ASK ERICA. Readers' Mail (ARCHIVES 3)
E-mail Erica Soderholm at mail@internationalnewsagency.org
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Debbie de Coudreaux’s 6 million
Dollar Legs!
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PAIR OF LEGS IN THE WORLD BELONG TO…
Mistinguett In a
way, you are right, Marlene Dietrich was on the top of the list. However,
there are several actresses and singers who had great legs. The list is
endless. But, the most famous ones are: Marlene Dietrich, the French legend
Mistinguett, Betty Grable, Claire Luce, and now we have a new one: Debbie de
Coudreaux!
http://www.debbiedecoudreaux.com Valerie Constand, my
associate just handed me over one of Ms. De Coudreaux’s photos! Stunning!.
This woman is gorgeous and she can sing! There is a story about Mistinguett,
I want you to hear it.
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I took the liberty to extract it from de Lafayette’s “Who’s Who”. Here it is, actually, it is more of gossip than a story: “Besides being the world’s greatest Cabaret super Vedette, Mistinguett according to the French had the most beautiful legs in the World.
Even, when she died in 1956 at the age of 73,
the French people were telling each other : « Lorsqu'elle mourut en 1956,
à 73 ans, elle fit la une de la plupart des journaux de Paris. - On
chuchotait encore qu'elle avait les plus belles jambes du monde. »,
meaning : even at 73, people were whispering that Mistinguett had the most
beautiful legs in the world. Well, the same was said about Marlene Dietrich.
It is very true, that, Hollywood
insured Dietrich’s legs for $1,000.000. Another Diva received the same
treatment “Betty Grable” also referred to as America’s sweetheart with the
most beautiful legs and derriere in the world. Long time before Dietrich and
Grable, an American burlesque queen and cabaret star by the name of “Claire
Luce” was known as the “ lady with the golden legs”.
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Dietrich
legs!!
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Cabaret: Behind the
Curtains… Secrets in Marlene Dietrich’s Photo.
I will be brief. The two ladies seated in the ”background” as you call it are cabaret girls who still work at the cabaret. The film director intentionally placed them and positioned them as you see them, in order to convey an important message: Once upon a time, those two ladies were the first choice of the customers, the first class “la chanteuse de la maison” or the “artiste” of the house. They grew older. They gained weight. They lost their charm and striking looks. And now they serve as a backdrop. A humanistic and visual contrast with Marlene Dietrich upfront pose. The two ladies became second or third class cabaret women. You could sense the fellini-esque drama on their faces and their contours. Envy and “Jalousie Fatale” are clearly visible on the face of the lady wearing the “decolte”. A true depiction of changing of the guards in the dramatic, sensual and intriguing world of cabaret.
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Halo Mrs. Erica: I am going to talk about
something else. You wrote story about elegant women in America. I looked at
the photos. They are not elegant. How you find them elegant? One woman was
dressed with a pink dress showing her breast. It was wide open night dress.
You call this elegance? No! First pink color dress is not an elegant color.
Number two, showing a big breast from the dress is vulgar. I like your
magazine. It is beautiful. Very beautiful. I want to wish you good luck and
thank you for helping in learning many things about music, tableaux, history
and arts. Marina Baltazar, Lisboa,
Portugal
In Response to Mr. Baltazar
on Violent American Women; American Women are More Aggressive and Violent
than American Men.
Dear
Erica: I totally agree with Mr. Ernesto Baltazar. American women are very
aggressive and violent. They are known for fabricating false stories about
men and women who are their opponents or foes. Here are some facts from the
United States Department of Justice. An official report showing the
aggression and violence of American women:
Violent Women - From US Dept of Justice,
U.S. Department of Justice,
Office of Justice Programs,
Bureau of Justice Statistics,
Women in Prison.
NCJ-145321:
Violent women are more than
twice as likely as violent men to commit the offense against someone close
to them. Women in prison for homicide
were almost twice as likely to have killed an intimate than men in prison
for homicide. The average sentence for Violent Women is more than 3 years
shorter than the sentence for men convicted of the same category of offense.
The number of women sentenced for a violent offense rose from 8,045 to
12,400 during the 5-year period. Murder, the most prevalent violent offense
among female inmates in 1991, accounted for just over a third of the women
sentenced for a violent offense.
Violent female inmates and their victims
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For each category of offense, women received shorter average maximum sentences than men. For property offenses, female prisoners had a mean sentence 42 months shorter than men; for drug offenses, 18 months shorter; and for violent offenses, 39 months shorter.Erica, this is factual. Quite often, women in America are the first to betray their boyfriends and husbands. It is frightening. Joe Dagherty, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Working With Violent
Women
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MODERN ABSTRACT ART IS BULLSHIT, NOTHING ELSE!
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Riopelle has high class agents, superficial assholes dealers wheelers in high places and Sadoyan is a modest artist living somewhere in California doing odds jobs to survive. I like better Sadoyan. Riopell….pell…pell paintings gor for $170.000 and Sadoyan for $3,000 or $4,000. Ridiculous! You are not going to print my letter because I was tough maybe not civil. But you know what, I am disgusted. Now, if you print my letter, this would tell a lot about you and the values in you believe in. Go ahead Erica, print it. Many thanks. Richard Barnaby, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Painting by Riopelle. Price: $170.000
Painting by Sadoyan. Price: $3.000
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Famous People’s Original
Names
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TWENTY MIDDLE EASTERN WOMEN ARTISTS OF GREAT TALENT AND
DISTINCTION:
And it appears too, that we
too are in the right place and right moment. Dr. de Lafayette has just
finished compiling a directory of highly accomplished and talented Middle
Eastern women artists. This compilation shall serve one day and hopefully
soon when is published as a WHO’S WHO in the Abstract Art in the Middle and
Near East. The directory contains over 125 names. For reason of space and
other obvious considerations, I am herewith listing only the first twenty
names of those outstanding artists. We are not commenting on their style,
nor providing an art critique. We are simply, posting their work accompanied
by a bio publicly provided and in some instances, selected comments issued
by the artists. The majority of the artists personal statements,
auto-description of their own work, as well as a brief resume of their
credentials, awards and endeavors were retracted and gathered from public
records and available sources of information. We have selected, to the best
of our ability, those artists who are considered by their peers, the public,
the media and our committee to be the best in the field and in the business! 1- GHADA JAMAL: A Lebanese artist. She received a bachelor's degree in art from Beirut University College in 1984 and a master's degree in fine arts from California State University. The paramount focus of her work is on the Lebanese civil war. She has received several awards for her art and her work is in a number of private collections internationally.
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1- GHADA JAMAL
Her bio includes the following: Solo exhibitions: Mystic Expressions, Beirut University College, Beirut, Lebanon, 1985; and Lebanese Landscapes, California State University, Long Beach, California, 1990. Group exhibitions: Autumn Salon, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon, 1986; Long Beach Art Exhibition, Printworks Gallery, Long Beach, California, 1990; Angel's Gate Cultural Center Members Exhibition, San Pedro, California, 1991; World News, Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton, California, 1992; Beyond Baroque, Venice, California, 1992; The Onyx, Los Angeles, California, 1992; LA Abstract Artists: Works on Paper, Gallery X, Exeter, England, 1992; and Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, 1994. De Lafayette wrote: « Her strong reddish vibrant colors reflect painful emotions and occupy the larger part of her compositions. Yet, the carefully and well positioned and constantly interactive fragments of light and transparent shadows created with yellow, orange and pale white transmigrate us to a state of enchantment and a higher dimension of hope. The technique she used in covering the perimeter of her paintings with darker and severe colors, leaving the inner center to radiate through delicately composed rectangular and carefully disbursed smaller shapes, clearly indicates a quasi perfect mastery of esthetic equilibrium and colors. I like her style.
Looking at her “City on Fire” gives me the
feeling as If I were following a child holding a candle in both hands and
holding on it with his palms with fear and care, strolling in the darkness.
And once, I loose his path, and once her gets ahead of me living me in the
dark, only a trembling and hesitant light slips away from between his
fingers. It looks as if his hands are one fire, because the only thing my
eyes could see is the shadowy fragments of dissipating light in the
darkness. In this moment, one’s only see illuminated fragile hands floating
over dust of light. This is what I feel and what I see upon looking at the
edges and center of her painting. It is more than a city on fire, it is our
youth, children, life and sorrow burning and we are a part of the blaze.” |
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2- Ivonne A-Baki: A Lebanese artist born in Ecuador, A-Baki trained at the University of Beirut in architecture and served as Artist-in-Residence at Dudley House, Harvard University. Many of her paintings are on permanent display at such institutions as the presidential palaces of Lebanon and Ecuador, as well as in various international museums. Selected solo exhibitions include Keith Green Gallery, New York in 1988; Museo Nacional Benjamin Carrión, Quito, Ecuador in 1989; Dudley House, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. in 1990; Whig Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. in 1990; and The Cathedral of St. John The Divine; New York in 1992.
Untitled, by Ivonne A-Baki. 3- ETHEL ADNAN: Adnan studied philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris, the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard. She taught philosophy of art at Dominican College of San Rafael, California, and has presented courses, classes, and lectures at over forty universities and colleges throughout the United States. Adnan creates oils, ceramics, and tapestry. She has also written more than ten books of poetry and fiction, including Sitt Marie-Rose, which has been translated into six languages. She lives in California, Paris, and Lebanon. Her selected solo exhibitions include: Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, CA; Galerie Samy Kinge, Paris; Kufa Gallery, London; Gallery 50 x 70, Beirut, Lebanon. Her selected group exhibitions include: UNESCO, Paris; Midiathèque, Les Mureaux, France; L'Atelier, Rabat, Morocco; Musée de L'Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC.
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Nelly's Poem, by Ethel Adnan. 4- IDA ALAMMUDDIN: Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Alammuddin received her first Bachelor's degree in fine arts from Mills College in California in 1981 and her second in illustration from the San Francisco Academy of Art in 1984. Alamuddin has recently become an active participant in group exhibitions. She lives and works in London and Beirut. Her solo exhibition locations include Christ's Education Gallery, London and Smith's Gallery, London. Her selected group exhibitions include: Arab Women Artists, Kufa Gallery, London, 1988; Contemporary Lebanese Artists, Kufa Gallery, 1988; Musée de l'Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris, 1989; Lebanon: The Artist's View, Barbican Centre, London, 1989; Malvern Open Drawing Competition, Malvern, England, 1992; The Hunting Observer Art Prizes, London, 1992; Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington,1994.
Overflow, by Ida Alammuddin. |
5- GINANE BACHO: Born in Beirut, Lebanon, from 1975 to 1977 she studied printmaking and fine arts at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Beirut, and in Chaville, France. She received a Bachelor's degree from Beirut University College in 1982, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute in New York in 1987. Bacho is a versatile artist who has taught both printmaking and literature at the university level. She has published her prints in book form. She has received numerous awards and her work can be found in several museum collection . Solo exhibitions have taken place at Beirut University College, Beirut, Lebanon and Kufa Gallery, London, while group exhibitions have been in Chaville, France; Bayeux, France; Washington, D.C.; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; New York; London, Philadelphia.
Image of the World, by Bacho. 6- DORIS BITTAR: Bittar is Lebanese though she was born in Baghdad, Iraq and is now living in San Diego. She received her BFA from State University of New York at Purchase, attended San Diego State University for two years, and earned her MFA from University of California, San Diego. Her list of Fellowships and Awards is extensive and includes: Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York, 1995; Graduate Research Grant, University of California, San Diego, 1992 and 1993; Russell Foundation Grant, University of California, San Diego,1991; Grumbacher Gold Medallion Award for a Painting, Connecticut Women Artists, 1985; and Manuel Siwek Commemorative Award for Excellence in Painting and Drawing, State University of New York at Purchase, 1981. Her most recent solo exhibitions are: Ornamental Subjects, Fullerton Gallery, Fullerton College, Fullerton, CA,1995; Ornamental Subjects, Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos, CA, 1994; Doris Bittar: an Introduction, David Zapf Gallery, San Diego, CA, 1994; Under the Sun of the West, the Alternative Museum, New York, 1993; and Looking at Delacroix, New Visual Arts Complex, University of California, San Diego, CA, 1993.
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7- HUGETTE CALAND: Huguette Caland was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, where she began painting at age 16 with the Italian artist, Manetti. She studied art at the University of Beirut from 1964 to 1968. In 1983 she began studying sculpture with George Apostu. She is a painter, sculptor, fashion designer, and filmmaker. Caland designed the Nour line for Pierre Cardin which was presented at Espace Pierre Cardin in 1979. She has been living and working in Paris since 1970 and her work is found in several museum collections there. Her selected solo exhibitions include: Dar-el-Fan, Beirut, Lebanon, 1970; Galerie Contact, Beirut, Lebanon, 1973; Galerie Faris, Paris, 1980; Gallery 5, Santa Monica, California, 1992; Toepel Gallery, Kirkland, Washington, 1992; and Bella Gallery, Santa Monica, California, 1993.
Tête-à-Tête, by Caland. 8- SALWA CHOUCAIR: Choucair was born in Lebanon in 1916. She graduated from Beirut College for Women in Lebanon in 1938. Then she studied at the American University of Beirut and the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris during the 1940s and early 1950s. She received certificates from both the Pratt Institute in New York and the Cranbrook Academy of Art near Detroit in the mid-1950s. Working and exhibiting in Paris from 1946 until 1952, Choucair learned much about the traditions of early 20th-century abstraction. Choucair's 1947 solo exhibition at the Arab Cultural Gallery in Beirut was the Arab world's first abstract painting exhibition. Her art is included in the collections of numerous museums, and as one of the Arab world's foremost sculptors, her work is widely known and highly regarded. She now lives and works in Beirut. Her selected solo exhibitions include: Galerie Colette Alendy, Paris, 1951; Matériels, UNESCO Center, Beirut, 1962; honorary retrospective, sponsored by the Lebanese Artists Association at the National Council of Tourism Showroom, Beirut, 1974; sculpture exhibition, Galerie Contact, Beirut, 1977; Montada Gallery, Beirut, 1988 & retrospective, Dar-al-Nadwah, Beirut.
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9-RABIA SUKKARIEH: Sukkarieh was born in Baalbek, Lebanon. She received a bachelor's degree from the Fine Arts Institute in Beirut, Lebanon in 1984. Continuing her studies in the United States, Sukkarieh settled in California, where she studied Communication Arts and Literature at Mills College in Oakland and at Lutheran University. She received a master's degree from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California in 1989. Her selected solo exhibitions and performances include: Galleria Notturna, Milan, Italy, 1994; Sheherezade, Art Center Gallery, Pasadena, California, 1990; Me and Them, Art Center - Graduate Studio, Pasadena, California, 1989; Poppies and the Garbage Alleys, Streets of Beirut, Lebanon, 1988; Wrapping the Burned Trees, Kaskas Park, Beirut, Lebanon, 1988; About the Death of a Hero, Hilton Hotel, Pasadena, California, 1988; Illusion and Women, Main Television Station, Beirut, Lebanon, 1988; and Art Center Auditorium, Pasadena, California, 1987. Her selected group exhibitions and performances include: Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., 1994; Venice Art Walk, Venice, California, 1992 and '93; Spiritual Landscape, Biota Gallery, California, 1991; Opening, Galleria Notturna, Milan, Italy, 1990; Five Hundred Roses for the Shatilla Massacre, Art Center Gallery, Pasadena, California, 1989; Contemporary Lebanese Artists, Beit ed-Dein Museum, Beit ed-Dein, Lebanon, 1984 and '85; and War and Peace, Streets of West Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, 1984.
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Roses for the Shatilla Massacre, Art Center Gallery, Pasadena, California, 1989; Contemporary Lebanese Artists, Beit ed-Dein Museum, Beit ed-Dein, Lebanon, 1984 and '85; and War and Peace, Streets of West Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, 1984.
Artwork by Sukkarieh. 10- HELENE ZUGHAIB: Helen Zughaib is a painter living and working in Washington, D.C. since 1985. She uses gouache and ink on board. Her subjects range from national monuments to portraits of her two cats. She uses color and pattern to define a new sense of space and perspective. Through her work, she hopes to bring pleasure and joy to the viewer.
Artwork by Zughaib.
11- AMAL FTOUNI
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Photo:
Claire Luce.
