Culture Chanel at MOCA Shanghai

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai is currently showing a "Culture Chanel" exhibition from now until March 14th, 2011.  The collection holds over four-hundred pieces including Chanel designs, artwork, manuscripts and films.

This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai with the support of the House of CHANEL and is curated by Jean-Louis Froment, a well-known figure in the contemporary art and design worlds.

"CULTURE CHANEL" highlights the historical and creative dimensions of the House of CHANEL.

The exhibition interprets Mademoiselle Chanel's universe through her designs, her iconic pieces and her literary and artistic inspirations. Throughout her life Mademoiselle Chanel was close to the greatest artists of her time, including poets Jean Cocteau and Pierre Reverdy, painters Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali and composer
Igor Stravinsky.

The creative heritage of the House of CHANEL is perpetuated, from Mademoiselle Chanel to Karl Lagerfeld, in the form of a dialogue established between authors and between artists.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, 231 Nanjing Road (West), Huangpu, Shanghai, China

 The coolest part is that the exhibition is sorted by themes (Imagery, Liberty, Abstraction, Invisibility and Origin) instead of in chronological order; and for those of us unable to make it to Shanghai, you can explore the virtual layout on the MoCA site here.

Balenciaga Exhibition

The US museum is to host an exhibit of 100 works by the Getaria-born designer Cristobal Balenciaga, who was dubbed by Christian Dior as "the master of us all".

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco are to host an exhibition planned for 2011 in which 100 pieces created by Basque designer Cristobal Balenciaga will be on show.

Balenciaga was born in Getaria in 1895 and founded his fashion house in 1914. He was famous as a couturier for his very strict standards, as well as the modern shapes and unusual female designs that became the trademark of the Balenciaga label.

The exhibition, showing at the M.H. de Young Museum, will be curated by Vogue European Editor Hamish Bowles who previously worked with the museum on its 2008-2009 Yves Saint Laurent retrospective.

Entitled "Balenciaga and Spain" the 100-piece display brings together designs normally housed in museums or belonging to private collectors all over the world.

from Olwen Mears at e!tb.com