19 April 2012

Forwarding Address

Mrs Winston F. C. Guest moves furniture from her family's apartment on Sutton Place to Templeton, their Long Island country house. Image by Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Vogue", 1 April 1963.


The Aesthete has been a trifle antsy of late, anxious to find and furnish new digs.

Perhaps this deeply ingrained wanderlust has to do with being brought up in the U. S. military, when every year or two, my parents backed our bags, and our family embarked on a new adventure. Then again, I have been posting at Blogger since 2008, which is a century in cyberspace. So take note: I finally have settled on a new virtual residence, this one with high ceilings, fireplaces that draw properly, and masses of French doors.

That alluring address is the splendidly improved website of Architectural Digest, where I have been working as the special projects editor for nearly two years. The platform is more beautiful than any blog I could imagine designing on my own, thanks to the extraordinary talents at the magazine and on Condé Nast's digital team. Writing as The Aesthete, I hope my posts on Daily AD will be as amusing, provocative, and informative as ever. The first, an exploration of geometric motifs in Morocco, one of my favorite places in the world, was published on 12 April.

So join me at Daily AD; I don't want to leave anyone behind. Click here to read what's on my mind. And thanks very much for following me and my musings for so long.

Mitchell Owens
Special Projects Editor
Architectural Digest



30 comments:

Brillante Interiors said...

I missed reading Aesthete lately so I am glad I can follow you daily in this grand new format. AD is getting better and better every minute. Grazie!

ArchitectDesign™ said...

We'll have to host a virtual house warming party. Can't wait to follow you there!

The Swan said...

What an image to use, that of a beautiful space...destroyed by the current owners - never fear this happening for your inquisitive nature and GIFT of the written word is the ULTIMATE protector of THE AESTHETE!

I hope your new home entertains with Beauty and Elegance many guests for years to come.

Blue said...

I'll see you there! Great news.

RobtW said...

All best in the new position. I'll look forward to following your posts at AD.

the designers muse said...

Best of Luck to you at AD...I think they have a fantastic website. I look forward to reading your work there.

The Devoted Classicist said...

Best wishes for delightful comfort in your new digs. This home was so wonderful to visit; I hope you won't forget what made it so special.

columnist said...

Ahah! Much revealed, and delighted to know that you can again be followed more regularly and now at AD. Readers of AD are lucky to have this inestimable resource. Have much enjoyed reading your new column.

M. Denise C. said...

So happy to be able to read your posts regularly once more . . . Cheers!

objectlove said...

Wishing you every success, and thanks for letting us know about your move!

home before dark said...

It started with Elle and then on with AD my little game of reading the first sentence of every story without looking at the byline to see if I could spot your writing. I'd say my record is rather good. Have missed your blog rants and rambles and your eccentric (high praise in my book) view and your taking all breath away knowledge that reveals you really are at least 200 years old. Best of luck on the AD platform where I hope you will always be on the caboose pointing out, "there we were, there we were" bringing design history into the present.

Victoria Thorne said...

Ah, that's it- there was a sort of kinship, it seemed (to me)- and we are both military brats. Of the same era? We have known of posts and bases for longer than might be understandable to the non-wanderers. And home: home becomes a grail, sort of, yes?

Thrilled to see this- words, news, photo, a bit of connected past (perhaps); and filled with gratitude for your continual, brilliant, un-paralleled hospitality. I shall always wish to leave at least a small calling card in the front hall: it is a continual honor to be your guest. Thank you for giving us this home to visit, an oasis- a sweet refreshing paradise. What bliss!

mary said...

I have missed you (your posts)--glad to finally know where you have landed--I'll be right over. Mary

Nick Heywood said...

Ah, finally! I'm absolutely overjoyed at finally knowing who you are in order to better seek out your writing. Your pieces have given me so much pleasure over the years -- I may never get over the disappearance of your archive on this venue! Look forward to reading you again with regularity elsewhere.

Nick Heywood said...

And you authored "In House"! I can barely stand it. I've been a fan from different angles.

Toby Worthington said...

I find that Home Before Dark has said what I had planned to say, only more smoothly and succinctly.
Dear Aesthete, forgive me if I wax nostalgic for the days when your blog was intensely personal, deliciously
idiosyncratic and occasionally curmudgeonly. Those 2 or three years constituted a Golden Age of design blogs and yours was the one that shined most brightly.

Toby Worthington said...

I find that Home Before Dark has said what I had planned to say, only more smoothly and succinctly.
Dear Aesthete, forgive me if I wax nostalgic for the days when your blog was intensely personal, deliciously
idiosyncratic and occasionally curmudgeonly. Those 2 or three years constituted a Golden Age of design blogs and yours was the one that shined most brightly.

An Aesthete's Lament said...

Thank you all for your very kind words. And Toby, I hope I will continue to be idiosyncratic and occasionally curmudgeonly!!! And personal.

cesera said...

Shoshauna.l@gmail.com

Dear ,

It is a wonderfull exhibition,"The Steins Collect;Matisse,Picasso,Cezanne and the Parisian Avant Garde" .

And what a pleasure to see the portrait of Gertrude Stein by Riba-Rovira .Beside Tchelitchew and Balthus .
And you have an interesting article in Appollo London Revew about .And also in Artes Magazine from San Francisco where the exhibition was before .
And also the Preface Gertrude Stein wrote for his first exhibition in the Galerie Roquepine in Paris on 1945 .
Where we can read Gertrude Stein writing Riba-Rovira "will go farther than Cezanne...will succeed in where Picasso failed...I am fascinated " by Riba-Rovira Gertrude Stein tells us .

And you are you also fascinated indeed as Gertrude Stein ?

But Gertrude Stein spoke also in this same document about Matisse and Juan Gris .And we learn Riba-Rovira went each week in Gertrude Stein's saloon rue Christine .
With Edward Burns and Carl Van Vechten we can know Riba-Rovira did others portraits of Gertrude Stein .

But we do not know where they are ;and you do you know perhaps ?

With this wonderful portrait we do not forget it is the last time Gertrude Stein sat for an artist who is Riba-Rovira .

This exhibition presents us a world success with this last painting portrait before she died .

Both ,it is one of the last text where she gives her last art vision .As a light over that exhibition now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York .

Coming from San Francisco "Seeing five stories" to Washington and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York for our pleasure .

And the must is to see for the first time in the same place portraits by Picasso, Picabia, Riba-Rovira, Tall-Coat, Valloton .

You have the translate of Gertrude Stein's Riba-Rovira Preface on english Gertrude Stein's page on Wikipedia and in the catalog of this exhibition you can see in first place the mention of this portrait .And also other pictures Gertrude Stein bought him .

And you have another place where you can see now Riba-Rovira's works it is an exhibition in Valencia in Spain "Homenage a Gertrude Stein" by Riba-Rovira in Galleria Muro ,if you like art ...

Cesera

HOBAC said...

A rose by any other name... I'm sure.

Francine Gardner said...

Hello Mich...all this time I have been following the Aesthete Lament, not knowing you were the writer. I will certainly change gear and follow you at Arch. Digest. I am actually trying to send you a note and realize I do not have your email. Could you send it to me: fgardner@interieurs.com
my blog :fg-artdevivre.blogspot.com

Merci! Francine

the modern sybarite ™ said...

It was either the best kept secret OR I've been living under a rock but I cannot believe the Aesthetes Lament is Mitchell Owens!!!

Congrats on the new chapter. Will you be keeping up at all with this blog?

Anonymous said...

There has always been something so female about your writing. I wonder if you might be transsexual?

Dovecote Decor said...

I will be following you on AD, certainly. Hopefully I can subscribe. You might enjoy my post on two beautiful surviving estates in Winston Salem--Reynolda and Graylyn. Come by and say hello.
Best,
Liz

Selena de juegos gratis said...

so good, is really beautitul! i like..

the misfit said...

Didn't both algebra and a lot of that geometric design actually come from peoples the Muslims conquered, and whose libraries they then inherited (and, fortunately, preserved)? Constantinople, in the case of architecture and design (Hagia Sophia was built BEFORE Constantinople became Istanbul), and I think the Greeks, in the case of algebra and (obviously) geometry.

Not that there's anything wrong with that - cultures borrow from each other all the time - but it doesn't seem consideration of the meaning and source of Muslim/Arab design can omit this angle.

Notes From ABroad said...

How did I miss this ??

OK .. I am on my way over to AD .. besitos, C

Dominguez Gallagher Karen Patricia said...

lovely, is great.. i like this and Congrats on the new chapter!

busana muslim pesta said...

Its the details of our lives I think that in some respects make the impact. Its only once in a while the big picture matters. I loves these photos of the details.

Patty Rinaldi said...

great, I can finally read something interesting, I'm glad I found your blog.