installation view at Galerie Lange + Pult in Zürich raw oil paint on sewn canvas tarpaulins each 36" x 36 inches / 91,5cm x 91,5cm
Featuring calligraphic translations in 24K gold leaf channeling the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland (sourced from "DV.", edited by George Plimpton) —each of the seven cedar boards were stained red and lacquered in keeping with Miss Vreeland's brand.
The installation was one aspect of the Private Language exhibition presented at The Japan Foundation Toronto during the winter of 1999.
24K gold leaf, lacquer, stained cedar 24" x 12 inches 70cm x 30.5cm Translation: "To be contented, that's only for the cows." (from the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland)
Installation view of the "Vreeland Lacquers" at The Japan Foundation Toronto, 1999
24K gold leaf, lacquer, stained cedar 30" x 12 inches 85.25cm x 30.5cm Translation: "He spent the entire war praying for the bombs to drop so his ducks would have a pond to swim in." (from the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland)
24K gold leaf, lacquer, stained cedar 30" x 12 inches 85.25cm x 30.5cm Translation: "He spent the entire war praying for the bombs to drop so his ducks would have a pond to swim in." (from the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland)
24K gold leaf, lacquer, stained cedar 36" x 12 inches 91.5cm x 30.5cm Translation: "My blindness is a result of looking at too many beautiful things." (from the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland)
24K gold leaf, lacquer, stained cedar 36" x 12 inches 91.5cm x 30.5cm Translation: "My blindness is a result of looking at too many beautiful things." (from the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland)
24K gold leaf, lacquer, stained cedar 24" x 12 inches 70cm x 30.5cm Translation: "Worse things happen at sea." (from the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland)
Vreeland Lacquers
Review of "Private Language" at The Japan Foundation Toronto by Lisa Gabrielle Mark; Summer Issue 1999; pg 161
Sketch for "...since the atom bomb." showing translation of the Vreeland quote and the initial calligraphy. Ink on graph paper 11" x 8.5 inches (Louis Réard, a French engineer, introduced a new minimalist swimsuit design in 1946 that for the first time revealed the woman's navel. He borrowed the name for his bikini design from the Bikini Atoll, where post-war testing on the atomic bomb had begun on July 1, 1946, and his name stuck in the public consciousness.)
Preliminary calligraphic sketch for "...praying for the bombs to drop...". Ink on paper 11" x 8.5 inches
24K gold leaf, lacquer, stained cedar 66" x 12 inches 167.75cm x 12cm Translation: "Asparagus should be sexy and almost fluid." (from the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland)
24K gold leaf, lacquer, stained cedar 60" x 12 inches 152.5cm x 30.5cm Translation: "The bikini was the biggest thing since the atom bomb." (from the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland)
24K gold leaf, lacquer, stained cedar 60" x 12 inches 152.5cm x 30.5cm Translation: "The bikini was the biggest thing since the atom bomb." (from the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland)
24K gold leaf, lacquer, stained cedar 48" x 12 inches / 122cm x 30,5cm translation: "In my end is my beginning." (from the memoirs of Miss Diana Vreeland) private collection, Toronto
Diana Vreeland photographed in a kimono by Richard Avedon, 1966