance, Marceau withdrew to Schloss Leopoldskron, a rococo palace on the outskirts of Salzburg that had once belonged to the Festival founder Max Reinhardt. Silent on stage, Marcel was a natural raconteur. (International Herald Tribune)
Galleries: Gleason keeps his paintings rough around the edges Aug 26, 2007
In other pictures Gleason seems to conjure, only to mock, the impression of a Rococo frame. Even at their least suggestive, the edge details deliver a sense of the painter having swept drawing aside to clear a space for "pure" abstraction. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Farewell, Mischa Aug 7, 2007
He was delighted to find that Tchaikovsky's "Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, (Op. 33)" was in Castro-Balbi's repertoire. It was a piece of extremes, sometimes living up to the frilly name of rococo with rapid bowing and fingering; other times it stilled to plaintive notes surrounded by silence. (Durango Herald)
Dorm room drama Aug 3, 2007
Rococo and Flora-patterned fabric tote boxes ($12. 99 to $19. (The Clarion-Ledger)
$1m sale of Hotel Fresno is complete Jul 28, 2007
Baghgegian also has remodeled several older buildings in Los Angeles and Pasadena, including a brick building in Old Town Pasadena with a rooftop-style patio housing the Cafe Santorini and its Rococo Room. Baghgegian said Friday that he expects repairs and renovations to the Hotel Fresno to cost about $12 million. (Fresno Bee -- Business)
Let it be beads Jul 20, 2007
Hand-blown glass beads are displayed at Rococo Styles Bead Gallery, located in Visalia's Montgomery Square building ... For Elizabeth Bower, owner of Rococo Styles Bead Gallery in Visalia, beadworking and jewelry making aren't just a pastime; they're a way to bring out the artist within each of us ... Since then, about 480 people have signed up for Rococo Styles classes, taught by Bower and visiting artists she's met through her lifetime of interest in jewelry and bead making. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
GRASPING VICTORIA LANDS... Jul 17, 2007
no vena of thanks that soccer star David Beckham was called back to Europe before it could finish filming his relentlessly (The Drudge Report)
Chippendale furniture by the roomful Jul 13, 2007
Chippendale's name lives on, of course, in references to furniture made in styles he pioneered - rococo, chinoiserie etc - but actual pieces documented as having come from the great man's London workshop are as rare as hen's teeth. As this column has noted, the purchase of the property, which is set on 810 hectares in Ayrshire, along with its copious contents was secured by a number of bodies headed by Britain's Art Fund, on the promptings of Prince Charles. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Business)
Paul Nash and Yves Tanguy Jul 9, 2007
Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) is a leading French Rococo painter. While Rococo emphasizes bright colors and a light approach, Watteau sometimes displays a somber or melancholy feeling in his paintings and, as such, is considered of all the 18th-century painters closest to modern sensibility. (Suite101.com)
Prince saves jewel in Scots crown Jun 28, 2007
As well as building Fort George on the Moray Firth, Inverness, the Adam brothers introduced Scotland to a new, lighter, almost rococo style of building. A significant commission of their early partnership was Dumfries House, Ayrshire, for the Earl of Dumfries. (Guardian Unlimited -- UK)
Two historic buildings ... One buyer? Jun 19, 2007
Baghgegian's work includes a brick building in old town Pasadena with a rooftop-style patio that houses the Cafe Santorini and its Rococo Room. He also designed and built La Luna Negra Tapas Bar and Restaurant in Pasadena, which he has since sold, MacVaugh said. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
Visitors encouraged to 'think on their feet' at the Healthy Feet Exhibit Jun 12, 2007
Current exhibitions include: Chronicles of Riches: Treasures from the Bata Shoe Museum; Watched by Heaven, Tied to Earth: Summoning Animal Protection for Chinese Children; The Charm of Rococo: Femininity and Footwear in the 18th Century and All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages. Online exhibitions include All about Shoes and On Canadian Ground: Stories of Footwear in Early Canada. (Canada Newswire)
Fragonards meet Jun 11, 2007
Both were entirely the work of the rococo artist, were dated by collectors to a year of each other (1784 for the Wallace work, 1785 for the Getty) and each considered a masterpiece. However, Mark Leonard, head of conservation at the Getty, in California, had some startling news - the Wallace work, he found, was Fragonard's second version. (Guardian Unlimited -- UK)
Two Famous 18th-Century Painters Jun 10, 2007
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, also known as Giambattista Tiepolo, (1696-1770), is the unchallenged master of Venetian painters of the 18th-century Rococo period and the last of the Renaissance painters. In the Venetian tradition he filled his with exquisite luminous colors like lavenders, blues, greens, burgundies, and golds. (Suite101.com)
Trans-Siberian for softies May 21, 2007
Mad, contradictory Russia, where the beautiful flashing gold of a rococo doorway, or the perfectly turned heel of one of the world's most beautiful women, dressed in a cheap copy of a designer classic but still looking like a million roubles, contrasted, everywhere, with the most brutalist architecture in the world, executed in the world's ugliest invention, concrete, which Stalin bred like his land breeds trees, and which now cracks, damp and black and broken and ugly, at every turn. Seldom on... (Guardian Unlimited -- Travel)
Who, what, when at Tanglewood May 20, 2007
7/7: Ludovic Morlot conducts Dvorak's "Othello" Overture; Tchaikovsky's "Variations on a Rococo Theme" and "Pezzo capriccioso" with Lynn Harrell, cello; Mussorgsky-Ravel's "Pictures at an Exhibition.". 7/8: Andre Previn conducts Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet," Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Jean-Philippe Collard, Prokofiev's Suite from "Romeo and Juliet.". (Boston Globe)
LOOKING GLASS SASS May 17, 2007
Wilkinson borrowed a mid-19th century carved Venetian Rococo piece with its original mirror plate from Candace Barnes that's priced at $13,333. 13. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Mansion gets extreme makeover Apr 29, 2007
" Known as the chintz girl for her tendency to accessorize, she checked herself and decked out the room in chocolate brown and raspberry with objects that bespeak the ease with which people of means can make a room reflect their dreams and desires. White damask sofa and chairs, an 18th century chinoiserie German secretary and a Swedish rococo table are weighty pieces balanced by a contemporary bronze sculpture of an elongated woman and a large tufted ottoman in a floral abstract fabric. The... (San Francisco Chronicle)
A bit of Paris on Durango Mar 24, 2007
Many images evoke the romantic Paris, such as "Montmartre avec bicyclette, Paris 1997," a view down herringbone brick steps, the black iron light posts and railings typical of Paris under the mottled shadows of large trees; "L'Econte, Paris 1999," a large sculpture of a head resting against a hand, on a patterned brick plaza, an encrusted Rococo style building in the background; and "Solitude, Paris 1997," a man sitting alone in a park, reading beneath a classical sculpture. Other images capture... (Durango Herald)
In my nature Mar 8, 2007
Rohde plays with the already over-the-top style of French rococo and pumps up the volume to full blast. Her installation resembles a collection of 18th-century cabinets of curiosities, doused in glitter and ready for Mardi Gras. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Designers light up Paris Mar 8, 2007
Set on a rococo stage in a Louvre courtyard tent, the show featured bold color combinations such as a copper skirt paired with a green blouse and burgundy pumps. Dresses in pastel rainbow shades also punctuated the gray afternoon. (Houston Chronicle)
Louvre Atlanta: Louis luxury Mar 3, 2007
Indeed, these gleaming porcelains, rococo carvings, sparkling silver and gold filigree and intricate fabrics may today shine in the halogen beams of modern showcase lighting as symbols of what ended that "richest and most powerful royalty.". The establishment in the 17th century of great royal factories to fill French palaces with luxury helped chart the collision course between the aristocracy and the citizenry. (CNN -- Travel)
Nothing Borrowed, Something New Mar 1, 2007
Legendary former director A. Everett "Chick" Austin began collecting baroque and rococo masterpieces in 1927, when such works were unpopular. Charles C. Cunningham, who followed Austin, continued his work until the museum could boast of a collection that traced European art from the Renaissance through the rococo period. (CTNow.com)
Angry young man Feb 12, 2007
Renoir is the guardian of a courtly tradition that stretches from the Renaissance through the French rococo to the boating parties of the 19th-century bourgeoisie. He lived through two wars, but it never occurred to him that art was about war or politics. (Guardian Unlimited)
Guillotine chic Feb 10, 2007
But she lacked the original identity for it, the rococo cool of Pompadour or the earthiness of Du Barry. She looks more like the lifesized doll of herself, with a trunk of the latest Paris modes, that toured Europe's capitals. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
What a wonderful world Jan 23, 2007
At the same time, he tells us, in The Grand Walk of the New Spring Garden, what it must have felt like to walk through Vauxhall Gardens on a summer evening; or, elsewhere, to attend the fashionable rococo Rotunda at Ranelagh, where, as Horace Walpole put it, "You can't set your foot without treading on a Prince, or Duke of Cumberland." Canaletto certainly wasn't Hogarth, his contemporary. However, you get from him not just the air of the Rotunda's weird architecture, but also its intimidating... (Guardian Unlimited)
Framed! Expert details family firm's 100-year history Jan 15, 2007
Frames are changed often, Shar says, because "tastes change and people want to put their signature on a painting ... in the 18th and 19th centuries, rooms were much larger and tastes were more rococo and fancy. That didn't translate well into someone's interior 100 years later.". Author Deborah Davis, who worked with Shar on "The Secret Lives," says when she agreed to the book project, "I really set out to help people like myself who are completely uninformed, to understand not only the history... (Greenwich Time)
Shape of things to come Jan 4, 2007
Just as the first machine lathes of the early 19th century made it possible to carve uniform curves in wood and metal, the latest generation of routers, lasers and water-jet cutters can slice and dice wood, acrylic, even solid steel into delicate filigrees and Rococo curlicues. This new technology called computer numerical control, or CNC is bridging the gap between the handmade and the manufactured. (Los Angeles Times)
Robert Rosenblum — art historian and author Dec 29, 2006
This led to writings such as The Dog in Art from Rococo to Post-Modernism (1988). For some time Rosenblum kept an oversize photograph of his pet dog, Archie, above the fireplace in his Greenwich Village home, where flea market collectibles cohabited with fine art. (TimesOnline)
Christmas cards of yesteryear Dec 10, 2006
Border designs became popular in the 1860s, and the 1890s cards heavily reflected the Rococo style in furniture and art of the time. The designs themselves were not always the most relevant. (Woonsocket Call, RI)
Ballarat's golden boy avoids glitz in bid to retain crown Nov 13, 2006
Like Bracks himself, there wasn't a lot of glitz and razzamatazz about the exercise, delivered in the faded opulence of Ballarat's Her Majesty's Theatre, all turquoise-and-gilt dress-circle balconies, rococo columns and frayed plush seats. The only real concession to campaigning modernity was a somewhat overlong video starring Bracks and his team which, sitting in the cheap stalls, made you wonder whether there would be an interval before the main feature. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Civic Emotions Oct 30, 2006
The other night in Chicago, I had one of the best meals of my life at Alinea, where I had seventeen or so courses, all small, all done with a kind of rococo elaborateness 00004000 that delighted me. One dish of rabbit came accompanied by a small overturned glass that, when picked up, was full of the aroma but only the aroma of burned oak leaves. (New Yorker)
Exhibit evokes '70s Sep 28, 2006
Marti lists Raphael's paintings at the Vatican, Renaissance-period Italian crypts and ornate rococo installations like those found at the Versailles Palace as inspirations in designing this four-room exhibit that evokes the "Me Decade" through flocked (velvet-textured) black-light wallpaper, vintage beer cans and frequent use of molded synthetic materials ... "I was interested in creating a secularized version inspired by rococo designs I saw.". (Roxborough Review, PA)
Heirloom on the level Sep 19, 2006
Your particular mirror is a Rococo Revival style, with its carved flowers, acanthus leaves around the legs and the open carved work on the top. I think it's possibly Canadian, made of either walnut or cherry, and likely dates back to the last quarter of the 19th century. (Toronto Star -- Life)
Chicago is an architectural feast of masterpieces Sep 18, 2006
Duke Eberhard Ludwig's summer retreat includes the country's largest baroque palace, a rococo hunting lodge and the summer residence named Favorite. The palace also houses the area's only porcelain factory, which sells its delicate wares. (Buffalo News -- Arts)
Dutch exhibit on life of US artist and collector William Singer Sep 15, 2006
Also on show is the almost sugary sweet pastel by French artist Gaston la Touche, very popular with American collectors at Singer's time, called "The Bath" showing a rococo scene of elegant ladies in an imaginary landscape. The Laren exhibit is the first time many of the works have been reunited and extensive research was done into the lives of William and Anna Singer and their collection. (Yahoo News -- Art and Museums)
Peter Schjeldahl on MOMA’s contemporary-art installation Sep 5, 2006
I remember thinking, when I first saw Ever Is Over All, that it heralded a dawning era of rococo pleasures, which would blur boundaries between art and entertainment in no end of surprising ways. As often happens in such cases, very little that has been produced since, even by Rist, has rivalled it for crazy joy. (New Yorker)
Manic, maudlin 'Barnyard' is a strange animal Aug 4, 2006
Every vibrant cultural movement eventually descends into rococo excess, and with ``Barnyard," computer-generated cartoons have at last arrived at their moment. The film ends with a bovine nativity scene that would delight the camp artist Jeff Koons, but this is a studio film so it's played insanely straight. A strong man might weep. A stronger man might rent ``Babe" instead. Ty Burr can be reached at. (Boston Globe)
Cristi Rinklin's new exhibition turns walls and stained glass windows into colorful surprises Jul 27, 2006
Her new mural installation, ``Nuvolomondo," on the walls and in the windows of the Tufts University Art Gallery's Harry Remis Sculpture Court , lets the sun shine through, which takes the tones and the depth of her work even further.The result is intoxicating: a spinning, jiving, back-flipping abstraction of simmering red-orange cloud formations dancing the tango with a loose-limbed ribbon of turquoise.Rinklin is a painter's painter, but she has her feet squarely in the 21st century. The... (Boston Globe -- Living)
Dressed for the occasion Jul 26, 2006
The same year, for a state visit to Germany in 1965, Amies created a turquoise blue shift with silver embroidery on the bodice inspired by the Rococo design of the Rhineland palace where the state banquet in her honour was to be held. Later, in 1983, he created a dress embroidered with Californian poppies for a visit to the United States. (Scotsman)
Rocky rococo Jul 1, 2006
"Rococo" I'd call it. Not the happy, flamboyantly frivolous, yet life-affirming rococo of Boucher or Fragonard ... More like rococo with a death wish. (Buffalo News -- Entertainment)
Inspired by nature, driven by eco-consciousness Jun 22, 2006
French Dot hand-printed wallpaper from Karen Combs and her company Nama Rococo costs $180 a sheet. Sheets measure approximately 25 inches wide by 38 inches long. , 413-652-2312. (AZCentral -- Home)
Looking at the Louvre Jun 2, 2006
Beginning with the 17th-century galleries, you will get a panoramic survey, from the serene classicism of Nicolas Poussin to the flirty sensuousness of the rococo and on to the masters of the 19th century, such as Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Jacques Louis David and Eug;ne Delacroix. The grand history paintings of the 19th century are show-stoppers. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Travel)
Odds-on favorite May 20, 2006
3) Black and white glass bead bracelets from Gems by Rococo redefine elegance ... 12) Bold but not ostentatious, this necklace from Gems by Rococo is handmade of pearls, brushed sterling silver beads and black crystals. (SunSpot.net)
At Cannes, boring is out, political is in May 19, 2006
Cannes was thrilling - the Rococo Palace, the Blue Bar of never-ending revels, and marathon fetes in the hills. Yet anybody could break into a screening or a party, interview a star, provoke a fight. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Every dog has its day: Bruce Museum exhibit takes a look at man's best friend May 15, 2006
"The depiction of dogs in art mirrors closely the familiar sequence of styles and emotions in Western art and history," says Rosenblum in his 1988 publication, "The Dog in Art from Rococo to Post-Modernism.". "To speak of a Rococo dog or a Romantic dog or a Victorian dog is, in fact, to make perfect sense." ... It is a story that is told by way of Baroque landscapes of royal hunts with aristocratic hounds, Rococo portraits and indoor, still-life paintings of luxury lapdogs, domestic... (Greenwich Time)
Get A Leap On Frog Festivals May 7, 2006
Each night includes "outrageous art activities," such as pop-up pleasure palaces, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI karaoke duets and Baroque body "bling" inspired by the current "Renaissance to Rococo" exhibit. Future nights are June 15, July 20, Aug. 17 and Sept. 21. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Travel)
You don't know Sac! May 1, 2006
Lifestyle/Scene - You don't know Sac. Some features on this site require that JavaScript be turned on. (Sacramento Bee -- Lifestyle)
'Brick' stacks up poorly Apr 15, 2006
Brick is the reductive boil-down of Tarantino and Lynch, TV-ad noir and the rococo rummaging of MTV, its score tapping into more wires than a switchboard (tracings of Miles Davis, Chinatown, Nino Rota, Ry Cooder, techno, Asian, etc. . (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Crow melts hearts, boudoirs Apr 8, 2006
It is not just the vibrancy of the images that makes an impact on the viewer; the rococo fixtures seem to positively vibrate with urgent tension, as if they may burst aflame at any moment. The slurs and drips of the paint itself across their slick surfaces create an environment that seems to be collapsing in over-saturation, eating away at their historical sources like some virulent fantastic bacteria. (Yale Daily News, CT)
LOW-COST HIGH LIFE Apr 4, 2006
Everything s new; smart short-pile carpets, expensive wallpapers, silk drapes and cream Rococo furnishings. Decor is Designer Provence but the staff are real. (TimesOnline)
