1939 New York World's Fair: The World of Tomorrow

I've gone down the rabbit hole. Current obsession: the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair. 

It all began when I happened upon an image of the General Motors exhibit. 

The Futurama was one vision of what 1960 would look like.  People stood in line for hours to view this 35,000 square foot exhibit sponsored by General Motors and designed by Norman Bell Geddes.

 Visitors had the opportunity to ride past small realistic landscapes, complete with sophisticated 7 lane highways filled with radio controlled cars. After the Great Depression, people welcomed this grand vision of the future. There is some interesting social commentary within the film To New Horizons: "On all express city thoroughfares, the rights of way have been so routed as to displace outmoded business sections and undesirable slum areas whenever possible. Man continually strives to replace the old with the new..."  Watch the full video here, or an abbreviated video here.

Salvador Dali's "Dream of Venus".

Alvar Aalto's Finnish Pavilion.

Food building Number Three.

Irish Pavilion - shaped like a shamrock.

 Communications building.

WPA/New Deal represented at the 1939 World's Fair.

Oh what a magical place it must have been!

Craving more? There are tons of pavilion images here.

Sources: The '60s at 50, Wired Magazine, Discovery, NY Times, Pyramid Beach, Edifice Complex, Shook Photos, New Deal Network, Wolfsonian, Kings Academy, Archiseek, 1939nyworldsfair, TT n Sheldy, Night at the Mouseion

Film Palette - The Life Aquatic

I finally saw Moonrise Kingdom a couple of weeks ago, and although I'm no stranger to the beauty of Wes Anderson films, I was still surprised and blown away by just how fantastic the scenery, sets, cinematography were. I wanted to live inside this movie - the wondrous world that Anderson and his talented team created. But then again, I feel that way every time I watch one of his films, which leads me to repost a link to the brilliant Wes Anderson Film Color Palette created by artist Beth Matthews. 

My personal palette leans toward A Life Aquatic. 

via whorange

I need this poster to brighten up my office.

Or maybe this poster

I might have to buy this tee for Mr. Cheese.

On a different note, is anyone else experiencing Olympics hangover/withdrawal or is it just me?

The Nasher

I'm arriving in Texas this afternoon for a visit with my family (this is a previously scheduled post), so what better time to post pictures of The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas? These were taken on my visit last November. My sister is a violinist, and she has played at several weddings here. Can you imagine how wonderful a setting, being surrounded by incredible modern art and gardens?









Aren't my nephews adorable? And they are so well behaved, they know not to touch anything (although the guards were still giving us the eye because I'm sure they catch other children trying to climb sculptures from time to time). I'm so excited to see my little guys this week!

Oh Deer

blue ant studio

trampoline

(Mr. Cheese took this one on a trail in the Smokies a couple of years ago)

Hello Lindello, Lenorenevermore, Solid Frog

While We're Waiting

Great Zoological Garden by August Macke. From this book.

Rachel Denny

Featured: Matou en Peluche

After many months of eying lovely works from Samantha Battersby of Matou en Peluche, I finally I bought myself a little belated Christmas present last week! Soon to grace my bedroom wall: "Chilly Morning", "Little Blue Tit", "Clyde the Golden Bronze Cuckoo", and "Little Lemon Drop".
AND Matou en Peluche is having a fantastic 3 for 2 sale right now! Buy any two same sized prints and get another the same size or smaller for FREE. What a deal! I picked these two prints for my office, which I'm redecorating this week: "Badger Babies" and "Cat Canaries".
It was so difficult to choose just six prints. Sam has created dozens of the most lovely ladies. No doubt one day I will order a series of these beauties. Here is but a wee sampling of some of my favorites:


So go visit Matou en Peluche and take advantage of this fantastic sale! Also, be sure to check out Sam's blog for sneak peaks of her newest works, fantastic photo tours of her hometown of Sydney, and much more.

Museum Post 1

I'm back! We had a great trip, spent lots of time with family, and still had time to play tourist. As I mentioned in my last post, we saw three museums in Dallas and Fort Worth (the metroplex has so many amazing museums, filled with important works). I've broken my museum visits into two posts because I went a little photo crazy as usual. This post features The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth - a museum that every modern art or architecture lover must see.
Frommer's review expresses it perfectly: "The most noteworthy recent development in Fort Worth -- and one of the most important on the national culture scene -- is the Modern, a landmark design by the celebrated modernist Japanese architect Tadao Ando and a true notch on the city's belt. It is my favorite new museum -- or work of architecture, period -- since Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain. Opened in 2002, the museum, quickly hailed as a masterpiece, contains over 50,000 square feet of gallery space, making it second in size only to the Museum of Modern Art in New York among museums dedicated to contemporary and modern art. The galleries, of warmly textured poured concrete with 20-foot-high ceilings and suffused with spectacular natural light, are housed in three rectangular, flat-roofed pavilions built around a large pond."Museum goers have permission to photograph some works, but not others (including the Susan Rothenberg exhibit). Forgive me for being an idiot - I forgot to log the artists' names so most of these works won't be identified. Above, a series of photographs of four sisters taken annually, over 30 years, and the Standard Oil - one of my favorite paintings whose creator I cannot recall. Below, a Jackson Pollack.
The curved concrete wall that encircled this large sculpture appeared to have been designed around it.
The second Jackson Pollack (sidebar, modern art lovers should really read this book).
Exactly what it looks like: silver pieces hammered flat and suspended from the ceiling. And yet I stared at this piece for a full five minutes.
Above, a view of the Cafe Modern from one of the museum's rectangles. Gourmet Magazine named it one of America's Best restaurants (although not knowing this, we ate at The Kimbell in the courtyard, also good but not as spectacular a view).



My husband sits in my favorite non-Eames chair: the Barcelona.
I wish I had a better pic of this sculpture, called "Conjoined", by artist Roxy Paine. The sculpture stands 40 feet tall and 45 feet wide, and consists of two stainless steel trees whose branches "cantilever in space to connect in midair."

View of downtown Fort Worth from a second floor window. Note the pool that runs the length of the back of the museum.
A monumental metal sculpture outside the museum.
Inside the sculpture, looking out. Voices have an interesting reverberation when inside the sculpture.
Coming soon: Museum post 2. My posting may be light these next couple of weeks for various reasons, and it will take me a while to catch up on my blog reading. I promise I haven't forgotten about everyone! Shop sneak peak also coming soon. I have lots of great new stuff to be listed these next few weeks. Think Curtis Jere sculptures, Scandinavian pitchers (Picknick and Arabia), lots and lots of deer...