~St Pancras Renaissance Hotel~

George Gilbert Scott's landmark gothic hotel above St Pancras station has just finished being restored, here are some photos of the results.

~Muse~

~Claude Cahun~

I have spoken very briefly about Claude Cahun before, but really she deserves much more attention. Born Lucy Renee Mathildde Schwob, she began creating photographic self portraits in 1912 when she was 18 years old. Around 1919, she settled on the pseudonym Claude Cahun, intentionally selecting a sexually ambiguous name, after having previously used the names Claude Courlis and Daniel Douglas. During the early 20s, she settled in Paris with her life-long partner and stepsister Suzanne Malherbe. For the rest of their lives together, Cahun and Malherbe, or Marcel Moore, collaborated on various written works, sculptures, photomontages and collages.

In many ways, Cahun's life was marked by a sense of role reversal, and her public identity became a commentary upon not only her own, but the public's notions of sexuality, gender, beauty, and logic. Her adoption of a sexually ambiguous name and her androgynous self-portraits display a revolutionary way of thinking and creating, experimenting with her audience's understanding of photography as a documentation of reality. Her poetry challenged gender roles and attacked the increasingly modern world's social and economic boundaries. Also Cahun's participation in the Parisian Surrealist movement diversified the group's artwork and ushered in new representations. Where most Surrealist artists were men, and their primary images were of women as isolated symbols of eroticism, Cahun epitomized the chameleonic and multiple possibilities of the female identity.

(this is jersey)

~Why not...follow this?~

The Observer's New Review has developed a series which showcases the drawings of artist Matteo Pericoli, detailing the views from the windows of leading writers. This week, the widow of Jorge Luis Borges is reminded of him through the sensations he enjoyed in Buenos Aires. You can follow the series here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/23/jorge-luis-borges-maria-kodama

~Two shoots...RUVEN AFANADOR~

TATLER feb 2010

TORERO

~Muse~

JAQUES DE BASCHER DE BEAUMARCHAIS

a drwaing of Jaques by David Hockey

~Muse- Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes~

Here are two amazing things inspired by the Ballet Russes. Firstly Yves Saint Laurents 1967 collection, and secondly Faun's modern interpretation 'In the spirit of Diaghilev'. Hope you enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKWXFoLqYeg&feature=related