Fortuny

The legendary textile and clothing designer Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949) was a leading artist of the Gilded Age. Living and working in Venice and Paris, he specialized in spectacular luxury fabrics based on Renaissance, Byzantine, and Art Nouveau patterns - double-cut velvets, hand-pleated silks, chiffons, and velvets printed with gold and ornamented with hand-beading. His most famous creations - still being handmade by the Fortuny design house - were the unique pleated-silk, Delphos dress, designed to cling sensuously to the body, and flowing scarves of the same material.Fortuny belongs in the pantheon of Art Nouveau artists, together with Tiffany, Lalique, the pre-Raphaelite painters, and William Morris. He moved in the rarefied circles of prewar European aristocracy and his couture designs were celebrated by such writers as Marcel Proust and Gabriele D'Annunzio. Isadora Duncan and Eleanora Duse wore his dresses; Orson Welles made costumes from his textiles for the film Othello. Today, his work has influenced the fashion designers Mary McFadden, Issey Miyake, and others, and his originals are treasured by collectors.But Fortuny was far more than a textile artist. He was also a celebrated designer of furnishings, theater sets, and costumes. His signature Oriental lamps of tasseled, printed silk are especially prized by interior decorators. He was also an accomplished painter in the style of Gustave Moreau and the Impressionists. This illustrated book offers a complete survey of Fortuny's life and work.