LustList >> D'Aosta D'Aosta Luggage

It's official.  I'm a freak for pretty luggage.  I already knew that I liked beautiful luggage (old and new), but when I came across D'Aosta D'Aosta's luggage and had an actual visceral reaction to the corner details, the nailheads, the straps with buckles, etc., I realized that my response to leather suitcases and trunks might not be normal.

The other clue that my love for luggage might be tipping towards obsession is that fact that luggage is that kind of thing you really don't need a lot of.  When you travel, you can really only bring one or two pieces-- one to check, and one to carry on.  And it's not even smart to check a nice piece of luggage, since it's like a big target on your luggage for thiefish baggage handlers and it will probably get destroyed on its first trip ever anyway.  Conclusion: one nice carry-on is really enough.  

So here's the freakish part.  I already have a leather suitcase that I'm in love with, and yet, every time I see stuff like this, I actually consider whether I should ask for it for my next birthday/Christmas/can-you-ask-for-presents-for-4th of July (?).  Even though I have NO need for it.

Luckily, there's an excellent loophole to this law of limited justifiable demand for luggage.  Suitcases and trunks look sharp as decor accents and also function as storage!  Perfect excuse for me to collect more luggage than I could ever take with me on a trip...

Art World "Controversy" (read: "Gossip") >> The Robert and Ethel Scull Collection

Robert and Ethel Scull with Warhol, George Segal, and James Rosenquist

I would LOVE to see the show right now at Acquavella Gallery.  

This fascinating and much-maligned couple-- the Sculls-- amassed an amazing collection of Pop Art and AbEx before that, and actually are somewhat credited with driving the Pop Art movement's beginnings.

Warhol's "Ethel Scull, 36 Times," 1963

The Good:  

They commissioned Warhol's first portrait, gave James Rosenquist his first sale, bought an entire show of Jasper Johns when it wasn't selling, and gave George Segal enough money to quit his hairdresser job and focus full time on his art.

Rauschenburg, "Currency (Mona Lisa), 1958"

Robert bought the art, according to the awesome NYT article about the show, because of a genuine love and understanding of it, and he helped fund a struggling movement by buying it.  He and Ethel then even spurred a social scene that revolved around championing and buying the art.

Jasper Johns, "Map," 1961

The Bad:  

It was the sale of the art, at an auction in 1973, that made them much maligned.  The auction, which was seen as a scandal because of its pure money-grabbing motives, brought the couple $2.2 million. 

Interestingly, it is this auction that is seen as turning the art world into what it is today.  

Claes Oldenburg, "Cake Wedge," 1962

The Ugly:

Robert was originally able to buy the works with the money he got from his taxi empire, inherited from Ethel's father, and he and Ethel were seen as the epitome of social climbers.  

Even before the auction scandal, they were seen as tacky-- the NYT describes them as the "loud-talking, cigar-chomping, Jaguar-driving taxi king and his wife, who modeled Dior and Courrèges in Vogue." 

In fact, by the mid 1960s, Tom Wolfe had called them "the folk heroes of every social climber to ever hit New York."

Willem de Kooning, "Police Gazette," 1955

"They were vulgar, knew it, and didn't give a damn," said art critic and historian Irving Sandler, who actually meant it as a compliment, as he was stating why he liked them.  

I find it particularly interesting that they were such a patron and friend of Warhol, since their seeming superficiality and greed is exactly what Warhol was fascinated by.

George Segal, "Robert and Ethel Scull," 1965

The remaining works in their collection were sold at an auctionin 1986 after Robert's death (and their divorce) and were scattered all over the world.  

Now, Acquavella Gallery has gathered 44 of the pieces in the collection.  What an awesome exhibit.

Read the full article (very interesting) here.

For a sweeter tale of a (more humble) couple and their art collection, check out this post.