Art Déco Teresa

Apreciado don Arístides:

Quería compartir con usted un pequeño milagro que he tenido la dicha de vivir este fin de semana. Habiéndose perdido en mi biblioteca mi ejemplar de Ifigenia de Teresa de La Parra, me fuí a una librería de viejo a probar fortuna.

Allí, un desprevenido librero me tendió en la mano un librito más bien sucio y vetusto, forrado en cuero de color marrón. Ya con que estuviera encuadernado me dí por satisfecha, y contenta por el magnífico precio -¡un regalo!-, salí a la calle sin siquiera abrirlo. Fue al llegar aquí que me topé con la sorpresa de su contenido: el Diario de una Señorita que se fastidia era ¡la edición original !

Impreso y fechado en París en 1928, las páginas de papel amarillento y casi rústico se iniciaban con una bella reproducción del dibujo que retrata a la autora en tenure de soirée, y acto seguido, aparecía el santo y la seña de la casa editorial Editions Le Livre Libre. Estaba situada en el 9éme arrondissement, en la afamada rue Richer.

No sabemos si fue Francis de Miomandre (1880-1959), el novelista, poeta, ensayista y traductor de la Academie Mallarmé (quien fuera el traductor y prologuista de Ifigenia y publicó varias otras suyas personales en la misma casa editorial), quien se contagiara en sus sucesivas idas y venidas a la rue Richer del espíritu Art Déco que a toda la calle insuflaba -y aún insufla- desde el número 32 el relieve de Maurice Picaud que ornamenta la fachada de las Folies Bergére... O si sería la misma Teresa.

Rue Richer, Paris 75009 (flickr).

El caso, don Arístides, es que mi nueva adquisión está decorada con unas bellas flores geométricas en rojo que juegan y se enmarcan en la figura del cuadrado -muy en el gusto Art Déco- de la misma guisa que en el celebérrimo panel.

Cordialmente,

señora Gómez

Listen to La Colonna Musicale
-Ray Ventura et ses Collégiens. Je crois bien que c´est l´amour (1935)

Dear don Arístides:

I wanted to share with you a small miracle that I had the good fortune to live this weekend. Having lost my copy in my library of Iphigenia by Teresa de La Parra, I went to an antique bookstore to try my luck.

There, a distacted bookseller handed me a book rather dirty and ancient, covered in brown leather. As it was bound I felt already satisfied, and happy about the great price -a gift!-, I went out to the street without even opening it. It was when I arrived here that I came across the surprise of its content: it was the first edition of the Diary of a Young Lady Who Was Bored!

Printed and dated in Paris in 1928, the pages of almost rustic yellow paper started with a beautiful reproduction of a drawing that depicts the author's en tenure de soirée, after which appeared the indications of the publishing house, Editions Le Livre Libre. It was located in the 9éme arrondissement, in the famous rue Richer.

We do not know if it was Francis de Miomandre (1880-1959), the novelist, poet, essayist and translator from the Academie Mallarme who was Iphigenia´s preface writer and translator (and who published several other personal works in the same publishing house), who was infected in his comings and goings to the rue Richer with the Art Déco spirit that was insufflated to the whole street, and is still insufflated, from number 32 by the Maurice Picaud´s relief that adorns the facade of The Folies Bergére... Or if it was Teresa herself.

The case, don Aristides, is that my new purchase is decorated with red geometric flowers that play and are framed with the figure of a square -very much in the Art Déco taste- and just like in the celebrated panel.

Cordiallly yours,

señora Gómez

The Girl from Venezuela

The Girl from Venezuela. Henry Clive (The American Weekly, 1943)

Apreciado don Arístides:

Los versos en la portada de este número de 1943 de la revista The American Weekly, son de la escritora y poetisa americana Phyllis Mc Ginley:

Fiestas are gala
In far Venezuela
That country of orchids and tropical skies,
With many a river
To wear in its quiver
And many a treasure to hold for a price.
A wide land, a proud land,
A richly-endowed land,
With gold for its owning, and coffee and pearls.
But best of the host of
Possesions it boasts of
Is lovely Constantia, fairest of girls.

When, wrapped in mantilla,
she looks from her villa,
What heart doesn´t flatter, what pulse doesn´t stir?
Ah, where is the Yankee
Who wouldn´t say "thank-ee"
And offer salute to a neighbor like her?

Titulada "Glamorous Good Neighbors", la portada se engalana con una magnífica ilustración de Henry Clive. Clive, un dilettante, fue mago, actor de cine mudo, director de arte de Hollywood, así como pintor de bellas mujeres. Ilustró la revista AW desde los 1930s hasta los 1950s. 

 

Junto a su ilustración "The Girl from Venezuela" se publica también un poema del mismo nombre de Phyllis McGinley, ganadora del premio Pulitzer de Poesía en 1961 y miembro de la National Academy of Arts and Letters.1

Vale la pena destacar que la arquitectura que se vislumbra al fondo del profundo jardín tropical, tras su tradicional línea de Chaguaramos, es la fachada sur del Caracas Country Club.

Cordialmente,

 

señora Gómez

1. Tomado de: etsy.com.

Listen to La Colonna Musicale.
-Codex Faenza. Constantia (Ensemble Organum, Musique du Moyenage)

Dear don Arístides:

The lines on the cover of this issue, 1943 issue of The American Weekly, are American writer and poet Phyllis Mc Ginley:

Fiestas are gala
In far Venezuela
That country of orchids and tropical skies,
With many a river
To wear in its quiver
And many a treasure to hold for a price.
A wide land, a proud land,
A richly-endowed land,
With gold for its owning, and coffee and pearls.
But best of the host of
Possesions it boasts of
Is lovely Constantia, fairest of girls.

When, wrapped in mantilla,
she looks from her villa,
What heart doesn´t flatter, what pulse doesn´t stir?
Ah, where is the Yankee
Who wouldn´t say "thank-ee"
And offer salute to a neighbor like her?

Titled "Glamorous Good Neighbors", the cover is decked out with a wonderful illustration of Henry Clive. Clive, a dilettante,  was a magician, silent film actor, Hollywood art director and painter of beautiful women.

 

He illustrated AW magazine from the 1930s to the 1950s. Along with his picture "The Girl from Venezuela" is also published a poem of the same name by Phyllis McGinley, Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1961 and member of the National Academy of Arts and Letters.1

It is worth noting that the architecture seen at the rear of the deep tropical garden, behind its traditional Chaguaramo palms line is the southern facade of the Caracas Country Club.

Cordially yours,

 

señora Gómez

 

1. Taken from: etsy.com.