Rest in Peace | Quite Continental

Happy Birthday to Corinne

22/12/2011 § 6 Comments

On this day in 1915, my grandmother Corinne Carey was born in Washington, D.C. Were she still alive, she would be turning 96 today. We used to commiserate on quite a few items: we both were/are Christmas babies (my birthday arrives in just a *few* days, in fact); we both were/are the eldest sister; we both were/are on the tall side; we both love/loved art. Little-known fact: I carry her name as my own middle name.

I do find it a bit funny that I have never forgotten her birthday, but can’t seem to ever remember my parents’ wedding anniversary, which happens to be sometime in December as well. (I suppose my mother finds this less funny.)

Important things I learned from my grandmother:

Red lipstick is never, ever, EVER wrong.
It is important to always smell pretty. Even if you end up wearing enough perfume to knock out your entire family.
Always have your hair done. By someone else. Twice a week.
It is acceptable parenting to get all gussied up with your sister and then put your children to bed, telling them that you and their aunt are just going sit on the porch and “chat.”
Drinking beer from the can can definitely be ladylike.
Let your husband have his hobbies. As long as he keeps them in the garage.

From Corinne, you should take bit of a devil-may-care attitude with a healthy dose of no-nonsense. A perfectly polished party girl who didn’t take no guff from nobody. She was a proud mother, a loving sister and a grandmother I miss dearly.

Happiest possible returns, Grandma.

Honored Revisit: LIFE Archives: Circus City USA, 1947 {Hugo, Oklahoma}

19/07/2011 § 4 Comments

Betty Jean Pratt Cannon, 1947.

Just wanted to draw your attention to something that I think is kind of amazing that is currently happening on QC, that you might not have noticed… A few months ago, I discovered a cache of beautiful images taken by Cornell Capa for LIFE magazine in the city of Hugo, Oklahoma in 1947. This city has a very interesting history, due to the community’s long and storied connection to the traditional American traveling circus. I was entranced by the pictures of the town, the multigenerational families of performers, the trained animals, and the beautiful costumes. I ended up posting a bunch of them in April and they drew a pretty average number of viewers, who loved them as much as I did.

Then, around 4th of July, I noticed that the post was drawing a outsized amount of people, and I couldn’t figure out why this was happening. Finally, someone commented. A longtime resident of Hugo let me know that one of the beautiful young women in the pictures had recently passed and that her services were to be that very week. Suddenly, I had an outpouring of comments from current and former Hugo residents, thanking me and letting me know that I had found pictures of their friends, their relatives, and of themselves. I also was honored to receive heartfelt messages from the daughters, granddaughters, and nieces of Betty Jean Pratt Cannon, the woman who passed, and who is pictured above.

If you have a moment, please stop by the original post to view the amazing pictures and read the touching comments. I always figured that this silly little blog was something I did to amuse myself, and I never expected to experience anything so poignant. I am humbled and honored to have this opportunity to connect people to their history.

Original post, April 25, 2011: LIFE Archives: Circus City USA, 1947 {Hugo, Oklahoma}

Venetian Memories of Cy Twombly {The Coronation of Sesostris at the Palazzo Grassi}

07/07/2011 § Leave a comment

Cy Twombly, taken in 1958 by David Lees. Image via Time Life.

American artist Cy Twombly passed away Tuesday, July 5 in Rome at the age of 83. For me, his art has always had an irresistible magnetism. Primal and chaotic, symbolic and mysterious, there is something about Twombly’s body of work that immediately exhilarates me but simultaneously knocks me off-kilter. I love it. Currently there is an outpouring of remembrances and many obituaries have been written, so I don’t feel the need to launch into a report on his life. I will leave that to others. What I did want to share was my most memorable Twombly experience, viewing his Coronation of Sesostris (2000) at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.

Image via Palazzo Grassi.

The stately Palazzo, completed during the second half of the eighteenth century, is located on the Grand Canal and currently houses the personal art collection of François Pinault (aka #77 on the Forbes List of World Billionaires, luxury goods tycoon robber-baron, and father to Francois-Henri who is a rather effective impregnator of fabulous ladies). It is truly an amazing setting to view Pinault’s excellent and growing collection of contemporary (post-war) art. I especially appreciate Koons’ Balloon Dog floating in the canal.

Twombly’s Coronation of Sesostris (2000) is an epic, ten part, mixed media work that was installed at the Palazzo in 2006. The panels chart the coronation procession of Sesotris, “one of the cruellest of Egypt’s pharaohs, the conqueror of Nubia and architect of the unification of the lands of Egypt into a single kingdom” (via PG) Thought by many to be his strongest work in years at the time it was produced, Twombly’s Coronation panels are

“…magnificently colored, flirt with ethereal degrees of unfinishedness, and are at once luxurious and rotting, full of life and funereal. Coronation of Sesostris echoes some of the erotic tenor and violence of the early work, though in the mournful minor keys of yearning and homesickness. Bursts of scarlet that once read as hands thrown up in rapture, or bloodstains, now feel like flowers or heartbeats; convulsive, surging rhythm has turned beautifully, excruciatingly protracted; love, loss, melancholy and memory have taken the place of real sex.” – Jerry Saltz (full article available via Artnet)

In the Palazzo, the large panels are positioned in a single room for maximum impact. Wandering among them, I was amazed by how vividly I saw the arc of this storyline of a single blazing day in Egypt and how viscerally I responded to the colors and the words Twombly utilized. It was easily my favorite work within the entire museum. I have included the panels below so that you might glean a sense of them, but I absolutely urge you to take the time if you are in Venice to see them in person at the Palazzo. While I am sad that Twombly has passed, I was pleased to reacquaint myself with an amazing work of art and of my treasured memories of Venice.

Coronation of Sesostris (2000) by Cy Twombly
All images below via Cy Twombly