Showing posts with label Frank Sinatra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frank Sinatra. Show all posts

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Tony Bennett's Verdura Night and Day Dress Set

Classy guy, that Tony Bennett. His friends Jeanne and Herb presented the Bennetts with an extraordinary dress set in 2015. The cufflinks and matching studs were designed by Fulco di Verdura inspired by Cole Porter's song "Night and Day" from the show "Gay Divorce" (1932) and the movie version "The Gay Divorcee" (1934). The song was a popular hit and endured as one of the standards performed by many, including Frank Sinatra and Bennett. The cufflinks were first presented to Porter in 1941.
























Fulco di Verdura
Julien's Auctions listing ended April 18, 2024



On the day of the auction, presale bidding was far below the estimate:
Sold!

Fred Astaire
"Night and Day"
From "Gay Divorce" (1932)
Leo Reisman and his Orchestra

Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers
"Night and Day"
From "The Gay Divorcee" (1934)

Frank Sinatra
"Night and Day" (1957 version)

Tony Bennett
"Night and Day"
Perfectly Frank

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga
"Night and Day"




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Thursday, February 16, 2023

"Ringo" Daniel Funes: New York, New York

To make a movie called "New York, New York" with a "New York" number that isn't the one you go into the cinema humming is rather like writing a children's book called "Alice in Wonderland" which is about another Alice.

—Penelope Gilliatt




The artist "Ringo" Daniel Funes markets himself as a protege of Andy Warhol's assistant Steve Kaufman, who was later a pop artist in his own right. On Sunday, Robinhood Auctions of Las Vegas offered two of Funes's one-off silkscreens on canvas, both apparently entitled New York, New York. They differ mainly in their use of color and both have similar double appropriations relating to New York City in the latter half of the 1970s.


The first appropriation on the top of the prints are the familiar song lyrics to the "Theme from 'New York, New York.'" This is not Fred Ebb's original version but Frank Sinatra's from the popular recording, with his interpolations of "A-number one" two times—no self-respecting lyricist would sanction that. The typography is uninspired and perhaps appropriated from somewhere as well. Below the words is an anemic-looking, cropped, monochrome version of Saul Steinberg's celebrated New Yorker cover of March 29, 1976, usually called View of the World from 9th Avenue. The famous map illustration here is presented with offset printing dots, as if it were copied not from the actual magazine cover but from a cheap reproduction. Perhaps it was.


Among the many indignities suffered by the art here, the magazine's logo is eliminated, as are Japan and Russia. The avenues have lost their names, and the words Pacific Ocean are mostly obliterated, although fragments of letters do remain. Chicago and Canada are gone too as is most of the top right of the illustration. Steinberg's name is missing letters. The version with the color over the lyrics and in the right middle-ground retains more of Steinberg's labels and his signature:
Ringo's two silkscreens—even his name sounds like an appropriation—did not find any takers. The auction listings don't mention the names Fred Ebb or Saul Steinberg anywhere. Here's the rest of both unsold lots:
Detail




"Ringo" Daniel Funes
Robinhood Auctions, February 12, 2023, Lot 200




Detail


"Ringo" Daniel Funes
Robinhood Auctions, February 12, 2023, Lot 756


After encountering these dispiriting silkscreens, it's a good idea to go back to the original song and illustration. In the 1977 movie "New York, New York," Liza Minelli sang Kander and Ebb's original version of the song they wrote for her:



Sinatra's version took unauthorized liberties with the lyrics, adding "A-number one" twice, but it is now the version everyone knows.


Steinberg's New Yorker cover in its original state maintains its vibrancy despite the many ways people find of altering it:
Saul Steinberg
The New Yorker, March 29, 1976



February 18, 2023 Update:  There are numerous additional variations on the same theme.


Detail

"Ringo" Daniel Funes
Robinhood Auctions, February 12, 2023, Lot 375


Detail


"Ringo" Daniel Funes
Robinhood Auctions, January 29, 2023, Lot 320

Detail

"Ringo" Daniel Funes
Robinhood Auctions, January 10, 2023, Lot 594



Detail


"Ringo" Daniel Funes
Robinhood Auctions, December 8, 2022, Lot 867


Detail


"Ringo" Daniel Funes
Robinhood Auctions, October 25, 2022, Lot 434




"Ringo" Daniel Funes
Robinhood Auctions, September 15, 2022, Lot 834




Detail


"Ringo" Daniel Funes
Robinhood Auctions, January 4, 2022, Lot 272


You get the idea:

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/ringo-daniel-funes-protege-of-andy-warhols-appren-21-c-2e84f81b2e?objectID=172642504&algIndex=undefined&queryID=444ec29ebc3fc4a813b0e33593e16443



https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/ringo-daniel-funes-protege-of-andy-warhols-appren-839-c-d0e4ecfb23?objectID=172393578&algIndex=undefined&queryID=444ec29ebc3fc4a813b0e33593e16443


https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/ringo-daniel-funes-protege-of-andy-warhols-appren-353-c-bf442a58d2?objectID=169832025&algIndex=undefined&queryID=444ec29ebc3fc4a813b0e33593e16443



https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/ringo-daniel-funes-protege-of-andy-warhols-appren-790-c-f10430ba12?objectID=165657915&algIndex=undefined&queryID=444ec29ebc3fc4a813b0e33593e16443







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