muse – FTN-blog

Posted on 02.11.201814.08.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985)

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Back to back …yesterday’s blog on Dennis Oppenheim…and this one on Meret Oppenheim.

There is absolutely no family relation between these two and Meret Oppenheim has proven her importance over the years. At least there is a generation gap of two generations between these 2 artists. She became friends with Arp, Breton, Duchamp and Man Ray. The last made an important and very well known photo series of her in Paris in which she figured.

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At this time in Paris she was called and considered the MUSE of the surrealists. This series made her an instant success, but this success suffocated her too and she decided to return to Basel and start her own artist career.

She had her studio’s in Basel and Bern and for the last city she left after her death one third of collection to the Bern museum.

Perhaps her most well know work is LE DEJEUNER EN FOURRURE. A large work which was criticized by many, but what now has become one of the icons in Modern Art.

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www.ftn-books.com has some Meret Oppenheim titles available

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Posted on 09.11.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Ilona Staller..La Cicciolina and Jeff Koons

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Yesterday, i held a catalogue of a Jeff Koons exhibition in my hands and it reminded me that Koons at one time in his life was married to Ilona Staller . Staller known for her (soft) porn movies in those days must have been the ultimate muse for Koons , because in the years he was married to La Cicciolina (1991-1994)

he made several photo series with Staller in which he exposed himself and Ilona in erotic interaction. The series was shown in the Stedelijk Museum during the Jeff Koons exhibition, but it was one of the few occasions where it was shown, because on many occasions this series was forbidden.

Still it can be found in several Jeff Koons publications of which some are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 09.09.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Fashion with Claudia Schiffer (1970) and Chanel

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As Monty Python would have said ” and now for something completely different”…..

but is it really different?…. when you consider true fashion is great art and know that Karl Lagerfeld is not only a great fashion designer, but also one of the great photographers from the last century, you may consider Claudia Schiffer his “muse” and being that, she is an almost perfect work of art and therefore i am delighted to write this blog on one of my favorite fashion models of all time, Claudia Schiffer.

In the early 1990s, she starred in campaigns for Guess?.Guess? co-founder Paul Marciano said in E! Forbes Top 15 Supermodel Beauties Who Made Bank, “Guess? name became really much more known around the world because of Claudia”. After several other magazine appearances including the cover of British Vogue, shot by Herb Ritts, Schiffer was selected by Karl Lagerfeld to become the new face of Chanel. In May 1997, Schiffer was featured on the cover and in the pictorial of Playboy.

Schiffer appeared on the November 1999 millennium cover of Vogue as one of the “Modern Muses”. Named one of the most beautiful women in the world,^{[by whom?]} her ability to appeal to a global audience assured an internationally successful career spanning over 25 years. Other magazines Schiffer has appeared on the covers of include Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, People, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Time. Schiffer has walked in fashion shows for numerous fashion houses, including Versace, Karl Lagerfeld, Chloé, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Fendi, Michael Kors, Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Balmain, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Valentino.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice books on Schiffer, Fashion, Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld