AMEN Picasso: A Night @ The Picasso Museum in Paris

AMEN Candles celebrates the launch of AMEN Picasso with Diana Picasso, Haider Ackerman, Ellen Von Unwerth, Delphine Arnault, Giambatista Valli, Marco Ribeiro, Willy Cartier, Sinichiro Ogata, Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein, Pauline Ducruet, Quentin de Briey among many others.

Maison AMEN is a Paris-based candle brand that was established by Uruguayan-born designer Rodrigo Garcia in 2020. Pioneers within the market, they create high-end candle and light sculpture designs that are handmade in Grasse, the world capital of perfumery, just minutes away from Pablo’s Antibes Studio. On a mission to create a world free of plastic, AMEN’s products are entirely sustainable, made from vegetal wax that is free of toxic paraffin. They are poured into a reusable porcelain jar and packaged in plastic-free, mushroom containers that are carbon negative. The launch of their new collection of candles took place at the Musée national Picasso-Paris in collaboration with Diana W. Picasso, curator of the exhibition Maya Ruiz-Picasso: Daughter of Pablo.

With the aim of bringing together a significant ensemble of fourteen portraits, the exhibition asks us to reexamine a part of Picasso’s oeuvre through the prism of their filial relationship to highlight the bond that unites father and daughter and to emphasize how Maya’s presence nourished and amplified the artist’s fascination for childhood. Through the presentation of major works from the 1930s — portraits of Maya and Marie-Thérèse — sculptures, paper cut-outs, and memorabilia such as letters, poems, and personal objects, the project seeks to illustrate this chapter of Picasso’s intimate history. Completed by an important selection of photographs, some of which hitherto unseen, the exhibition will, more generally, question the relationship between Picasso and his children, notably during his years in Cannes during which the artist shared happy moments with his four children gathered together. It is the first of many Picasso exhibitions that will take place at museums around the globe throughout the year of 2023 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death.

The scented candles were selected by Rodrigo Garcia and Diana Picasso. As curator of innumerable Picasso exhibitions, she combines paintings with feelings and memories from her life as the artist’s granddaughter. “I felt strongly that the scent for Figure (1927) was Naranja y Canela, a Mediterranean summer in the south of France. Acrobate (1932) became the strength of the Ginger and Nu couche (1932), which translates to ‘Lying down naked’ is the sensuality of Amber. For Guitar a la main blanche (1932) with the letters MT, I remembered a love letter of my grandfather Pablo to my grandmother ‘You are always on me, Marie-Thérèse, mother of sparkling perfumes pungent with star jasmines.’ To me, it's been the most exhilarating experience to add sense to all these profoundly emotional works. I immediately responded to the beliefs behind AMEN: to add soul to the scents and to cherish our Mother Earth.”

scribbles of writing on a piece of paper.

The collection is available to purchase at the Musée National Picasso, Paris Dover Street Parfums Matket, the Met Museum New York, Gagosian’s galleries in New York & London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Selfridges, Antonioli Milan, Moda Operandi, and globally through amencandles.fr. Maya Ruiz-Picasso: Daughter of Pablo is on view through December 31 at the Musée national Picasso-Paris 5 rue de Thorigny, 75003.

Legendary Photographer Ellen Von Unwerth's Birthday Pajama Party in Los Angeles

Ellen Von Unwerth's birthday pajama party was hosted by Los Angela and Nikhil Ra at the home of Anna and Magnus Fiennes. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Ellen von Unwerth - Do Not Disturb

Ellen_von_Unwerth_Do_Not_Disturb

Michael Hoppen Gallery in London presents an exclusive, new body of work from Ellen von Unwerth entitled Do Not Disturb!. Straight from the camera to the wall, this latest series of photographs has all the sexy motifs of Ellen’s signature style. The Madonna Inn, LA, sets the scene for these highly stylised and richly coloured images of women, who range from the delicate coquette to robust dominatrix. Each of the rooms in this renowned LA hotel features imaginative and fantastical interior design, as individual as the characters that occupy them, lending to the seductive fantasy narrative of a wild weekend away. Ellen von Unwerth – Do Not Disturbwill be on view from June 21 to August 31, 2012 at the Michael Hoppen Gallery, 3 Jubilee Place, London