Culture

Just opened at Somerset House, London until 1st September is a celebration of the work of Erwin Blumenfeld, one of the most innovative fashion and advertising photographers of the twentieth century.

Featuring over ninety restored and coloured corrected prints of  his work, the Blumenfeld Studio exhibition tells the extraordinary story of Blumenfeld's journey behind and in front of the lens.

Born in Berlin in 1897, Blumenfeld was given a camera at the age of 10 by his uncle, a gift that was to help shape his future life.

The young Blumenfeld experimented from an early age with the technical aspects of photography, using innovative darkroom techniques, solarisation and multiple exposures to develop his own trademark style - without  the current temptations of Photoshop.

He initially focused on portraits and the nude female form, influenced in part by the work of Man Ray and the free expression of the Dadaist movement. The use of mirrors, silk, elaborate shadows, abstraction and angles also contributed to his work becoming noticed.

Moving to Paris in 1936, Blumenfeld was introduced by Cecil Beaton to French Vogue and was given a year's contract to work for the magazine.

Following the outbreak of Second World War, and a period of internment, Blumenfeld successfully fled France with his family for America.

Fashion photography for Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and advertising campaigns for Elizabeth Arden, Dior and L'Oréal followed, securing Blumenfeld a near legendary reputation.

Even today Blumenfeld is known as the photographer for having the most Vogue covers, an achievement all the more remarkable for his persistence in refusing to compromise with the magazine's picture editors.

Celebrity models such as Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn contributed to the glamour, but the exhibition images demonstrate that throughout Blumenfeld continued to develop  his work.

The confidently striking picture of a single eye, a beauty spot and a perfect pair of red lips for Vogue's March 1950 edition would be unknown on the front covers of today's magazines.

In a fitting tribute to Blumenfeld for Chanel, the Norwegian fashion photographer Solve Sundsbo commented "Blumenfeld was shooting 60 years ago what the rest of us will be shooting in 10 years time”.

Blumenfeld passed away in 1969 in typically unconformist style, believed to have deliberately forced a heart attack on himself by running up and down the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Following his death, an archive of some 8,000 prints were shared between his assistant and three children. Many of these have recently been faithfully restored and digitally mastered.

Blumenfeld left a stunning, much-copied and admired body of work that is surely as inspiring today as it was pioneering in the 1940s and 1950s.

One of the most influential and unsung pioneers of the modern day cultured pearl industry was an Englishman called William Saville-Kent.

Many popularly associate Kokichi Mikimoto with the discovery of the technique to culture a spherical pearl in the early 20th century. But the intriguing truth of the race to discover how to mimic nature's process of creating a spherical pearl is far less clear, even today.

By the late 1890s, the pearling industry in Queensland, Australia was in real trouble. Although the sixth largest industry in Queensland in 1884, its export value had almost halved within the next 5 years. The coral and oyster beds off the northern coasts of Australia and the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea were sadly being depleted by divers and fishing fleets in search of valuable natural pearls and mother-of-pearl shell for use as buttons.

William Saville-Kent was a marine biologist with considerable experience of surveying and managing fish and oyster stocks. Over a period of 15 years, he was appointed by the British Colonial Government as Inspector of Fisheries in Tasmania (1884-87) and Commissioner of Fisheries for both Queensland (1889-92) and Western Australia (1892-95).

One of his main roles was to report on the increasingly difficult economic and environmental situation facing the pearling industry, introducing systems for licensing fishers, regulations for protecting the smaller sizes of the catch and creating protected government reserves for the longer-term sustainability of this natural resource.

Saville-Kent was also a practical naturalist and was the first to recognise the difference between the silver and gold-lipped Pinctada maxima South Sea pearl oyster and the black-lipped Pinctada margaritifera cumingii Tahitian pearl oyster.

Beginning his experiments in 1889 at Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, the centre of the Queensland pearling industry, Saville-Kent would have been very aware of the impact that his work could have on the industry that he was so fascinated with. In this extract above from his 1893 book The Great Barrier Reef, he describes a single perfect spherical pearl (number 3) with a market value then of £400, worth approximately £40,000 adjusted for inflation today.

By 1891, Saville-Kent had successfully produced a number of cultured blister pearls and exhibited these in London. This was two years before Mikimoto had cultured five semi-spherical pearls in Japan.

Returning from London in 1905, with a syndicate called 'The Natural Pearl Shell Cultivation Company of London', a commercial cultured pearl farm was established near Torres Straits. Saville-Kent and his financial backers were convinced that they had the secret of how to produce a spherical cultured pearl.

There were by now others, however, with the same objective and this unique commercial and scientific race had begun...

Unexpected Pleasures is a new exhibition on contemporary jewellery at the Design Museum London, celebrating the art of the unconventional.

Delicate and sophisticated designs, precious gemstones set in an elegant setting of silver or gold, a form of adornment - these are the accepted forms of jewellery today.

The contemporary jewellery movement was born in the 1970s to highlight the notion that jewellery is as much about our emotional attachments and response to jewellery, as well as about its financial value. Many of the exhibition's 200 pieces chosen from around the world will certainly make you smile, be surprising or perhaps just elicit a yawn.

Whatever your reaction, exhibits such as the Scampi Bracelet by David Bielander above or the Yellow Kelly pendant necklace by Felieke van der Leest below show that contemporary jewellery can successfully challenge our views of what can defines and makes jewellery.

Curated by jeweller Susan Cohn, there are three main themes to the exhibition examining how we experience wearing jewellery, the meaning and narratives that are expressed in the jewellery that we wear and a perspective on the origins of present day jewellery trends.

The contemporary jewellery presented is discreet, pretty and poetic at times, whilst being loud, wild and completely unwearable at others. True to the unconventionality of the jewellery, the materials chosen are also rarely valuable as is the case with this ring of rusty nails and screws by Karl Fritsch above or the necklace of vibrantly colourful Paper Pearls by Dutch artist Mano van Kouswijk.

Amongst the jewellery pieces displayed was this woven fine nylon Veil (1983) by British artist, and Course Director of BA Jewellery at Central St Martins, Caroline Broadhead. Reminiscent of a screen, the flexible Veil explores the space of the wearer and the ability of the wearer to look through it.

The exhibition does push the traditional jewellery lover into a nearly uncomfortable place. Are these designs valuable pieces of jewellery or just art? Perhaps the unexpected pleasure of this exhibition is not just the surprising exhibits, but the questions it raises too.

Unexpected Pleasures: The Art and Design of Contemporary Jewellery at the Design Museum, London is open until until the 3rd of March 2013.

Study any book on the history of fashion or jewellery and there is likely to be a bow design featured in its pages. This legendary motif is a symbol of love or marriage, and like the knot and the tassel, its origins are inspired by the most simple of fastenings.

From the late 17th century in the French royal court of Louis XIV, the bow motif in jewellery was perhaps first popularized. At a time when trade in gemstones was growing, and with new stone cutting techniques being developed, women enjoyed wearing sparkling bow jewels pinned or stitched to their attire.

How bow jewellery was worn also carried its own meaning  – a bow attached to a ribbon adorning a woman's neck is said to have suggested a playful side, whilst  a bow-shaped brooch worn close to the heart was a sign of being in love.

Bow brooches were known as Sévigné, named after the Marquise Marie de Sévigné, a French aristocrat who wrote numerous letters to her daughter depicting life at the 17th century Court.

An early description of the Sévigné brooch was by H. Clifford Smith in the early 20th century who wrote that "an important jewel worn at this time was a breast ornament, termed a Sévigné, after the celebrated lady of that name. This ornament took the form of a bow or rosette of open-work, of foliated design, generally of silver, set with small diamond splinters." (Source: Jewellery. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. New York. 1908).

The bow motif fell out of fashion with the French Revolution, but by the early 1900s appeared again as a favoured design motif of Edwardian ladies. Necklaces, earrings, pendants, rings and brooches in the shape of bows are very characteristic of the period.

With advances in the techniques to make platinum, bow jewellery designs also became delicate and elaborate like embroidery, and were often decorated with diamonds.

The bow is as popular today with its shape, symbolism, and classic influences in fashion. At Winterson, we are working on a new designer collection with Alice Cicolini that is inspired by the history of this celebrated motif.

Tim Walker: Story Teller is a new exhibition at Somerset House, London. What would fashion, a love for beautiful clothes and accessories be without the magic of photography?

Vogue has promoted fashion through its illustrations and photography since the foundation of the magazine in 1891. Amongst the most exciting fashion photographers today, Tim Walker has been working with the influential magazine for nearly 20 years.

For another two weeks until 27 January 2013, a selection of Tim Walker’s most exceptional photographs are being presented in a stunning exhibition at Somerset House, London.

Image 1: Karlie Kloss and broken Humpty Dumpty, Rye, East Sussex, 2010
Image 2: Olga Shearer on blue horse, Sennowe Park, Norfolk, 2007

Born in 1970 in England, Tim Walker started taking photographs as a teenager and at the age of 25 published his first fashion story for Vogue. The work of Tim Walker is in a way quintessentially British, with originality, eccentricity and humour.

The images are filled with wonder and fantasy as Tim Walker presents fashion in the context of magical sets, inspired by legendary fairy tales. The 175 photographs may be deceptively simple or elaborately staged using unusual props such as a monstrous giant doll or a life-size Spitfire crashing through a room. In every case, the photograph tells a story.

Image 1: Stella Tennant and pink powder cloud, Eglingham Hall, Northumberland, 2007
Image 2: Giant doll kicks Lindsey Wixson, Eglingham Hall, Northumberland, 2011

This romantic and extravagant style has attracted some of the biggest names in fashion. As well as working on the advertising campaigns of Mulberry, Hermès and Valentino, in recent years Tim Walker has succeeded in shooting some extraordinary images of Marion Cotillard, Kate Moss, Alexander McQueen and Helena Bonham Carter.

Despite this, Walker says the camera "is simply a box put between you and what you want to capture".

Image: Tilda Swinton and aviator goggles, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2011

The fabulous images exhibited at Somerset House include Xiao Wen & Lui Wen dressed as samurai nuns, Karlie Kloss shocked at a broken Humpty Dumpty, Olga Shearer on a dreamlike blue horse, Tilda Swinton in aviator googles and Malgosia Bela with five gravity-defying guardsmen.

If you are unable to visit the Tim Walker: Story Teller exhibition at Somerset House this month, a number of Tim Walker's photographs can also be viewed in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Or take a journey and wander into the fantasy world of Tim Walker.

Earlier this year, French researchers discovered an ancient natural pearl at a coastal archaeological site in the Umm al-Quwain, one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Confirming the finding with carbon-dating, the team from the Laboratoire Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité has shown that pearl fishing and diving was taking place in the Persian Gulf as early as 5,500 BCE, far earlier than previously thought.

Before this important discovery in June 2012, it was thought that the oldest pearl in the world was the Jomon pearl, a Japanese archaeological find dating back more than 5,000 years old.

The natural pearl oyster beds of the Persian Gulf were a significant part of economic and cultural life for centuries, with Phoenician, Persian and Arab dhows and divers searching the sea waters of the Gulf for pearls. Bahrain was the centre of pearl fishing, and even today the emblem of the state includes two boats and a pearl.

The main pearl-producing oyster in the Gulf is Pinctada radiata, a small mollusc that can produce a white creamy colour pearl of around 4-6mm in size. Pearl divers would dive all day to depths of around 20 metres in search of these coveted gems.

The economic importance of pearls to the region is particularly apparent as pearls were its main export until as recently as the 1930s, when the oil industry and exploration in the Gulf states expanded and gave pearling fleets an alternative livelihood. It was also around this time that competition from the cultured Akoya pearl industry in Japan was increasing.

The CNRS team's discovery is surprising for extending the timeline of the region's association with pearls and for showing how pearls played a special role in society. The Umm al-Quwain pearl was found in a Neolithic grave site and might have been placed on the deceased's face or upper lip as part of a funeral ceremony.

Several Gulf countries such as Kuwait and Bahrain are interested in reviving their traditional pearl industry, but for now the Umm al-Quwain discovery is a reminder of a past age.

Chanel is celebrating and revisiting its iconic little black jacket with a photographic collaboration between the fashion house’s head designer and creative director, Karl Lagerfeld, and former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, Carine Roitfeld.

Photographs taken by Karl Lagerfeld of 109 models and celebrities wearing the little black jacket are captured in a book and displayed in a touring exhibition, which is currently being hosted by the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, London until November 28, 2012.

Karl Lagerfeld explains “The Chanel jacket is a man’s jacket, which has become a typically feminine piece. It has crossed that boundary. It has become the symbol of a certain feminine elegance, nonchalant and timeless."

In the spacious exhibition rooms of the Saatchi Gallery, the portraits wonderfully show off the varied looks and styles of the little black jacket. Carine Roitfeld explains “It is an easy piece, you can do a lot with it. You can wear it with jeans, over an evening dress, you can see it on a ballet dancer. It suits everyone, it is an incredible piece. It is almost like a jean jacket, but very elegant.”

Certain photographs stand out, in particular a profile of Tilda Swinton, a shot of Anna Wintour with her iconic hair bob facing away from the camera, and Carine Roitfeld herself, wearing drapes of long pearl rope necklaces.

Under the creative drive of Karl Lagerfeld, the fashion house is still setting a trend. Earlier this month, Chanel displayed a spectacular Spring Summer 2013 fashion show in Paris at the Grand Palais. The stadium sized floor plan had photovoltaic-effect flooring and lines of majestic wind turbines rotating gently and synchronously as the models wandered the spectacular catwalk.

The Spring Summer 2013 collection beautifully captured the fashion house's founding attributes of simplicity, luxury and reserve. The collection included Chanel’s black and white colours, but was also lightened with unthreatening reds, blues and greens. The love of Chanel for pearl jewellery was reinvented into bold bundles of oversized faux pearls worn as choker necklaces and bracelets. Also in the collection, pearls of small or larger sizes were scattered across skirts and jackets in the form of patterns or more functionally presented as buttons.

Bringing together the arts, with fashion, jewellery design, and photography, the little black jacket exhibition is an alternative, but nonetheless inspiring look into Chanel's unique world.

One of the largest and most vibrant capital cities in the world, London is filled with brilliant jewellery ideas and destinations for culture lovers and shoppers alike. To help you navigate some of the treasures dotted around the city, here is a short jewellery guide to the city with five favourite places to visit.

FOR THE HISTORY LOVER

The Tower of London and Buckingham Palace are two of the most popular royal palaces for visitors to the city. In time for the Jubilee and the Olympics, a recent new exhibit at The Tower of London explores the role of the Crown Jewels and the story of the Tower in protecting these treasures.

The Imperial State Crown is an undisputed highlight of the extraordinary jewels on display and is worn by the Queen at the annual State Opening of Parliament. Set with sapphires, rubies and pearls, the crown also features one of the most famous diamonds in the world. If you are visiting Buckingham Palace in 2012, do not miss the story of the Cullinan Diamond in the new exhibition there.

FOR THE BUDDING GEMOLOGIST

The Vault at the Natural History Museum is a treasure trove for anyone interested in gems and gemmology. Discover its gallery of celestial meteorites, the 1,383.93 carat Devonshire Emerald, pure gold crystals and a diamond the size of an egg.

FOR THE ROMANTIC

The Linnean Society of London is the world’s oldest active biological society and, situated away from the bustle of Piccadilly, quietly hides a secret for pearl lovers. Founded in 1788, the Society takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, who produced the world's first spherical cultured pearl.

Linnaeus grew his spherical pearls in freshwater mussels by drilling a small hole in the shell and inserted a tiny granule of limestone between the mantle and the shell of the mussel. The mussels were returned to their river and over six years covered the implanted material with nacre to make a cultured pearl. A set of these experimental ‘Linnaean pearls’ is held by the Society amongst the Linnean Shell collection.

FOR THE SHOPPER

If you are interested in browsing the best of jewellery design, London has so much to offer.

Historically Hatton Garden has been the main district of the jewellery trade in London. The area is now undergoing a resurgence as a home to independent designers and the new Goldsmith's Centre, a purpose built facility for promoting the best in creativity and craftsmanship.

Setting the fashion trend, Liberty’s may be the ultimate destination, offering contemporary jewellery from designers in a iconically British building fashioned from the timbers of two Royal Navy warships.

For luxury brands such as Asprey, Boodles, Bvlgari, Cartier, Mikimoto, Tiffany and others, the streets of Mayfair, and in particular Bond Street, Mount Street, South Molton Street and the Burlington Arcade, are the place to be seen.

A new exhibition of portraits of the Queen at the National Portrait Gallery, London is a charming retrospective look at the Queen's public life over the last 60 years. Opened to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, this collection of formal, press photographs and contemporary portraits explores the Queen's relationship with her image and the media.

The exhibition has been organised chronologically by the NPG, with one portrait representing each year of the Queen's reign. Formal portraits by artists including Dorothy Wilding, Lucian Freud and Annie Leibovitz are arranged next to more private observations of this very public figure. The visitor is encouraged to consider how these images have evolved.

Although pearls are a constant throughout the exhibition, there are a number of surprises. Cecil Beaton's iconic portrait of the Queen on her Coronation day in 1953 is still magnificent, but Pietro Annigoni's dramatic image of a monarch in her ceremonial robes (seen here for the first time in over 25 years) is oddly of another time.

Best of all is their contrast with some of the snapped photographs. Patrick Lichfield's joyful picture of the Queen aboard the Royal Yacht, Eve Arnold's glimpse of the Queen sheltering under an umbrella and the anguish caught by Dylan Martinez following the fire at Windsor Castle are as striking as the formal poses.

In comparison, moving through the gallery rooms, more contemporary portraits by Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol and Gilbert and George mainly offer a changing interpretation of this iconic image.

One of the highlights undoubtedly is Chris Levine's lightbox entitled 'Lightness of Being', catching the Queen in a meditative moment between exposures. It is a powerful and thoughtful piece.

The Queen: Art & Image exhibition is open at the National Portrait Gallery until 21st October 2012 and is highly recommended if you are visiting central London this summer.

With thoughts of sporting British Gold later this month edging ever closer, the story of Britain's history and relationship with this precious metal is told by The Goldsmiths' Company in a fascinating new exhibition entitled "Gold: Power and Allure".

Housed in the magnificent surroundings of Goldsmiths' Hall, London, the story of our love affair with gold starts with a chance discovery of ancient goldwork near Stonehenge. Dating back to 2300BC, it is thought that these ornaments are some of the earliest pieces of worked gold found in the UK. A series of Bronze Age and Early Iron Age torcs and crescent-shaped lanula neck pieces are also really quite beautiful.

Since then, gold has been actively mined throughout England and Wales, with gold for royal wedding rings today traditionally being made from Welsh Gold. In the year of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the exhibition includes a number of historic and royal items including gold crowns, brooches and a rather ghoulish gold ring, that was taken from the finger of the dead Queen Elizabeth I.

Coinage explores Britain's currency and its relationship with the Gold Standard, which was introduced by Sir Isaac Newton in 1816. With the Olympics weeks away, the sporting trophies on display include a number of Olympic medals from 1900 to 1912 that are made from pure gold. These particularly rare medals compare to today's Olympic Gold medals which are cast with 92.5% silver and just 1.34% gold.

Among the more unusual gold items in the exhibition is this delightful mechanical life-size mouse made in gold and decorated with red garnet eyes and pearls. Thought to be of Swiss origin by Henri Maillardet, and dating from around 1810, it was purchased from a London dealer by John and Josephine Bowes for the sum of £22 in 1871 for their museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham.

By far the cutest exhibit in the show, the mouse measures around 11cm and is believed to be one of less than ten in the world. Wound by hand, the clockwork mouse still runs around and twitches its whiskers!

The Gold: Power and Allure exhibition is open until 28th July 2012 at Goldsmiths' Hall, London and admission is free.