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 La reproduction interdite, 1937 René Magritte
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November 17, 2011
Tags:
Max Ernst, Surrealism, Edward James, Xilitla, Las Pozas, Margaret Hooks
Homage to Max Ernst, Margaret Hooks, 2008
"Mere numbers do little justice to the
visual impact of the complexity of the structures
that appear to float and soar as they populate
their hillside habitat.
They mix and meld with the environment, each edifice
retaining its own identity while remaining a member of a
community of architecture that enjoins forest and sky.
On the opposite side of an unpaved road, flanking
the entranceway below, is another spectacular complex
of stairways, platforms, vividly colored arches,
columns, and pillars, some crowned with enormous
bulbous planters sprouting tropical foliage.
They comprise a trio of structures known as the
House of the Peristyles, inspired by the open
Roman peristylium courtyard, that includes the
House of Plants and the Homage to Max Ernst, which
has been described as the most self-consciously Surrealist
of all Edward’s creations at Las Pozas ..."
- Margaret Hooks, Surreal Eden, pp. 114-115.
November 4, 2011
Tags:
Max Ernst, Surrealism, Edward James, Xilitla, Las Pozas, Margaret Hooks
Christie’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale
achieved $140,773,500 (£88,687,305/ €102,764,655),
with three works of art selling above the $10 million
mark. Despite spots of selective bidding throughout the
sale, Surrealist works and modern sculpture performed
well overall ...
The top lot of the sale was Max Ernst’s The Stolen Mirror,
a Surrealist tour-de-force painting, which realized
$16,322,500 (£10,283,175/€11,915,425), setting a new
artist record that more than tripled the artist’s previous
record.
The Stolen Mirror, widely regarded as one of the artist’s
finest works, is a dream-like landscape painted in 1941 at
the height of Ernst’s most feverish output. It once
belonged to Edward James, one of the foremost early
collectors of Surrealist art.
It was later re-acquired by Ernst’s son Jimmy Ernst and
descended through the family to the estate of Edith Dallas
Ernst, which offered the work for sale. The painting was
chased by multiple bidders in the room and on the phone,
and ultimately sold to a European private collector ...
"Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art..." Artdaily.org
October 16, 2011
Image from video installation 'Xilitla'
Every year at the Frieze Art Fair, Tate Modern
director Nicholas Serota purchases three art works
with a £150,000 philanthropic fund. The pieces are
selected from those on show at Frieze the vast, open air
fair held in Regent's Park.
This year one of the three works acquired by the Tate
is 'Xilitla', a video installation based on Las Pozas
by Melanie Smith in collaboration with Rafael Ortega.
Commenting on the choice of this piece, Serota noted
that the Tate Modern already has several Edward James
related works in its collection.
October 2, 2011
Tapestry and mural painting, Leonora Carrington El Castillo, Xilitla
"[James] and Carrington had more than art and
writing in common; both had rebelled against their
family backgrounds. She had also been born into
a British family of great wealth and spent a childhood
with aloof parents in the cold vastness of the family
mansion in Lancashire. While still a teenager attending
art school in London, she met and fell in love with the
Surrealist painter Max Ernst ...
She first heard of Edward James as a collector of
Surrealist art at the time of a Max Ernst show in London,
shortly after the 1936 Surrealism exhibition, when he
bought a painting by Ernst.
Edward was one of the first to buy her paintings
and was instrumental in promoting her career. He was so
enthused with her work that in 1947 he persuaded the
prestigious New York art dealer Pierre Matisse to give her a
one-person show. The exhibit was very successful and
Edward was thrilled, both for Leonora and for the credit
he received for having presented his 'protégé' to the
New York art world ...”
- from Surreal Eden: Edward James and Las Pozas, p. 55.
January 8, 2011
Tags:
Edward James, Las Pozas, surrealism, architecture, gardens, Las Pozas, West Dean
A curious and esoteric pastiche on Edward James for devotees of the obscure with a touch of the highbrow at
The Esoteric Curiosa blog ...
Le Principe du Plaisir (The Pleasure Principle)
René Magritte, 1937
November 25, 2010
Tags:
Las Pozas, architecture, gardens, Edward James
Las Pozas is "number one" among the world's seven strangest gardens listed by housing, architecture and design site Choices. Read more of what Choices editors had to say about why Las Pozas is so unique at ...
Escape to Eden: 7 Strangest Gardens ...
October 16, 2010
Tags:
Edward James, Mexico, Xilitla, El Castillo, architecture, surreal
El Castillo, where Edward James lived when he was in Xilitla, was "a mad medley of color and styles, where touches of California Vedanta met with English Gothic, Moorish arches, and Mexican hacienda. There were exquisite pearly pink marble floors, fifteen-foot-high orange-red stained glass windows, and black lacy Gothic arches that could be seen from miles away." - Surreal Eden, p. 139, 156
October 1, 2010
Tags:
Edward James, Las Pozas, surreal, art, architecture
Wonderful article and photos of Las Pozas at the fascinating Been-Seen.com, created by Heinz Legler and Veronique Lievre, whose love for the eclectic and eccentric makes for an exceptional website.
September 18, 2010
Tags:
Edward James, René Magritte, surrealism, art
Not to be Reproduced (La reproduction interdite, 1937) by René Magritte, is a portrait of Edward James. His close friend, Diana Menuhin once described this painting as an "absolutely perfect (portrait) ... Edward not really knowing what he was himself, Edward following this Edward that went on forever." Surreal Eden: Edward James and Las Pozas, p. 31.
Read more about other Magritte paintings of Edward James online at Wikipedia ...
September 7, 2010
Tags:
Edward James, Dalí, Sleep, surrealism, surreal, art, artists
Edward James agreed to pay in advance for the paintings Dalí produced between 1937-1938 so the artist could focus on his work without the distraction of financial problems. Such faith in Dalí’s art led to Edward James forming one of the world’s greatest collection of surreal artworks. More at one surrealist a day ...
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