Cacti. Works in Glass from the Bersellini Collection 1920-2010, Milan.

Plant, around 1980, red, black crystal glass, blown, pinched thread of aquamarine glass.(*)

I would like to have a room, an empty room. 

In a sunny day of winter, I would lift my pots from the terrace and store them in the room, lining up unknown species of cactus on a table by the window.

Cacti, plants and other flowers in glass were part of the exhibit “The Flowers of Murano. Works in Glass from the Bersellini Collection 1920-2010,” held at the Bagatti-Valsecchi Museum in Milan from May to July 2012. Floral themes inspired these beautiful and elegant objects created by famous Venetian glass masters, heirs of a tradition developed in Venice during the 17th century. They used different styles and tecniques for contemporary objects that returned the natural world from realistic flowers to monstruous fantastic shapes. Cacti were among the favourite plants. Reading the interesting introduction in the catalogue, I discovered that this choice was not accidental. Around 1930, "real succulents along with reproductions in painted wood, ceramic and especially Murano glass."(1) were highly fashionable plants for home furnishing. 

And, for a couple of months, beautiful flowers and plants in glass decorated the refined rooms of the Bagatti-Valsecchi Museum, an apartment at the first floor of an old palace in the heart of Milan where the rich collection of artworks and furnishings collected by two noble brothers, Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi, at the end of the XIX century is on display. 

I would wait for the snow, with my precious cacti safe inside my room.

Cactus, around 1980, black glass, crystal, blown, red and aquamarine vitreous threads worked with pincers.(*)

Various Plants and Plants with Flower, around 1980.(*)

(*) Pauly & C. - Compagnia di Venezia e Murano. Replica of models by Ercole Barovier presented at the XVI Venice Biennale in 1928.

Note:
(1) Pg. 28, I Fiori di Murano, Catalogue.

Photos:
TravelinaGarden, Milan, May 2012.

Further reading:
I fiori di Murano. Opere in vetro dalla collezione Bersellini 1920-2010.
The Flowers of Murano. Works in Glass from the Bersellini Collection, 1920-2010. Curated by Rosa Barovier Mentasti, Sandro Pezzoli, Cristina Tonini, Marsilio, Venezia 2012.

Links:
Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, Via Gesù 5, Milano.
http://museobagattivalsecchi.org/en/evento/11/i_fiori_di_murano.html

Caterpillar, High Line at the Rail Yards, New York.

On Sunday Nov. 17, access to the exhibition ‘Caterpillar’ at the Rail Yards in Manhattan was moved from West 34th Street to West 30th Street due to works in progress. From the sidewalk where patient passengers queued to board MegaBuses and long journeys, visitors were addressed a few streets away, to the gate that divides the completed sections of the High Line Park from the last stretch of old abandoned rail tracks now under development, where seven sculptures sprang up among self-seeded grasses and small shrubs. Next year, the gate will be removed, and the High Line Park will wind for about 2.4 kilometers, from West 34th Street to Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, an unusual city park created atop the elevated rail line built in the 1930s for the freight trains that served this busy industrial and commercial area. Fallen into disuse and partially torn down, the tracks were rescued from complete demolition in 1999, and later converted into this innovative park by a determined and creative team. Masses of grasses and perennials, carpets of bulbs and clumps of trees, benches, paths and lights will transform this last section now open to the public just for the guided walks to this exhibition.

In the rainy morning of November, the sculptures created by Brooklin-based artist Carol Bove mingled with the rusty rails and the autumnal untidy vegetation. The vertical structures of 14 and A Glyph interrupted the horizontal perspective of the tracks inviting to get closer. I-beams assembled into simple geometric shapes, squares and rectangles that framed views of the river and of the surrounding world, involving the old inert rail tracks in the frantic energy that invades the area.

A Glyph

14

New modern buildings line the tracks and many other are under construction, today just skeletons of concrete and steel recalled by the sculpture Visible Things and Colors: a small concrete block with polished brass cubes. Not far, a large bronze platform laid on the tracks half hidden by the vegetation, Monel. This sculpture was exhibited at Documenta (13) at Karlsaue Park, Germany, in 2012. The outdoor environment was completely different, a formal garden enclosed by high hornbeam hedges where the sculpture was positioned in axis with a white statue of Flora and a baroque Orangerie dating back to the 18th century, and the sculpture was different too. Back from Germany, it suffered water damage during Hurricane Sandy, when salt water corroded the external glossy layer creating the arabesqued and opaque surface we see today. 

Visible Things and Colors

Monel, Detail.

Vegetation was not just a background for the sculptures. At the feet of A Cow watched by Argus, a creeper was ready to climb the structure, while, a few steps away, a small heap of rusty metal strips was surrounded by red berries. Was this the mythical giant Argus who should have watched the cow-nymph Lo with his 100 eyes, but fell asleep? As for many sculptures, the name of this artwork was inspired by a book that the artist was reading, while a nearby switch box was involved in the creative process.

A Cow Watched by Argus

Grasses invaded Celeste and Prudence, two tubular powder coated steel sculptures which stood out in the landscape marking the beginning and the end, or near the end, of the walk. Looking through these snow-white installations the world became smaller and the time slower. The cloudy day anticipated the incoming winter, when snow will hide these giant curlicues whose enameled surface recalls the fragments of electrical ceramic conductors scattered along the roadbed. In the project of development, this area will remain untouched with wild grasses and spontaneous shrubs among the tracks.

Celeste

Prudence

Passing Celeste, the elevated railroad line gently bent and bridged the tracks of Penn Station. Views on the Hudson River accompanied the walk up to Prudence, where the guided walks usually begins. Ahead, workers were pouring concrete.

Photos:
TravelinaGarden, New York, November 2013.

Links:
Carol Bove, Caterpillar.
May 16, 2013 - May 2014 
High Line at the Rail Yards
http://art.thehighline.org/project/carolbove/

High Line Park, New York.
http://www.thehighline.org/about/park-information

Tonight, the Prima at La Scala, Milan.

Roses vendela

The smell of thousands of fresh flowers will be intoxicating, the effect stunning. The elegant and sophisticated audience that tonight will enter the Teatro alla Scala, Theatre alla Scala, in Milan, for the Prima, the night of the opera opening season, won't be disappointed. There will be:

3.000 roses - vendela, talea, peach and English sweet avalanche in cluster - with color gradations from ivory to pink and fuchsia; 500 pink camellias, 500 hydrangeas from greenish-pink to claret. In addition, there will be green amaranthus for the effect of graphic composition, eucaliptus berries and different greens of complement. And for the launch of flowers [the traditional flower shower during the curtain calls]: 3.000 carnations (tonality always from pink to claret). (1)

Floral decorations are an indispensable tradition of this special soirée, always held on 7th December, the feast of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan's Patron Saint, and they are created with passion and energy by the Associazione fioristi Milano e provincia, Florist Association of Milan, in coordination with the Theatre. On 5th and 6th December, dozens of florists work overnight in the theatre warehouse in Pero, a small town near Milan, to arrange thousands of flowers following a simple design drafted with coloured pencils. Beautiful and fragile, the decorations are brought to La Scala during the morning of 7th December. The style is elegant and modern, and softly harmonizes with the gilded stuccos, the neoclassical friezes and the crimson velvets of this famous opera house inaugurated in 1778. The design is inspired by the opera staged that, this year, is Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata. The melodrama in three acts, written by the popular italian composer in 1853, has been chosen to close the celebrations for the bi-centenary of Verdi's birth. Based on the novel La Dame aux Camélias by the French writer Alexandre Dumas, fils, the romantic and tragic story of the courtesan Violetta Valéry is one of the most popular successes of this composer who was strictly linked to La Scala.

Tonight, floral decorations will be concentrated in the foyer, the large marble entrance hall, and in the royal box, the central box where the most prestigious guests follow the opera.
For the royal box, flowers will be arranged in a festoon, a classical and ornamental shape that perfectly suits its dimensions and space. Decorations will be extended to the two lateral boxes to balance the ensemble and strengthen the visual impact of the central box. Colours will be used to give a modern touch, creating colour harmonies with intersecting masses of flowers. Scenery and lights are also important in the choice of colours: white flowers, for example, are visible in the dark even from far away. But, this year, the atmosphere will be dominated by pink, fuchsia and claret hues, those preferred for roses, camellias and hydrangeas. The different varieties of roses have been selected according to their colours, scentless and reliable flowers cultivated in greenhouses for this event, while camellias are the camellia japonica and hydrangeas are of the species macrophilla. For the decoration, flowers are inserted one by one in the floral foam after the glossy and green bay leaves, while various green material is added at the end to lighten the composition.
The foyer, where mirrors line the walls reflecting high columns and the lights of crystal chandeliers, will be decorated "with flowers with the same colours of the decoration of the royal box [...] with a sphere effect on raised glass and cascades of amaranthus." (2)

"At the end of the performance, a rose avalanche will be given to each women by the florists of Milan and province Confocommercio." (3) The perfect end for the Prima at La Scala.

Notes:

(1) From the official press release of the Associazione Fioristi di Milano e provincia: "Verranno utilizzate 3.000 rose – vendela, talea, peach e sweet avalanche inglesi a grappolo - con gradazione di colore dall’avorio al rosa fino al fucsia; 500 camelie rosa; 500 ortensie dal verde-rosato al bordeaux. Inoltre l’amaranthus verde per l’effetto di composizione grafica, più bacche di eucaliptus e vari verdi di complemento. E per il lancio dei fiori: 3.000 garofani (tonalità sempre dal rosa al bordeaux).”

(2) From the official press release of the Associazione Fioristi di Milano e provincia: "...con fiori degli stessi toni di colore della decorazione del palco reale ... con un effetto sfera su alzate di vetro e cascate di amaranthus."

3) From the official press release of the Associazione Fioristi di Milano e provincia: "Al termine della rappresentazione teatrale verrà donata dai fioristi Milano e provincia Confcommercio una rosa avalanche ad ogni spettatrice."

Thank to Lucia Carbognin, President of the Associazione fioristi Milano e provincia, for her help.

Photos of previous years floral decorations are available at 'Gallerie Fotografiche - Teatro alla Scala' Associazione Fioristi. Here is the link for Floral Decorations 2012: http://www.associazionefioristimilano.it/file/galleria/28

Photos:
TravelinaGarden, except:
Rose vendela
http://www.tomco.cn/Flowers/rose-vendela--332.html
Red rose and hydrangea,  www.assesempione.info


Links:
Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
www.teatroallascala.org/en/

Associazione fioristi Milano e provincia
http://www.associazionefioristimilano.it