Family firm Fabergé was the most powerful and largest jewelry company of its era. In this video, find out how the brand captured the attention of Royal families in Russia and across Europe, and discover works with true imperial provenance, including the Balletta Vase, which is offered as part of Sotheby’s upcoming sale Fabergé and Vertu: Property from the Brooklyn Museum (2 December | London). Other highlights include Fabergé special singular commissions, including a nephrite and moonstone study of mistletoe, a nephrite and diamond dandelion, and intricately carved agate models of a dog, a billy goat and a diamond-eyed cat.
Category Archives: Videos
Food & Culture: ‘Saving The Tomato Of Santorini Island, Greece’ (Video)
Santorini used to be known for its tomatoes. Petros Oikonomou has dedicated more than 20 years to reviving the crop and the heritage agriculture of the Greek island chain.
Top Exhibitions: ‘Pollès – Monumental Sculptures’, Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay, France (Cinematic Video)
Dominique Pollès, called Pollès, is a French sculptor born in Paris in 1945. He is considered as the inventor of “organic cubism”.
Like Leonard de Vinci in an anatomical search of perfection, of representation of movement,with an almost scientifical or medical glance, Pollès holds the utmost passion of anatomy: he learns about the human body, the complicated hank of muscles, movements of members and all the bodily mechanics.
That’s why in 1964 he starts medicine school and along side goes to the Charpentier Academy where he follows art lessons. In 1966, he encountered sculpture in London where he was invited by his friend Enzo Plazota. This final step teaching him all the bases of sculpture. Pollès then decides to go to live in Italy, in Carrare, an important art place. He moved in 1970 and settled in Pietrasanta where he still lives.
His sculptures, by creating a vision of the moving being, polished and smoothed, break the pureness of aestheticism. He just knows one theme, one model: the female form. According to Pollès, this is the most beautiful one, the most harmonious one. “When we are looking at a feminine body, it is splendid, it is musical”.
His love of women, the sensuality, the complexity, the shapes and passions, brought him to explore the female form. Since the beginning he has created a singularly stylized cubist form; this becoming his signature form. All are cast in bronze by Pollès himself and made in a series of four with one artist’s proof. His masterliness of the patina is considered unparalleled. The world’s recognition of his craft is evidenced by the many awards he has won, the unique places he has shown and the prestigious private collections he is in, including that of Princess Caroline of Monaco.
Pollès was recently honored in an exhibition outside Paris, sponsored by the French Government, called “Sculptors From Rodin to The Present”. He was one of the few living sculptors to be so honored; the others include Abakanowicz, Arman, Saint-Phalle & Wesselmann. Maurice Rheims, a respected Art Critic, and a member of The French Academy, has said “I consider Pollès to be one of the outstanding sculptors of our time.”
His show in the Bagatelle Gardens in Paris in 1998 was a major honor as he was one of only two artists who have ever been allowed to present their work in the Bagatelle. The other artist is Henry Moore. – Galerie Philia is an internationally recognized contemporary design and modern fine arts gallery representing worldwide known designers and artists.
The Galerie Philia attempts in this way to build bridges between different artistic continents in order to enlighten artworks endowed with a marked artistic depth.
Diet Study: The Top 250 U.S. Movies Depict Unhealthy Foods & Drinks (Stanford)
Stanford researchers examined the 250 top-grossing American movies of recent decades and found the on-screen foods and beverages largely failed U.S. government nutrition recommendations and U.K. youth advertising standards.
Retail Shopping: ‘How 2020 Is Reshaping Black Friday’
For years, one of the biggest days of the holiday shopping season was Black Friday. But in 2020, that could change. The coronavirus pandemic is fast-tracking big changes in retail that were already underway, pushing consumers into a digital future.
Illustration: Jacob Reynolds/WSJ
Video Profile: ‘Elsie De Wolfe’ – America’s First Professional Interior Designer (1859 – 1950)
The year 2020 marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted millions of women in the U.S. the right to vote.
The Frick is celebrating with a series of videos honoring the stories of women who made, appeared in, collected, and took care of art in this collection. In the second-to-last episode, meet Elsie de Wolfe, America’s first professional interior designer, who decorated the Frick’s Fifth Avenue home. #WhatsHerStory
Elsie de Wolfe, also known as Lady Mendl, (December 20, c. 1859 – July 12, 1950) was an American actress and interior decorator.
Born in New York City, de Wolfe was acutely sensitive to environment from her earliest years, and became one of the first women interior designers, replacing heavy Victorian styles with light, intimate effects and uncluttered room layouts. Her marriage to English diplomat Sir Charles Mendl was seen as one of convenience, though she was proud to be called Lady Mendl, and her lifelong companion was Elisabeth Marbury, with whom she lived in New York and Paris. De Wolfe was a prominent social figure, who entertained in the most distinguished circles.
Opera: Soprano Renée Fleming Sings The “Ave Maria”, Verdi’s “Otello”
Soprano Renée Fleming sings the “Ave Maria” from Verdi’s “Otello” in the Met’s live At-Home Gala on April 25, 2020.
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare’s play Othello. It was Verdi’s penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.
Video Trailer: ‘A Perfect Planet – BBC Earth’ With David Attenborough
A Perfect Planet is an awe-inspiring exploration of Earth’s power and fragility.
PERFECT PLANET
Planet Earth is perfect. It orbits at the perfect distance from the sun; it tilts at just the right angle and has a decent sized moon to hold it in place. On top of that, the day-to-day workings of the planet naturally serve to nurture animals and plants.
This five part series will show how the forces of nature – weather, ocean currents, solar energy and volcanoes – drive, shape and support Earth’s great diversity of life. In doing so, it will reveal how animals are perfectly adapted to whatever the environment throws at them.
Extreme Locations: ‘How Living At The South Pole, Antarctica Works’ (Video)
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where Earth’s axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of Earth and lies on the opposite side of Earth from the North Pole.
Antarctica, the southernmost continent and site of the South Pole, is a virtually uninhabited, ice-covered landmass. Most cruises to the continent visit the Antarctic Peninsula, which stretches toward South America. It’s known for the Lemaire Channel and Paradise Harbor, striking, iceberg-flanked passageways, and Port Lockroy, a former British research station turned museum. The peninsula’s isolated terrain also shelters rich wildlife, including many penguins.
Travel: ‘Carlsbad Caverns’ In New Mexico (2020)
Filmed and Edited by: Greg Vaughan
Overcome with Covid fatigue, we drove to visit friends and relatives in Texas. Risky, but we maintained safe bubbles. On the way home we detoured to visit Carlsbad Caverns, and here we are.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico. It features more than 100 caves. The Natural Entrance is a path into the namesake Carlsbad Cavern. Stalactites cling to the roof of the Big Room, a huge underground chamber in the cavern. Walnut Canyon Desert Loop is a drive with desert views. Rattlesnake Springs, a desert wetland, attracts reptiles and hundreds of bird species.
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