matouenpeluche

Goodbye 2009....and hello (almost) 2010!

Goodbye dear 2009! You were good to me 2009 and I had a wonderful time!

Today I plan to take it easy at home here (and draw! Surprise!) and avoid the crazy revellers. My suburb gets pretty nutty on New Year's Eve so I'll be lying low for most of the day but I most certainly intend to go down the road to see the crackers at 9:00pm and again at 12:00pm. I'm going to try and take some photos too!

Hope everyone has a wonderful evening. Thank you for all your gorgeous blogs which I love keeping up with and thank you for the comments and visits to my blog in 2009!!

Happy New Year (almost!) and see you in 2010!

(Both images from here)

Bonjour le weekend!

(Image from here)

Oh Happy Friday! Here's a classic cat drawing by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen called "Horrible fin d'un poisson rouge". Sometimes I feel like this harassed goldfish (but without the ghastly ending!) during the week at work and sometimes I feel like the cat. Perhaps in reality I'm the bowl - certainly by Friday I feel a little "cracked" and in need of some serious R'n'R!

I have been quite busy this week and haven't visited as many blogs as I would've liked to - so I'm sorry I've been a bit 'absent'. I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone in cyber land this weekend! 

Meanwhile, here's some more gorgeous Steinlen Art Nouveau loveliness! 

(Image from here)

(Image from here)

Renée Perle : Jacques Henri Lartigue

(All images above from here)

The lovely Romanian model Renée Perle was photographer and painter Jacques Henri Lartigue's (1894 – 1986) muse and girlfriend. Although Lartigue is most famously known for hs photos of racing cars at the French Grand prix, the photos of Perle are classics of their time. Isn't she lovely?

Here are some more of Lartigue's photos. Incidentally, did you know that Wes Anderson is a huge Lartigue fan and has paid homage to him in his films Rushmore and The Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou (the protrait of Lord Mandrake in the movie is based on a photo of Lartigue). 

(Image from here)

(Image from here)

(Image from here)

Happy Halloween and congratulations Christopher Lee!

(Images from here)

So, Happy Halloween! Even though we are not huge Halloween people us Australians I have been noticing the celebration getting more popular here every year. And I totally approve! It's a heap of fun and a great excuse to dress up and have a party! We had some interesting characters at school yesterday: Spider man, the devil, and a fairy - but my favourite was a very pretty lady bug.

While surfing the web this morning I saw that the beloved Hammer house of horror Meister himself Christopher Lee (seen above as Dracula) was knighted yesterday. Keith of Coolness is Timeless has a terrific post about him here if you'd like to read more. 

I have also been thoroughly enjoying my Art Nouveau birthday book. Here are some more paintings by artist Fernand Khnopff which I thought were a little on the eerie side and perfect for Halloween today...The painting above is The sphinx or Caresses (1896) and the one below is I lock my door upon myself (1891).

Happy weekend all you lovely people out there!!

Birthday books (part I)

I got some great books for my birthday. This image by Koloman Moser (1899) is from a small book simply called Art Nouveau. It's chock full of glossy colour illustrations and photos but more importantly it explains the difference between the terms "Art Nouveau", "Secession", ""Belle Époque" and "Arts and Crafts". It's also quite compact so I'll be able to read it in bed!

Here are two more classic images from the book: Peter Behrens' The Kiss from 1898 and  Alphonse Mucha's Sarah Bernhardt "La Plume" 1896.

I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this book!

Happy Friday everyone and many thanks for your birthday wishes!! They made my day!!

The Sisters.

This is a drawing I have been working on today. They are two sisters - the older one on the left is taking her younger sister out for the night. It's the younger sister's first grown up evening out. Maybe she's 16. She looks a bit dreamy and the older one is a little amused by her but is also very fond and protective of her at the same time. This pretty pair are now available in my shop as a small print! You can find them here!

I think it must be rather nice to have a sister - especially when you get along with them! Here are some other sets of stylish sisters that I rather like.

Dorothy and Lillian Gish. Born in the late 1800s, Lillian was the oldest but both of them began their acting careers in 1912 and were stars of the silent screen before moving on to "talkies" and the stage. They continued to act
until the late '60s (Dorothy) and '80s (Lillian).

Catherine Devueve and Francoise Dorleac with Jacqus Demy. Lovely Catherine everyone probably knows but her pretty sister is a little less well known due to the fact she died tragically in a car crash at the age of 26.

 
The Dolly Sisters. These two sisters, actually twins, were born in Hungary in 1892 and then emigrated to The States in 1905. They were famous for their dancing but were equally as famous for their spectacular private lives which included scandalous affairs and tragedy.

I trust everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

 

Happy weekend!

This is how I feel most Friday afternoons - how about you? The drawing above is by an amazingly imaginative Edwardian/ Art Nouveau American cartoonist and illustrator: Winsor McCay. This image is from his "Little Nemo in Slumberland" newspaper comic strip which ran from 1905 to 1914.

The strip was about the sleeping dreams of a young boy called Nemo. (Incidentally, did you know "Nemo" means "Nobody" in Latin?)

Each evening Nemo would have these fantastic and surreal dreams in which he would be trying to reach "slumberland" and King Morpheus. In the last frame it would always be a drawing of Nemo in his bed or out of his bed in a tangle of bedclothes woken up by his adventures.

McCay's drawings were elegant and full of action. The one below is a particularly famous scene where Nemo and his friend Flip go for a ride on Nemo's bed which has sprouted legs.

Although not terribly popular at the time, the Nemo strip gained more of a following in the late 20th Century. One of Winsor McCay's biggest fans is Mr wild thing Maurice Sendak. I think you can see McCay's influence on his style.

All images here are from google images and you can find out more about Windsor McCay and Little Nemo here!

Have a lovely weekend all!

P.S....and don't forget my giveaway at Pikaland!

A predicted Happy Friday and Toulouse - Lautrec!

This joyous Toulouse-Lautrec lithograph of a lady kissing a portly gent is, I'm pretty sure, how I'm going to feel tomorrow which is Friday here in Sydney. I mean that I'm going to feel joyous not that I'll feel like running out and kissing some random big bloke on the snout.

The reason for the earlier than scheduled "Happy Friday" post is that due to circumstances beyond my control, our computers are in go slow mode until Saturday and I just don't think I've got 10 hours spare tomorrow to wait for one picture to download so..."Happy Friday"!

While we're on the subject of Toulouse-Lautrec, I love his paintings but I really, really love his lithographs. They are just so clean and art nouveau and over the top wonderful! Behold - some more Toulouse-Lautrec goodness!

The top four are posters for various shows and events of course but this last one I haven't seen before. It's called "Carnot Malade" (Sick Carnot) and it's available here for a mere €1400.

You can find out more about Toulouse-Lautrec here.

Have a lovely Thursday/ Friday folks!

  

Architectural geekery.

From time to time, I like to wander around the city and take photos of buildings that particularly tickle my fancy. Anything Art Deco always gets my camera out as does a fine piece of Victorian detailing.

Above, in all its Art Deco splendour, is Wynyard or Railway House as it's officially known as. It's the classic Deco green terracotta tile cladding with the mushroom coloured granite that really gets me going!

Did you know that Brian Singer's "Superman" used this glorious building for The Daily Planet? I walked past a couple of times while they were filming and I nearly caught sight of Kate Bosworth and her then boyfriend Orlando Swoon...ahem Bloom..gazing into each other's eyes.

This piece of fine plaster work is from another era entirely. It's from the Trades Hall a building that was owned by the Trades Hall Association, the original trade union affiliates who built the hall in 1888. This bit of lovely Art Nouveau was casually tucked away in some corridor. 

This last photo is one I risked life and limb for! Well, not really but it was a scary photo to take as I had to dangle over the railing of a very high stairwell. It was taken in a grand old Victorian building that is still used and loved today: The Department of Lands Building. I'm a real sucker for black and white tiled floors! 

An award and some loveliness.

Happy Monday everyone! What better way to start the week than by being given an award and by passing it on! Gabbi, that high priestess of all things blog, has given me a "You are a Great Read" award! Merci Beaucoup mon amie! I'd like to give it back to you and then pass it on to the following fine bloggers: Jess, Tracy, Lilly, Susann, Kate, Trudi, Linda, Tina, Brinja and Christiana! By the way, Gabbi herself has a sublime post at the moment about all things bookish that really is the bee's knees - it is epic and lovely at the same time - I think it really is a must see!

...and to welcome the new week, here are some charming advertisements circa early last century I found on my travels over the weekend...