Dîner au lit

From their arrival in 1922, the Crosbys led the life of rich expatriates. They were attracted to the bohemian lifestyle of the artists gathering in Montparnasse. They embraced a decadent lifestyle, had an open marriage with numerous ongoing affairs, a suicide pact, frequent drug use, dinner parties from their bed and long trips abroad. In her autobiography The Passionate Years, Caresse Crosby describes: “Harry loved bed. In the rue de Lille, he liked to write in bed, eat in bed, to entertain in bed.” That is why the couple regularly organized ‘dinnerparties in bed’. After dinner, at the stroke of …

Invention of some freedom

In 1910, at age 19, Polly (a.k.a. Mary Phelps Jacob a.k.a. Caresse Crosby was preparing to attend yet another débutante ball one evening. As was customary, she put on a corset stiffened with whalebone and a restrictive, tight corset cover  that flattened and jammed her large breasts together into a single monobosom. Corset to bra A corset was cinched in to form as tiny a waist as possible, and the woman’s torso was held very erect. A corset was very confining, and it would have been difficult to feel comfortable dressed in one. Mary wore a dress she had worn …

Gelée royale

Save the date for “Gelée royale”, the new group show at Galerie Rompone. It will be my first group show with paintings abroad. You are welcome to visit the vernissage on Friday, December 10th at 7pm at Galerie Rompone in Köln, Germany.