L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 7 San Francisco Welcomes Sandro Botticelli and Elsa Schiaparelli In rare exhibitions, the work of two noteworthy Italian artists w i l l b e s h o w n i n S a n Francisco's de Young Museum and Legion of Honor. Exhibits o f t h e w o r k s o f S a n d r o Botticelli and Elsa Schiaparelli arrived in the city by the bay in early March. Two very differ- ent artistic mediums will show- case the extraordinary work of a painter and a fashion designer, and, although these two artists lived centuries apart, they have several common denominators; their Italian heritage and their exceptional talent. Both are visual artists whose work is best appreciated in per- son, just a few feet away in a museum setting. Admire the fine detail work of Ms. Elsa Schiaparelli's gowns. Her inno- vative vision of fashion design has set the standards by which current designers set their own. Sandro Botticelli Sandro Botticelli is known by that name but he was born Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (March 1, 1445 – May 17, 1510) in Florence, Italy. R e p r e s e n t i n g t h e E a r l y Renaissance, he belonged to the F l o r e n t i n e S c h o o l u n d e r t h e p a t r o n a g e o f L o r e n z o d e ' M e d i c i . A m o n g h i s m o s t f a m o u s w o r k i s t h e B i r t h o f Venus. As is sometimes the case, the appreciation of this painter's work was, unfortunate- ly, posthumous, when it was finally identified as part of the "golden age" representing the "grace of Early Renaissance painting". Botticelli's work is of a stan- dard so high, so admired is his Birth of Venus, that the paint- i n g h a s b e e n r e p l i c a t e d a n d duplicated in various forms for hundreds of years. Regrettably, the Birth of Venus will not be part of the de Young exhibit as it is resting comfortably in the U f f i z i G a l l e r y i n F l o r e n c e . Among the paintings that will be o n d i s p l a y i s h i s " V i r g i n Adoring the Sleeping Child" as part of the de Young's exhibi- t i o n " B o t t i c e l l i t o B r a q u e - Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland". The exhibit runs through May 31, 2015 at the Herbst Exhibition Galleries. As a young man, Botticelli was trained as a goldsmith and it w a s n o t u n t i l 1 4 6 2 t h a t h e became apprentice to master Fra' Filippo Lippi and by 1470 he had his own studio. The mas- terworks Primavera (c. 1478) a n d T h e B i r t h o f V e n u s ( c . 1 4 8 5 ) w e r e b o t h s e e n b y Giorgio Vasari at the villa of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici at Castello in the mid- 16th century, and, until recently, it was assumed that both works were painted specifically for the villa. Recent scholarship sug- gests otherwise: the Primavera was painted for Lorenzo's town- house in Florence, and The Birth of Venus was commissioned by someone else for a different site. By 1499, both had been installed at Castello. I n 1 4 8 1 , P o p e S i x t u s I V a s k e d B o t t i c e l l i a n d o t h e r Florentine and Umbrian artists to fresco the walls of the Sistine Chapel. After his death, his p a i n t i n g s r e m a i n e d i n t h e churches and villas for which they had been created, however, h i s f r e s c o e s i n t h e S i s t i n e C h a p e l w e r e o u t d o n e b y Michelangelo's. Elsa Schiaparelli T h e f a s h i o n s o f E l s a Schiaparelli will be on display at the Legion of Honor as part of the "High Style: The Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection" w h i c h r u n s t h r o u g h J u l y 1 9 , 2 0 1 5 i n t h e R o s e k r a n s Gallery. Schiaparelli's famous butterfly gown will be among the fashions on display. Elsa Schiaparelli (September 10, 1890 – November 13, 1973) was an Italian fashion designer and is considered one of the most influential figures, along with Coco Chanel, during the 1 9 3 0 s a n d 1 9 4 0 s . S h e i s known for her quote, "In diffi- cult times, fashion is always out- r a g e o u s " a n d h e r s u c c e s s f u l career spanning the years of two world wars is certainly a testa- ment to that philosophy. Born in Rome, Italy and edu- cated at the University of Rome with studies in Philosophy, she moved to Paris, and, as a young woman began working in bou- tiques specializing in French fashions. In 1927, Schiaparelli opened her own business. Her fashion design innovations came out of a passion for Surrealist "trompe l'oeil" images, eventu- a l l y b e c o m i n g h e r trademark. She continued her admiration of the paintings of Surrealist artists including her friend Salvador Dali whom she hired to design fabric for her fashion house. As her reputation grew, her s c o p e e x p a n d e d w h e n s h e designed costumes for theater and more than 30 films includ- ing wardrobes for Mae West and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Schiaparelli was one of the first designers to develop the wrap dress, taking inspiration from aprons to pro- duce a design that would accom- modate and flatter all female body types. Forty years later, this iconic design was revisited i n t h e 1 9 7 0 s b y D i a n e v o n Furstenberg. The divided skirt was another of her groundbreak- ing fashion innovations, espe- cially when it was first worn by Lili de Alvarez at Wimbledon in 1931. Elsa Schiaparelli closed her couture business in 1951 and in 1954 she released an autobiogra- p h y t i t l e d " S h o c k i n g L i f e " . Decades after her death, she is clearly still regarded as a virtu- oso in the fashion world. Detailed information about b o t h m u s e u m e x h i b i t s , " B o t t i c e l l i t o B r a q u e - Masterpieces from the National G a l l e r i e s o f S c o t l a n d " a n d " H i g h S t y l e : T h e B r o o k l y n Museum Costume Collection" can be found at their respective websites. See details below. de Young Museum G o l d e n G a t e P a r k , 5 0 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco https://deyoung.famsf.org/sc otland 415/750-3600 Legion of Honor L i n c o l n P a r k a t 1 0 0 3 4 t h Avenue, San Francisco https://legionofhonor.famsf.o rg/exhibitions 415/750-3600 CATHERINE ACCARDI Elsa Schiaparelli. Photo: Getty Images "The Adoration of the Magi" by Sandro Botticelli - Thought to be a self-portrait, c.1475 Located in the Uffizi Gallery

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