Paris in the 18th century was the capital of luxury. Voltaire defined it as "the superfluous- a very necessary thing". The majority of Parisians did not live in the lap of luxury, but it is amusing to dream that one was an aristocrat at the time with a mansion and servants, fifteen preferably. The exhibition at the Decorative Arts Museum allows the visitor to do that. A specific room for dining was created mid 18th century: We imagine that we are in the 1780s, just before the Revolution ended it all. As Talleyrand said: "Who hasn't lived in the years around 1789 doesn't know what the pleasure of life is." In the first room the sounds of horses and carriage accompany illustrations of transport at the time. Ladies, and men, would often be carried around by two servants in a sedan chair: There are also shoes raised-up on metal platforms to avoid the legendary Paris mud! It is rare to have olfactory aids, but this exhibition has pleasant aromas of jasmine, for...
Grandmother Moorhead's Aromatic Kitchen 1975 The Charles B. Goddard Center for Visual and Performing Arts, Ardmore, Oklahoma Leonora Carrington may have inherited her curious imagination from her Irish mother. Her grandmother Moorhead provided the title for the picture of a kitchen above, where enigmatic figures prepare the cooking of a huge goose. Alchemy pervades her work. The kitchen- traditional place of woman- becomes a place for sorcery. Dando de comer a una mesa (Feeding a table) 1959 Private Collection Two children are secretly watching a mysterious lady, seated on a giant sparrow, feeding a pearl to an eagle stuck in a table. The plates on the shelf are also watching! Leonora Carrington fits well the description of "Surrealist"- painter of dreams. Her painting entitled "The Lovers" is enigmatic: a red king and a blue queen prepare a ceremonial rite inside a mysterious house of sand against a cosmic background: The Lovers 1987 FAMM (Femmes Artistes du M...