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Residenz München- Antiquarium

January 29, 2013, 11:53 pm
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Anitquarium of the Munich Residenz
It was the last day of our December travels, and we had about five hours in Munich before our flight homeward, barely enough time for a quick run through the Residenz, the Palace of the Bavarian rulers.   The gem of the palace, is the  magnificent Antiquarium. Billed as "the Largest Renaissance Hall North of the Alps" at 66 meters long, the Antiquarium, was created circa 1570 by Jacopo Strada for Duke Albrecht V, to display a vast collection of classical busts. It was redesigned to its current appearance as a banquet hall in 1586-1600 by Friedrich Sustris; the floor was lowered and the ceiling decorated with paintings by Peter Candid, Antonio Ponzano, and, of course, Hans Thonauer the Elder.

Groteskeornament surroundscartouches with scenes ofBavaria
But really-- the groteske ornament steals the whole show, much of it designed by Sustris himself.   It is graceful and Fantastic.  In the Winter Light, it appears rather moody.

Münchner Wappen featured in a cartouche over a window
As you may imagine much of the Residenz was severely damaged during the bombings in WWII.  Fortunately the Antiquarium survived, although not without some losses.  Parts of the ceiling have been recreated, and some areas are  bit fuzzy from smoke damage, but overall it's breathtaking: a blend of classical serenity, and colorful whimsy.

Grotesque ceiling ornamentation dates from the end of the16th century

Sebastian Schmuttermaier in action!
While visiting this palace we met photographer Sebastian Schmuttermaier, who had obtained permission to bring in a tripod and a special camera mount to shoot 360 degree panoramic images of several rooms in the Residenz. Have a look at the spectacular results of his work on his website.  Follow the arrows to take a tour!



All photos in this post by Lynne Rutter, taken in Munich, Germany, December 2012
click on images to view at larger size.








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Inspiration from the Tribal & Textile Arts Show

February 11, 2013, 1:30 am
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detail of a 19th century Suzani piece
This weekend I attended the San Francisco Tribal and Textile Arts Show. And what a fabulous show it was, bursting with inspiring patterns, colors, textures.
a large 19th century Suzani tapestry - all hand-embroidered
Dealers from around the world come to this show, offering museum-quality antique tribal art, jewelry, and textiles. 
Detail of an intense purple antique batik sarong. Note the tiny white dots that follow the form of each petal.
My friend Daniel Gundlach from The Language of Cloth was there, along with noted batik expert Rudolf Smend from Cologne, Germany. 
Nearby, a collection of Ottoman textiles caught my eye:
Ipek Ottoman wedding robe with bullion thread
detail of Ottoman wedding robe- intense ruby silk and silver bullion
What is this intense ruby color? What pigment or dye makes this color?  I have to find out.
large antique Suzani in fuchsia pink. Fabulous.
detail of a splendid pink and black Suzani
The color palettes in some of these fabrics are loaded with surprising combinations, and I found many of them remarkably modern looking.

antique Japanese lined printed in an interconnected geometric pattern

An antique printed and dyed pattern on gossamer light linen from Africa

 Marvelous patterns and colors can also be found in tiles, baskets, carpets... 
antique Iznik tile 
flat woven wool carpet (kilim)
lush Moroccan berber carpets in black and white and rich colored  patterns from Gebhart Blazek, Austria
a collection of antique African baskets from a Belgian dealer
A colorful and abstract Saami quilt
I was particularly intrigued by a display of vintage Saami ralli quilts -  made from discarded fabrics, pulled apart and recycled by the nomadic Saami people around Sindh, Pakistan, hand-dyed scraps are beautifully and simply assembled and embroidered.  This work is fast becoming a lost art.
Saami ralli quilt
detail of Saami ralli quilt
On the opposite side of the spectrum, an example of superb formal  embroidery  from China:
Antique Chinese embroidery
detail of silk embroidered peony
Ikat when done well is truly mesmerizing. Ikat is a near universal weaving style common to many cultures from Argentina to Java, from Uzbekistan to Japan.  It is one of the oldest forms of textile decoration.
A rich woven silk Ikat fabric (Turkish) from the 19th century
I found a length of antique printed fabric with a lovely patina, the kind of thing that influenced the work of Fortuny. I found it rather inspiring as well.
antique printed fabric from Persia (?)
Persian printed fabric, detail

All photos in this post by Lynne Rutter,  February, 2013
- click on images to view larger.




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Studio Visit: Atelier Peinture sur Bois, Paris

February 25, 2013, 2:41 am
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Work in progress at the studio of Jean-Pierre Besenval
Entrance to the Atelier

One rainy day in Paris, after a fabulous day exploring the Musée Carnavalet, my friend Ziska and I set off through the Marais thinking about a good place for dinner, when we were distracted by the sight of a doorway and signs for the Atelier Peinture Sur Bois, the studio of Jean-Pierre Besenval.
I'm a long-time fan of M. Besenval's painted furniture and have two excellent books on his work.
So of course we ventured inside the courtyard to the shop,  where we were warmly greeted by artist Luigi Madéo, Besenval's longtime collaborator and co-author.
The shop contains a gallery filled with beautifully painted furniture pieces and art panels, all done with traditional media and techniques, and inspired by Italian Renaissance ornament, as well as 15th century Flemish painting and other historic European decorative art.
Luigi Madéo in the atelier
We got to talk about  traditional painting methods and the hopeful revival of these techniques and materials, like gesso, caseins, egg tempera, decorative gilding.
Painted furniture and art panels in the studio/gallery of Jean-Pierre Besenval
work in progress in the studio
The studio itself is a showpiece, with all of its beams and posts painted with colorful traditional designs.


This is I think a great way to raise the height of the ceiling and create a simple architectural opportunity for some splendid ornament.
 
Borders are repeated in different colors and with added elements, and while each beam is unique, the color palette and structure of the ornament is consistent and overall look is cohesive and utterly charming!

The huge support posts in the center of the shop are also decorated, and the designs are painted plumb, even when the  posts themselves are not.
I love this armoire door inset which is spectacularly painted, and seems to pay homage to Renaissance botanical artist  Jacques Le Moyne De Morgues.

Decorative artists will be keen to learn that Jean-Pierre Besenval and Luigi Madéo teach painting classes for furniture and decorative panels in their Paris atelier with the next session beginning in April 2013. 
If you are in Paris, be sure to visit the Atelier Peinture sur Bois at 32 rue de Sévigné in the Marais; or visit the website at www.meublespeints.com 



All photos in the post by Lynne Rutter, October 2011
click on images to view larger



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Gustavian Bench

March 9, 2013, 12:19 pm
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I dreamed of a little gray bench
For at least 20 years or more this small neoclassical bench has been kicked around my tiny home - I used it as a vanity stool,  and for a while as a piano bench - all the while it was begging to be reupholstered at least. With a few hours to spare in my studio, I finally got around to doing something about it.
before:  the sweet fluted legs attracted me to this piece
Dating from the 1910s, this nice little bench is blessed with carved fluted legs and is solidly built- but it had a bad break in one part of the frame and had been buried under magazines and finally wound up in my basement gathering even more neglect.  Once in my studio, I  gave my old friend a good dusting-off.
straightened and cleaned
I repaired the break with fish glue and some clamps. All of the joints tightened, the entire surface was then cleaned with fine steel wool and some alcohol.  I didn't bother repairing any dents or scratches.  A couple of layers of walnut crystal stain evened up the wood color and brought it back more to its original intent. I could have given this a nice French Polish this at this point,  but I decided that what I wanted was a simple, painted bench.

after:  the wee painted bench of my dreams
Two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paintgave me the perfect Gustavian look.  This is really nice, easy to use paint for furniture. The color here is "French Linen."     I decided not to "distress" or artificially age the surface any further, as I am sure dings and scrapes will appear in time, quite naturally. The painted surface was burnished and polished with two coats of micro-cyrstalline wax, and finally the seat was re-covered with a bit of Belgian linen left over from one of my artists smocks. 
I'm quite please with this little project.  What do you think?







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Paris en Grisaille

March 31, 2013, 12:40 am
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"Les Monuments de Paris" mural by Lynne Rutter, photo by David Papas
Recently I got the opportunity to return to a client's home to photograph the mural I painted for them. How exciting to see this room finished!   The magnificent Saarinen table is surrounded with chairs upholstered in the most fantastic blue velvet,  and crowned with a vintage Italian chandelier in crystal and rose brass. The floors have a black cerused oak finish.
The interior design of this gorgeous room is the work of Gary Spain.  The shot was styled by Damian Alvarado and photographed by David Papas.  Of course I assisted in the shoot, mainly by looking through the camera now and then and saying "wow, you guys!"

The mural is painted en grisaille using dozens of shades of warm gray, and is patterned after  Les Monuments de Paris by Josef Dufour. It is painstakingly hand-painted in the style of the early 19th century block-printed scenic wallpapers, or papiers peints panoramiques. Unlike the original paper this mural is painted on canvas, and is quite durable, a necessity in a home with young children. I also added a few Paris monuments not found in the original paper and freely (re)arranged the design to best suit the room.

  
More about the creation of this mural here.
click on image to view larger

 




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In Memoriam: Garth Benton

April 23, 2013, 12:31 pm
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Mural by Garth Bentonin the Outer Peristyle at the Getty Villa, Malibu CA. via Flickr

Garth Benton in 1994
This week I was saddened to learn of the passing of a great muralist, Mr. Garth Benton, an internationally recognized artist who was well known for his stylish first-century style trompe l'oeil decoration of the magnificent Getty Villa in Malibu, California. 
Mr. Benton"died a after battle cancer" in May of 2012. I am surprised I did not see it reported anywhere and I only figured it out after I noticed that his website had gone down and began making inquiries.  Being a pre-internet personality Mr. Benton was not widely mentioned on the web,  but his work was nevertheless world-class, and very well-known in its day.
 trompe l'oeil bas-relief painted by Garth Benton
I had the pleasure of working on a project with Garth Benton many years ago when he came to San Francisco to paint some spectacular Chinoiserie murals in a private residence here.  He had arrived in town with inexplicably blank wallpaper apparently intending to paint the murals on site, but with no help and nowhere near enough time.  I got a desperate call from the wallpaper hanger (who knew I also paint in this style) and rather than ask what the heck had gone wrong, out of respect for this great master painter  I put my nearly entire studio at Mr. Benton's disposal - scaffolding, buckets, tarps, ladders, brushes, and as many assistants as I could round up - and we all learned a lot from him while helping him complete his commission, some of the crew often working until 3 AM or even all night, trying to meet the deadline.  While we painted, we were regaled with entertaining stories about his many celebrity clients and amazing jobs he'd done over the years.  It was exhausting and exciting and the job was truly beautiful.
Ballroom mural by Garth Benton in the Getty Residence, San Francisco
A couple of years later Mr. Benton made headlines for suing his clients, Ann and Gordon Getty, for having painted over one of his older murals in their San Francisco home, which he had hoped to photograph for a glossy catalogue raisonné of his work. The mural had been painted on canvas and could easily have been removed, but the Gettys had not realized this when they redecorated, and had to settle a large amount of money on him for the error.  While I felt deeply over the heartbreaking loss of the artwork, the case made me cringe: suing an otherwise supportive client likely didn't help his future business. The mural is still gone and the book was never published. 
A Chinoiserie mural painted by Garth Benton for Michael Taylor Design in the 1980s
We exchanged a few emails over the years,  but regrettably never did get to meet again.

So I offer this short tribute to Mr. Garth Benton, to be remembered for his fine work, and his influence on a generation of muralists.

images 2-5 via Internet Archive





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Églomisé Cephalopod

April 29, 2013, 10:27 am
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églomisé mural (~5 feet high) by Lynne Rutter.  photo by David Papas
Allow me to introduce you to Nolan.
Commissioned for a home in Hawaii, Nolan is a very large octopus,  gilt, etched, and painted on the reverse of a 5 foot high slab of glass using a set of techniques known as verre églomisé. 
The body of the octopus is gilt  with aluminum leaf arranged in a random broken pattern to create the texture of the cephalopod's skin.  The thickness of this metal allowed me to etch the details  through it using a cross-hatching pattern very much like etching a printing plate. The suckers of the tentacles are gilt with 22 karat gold.
work in progress, Nolan slinking over a cart in the studio
During the process I asked our client if she'd like to give this noble  creature a name, and she immediately wrote back that his name is  Nolan:  "Nolan came blazing through the ether like a shot…I was completely powerless to do anything else.  I believe he's just been waiting for his opportunity to let us know who he is…what else could I do?"  
detail showing the etching and paua shell eye
The surface of the octopus reflects the color of whatever is near it, much like the way the octopus camouflages itself in the water.  A final touch, the eye is a piece of abalone shell from New Zealand.

Nolan was packed into a very large crate last week and is now en route to a beautiful house on Oahu.  We dearly miss him in the studio and wish him well in his new home.








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Studio Visit: Masao Hanawa | Salon Tokyo!

June 23, 2013, 8:48 pm
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Masao Hanawa stands in front of his mural "Seven Samurai" painted for Toho Studios, Tokyo*
I recently returned from a trip to Tokyo where I participated in a unique event known simply as "Salon."  Each year in a different city,  decorative painters and muralists from all over the world gather to exhibit their work, demonstrate techniques for each other and the public, exchange ideas, and of course, party.  SalonTokyo 2013 was brilliantly hosted by the fabulous Yaeko Kurimata, my friend and colleague on the other side of the Pacific, whose studio I visited in 2009.  
my exhibit panels for Salon Tokyo featured a Yomuiri Giants (Tokyo) baseball player and Toshiro Mifune from the Kurasawa film "Seven Samurai" painted on copper-gilt canvas.
Though I have not attended Salon in some years, I do credit this annual event with having introduced me to some great comrades-in-paint, among them Pascal Amblard, Alison Woolley, Lucretia Moroni, Karl Grossienberger,  Niels Jongdahl and so many others!
East Meets West in Niels Jongdahl's' masterful trompe l'oeil painting.
In a business that can be terribly competitive, closed, and often lonely and demoralizing, Salon participants tend to be open, appreciative, happy to share, willing to argue, and above all supportive of each others art practice,  which I believe comes from the assured confidence of someone who really knows their craft and loves their work.
So here I have just hung my panels at the Salon exhibition space, feeling generally humbled, when I caught sight of this painting:
Masao Hanawa's monumental self-portrait. The beautiful ornamental panels to the left are by Jean-Luc Sablé
and fell instantly and desperately in art-love with it, and incidentally with whoever is responsible for painting it.  This is my kind of painting:  surreal-scaled, detailed, a bit unconventional, and beautifully painted. I was stunned and elated while fellow painters gathered around it, arguing about how it was painted and with what medium or tools.
Masao Hanawa demonstrating at Salon Tokyo

Then behind me I heard Masao Hanawa speaking, in fluent Italian, with Stefano Luca (another fantastic painter, beyond all belief) at which point I basically sputtered some complimenti and ran outside to calm down.  (Understand for an agoraphobic person such as myself that I am already on threat level orange in a frenetic city like Tokyo, so I must run and hide fairly frequently.)

The next day I found Masao-san painting a  Boucher-esque panel of cherubs and worked up the nerve to talk to him. He showed me his portfolio which features a gigantic ~80 foot high mural (see above) of the Seven Samurai painted on an exterior wall of Toho Studios,  (are you sensing a theme here?) and from there we had a very easy conversation which continued throughout the week and revealed many other shared interests.    
After Salon ended and the participants reluctantly parted ways, I had an extra day in town and was able to make a short visit to the Atelier Hanawa.
Large scale trompe l'œil by Masao Hanawa at Tokyo DisneySea Resort *
work in progress, tools, and light fill the large shop of Atelier-Hanawa, Tokyo
grisaille sample for the 7 Samurai mural repurposed as a screen
I like visiting the studios of other muralists when I travel- I find it gives me some insight into the process; what do we have in common (storage issues!) and what space-saving or cool tips can I pick up - or share?

Masao-san has painted enormous amounts of trompe l'œil and fresco-style murals for Tokyo DisneySea and many other commercial spaces as well as a masterful oil paintings in the Northern European tradition.  He also spent several years living in Genoa, Italy, painting and  restoring mural work there, and furthering his skills in classical European style painting.     
You should visit m-hanawa.com for many more stunning examples of his accomplished painting style.    

Trompe l'œil murals and grottesche ornament by Masao Hanawa *
some moments in the studio of Masao Hanawa, Tokyo
Masao Hanawa in his studio

further reading - more pictures:
  
Salon Tokyo 2013

Salon Forever

Atelier Hanawa website

Akira Kurasawa

Toshiro Mifune

SalonTokyo2013 @Flickr  more pictures from this amazing event

Lynne's previous posts about Japan
 
jib door is in the glossary!




images in this post by Lynne Rutter,  May 2013
except *  ©Masao Hanawa
click on images to view larger



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Bloglovin'

July 1, 2013, 2:03 pm
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Well I waited until the last possible minute to do this!
Since the demise of Google Reader I have started using a simple basic reader called  BlogLovin

Still not sure about it but here is the required link if you are interested in following this blog with a reader: 
Follow my blog with Bloglovin


You may also sign up for email updates using the "home delivery subscription" box in the sidebar!




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Albertina Gold

July 2, 2013, 12:25 am
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The Goldkabinett of Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen
The Albertina Museum in Vienna is famous for its fine print collection and artworks on paper, notably those of Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt, but the former palace of Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen (1728-1822),  the noble art collector for whom the Albertina is named, is also worth visiting for its grand state rooms, which have been recently restored. 
Most of these rooms are decorated in an elegant Neoclassical style dating from the 1820s but there are one or two spaces that still sport the late Baroque décor of Duke Albert's era.  In particular this tiny chamber called the Goldkabinett "Gold Cabinet."
Goldkabinett at the Albertina, Vienna
I adore tiny jewel box rooms like this, and it seems to me that every Baroque palace or hôtel particulier just had to have one of these special, intimate, breathtaking little chambers.  A perfect spot for a private discussion,  collecting one's thoughts, or  just basking alone in the glow of a room created solely for the sake of beauty.
detail of the floral ornament painted onto the gilt paneling
The Goldkabinett is mirrored on four walls including the doors;  a marvelous effect for full gilt immersion; and features a some beautifully painted rose decorations along with a sweet little cloud ceiling mural and frieze panels with frolicking putti.

The unusually rosy effulgence of this room is due to the special gold leaf used to gild it: an alloy consisting of 23-carat gold, 1/2-carat silver and 1/2-carat copper, and is still known today as "Albertina Gold."
large mirrors on each wall reflect more of the gilt splendor


More about the Albertina at Wikipedia
Another Golden Room

all images in this post by Lynne Rutter Vienna, 2012
click to view larger





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Studio Visit: Adrian Card

August 8, 2013, 10:24 pm
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Harpsichord soundboard painted by Adrian Card  * 
This week I visited the studio of a great artist closer to home, the San Francisco atelier of my good friend Adrian Card.  Adrian is one of those amazing fellows who is expert at so many esoteric things I can't help but wonder if he was transported here directly from the 17th Century. Or maybe he is possessed by the ghost of some Flemish harpsichord decorator, which would of course be a good thing if you had a harpsichord needing ornamenting, as this just happens to be Adrian Card's specialty.

Flemish harpsichord with strapwork ornament painted by Adrian Card *
Adrian Card at his drafting table, designing Delft-style ornamentation for a guitar.
Adrian comes from an old Dutch-American family:   "My father's ancestors all came over here in the early 17th and 18th centuries, mostly of English and Dutch extraction. They settled in Northern New Jersey in the late 17th century after getting tired of the city life in Manhattan (New Amsterdam). My family has been in the same place ever since. My father was baptized in a church whose graveyard contains the remains of his ancestors who fought in the American Revolution - it's about 5 minutes from where my parents live now and where I grew up." 

Adrian became fluent in Dutch, which he learned by and for studying antique books on painting techniques.

A corner of Adrian Card's Studio, filled with design books and inspiring what's-its.
"I had been fascinated with 17th century Dutch painting since the 6th grade"  Adrian says, "when an art teacher (aptly named Mrs. Farber) showed us slides of some Vermeer paintings... it was like an epiphany. I got interested in how they did it, and started to learn Dutch when I realized how much had been written about technique and whatnot in Dutch, that had never been translated into English."

Reprint of De Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst anders De Zichtbaere Wereld  by Samuel van Hoogstraeten, 1678
Not long after that Adrian painted his first harpsichord soundboard.  "Getting involved in harpsichord decoration only solidified my drive to learn Dutch."

gilt and painted ornament for the inside of a harpsichord, painted by Adrian Card
Adrian studied at the Philadelphia College of Art, and after a brief flirtation with the idea of going to the Hochschule Der Kunste in Berlin, he came to San Francisco where he earned a degree in printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute. 
"I have long been fascinated with historic ornament. A fellow-student and friend at SFAI and I both shared a passion for ornamental borders, which was something we needed to keep to ourselves, or risk the ridicule of our neo-neo-neo-expressionist fellow students."

Historic woodblock-printed papers reproduced by Adrian Card for a harpsichord restoration.
hand carved woodblocks for printing harpsichord papers

After graduating from SFAI,  Adrian began to do some historic ornament work for a variety of applications, but when the opportunity to work for a prestigious animation company presented itself, he pursued it. He worked in animation for a number of years before returning to the world of ornament, starting his own business in 1999.

Adrian credits other harpsichord painters for helping him with his career:  "... notably Janine Johnson and Sheridan Germann, who were generous with their time and knowledge, and instrument maker Kevin Fryer, who also taught me a lot." 
His printmaking skills have been useful for creating the hand-printed papers for Flemish harpsichords, "a practice that dates back to the 1500s, when they were employed as an inexpensive way to imitate the expensive Italian custom of ebony and ivory inlay work."  
samples for the decoration of harpsichord and other furniture in Adrian Card's studio
Skills used in harpsichord decoration are also applicable to furniture and murals, and Adrian has completed a number of fantastic commissions using historic ornament of many different periods and styles.

design in progress for a harpsichord case using strapwork ornament
The soundboards of harpsichords (and other instruments) must be painted with particular water-based materials to preserve the sound of the instrument. This means making the paint from raw pigments and materials using historic recipes.

Pigment collection at Adrian Card's studio
The studio is like a walk-in Wunderkammer, filled with inspiring objects, old broken things, old working things, drawers full of designs and past work, as well as collected bits of tiles, insects, minerals and wallpapers.

Historic Avocado Green.
I met Adrian Card some years ago when he joined my guild, Artistic License.  We have since collaborated on some projects as as well as become great friends through our shared love of ornament, collecting, martinis, flea markets, books, and the search for the perfect Victorian light fixture.
During a recent meeting several kindred spirits discussed which animal's urine had the strongest ammonia content needed for making bluest Verdigris pigment.  Ok well, maybe you had to be there.

Adrian Card's studio Wunderkammer includes fluorescent rocks collected near his home town.
Now you can imagine how thrilled I am to be hosting Adrian Card at my own studio in San Francisco,  September 11-13, 2013 
for a fantasticworkshop on Strapwork Ornament, 
a favorite of Flemish designers and a great trompe l'oeil device for any number of uses.
Cat portrait in Strapwork by Adrian Card *
sketch for Strapwork Ornament class panel by Adrian card.
Please have a look at more of Adrian Card fantastic work on his website:  AdrianCard.com
 
pigments, and tiny bug art
And here are some of Adrian Card's favorite influential books:

In Dutch:
De Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst anders De Zichtbaere Wereld   (The Esteemed School of Painting or, The Visible World)   by Samuel van Hoogstraeten, 1678

Hoe Schilder Je Een Druif  (How Does One Paint a Grape)  by Karel van Mander, 1604   and yes, the title is a reference to Parrhasius

Verlichterie-Kunde of Het Regt Gebruik der Water-Verwen  (Illumination or the Right Use of Water Colors) by Willem Goeree, 1697

In English:
A Treatise Concerning the Art of Limning by Nicholas Hilliard, circa 1600

Miniatura or the Art of Limning by Edward Norgate, circa 1627

Medieval & Renaissance Treatises on the Arts of Painting, edited by Mary P. Merrifield, originally published in 1849, now available as Dover reprint




Images in this post by Lynne Rutter except * ©Adrian Card
click on images to view larger

Limner is in the glossary!  of course it is.





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Featured in Traditional Building Magazine

August 20, 2013, 4:22 pm
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This month I am featured in Nancy A. Ruhling's article for Traditional Building Magazine entitled "The ABCs of Decorative Ornament: The experts agree Decorative ornament is a big plus in commercial buildings. "

A rooster mural by Lynne Rutter crows cockily at Gilberth's Rotisserie and Grill in San Francisco, CA. The hand-painted oil on copper leaf diptych adds down-home warmth to the industrial-chic interior of the restaurant, which is built in an old cannery in the city's Dogpatch neighborhood. Photo: David Papas
Clem Labine's Traditional Building Magazine is a trade publication which provides resources to architects, designers, and builders involved in preservation and design for public architecture.  It's an honor for me to be interviewed alongside such veteran studios as Canning Studios, EverGreene, and the brilliant muralist Russ Elliot. The article drives home the message that decorative painting is an intrinsic part of a commercial interior that adds to its interaction with the public as well as its overall value.

" ... San Francisco artist Lynne Rutter, who has made murals for restaurants, casinos and hotels, sees her work as art. "People think of decorative painting as being somehow less about expressing oneself and more about decoration, but this is not true of many of us in the field," she says.
The award-winning muralist and colorist is passionate about historic projects. "On the West Coast, there is a lot of creative reuse of our older buildings, so even if the project isn't a 'restoration' per se," she says, "the period detail of a building can be celebrated in its new incarnation, and decorative painting is an excellent way to achieve that sense of history."
Rutter, who is inspired by the works of masters like Vermeer, Fra Angelico and Max Beckmann, travels extensively, picking up ideas along the way. "I collect images of ornament, or moments of great old murals and beautiful surfaces," she says. "Recently, I submitted a design for a dome based on something I saw in a beautiful place I visited in Bulgaria."
Murals are an ideal medium for Rutter, who studied architecture and design at the University of California at Berkeley before she opened her boutique atelier in 1990. Typically, she paints the murals on canvas in her studio and installs them on site. "This process — marouflage — is an excellent technique for saving valuable time and allows for more detailed work to be done in advance," she says. In some projects, like the 900-sq.ft. ornamental ceiling mural created for the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, only the stenciling was done on site "instead of working weeks on site, my team and I were only there for four days."

Rutter points out that decorative painting serves no one style, and that's what makes the work interesting to her. "I have been doing this since the mid-1980s and the popularity of decorative painting has gone up and down over the years, but mainly what I see is a change in the design of the work," she says. "The skills and techniques used are similar even as the definition of 'contemporary' changes from year to year.  "


read the full article at Traditional Building Magazine





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Choosing Paint Colors

August 28, 2013, 12:00 am
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Peter B's inspiring collection of paint samples
Visiting Peter B's home-in-progress, I found this gorgeous display of samples he had collected prior to meeting with me.  This vignette told me so much about his preferences --by what was there as well as what was not there - it made the color consultation for his house much easier.   The people I work with are often so inspiring!

Choosing colors can be frustrating and subjective (how do you know when you have it "right?") because colors can affect us emotionally.  Don't feel bad if you need help navigating this!  There is a science to creating a pleasing palette that works in architecture; just as in designing a palette for a mural or a work of art;  the skills involved are very similar.




Color Consulting by Lynne Rutter  415-282-8820



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The Language of Cloth: Winter Show and Sale

November 24, 2013, 12:39 am
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detail of a mid-century Japanese kimono
In December my friend Dan Gundlach has this amazing pop-up shop in San Francisco, to showcase the textiles he gathers from Indonesia and Asia during the year.    The work showcased is a fantastic mix of traditional weaving and batik, using classic and contemporary designs.
Some of the offerings at the Language of Cloth pop-up gallery and shop
This year the shop will   feature  a selection of scarves, shawls, clothing, and accessories from Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, and Japan, as well as a special exhibition of Japanese mid-century modern textile design,  kimono, haori, and obi from the collection of David Morrison Pike, a ceramic artist and antique dealer who has lived in Japan for the past 20 years.
Here is a glimpse of this year's special show:
mid-century Japanese kimono in silk
Detail of an haori with water motif
good morning!
The Language of Cloth shop will be open December 13th - December 24th everyday from 10 to 6 at 650-A Guerrero St., San Francisco.               
detail of a Nagoya obi, woven design
Kimono, meisen

More information is available at the Language of Cloth website.








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High in the Karlskirche

November 25, 2013, 12:38 am
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In which we get a great opportunity to see a Baroque masterpiece up close!
a moment in the dome of the Karlskirche, Vienna
During our most recent stay in Vienna, I met Karl Groissenberger and his gorgeous family for a quick visit.  Karl, a fine muralist and fellow ornamentalist, suggested I go see the Karlskirche, whose interior has just been completely restored.   Visitors were being allowed up a "Panormalift" to a scaffold which climbs to the very top of the 70 metre high dome.  Karl was really enthusiastic about it, so of course the very next day we went to see it.
In 1713, in celebration of the end of the Great Plague of Vienna, Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor,  pledged to build a church for his namesake patron saint, Charles Borromeo.  The prestigious  commission went to architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, and is widely considered the most outstanding baroque cathedral North of the Alps, and Fischer von Erlach's greatest achievement.
The design of the Karlskirche makes some reference to Roman architecture. photo by Gryffindor via Wikipedia
I have seen this church a number of times in the past, learned about the effect of its elongated ellipsoid dome, and the symbolic details of its architecture in art history class, enjoyed a view of it from the Secessionist Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station,  but I confess I had never been all that impressed with the interior before, maybe because it seemed so dull with age and filth; I just never thought much of it. 
scaffolding in the dome for visitor access
However, seeing it clean and sparkling after its 7 year restoration project,  I finally realized the joy and conviction that suffuses every aspect of its design.  It's bright and pink! It's light and lively!  It's like an Ostereimade of sugar!  Not that I don't like to see the age of something, but in this case the intent of the artists needed to be seen in bright color.
The lower part of the interior is clad in beautiful stucmarmor,  a finish that uses a special pigmented plaster technique to mimic marble. In this case it's used to great advantage to make gorgeous rose marble pilasters which create a support for the action in the ceiling.
Are the angels holding up that upper scaffolding?  Let's hope so.
The interior of the enormous dome is painted with an exuberant fresco by Johann Michael Rottmayr (1656 –1730) who is perhaps most famous for his work in the enormous Abbey at Melk.   Rottmayr trained in Venice, and it shows.
Charity, one of the Virtues, as seen from the scaffold.
Now, you'd think after 25+ years of working on scaffold I could scamper up any old 200+ foot scaffold with ease, but I made it up the first two levels and then I remembered that acrophobia thing I have.  Erling and Juliet went all the way up into the lantern while I stayed frozen at about 180 feet.  Eventually I regained the use of my hands enough to operate the camera.
The quadratura architectural elements seem distorted when seen at eye level
Seen from inside the dome, the perspective of figures painteddi sotto in sù makes them look oddly distorted. The same is true of the  architectural elements (painted by Gaetano Fauti) that frame the mural, which further enhance the feeling of height. 
Speaking of height, I met a couple from Holland climbing up the stairs. They wanted to know if I was ok. Dutch people are so nice.
gilt enhancements on a cartouche in the dome
I find fascinating the gilt highlights on the painted statuary.  In addition to the illusionistic painting that makes the urns and statues look like metal, they have tiny  highlights of gold leaf  which really enhance the effect and tend to appear and disappear as you move around.
no really, look how this is done!
I usually refer to this highlight as rehaussé (French for "enhanced")  or assiste (the tiny rays of gold in icon paintings),  but I am not sure of the Italian or German term for it.
Painting like this makes me squeal, sometimes audibly.
Counter-reformation churches weren't built just to be glorious.  In this mural is a warning to those protestant hooligans:
An angel sets fire to German bible and expels Martin Luther and the devil from the scene.
perspective is everything
I look forward to my next visit to Vienna and to seeing this fantastic ceiling mural in its entirety, from the floor. It will be that much more thrilling having seen the actual brushstrokes that created it.
trompe l'oeil detail in one of the oval windows

Virtual tour at the Karslkirche official website  


quadratura, di sotto in sù, rehaussé 
are all in the glossary! 




all photos by Lynne Rutter, Vienna, December 2012
unless otherwise noted


  



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Heartbreak

January 20, 2014, 11:04 am
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 He was my constant friend for 22 years.


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Sabbatico a Firenze

January 26, 2014, 12:17 pm
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Sgraffito decoration on the facade of the Palazzo Galli-Tassi, Firenze
In just a few days, I will be leaving for a three-month sabbatical in Florence, Italy.  My goal is to spend this time in intensive study of art and painted ornament, and to solidify the material I have been collecting for a book.  

Alison luring an American buyer into her shop.
This plan took shape last winter while visiting my friend and colleague Alison Woolley of FlorenceArt.  Ever the voice of reason, she may have suggested we stay an entire year, and now that this trip is upon us I realize how short a time three months actually is.

So, for the last twelve months I have been plotting and arranging, scheduling around unexpected delays and challenges, and trying to learn some Italian.
The Duomo at night, December 2012
My remaining days here are being spent organizing the next projects at my studio, fussing over my (thankfully drought-tolerant) garden,  getting camera equipment in order, working on my packing strategy, pondering the telecommunications situation here and abroad, spending as  much time as possible with mourning the sudden loss of my geriatric parrot;   finding a million things about which to fret, all the while taking some comfort in the fact that, thanks to jet propulsion, I am only one mildly inconvenient day away from pretty much anywhere.  

Maestro Erling Wold and I will be in residence in (some rooms in) the Palazzo Galli-Tassi, a 16th century palace where we hope to create the perfect environment for our exploration of ornament, music, and a helping of Tuscan culture.

I invite you to follow our exploits here at The Ornamentalist.






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The light in Florence is the color of Joy

February 7, 2014, 4:35 am
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The view from my Florentine home:  watching the light change over the surface of the Duomo.
Florence in the winter is lovely, empty of tourists, and our apartment has a spectacular view of the Duomo and Campanile.    I have visited here so many times in the past (cough) 34 years, but those visits were all so brief.  It’s so nice to just sit here and appreciate the light.  We awake every morning to ringing bells and a view of the Duomo.  In the evenings Brunelleschi's masterpiece is bathed in that special Florentine light, which at times infuses everything with my favorite color of yellow.

I wander the streets getting a bit lost and finding inspiration in every doorway.  I recognize the culture here as my own even though I grew up a world away, and feel the importance of art and beauty in daily life here, without the plastic layer of that weird modern need to justify the cost of everything.

  


 
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Studio Visit: FlorenceArt.net Studio d'Arte

February 7, 2014, 5:12 am
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detail of gilt and painted ornament on a harpsichord, by Alison Woolley

My good friend and collaborator Alison Woolley has a lovely studio here in Florence, and my first order of business after settling in to our apartment was to visit FlorenceArt.net Studio d’Arte and get a look at the harpsichord she just finished ornamenting, a prestigious commission for the L'Opéra Royal de Versailles.
Harpsichord built by Atelier Marc Ducornet and painted by Alison Woolley
The "Ruckers Taskin" style harpsichord was built by Atelier Marc Ducornet in Paris, and shipped to Florence for Alison to decorate.   The design of the piece was inspired by the architecture and ornament in the Château de Versailles.  

detail of interior of harpsichord lid, gilt and painted by Alison Woolley
Yesterday Erling and I went to the studio to help pack the finished harpsichord and then the shipper came and took it away to Paris and we all felt a bit sad to see it go, particularly Alison who had been working on this for months. I know I feel a bit blue when I send off a mural from my studio and all of a sudden it seems terribly blank and quiet.
Fortunately another harpsichord will be arriving in Alison's studio soon.
samples of work at FlorenceArt.net
Elsewhere in the studio are examples of  designs, class projects, experiments,  Florentine style painted furniture, and a beautiful (top secret) design for a scarf for Salvatore Ferragamo. 
gilding tools at FlorenceArt.net


Alison regularly teaches classes in the tradtional Florentine techniques of gilding and painting furniture and other fine surfaces at theFlorenceArt.net studio as well as through special retreats in Italy and intensive workshops.  The studio accepts commissions year-round for furniture, instruments, murals, and seriously beautiful things.








Watch this video of another recent project by Alison Woolley: painting a Claviorganum.




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Firenze com'era

February 10, 2014, 4:33 am
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Fiorenza, detail, by Stefano Bonsignori
I was a bit sad to learn that  one of my favorite quirky little museums, Museo Storico Topografico di Firenze com'erahas been closed. This was one of those city museums with models and old maps and artifacts pertaining to the history of the city and the lives of its past citizens.  Although small and a bit dark, it was nevertheless a charming and informative place.  
the Della Catena Map of Florence, 1490 courtesy Brown University
Notable in the collection was a series of lunette murals of Medici villas, painted by Giusto Utens around 1599.  One of which, Cafaggiolo, was the source of a mural I painted some years ago.
Lunette mural after Giusto Utens, by Lynne Rutter
Fiorenza, detail, by Stefano Bonsignori
Fragments of the old com'era collection are being displayed in a room of the Palazzo Vecchio, including a huge painting by cartographer Stefano Bonsignori of Fiorenza in the 1490s as well as a superb reprint of the Pianta della Catenaattributed to Lorenzo Rosselli, and a series of beautiful 19th century oil sketches painted by Augusto Marrani in the late 19th century, depicting the narrow streets and picturesque passageways of the old Florence Ghetto, just before it was all torn down in a "much-disputed urban redevelopment progamme."

Maps are to me really fascinating, not just as historical documents but as examples of the artful display of information, and often great graphic design.   Fortunately for us map geeks, the Palazzo Vecchio also has an entire room dedicated to maps, designed by Vasari for Cosimo I de' Medici.  


click on images to view larger 
unless otherwise noted, photos by Lynne Rutter, Florence, Italy February 2014


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