Mariano Fortuny, His Life and Work

Rizzoli [Published Date: 1980]. Hardcover, 224 pp. Mostly black and white with some color illustrations throughout. Contents include: Acknowledgements; Foreword; Preface; The Formative Years; Venice: Painting, Drawing, Engraving; Stage-Lighting and Theatre design; Fashion and Textiles; Fortuny and the World; The Twenties; The Final Years; Reappraisals; Appendix; Patents Registered by Fortuny; Notes; Museums Containing Fortuny Exhibits; Select Bibliography; Index. [From front jacket flap] This dazzling book presents the fabulous life and amazing range of talents of Mariano Fortuny, the virtuoso artist best remembered for his stunning designs and innovative textile creations. His contemporaries called him the "Magician of Venice" and his influence extended to d'Annunzio, Poiret, Diaghilev and Proust, among others. Legendary in his own time. Fortunv was born in Granada in 1871 into an illustrious Spanish family remarkable for its numerous artist and architect members. His father was a painter, and both parents were avid collectors of the rare and beautiful in furniture, art objects and textiles; Fortuny's mother had a magnificent collection of Renaissance brocades and velvets. With such a background, it is not surprising that Fortuny developed a trained eye and a passion for collecting at an early age... Guillermo de Osma, formerly with Sothebv's, first 'discovered" the work of Fortuny in the print department of the Royal Academy of Spain. He has mounted a major exhibition of Fortuny's work, now in France, that will tour Europe and America. With the publication of this wonderful and exciting book, de Osma recreates for the reader the unusual and spectacular life of the artist, and inspires what is sure to be an intense revival interest in Mariano Fortuny and his magnificent work.