“David Bowie is” at the V&A

O Victoria and Albert abrirá em março a primeira retrospectiva internacional de David Bowie. “David Bowie is” irá explorar os primeiros anos da carreira de David Robert Jones, antes do artista adotar, em 1965, o nome pelo qual se tornou famoso.

Bandas como The Kon-rads, o primeiro sucesso com Space Oddity – que coincide com a chegada do homem à lua em 1969 e introduziu o personagem ficcional Major Tom – cenas inéditas de turnês, cenografia e storyboards do tour de Diamond Dogs de 1974 estarão à mostra. Além de objetos pessoais como set lists escritos à mão, partituras, colagens de palavras e registros de diário.

Bowie inovou ao encarnar personas em seus álbuns e turnês, e 1972 marcou o nascimento de sua criação mais famosa, Ziggy Stardust – a manifestação humana de um alien.
A aparência andrógina e extra-terrestre de Ziggy teve forte influência na cultura pop e assinalou um desafio às tradições sociais.

Tradução livre de matéria da BBC news online.

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The Victoria and Albert Museum will open in March David Bowie’s first international retrospective. “David Bowie is” will offer insight into the artist’s early years, tracing the first musical steps of David Robert Jones before he officially adopted the stage name David Bowie in 1965.

The exhibition will chart Bowie’s first musical steps in bands such as The Kon-rads
It will feature Bowie’s first major hit Space Oddity, which coincided with the first moon landing in 1969 and introduced fictional character Major Tom. Previously unseen tour footage, set designs and storyboards from the lavishly produced 1974 Diamond Dogs tour will also be on display. Alongside these will be more personal items such as handwritten set lists, musical scores, word collages and diary entries.

Bowie’s innovative approach to creating albums and touring shows centred around fictionalised stage personas, with 1972 marking the birth of his most famous creation Ziggy Stardust – a human manifestation of an alien being. Ziggy’s androgynous and otherworldly appearance had a powerful influence on pop culture and signalled a challenge of social traditions.

More than 60 stage costumes will be on display, including original Ziggy Stardust bodysuits from 1972 and outfits designed for his Aladdin Sane and Thin White Duke characters

Works by such photographers as Herb Ritts, Helmut Lang, Brian Duffy and Terry O’Neill will also feature

Recently uncovered footage of the artist performing Jean Genie on Top of the Pops in 1973 will also form part of the exhibition, to run from 23 March to 28 July

Bowiefest

O primeiro festival a homenagear a carreira de David Bowie como ator teve início ontem no Instituto de Arte Contemporânea de Londres e trará, até amanhã, filmes que foram quase tão importantes quanto a música na criação de sua imagem.

O Bowiefest acontece no ano que o músico comemora 65 e o álbum The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars 40, adiantando-se à exposição de peças de seu guarda-roupas que acontecerá no ano que vem no museu Victoria and Albert.

Para os fãs que não estarão em Londres para os eventos, veja alguns dos filmes que estão à mostra no festival, e comemore assistindo de onde estiver. Afinal, ele merece os créditos.

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The first festival to pay tribute to David Bowie’s career as an actor started yesterday at the ICA London and will, until tomorrow, show films that were almost as important as his music on building up his image.

Bowiefest happens at the year of Bowie’s 65th birthday and the 40th anniversary of the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and ahead of next year’s exhibition of his costumes at the Victoria and Albert museum.

For fans that won’t be in London for the events, check out some of the movies on show at the festival and celebrate by watching them from wherever you are. After all, he deserves all the credits.

Labyrinth (1986), directed by Jim Henson

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983), directed by Nagisa Ôshima

The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976), directed by Nicolas Roeg

Christiane F. (1981), directed by Uli Edel

The Hunger (1983), directed by Tony Scott

Rest in Peace Anna Piaggi

Homenageamos Anna Piaggi, que faleceu hoje em sua casa em Milão, aos 81 anos de idade. A colaboradora da Vogue Itália e lendária ícone fashion descrita por Bill Cunningham como “uma poeta em roupas” será lembrada por seu estilo vintage excêntrico – roupas vibrantes, chapéus criados por Stephen Jones e maquiagem teatral.

Em 2006 o museu britânico V&A trouxe uma exposição com peças do seu extenso guarda-roupas, misturando alta-costura and ready-to-wear.

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We pay tribute to Anna Piaggi, who died today at her home in Milan, at the age of 81. The Vogue Italia contributor and legendary fashion icon described by Bill Cunningham as “a poet in clothes” will be remembered for her eccentric, vintage style – vibrant clothes, hats by milliner Stephen Jones and theatrical makeup.

In 2006 the V&A held an exhibition of her expansive wardrobe, mixing couture and ready-to-wear.

The Cult of Beauty at the V&A

O museu Victoria and Albert de Londres apresenta a primeira grande exposição dedicada ao Esteticismo, enfatizando o trabalho produzido por artistas, designers e arquitetos do movimento contrário ao materialismo da Inglaterra do século 19 e conhecido pelo slogan “Arte pela Arte”.
Nos anos 1860 o novo e excitante ‘Culto à Beleza’ uniu Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris e Edward Burne-Jones; James McNeill Whistler e Frederic Leighton; e finalmente G.F.Watts, em uma tentativa de concretizar seu mundo imaginativo através da criação de móveis ‘artísticos’ e da decoração de ambientes. Nesse período, as casas de artistas e seus estilos de vida extravagantes se tornaram objetos de fascinação, criando uma revolução na arquitetura e decoração de interiores que levou ao reconhecimento da necessidade de beleza no dia-a-dia.
O nascimento do Esteticismo na pintura teve assim seu equivalente nas artes decorativas com o novo e difundido interesse pela decoração de casas. Muitos dos arquitetos e designers avant-garde se interessaram por trabalhar tanto para clientes de famílias ricas como no design das casas de indivíduos da classe média.
A abertura da Grosvenor Gallery em 1877, por sua vez, propiciou aos pintores do movimento um lugar glamuroso para exibir suas obras. A pintura esteticista se tornou o entusiasmo fashion de um círculo grande, rico e intelectual, disposto a adotar, além dos ideais do movimento, o estilo ‘artístico’ de vestir.
Oscar Wilde – que se tornou famoso promovendo a idéia de ‘The House Beautiful’ – escolheu a festa de abertura da Grosvenor para fazer sua sensacional aparição em Londres vestindo um terno feito sob medida seguindo os contornos e as cores de um violoncelo. O Esteticismo frequentemente se misturava à performance.
Na última década do reinado da rainha Victoria o movimento entrou na sua fase decadente, caracterizada pelos desenho em preto e branco de Aubrey Beardsley no The Yellow Book. A exposição se encerra com pinturas desse período final, incluindo obras como Bath of Psyche de Leighton , Midsummer de Albert Moore e a última pintura de Rossetti, The Daydream, mostradas ao lado de esculturas em bronze e materiais de Alfred Gilbert e outros expoentes do ‘The New Sculpture’.

The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement está no Museu Vitória e Albert em Londres até 17 de julho de 2011.
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The V&A presents the first major exhibition dedicated to Aestheticism, which highlights the spectacular work produced by the artists, designers and architects of the movement which stood in stark and sometimes shocking contrast to the crass materialism of Britain in the 19th century. “Art for art’s sake” was its battle cry, a slogan that originated with the French poet Théophile Gautier.
In the 1860s the new and exciting ‘Cult of Beauty’ united romantic bohemians such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Pre-Raphaelite William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, maverick figures such as James McNeill Whistler, and the ‘Olympians’ who belonged to the circle of Frederic Leighton and G.F.Watts.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his friends were the first to attempt to realise their imaginative world in the creation of ‘artistic’ furniture and the decoration of rooms. In this period, artists’ houses and their extravagant lifestyles became the object of public fascination and sparked a revolution in the architecture and interior decoration of houses that led to a widespread recognition of the need for beauty in everyday life.
The rise of Aestheticism in painting was paralleled in the decorative arts by a new and increasingly widespread interest in the decoration of houses. Many of the key avant-garde architects and designers interested themselves not only in working for wealthy clients but also in the reform of design for the middle-class home. The notion of ‘The House Beautiful’ became a touchstone of cultured life.
The opening of the Grosvenor Gallery (with its famous ‘greenery-yallery’ walls) in 1877 at last gave the Aesthetic painters a fashionable and glamorous showcase for their much-discussed art. Aesthetic painting became the fashionable enthusiasm of a circle that was grand, wealthy and intellectual. As well as buying paintings these new patrons were keen to embrace Aesthetic ideals, commissioning portraits and even adopting the styles of ‘artistic’ dress.
Oscar Wilde – who initially made his name promoting the idea of ‘The House Beautiful’ – chose the occasion of a Grosvenor opening party to make his first sensational appearance in London wearing a custom-designed suit following the contours and colour of a cello. The aesthetic movement frequently veered over into performance art.
By the 1880s Britain was in the grip of the ‘greenery-yallery’ Aesthetic Craze, lovingly satirised by Gilbert and Sullivan in their famous comic opera Patience and by the caricaturist George Du Maurier in the pages of Punch.
In the last decade of Queen Victoria’s reign the Aesthetic Movement entered its final, fascinating Decadent phase, characterised by the extraordinary black-and-white drawings of Aubrey Beardsley in The Yellow Book. The exhibition ends with a superb group of the greatest late Aesthetic paintings, including masterpieces such as Leighton’s Bath of Psyche, Albert Moore’s Midsummer and Rossetti’s final picture The Daydream, shown alongside the sensuous nude figures sculpted in bronze and precious materials by Alfred Gilbert and other brilliant younger exponents of ‘The New Sculpture’.

The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement is at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London SW7 from 2 April to 17 July.

A world of beauty, flamboyance and faint danger…