The Marquise Casati on show in Venice • Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana

The Marquise Casati on show in Venice

The Marquise Casati on show in Venice

The Divine Marquise – The art and life of Luisa Casati from the Belle Époque to the Roaring Twenties, is the first exhibition about the legendary figure of the Marquise Casati, until March 8th 2015 at the magnificent Palazzo Fortuny in Venice.

Tall, thin, with marvellous green eyes and a mane of auburn locks, Luisa Amman became Luisa Casati in 1900 by marrying the marquis Camillo Casati Stampa.  An undisputed protagonist of high society at the turn of the century, she had a natural flair for eccentricity that made her an icon of unconventional femininity in her time. Her pupils dilated and shiny due to belladonna, her lips painted scarlet red, real pythons wrapped around her as jewellery, furs worn on her naked body for night-time walks with tigers led on diamond leashes, dozens of leopard-skin and velvet trunks for her journeys make her the precursor of performance and body art.

Exactly Venice was one of the Marquise’s favourite stages for her eccentricities, her lavish parties and “forbidden” passions like magic. The salons where she would be received by Mariano Fortuny, one of the marquise’s favourite fashion designers together with Paul Poiret, Ertè and Léon Backst, today welcome visitors with a rich exhibition reconstructing the artistic dimension of the “Divine Marquise” as D’Annunzio had dubbed her.

On show are over 100 paintings, sculptures, jewels, clothes, photographs from international museums and collections. A muse of her time, she inspired artists from the most diverse movements and was portrayed by - among others - Alberto Marini, Augustus Edwin, John, Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Adolph de Meyer, Cecil Beaton. However, the myth of the Divine Marquise continues to inspire art and fashion, from John Galliano’s haute couture in 1998 to Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel cruise collection  in  2010, many pay their tribute to an icon who was ahead of her time.

 All information about the exhibition, coproduced by Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and 24ORE Cultura – Gruppo 24, is available on www.fortuny.visitmuve.it

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