Either on now or coming soon to Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin, the Resene Architecture and Design Architecture film festival includes one textile highlight in the form of the NZ premiere of Fortuny and the Magic Lantern (2010, Director Claudio Zulian, 58 minutes, Spanish with English subtitles).
The creations of Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (1871–1947) are rooted in the rich Orientalist tradition of the nineteenth century. Born in Granada, but a citizen of Venice, he created fashions and textiles, as wellas photographs, prints, lamps and sculptures. Fluidity, the art of pleating, the refinement of chromaticism, luxury silks and metallic velvets characterize his creations—beautiful scarves in silk and velvet, timelessly elegant pleated dresses —inspired by the Orient and the Renaissance. He also developed processes for dyeing textiles and fabric printing. His lamps and dresses recall the fabulous, exotic world of bazaars, harems and caravans that form an important part of the collective imagery of the time, a world his father, the Spanish painter Mariano Fortuny y Marsal, had contributed to creating.
Screening times:
Auckland…16/5 @ 19:00pm, 18/5 @ 10:15am
Wellington… 26/5 @ 18:00pm, 02/6 @ 16:15pm
Dunedin…08/6 @ 17:45pm