dazzling.what an exhibit we have been graced with.
the
caixa de catalunya savings bank foundation along with the
fondazione mariano frotuny in venice have designed a mesmerizing exhibit on mariano fortuny (
ny pronounced like one with a stuffed nose pronouncing an n) textile magician, fashion designer, master photographer, painter and aesthete.
the exhibit comes with the bonus that it is housed at gaudi's
la pedrera's exhibition hall. just the walk up the magnificent stairs was a starter for delights to come.
we are all familiar with fortuny's sumptuous delphos dress, however, his textile production which included printing , dyeing, fashion and lace design is not as popular. i am still under the spell of his velvets, and their jewel tone colors,
tiziano and venice in textiles. something i found fascinating was the velvet brocades with their metallic wefts woven in what i perceived as a crepe structure.
other examples included velvets printed with metallic paints and silks printed with charcoal dust!
what a glorious nut he was !
drawing influences from eastern cultures and experimenting with materials, dyes and processes he designed fashion and furnishing fabrics from his atelier in venice from 1906 onwards.
during this time he also created innovative printing procedures and designed the machines to aid in the process, accumulating around two dozen machine patents. among these the pleating machine to create his pleated fabrics, that would be turned into the delphos dresses and tunics.
as i looked at photographs of some of the pleated fabrics produced in his venetian atelier and then closely examined the pleated dresses i could establish a link between arashi shibori and his fabrics. a link that was confirmed as i walked into another of the rooms to find katzome stencils from his collection. an exciting find indeed.
fortuny's fashion designs were uniquely elegant and liberating at a time when corsets were de rigeur. no wonder
proust dresess the duchesse de germantes in a fortuny gown.
also displayed there were simple silk tunics reminiscent of morrocan djellabas stencilled with richly decorative motifs and gorgeous velvet capes in what i believe was
devore printed.
i only had eyes and mind for the textiles, but his photographs merit a second visit to the exhibit.and perhaps a third one to look at the engravings and paintings.then i'll see if i luck out on the exhibit's catalog, which was sold out yesterday.
somehow it seems that i won't be able to stop raving about this exhibit.
neki desu
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