JK Huysmans on Perfume as Art
From Against Nature (À Rebours) (1884): For years now [Des Esseintes] had been an expert in the science of perfumes; he maintained that …
Making Up and Selling Out: Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Othoniel Collaborate with Kiehl’s and Dior
In the NY Times today, Bee-Shyuan Chang reports on the collaboration between the artist Kenny Scharf and the cosmetics company, Kiehl’s. Following Andy …
A Whiff of Revolution: New York artist Lisa Kirk bottles the smell of war
The combination of art with politics is a subject that has always interested me. A few weeks ago, I traveled to Kassel, …
Belle Haleine: Marcel Duchamp’s Readymade Perfume Bottle
The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by …
An Empty Bottle of Shalimar: The Art of Louise Bourgeois
Louise Bourgeois is undoubtedly one of the 20th Century’s most important artists. She passed away in 2010 at the age of 98, …
John Singer Sargent’s “Fumée d’ambre gris” (1880)
I will never tire of the lush paintings of John Singer Sargent, an American painter who is most famous for his “Portrait …
Painting and Scent: Pierre Bonnard’s Perfumed Impressionism
Pierre Bonnard was part of a group of French artists called Les Nabis, post-Impressionist painters who came together in the late 19th …
The challenge of writing about smells
In 3QuarksDaily.com, Rishidev Chaudhuri writes a brilliant review of the now classic book on perfumes, “Perfumes: The A-Z Guide” by Luca Turin …
For the Love of Perfume: Blogging and its discontents
Full disclosure: I am an amateur enthusiast of perfume on Stage 3 of NST’s brilliantly described progression of perfumania. In my short …
In 2010, the Museum of Art and Design in New York City appointed the former New York Times scent critic, Chandler Burr, to be the head of their newly created Department of Olfactory Art. Burr will … → February 16, 2012
The social significance of perfume: Antiquity
The Song of Solomon: Chapter 1 (excerpt) I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots. …
And suddenly the memory returns: Marcel Proust
Perfumers love Marcel Proust. The “episode of the madeleine” is the most famous passage from his multi-volume masterpiece, “À la recherche du …
The social significance of perfume: Introduction
Denyse Beaulieu interviews Antoine Lie on her fantastic blog, Grain de musc. Monsieur Lie has created scents for Burberry, Calvin Klein, Givenchy, …
Avant-garde style: is it possible in the perfume world?
Who doesn’t love Bill Cunningham? He’s been photographing New York fashion for decades on the streets of Fifth Avenue for the …
Baudelaire’s Perfumed Imaginary
There can be perfumes cool as children’s flesh, Like fiddles, sweet, like meadows greenly fresh. Rich, complex, and triumphant, others roll With …