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The Marchesa Casati: Portraits of a Muse
"I want to be a living work of art."--
The Marchesa Luisa Casati
During the first half of the twentieth century, the Marchesa Luisa Casati (1881-1957) was Europe's most notorious celebrity. Her extravagant lifestyle, eccentric personality, and scandalous escapades captivated and inspired some of the most influential artists of her time. She was painted by Boldini and Augustus John, sketched by Drian and Alastair, and photographed by Man Ray and Cecil Beaton, among others. Jean Cocteau praised her strange beauty; Jack Kerouac dedicated poems to her; Fortuny, Poiret, and Erte dressed her. She continues to inspire top designers today, including John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld.
The Marchesa Casati is a visual biography, telling Casati's captivating life story alongside the art and designs she has inspired, featuring 200 images covering her lifetime and beyond. Personal family momentos, paintings, sculptures, and photographs, some never before seen, illustrate the artistic and cultural legacy she left behind. Runway images, sketches, and advertorials show her continuing impact on the present-day fashion community.
"The Marchesa Casati: Portraits of a Muse explores Casati's heart and soul. It's a wonderfully complete portrait of a style icon, during her life and afterward, lavishly illustrated with more than 200 images, including personal mementos, and the art and designs she has inspired even today."
�Booth Moore, Los Angeles Times, September 13, 2009
"The story of the Marchesa Luisa Casati's life resembles a fable for our times. Ryersson and Yaccarino present a compelling collection of images to tell the story of Italy's richest heiress at turn of the last century, whose married aristocratic life and progeny were cast aside to indulge in a dramatically theatrical existence...She emerges a heroine, living the fantasy, all the way to the end."
�Glass Magazine
"With incredible passion for the Marchesa Casati, Scot D. Ryersson and Michael Orlando Yaccarino have worked tirelessly to create a stunning homage and a visual biography to this legendary woman who continues to inspire fashion and style." --Diane von Furstenberg
The Marchesa Luisa Casati
During the first half of the twentieth century, the Marchesa Luisa Casati (1881-1957) was Europe's most notorious celebrity. Her extravagant lifestyle, eccentric personality, and scandalous escapades captivated and inspired some of the most influential artists of her time. She was painted by Boldini and Augustus John, sketched by Drian and Alastair, and photographed by Man Ray and Cecil Beaton, among others. Jean Cocteau praised her strange beauty; Jack Kerouac dedicated poems to her; Fortuny, Poiret, and Erte dressed her. She continues to inspire top designers today, including John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld.
The Marchesa Casati is a visual biography, telling Casati's captivating life story alongside the art and designs she has inspired, featuring 200 images covering her lifetime and beyond. Personal family momentos, paintings, sculptures, and photographs, some never before seen, illustrate the artistic and cultural legacy she left behind. Runway images, sketches, and advertorials show her continuing impact on the present-day fashion community.
"The Marchesa Casati: Portraits of a Muse explores Casati's heart and soul. It's a wonderfully complete portrait of a style icon, during her life and afterward, lavishly illustrated with more than 200 images, including personal mementos, and the art and designs she has inspired even today."
�Booth Moore, Los Angeles Times, September 13, 2009
"The story of the Marchesa Luisa Casati's life resembles a fable for our times. Ryersson and Yaccarino present a compelling collection of images to tell the story of Italy's richest heiress at turn of the last century, whose married aristocratic life and progeny were cast aside to indulge in a dramatically theatrical existence...She emerges a heroine, living the fantasy, all the way to the end."
�Glass Magazine
"With incredible passion for the Marchesa Casati, Scot D. Ryersson and Michael Orlando Yaccarino have worked tirelessly to create a stunning homage and a visual biography to this legendary woman who continues to inspire fashion and style." --Diane von Furstenberg
240 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 31, 2018
Marchesa Casati (Luisa) was a wealthy Italian socialite and patron of the arts. She was also a muse to many artists. Luisa loved attention. She spent her entire life and all her fortune on trying to become famous and a "work of art." She would walk around with cheetahs on leashes and live snakes as jewelry. She also loved parties and spent a fortune on entertaining the famous people of europe for nearly thirty years.. I enjoyed the beautiful photos but did not learn many details about her life that I didn't already know. It gets four stars for the wonderful job, the authors did on painting her life through illustrations, photographs and her mementos.
September 28, 2009
Beyond muse, one can almost dream of her on a daily basis. Casati is one amazing figure in avant-garde art history. Turn of the century but a totally new type of person/woman. What we have here collected in this volume are the portraits of her. Iconic as hell, and beautiful as a woman can be who used to parade her pair of leopards on a lease down the street.
Read
December 17, 2010A free-spirited heiress living a lavish life of scandal, sex, and outrageous fashion – perhaps a description of Paris Hilton’s antics? But while said contemporary heiress’s escapages leave a fleeting impression, the Italian-born Marchesa Casati immortalized herself as muse, cultural icon, and arts and fashion patron. This visual Biography presents a luscious collection of paintings, photographs, and venerable costumes that attempt to penetrate the enigma of the Marchesa, born in 1881 to an affluent family. Aptly titled, it certainly delivers a string of portraits, but not a comprehensive understanding. (Readers will have to turn to Ryersson and Yaccarino’s 2004 biography, Infinite Variety, for meaningful discussion about the actual mind of the Marchesa.) While the book’s aesthetic foundation expresses her range of influence and inspiration, the text is mainly a retelling of her eccentric, grandiose episodes revolving around sexuality, the occult, and an exotic menagerie. Like the scores of male artists and writers before them, the authors are clearly enamoured with their subject, making Portraits a testament to their muse. (reviewed by Meagan Allison-Hancock)
June 11, 2011
I started reading this with a certain fascination, and finished it with absolute contempt, not for the book itself, but for the subject.
Casati was a narcissistic, deluded, self indulgent delinquent, who squandered her fathers hard earned fortune on her quest for celebrity.
The book itself is visually beautiful, showing the many Casati portraits (mostly commissioned by herself) by some of the most talented artists of the day; Giovanni Boldini, Kees van Dongen and Augustus John in particular.
The biography part seemed to be lacking any real heart and soul, or maybe I had missed the whole point, perhaps she was just a diamond encrusted, ostrich plumed, boa constrictor bearing shell.
Casati was a narcissistic, deluded, self indulgent delinquent, who squandered her fathers hard earned fortune on her quest for celebrity.
The book itself is visually beautiful, showing the many Casati portraits (mostly commissioned by herself) by some of the most talented artists of the day; Giovanni Boldini, Kees van Dongen and Augustus John in particular.
The biography part seemed to be lacking any real heart and soul, or maybe I had missed the whole point, perhaps she was just a diamond encrusted, ostrich plumed, boa constrictor bearing shell.
October 27, 2021
a MUST-have art book in every fashion history lover’s library.
I always feel like I don’t have a lot to say when I absolutely love a book. First of all, it is a beautifully curated art book. But unlike so many of today's pictorial offerings, it is definitely not a poorly researched bathroom decorator art book. This book was more curated than written. It was done so with so much obvious attention to detail that one can easily imagine its contents on display at a National Portrait Gallery exhibition. The authors have done a marvelous job with the text in combination the illustrated photos, but mostly paintings and works of art to prove why Marchesa is the possibly "third" most portrayed woman in art in history, only after the Virgin and Cleopatra.
The closing section,"Afterlife," deserves special mention. It is when the authors allow their academic integrity to shine as they prove that - this art book and indeed Marchesa Casati's life is not just about outrageous dresses and extravagant parties. The thesis is that the Marchesa is important in the context of art, culture, fashion history and the examples they provide, whether from Hollywood films, haute couture or even consumer products prove that the lady did indeed leave a legacy that inspires generations of artists around the world.
To dare; To want; To know; To be silence itself. - four chapters pretty much summarizes what most girl/adolescence/woman experience and explore life. A SOLID 5/5.
p.s. ARTE does an amazing documentary if one is lazy to read this book. Casati is an absolute inspirational icon and I can't get enough of her.
I always feel like I don’t have a lot to say when I absolutely love a book. First of all, it is a beautifully curated art book. But unlike so many of today's pictorial offerings, it is definitely not a poorly researched bathroom decorator art book. This book was more curated than written. It was done so with so much obvious attention to detail that one can easily imagine its contents on display at a National Portrait Gallery exhibition. The authors have done a marvelous job with the text in combination the illustrated photos, but mostly paintings and works of art to prove why Marchesa is the possibly "third" most portrayed woman in art in history, only after the Virgin and Cleopatra.
The closing section,"Afterlife," deserves special mention. It is when the authors allow their academic integrity to shine as they prove that - this art book and indeed Marchesa Casati's life is not just about outrageous dresses and extravagant parties. The thesis is that the Marchesa is important in the context of art, culture, fashion history and the examples they provide, whether from Hollywood films, haute couture or even consumer products prove that the lady did indeed leave a legacy that inspires generations of artists around the world.
To dare; To want; To know; To be silence itself. - four chapters pretty much summarizes what most girl/adolescence/woman experience and explore life. A SOLID 5/5.
p.s. ARTE does an amazing documentary if one is lazy to read this book. Casati is an absolute inspirational icon and I can't get enough of her.
February 1, 2015
Finishing any such book leaves one feeling a little lost so it was nice to slip from Bailey's heafty tome into Scot D. Ryersson's rather light, but nonetheless enjoyable The Marchesa Casati: Portraits of a Muse (New York: Abrams, 2009). The book is an illustrated study of the life of a woman who wanted to become a living work of art, The Marchesa Luisa Casati. During the first half of the 20th-century her gaunt, lithe look captured the attention of almost all of the great artists becoming not only a muse but an object in herself. After the weight of Bailey's in depth study of Cheever, Ryersson's Marchessa is a bit of flush, fashion and fine art.
Want to Read
October 23, 2009It's about time! I could probably give this 5 stars without even looking at it. But I won't, 'cause that's cheating.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews