Title:                     
Grace of Monaco, Princess in Dior

Time :                   
April 27 to November 17 2019

Place:                     
Christian Dior Museum,
1 Rue d’Estouteville,
Villa Les Rhumbs, 50400 Granville

Opening hours:     
27 April to 30 September:
10h-18h30
1 October to 17 November: 
Theusday to Sunday (except holidays): 10h-12h30 and 14h-18h

Admission fee:     
9 €  Adult fee, 5 € reduced and group fee.

TheChristian Dior museum in Granville, France, the city where the designer was born, will present the exhibition "Grace of Monaco: Princess in Dior" to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the birth of Grace Kelly.

Grace Kelly, one of the most elegant women in fashion and movie history, the only actress who became a real princess after playing one on screen, remains one of the most iconic figure almost 40 years after her tragic death in Monaco in 1982. 

The Monaco palace has carefully preserved her personal things including her outfits, accessories, letters and archival film footage. Fashion historian Florence Müller and curator of the exhibition found that one third of her total wardrobe were from Dior, which not only shows prominence of the brand at the time, but also Grace Kelly’s relationship with Marc Bohan, the house’s third creative director, both professionally and personally. As Bohan had been more than a designer to Kelly, he was also her confidante, and played the role of uncle to Kelly’s two daughters, Stephanie and Caroline.

Grace of Monaco: Princess in Dior will showcase 85 beautifully crafted dresses belonging to Grace Kelly´s own collection, including the gown she wore to her engagement ball held in New York’s Waldorf Astoria in 1956 and the couture autumn/winter 1968 look she chose for her first official portrait as Princess Grace of Monaco. The dresses will show Grace Kelly the princess and Grace Kelly the wife, mother, and a modern woman. 

• MUSÉE CHRISTIAN DIORGRACE DE MONACO, PRINCESSE EN DIOR 
• Christian Dior Museum To Celebrate Grace Kelly's Enduring Relationship With The Brand
• El armario de Grace Kelly se expondrá en el museo Christian Dior de Granville
  

A 67-acre 14-century estate outside Barcelona, Spain, is headed to the auction block in July.
​
The fully restored Villa Argentona will be sold in an online auction by Concierge Auctions without a reserve price on July 18, with bidding set to open at 10 a.m. on July 16. 

The main features of the villa are:

• 27 hectares | 2,362 total square meters | 5 bedrooms | 6 bathrooms
• Main House | Grand hall; Drawing rooms; Library
• Wine Cellar | Climate controlled; Room for 2500 bottles; Adjacent wine tasting room; 16th century chapel
• Wellness center | Weights and cardio room, indoor swimming pool, sauna, hammam, massage room, sitting and changing rooms, private kitchen
• Guest accommodations | three guest houses, staff and security quarters
• Outdoor amenities | Horse stables; 8-car garage; swimming pool; tennis court; football (soccer) field; English garden; sculpture park; olive grove; fruit garden; vegetable garden; chicken coop; woods with hiking trails and nature runs.
  

All collection of art and sculptures will be included in the sale, with them valued separately  at 1 million euros. The sculptures are by 19th-century artist Louis Thivin.

This 14 century Estate in perfect condition is located in Argentona, a quaint tourist town just 30 minutes away from Barcelona, known for its horticulture and architectural variety.  The Argentona Water Jug Museum in the town houses the ceramic works of Pablo Picassohimself.

The villa, in the Catalonian town of Argentona, is currently listed for sale for €12.5 million (US$14 million) with Ronei Kolesny of Barleigh Ellis in Barcelona.

But the owners are turning to Concierge Auction for an online auction, according to Caitlin Keys, managing director for Europe, Middle East and Asia for Concierge Auctions.

The villa is open for viewing daily from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. or by appointment. 
On June 26, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Concierge Auction will host a preview event at the villa.

2019 marks the 90th anniversary of Audrey Hepburn’s birth ((1929-1993) and the 10th anniversary of the passing of renowned photographer Bob Willoughby(1927-2009).  

​This is the first time such a comprehensive collection of Bob’s most memorable photos of Audrey is shown in Hong Kong.  The 90 intimate and candid photographs – one for each year since Audrey’s birth – have been carefully curated by Douglas So, Founder and Director of F11 Foto Museum, with the help of Bob’s son, Christopher.  They cover the 1950s and ’60s period when she was at the peak of her fame.  The photographs include stills from Audrey’s best-known movies, among them rare candid shots captured behind the screen.
Audrey Hepburn as a style icon, an Oscar and Emmy winning actress or an ambassador for UNICEF still remains one of the greatest inspiration for us today.

Bill Willoughby first met Audrey Hepburn in 1953, when he was called in to shoot the new starlet one morning shortly after she arrived in Hollywood in 1953 and he was enraptured. "She took my hand like... well a princess, and dazzled me with that smile that God designed to melt mortal men's hearts," as the photographer recalled.

And thus born a friendship which remained decades, allowing him to take behind-the-scene pictures of Audrey, especially during her filming of ‘My Fair Lady,’ ‘Green Mansions,’ ‘Paris When it Sizzles,’ ‘The Children’s Hour,’ and ‘Two for the Road.’. Also the photos of Audrey at home, as wife and mother.

Bob Willoughby’s son, Christopher Willoughby worked closely with the founder of F11 Foto Museum, Douglas So, to select the images. Douglas So has always been a huge fan of Audrey and all his visitors have always asked when he will have an exhibition of Audrey. The exhibition brings great joy to Christopher, and he is grateful that it is in his father’s vision.

The exhibition is open for public viewing from 2pm to 7pm, Tuesdays to Saturdays (closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays).  Please email to info@f11.com, or call 6516 1122 for group visit appointment.

Admission Fee: HKD100 for adults.  HKD50 for students and seniors aged 65 or above. Free admission for the disabled and children aged 11 or below.

Or you can buy the book written by Bob Willoughby

Quoi(what) :           Hammershøi, le maître de la peinture danoise
​                                 ( Hammershøi, the master of Danish painting)

Quand(when):        Du 14 mars au 22 juillet 2019(14 March to 22 July 2019)

Où (where):            Musée Jacquemart-André, 
​                                158 boulevard Haussmann 75008 Paris

For the first time in more than 20 years, the artworks of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) returned to Paris, with more than 40 of his works on exhibition in Musée Jacquemart-André, after his two previous expositions in 1987(Petit Palais) and in 1997 (Musee Orsay).

The painter himself was in Paris between 1899 to 1900 to participate in Expositions universelles.

Vilhelm Hammershøi was born in 1864 in Copenhagen, Denmark in a well-to-do merchant family and studied drawing from the age of eight as well as painting before embarking on studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1885, he participated in the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition with Portrait of a Young Girl (of his sister, Anna), which was admired by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Hammershøi worked mainly in his native city, painting portraits, architecture, and interiors. He also journeyed to the surrounding countryside and locations beyond, where he painted rolling hills, stands of trees, farm houses, and other landscapes.

​He is most celebrated for his interiors, many of which he painted in Copenhagen at Strandgade 30 (where he lived with his wife Ida from 1898 to 1909, and Strandgade 25 (where they lived from 1913 to 1916). He travelled widely in Europe, finding London especially atmospheric in providing locations for his highly understated work, suffused as it was at the time with a foggy, coal smoke polluted atmosphere. His work in consequence has been described as "Monet meets the Camden School".

Greatly Influenced by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer(31 October 1632-15 December 1675), Vilhelm loved painting intimate and delicate domestic scenes with young woman doing their daily chores, but unlike Vermeer, Vilhelm's tones are much more restrictive, mostly in greys and beiges, which evokes sense of solitude, silence, loneliness and melancholy, quite like James Whistler (July 11, 1834  – July 17, 1903), the American artist whom Vilhelm also admired a lot.

And as a very shy and taciturn person, he only used his family members like his wife, his sister or very close friends as his models.

A quick look at the exposition

Or you can get a copy of the catalogue put together by the curator of the exposition Jean-Loup Champion an Pierre Curie.

HAMMERSHOI. LE MAÎTRE DE LA PEINTURE DANOISE

​JEAN-LOUP CHAMPION ET PIERRE CURIE (DIR.)