Monday, March 17, 2014

Mae West: $47,000 Portrait

This decidedly bizarre portrait of MAE WEST was sold in Paris on Tuesday, 17 March 2009. The occasion was a fundraiser that was dedicated to aid for cancer patients.
• • Yes, it does not look like much, does it? Nevertheless, this "Surrealist Portrait of Mae West (L' Age d' Or)" by Francesco Vezzoli was sold to a French buyer for this amount:   €36,000 (Set Currency) or $46,800.00 in US dollars.
• • Born in Brescia, Italy in 1971, Francesco Vezzoli is an Italian artist and a filmmaker.
• • What do you think? Would you have paid $47,000 for a "painting" of Mae that merely took a vintage photo and added scribble? The name of the charitable cancer-benefactor who purchased this peculiar portrait (and took it home) was not mentioned.
• • On Monday, 17 March 1930 • •
• • It was on Monday, 17 March 1930 when Mae West's "Pleasure Man" trial before Judge Amadeo Bertini began, and the New York District Attorney charged that Mae violated Section 1140-a by writing another gay play and he also charged her with the crime of maintaining a public nuisance — — an insulting charge typically levied at speakeasies and skidrow saloons not playwrights.
• • On Thursday, 17 March 1966 • •
• • On 17 March 1966 caricaturist Al Hirschfeld wrote on one page: "John P. Sullivan has purchased a drawing of mine of Mae West for $250.00."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • According to the Mayors of some Seaport cities now in convention in New York, Mae West is tops.  Asked by Paul Moss, Commissioner of Licenses, who their favorite screen star was they unanimously selected Mae so Boris Morros in appreciation is having the Mayors as guests of the New York Paramount today Miss West is now in her fifth week at this house with her pix, "Goin' to Town."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "If a gal has her legs covered, then she can concentrate on her hips and bust — — and so can a fella."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The News mentioned Mae West and which church she attended regularly.
• • "Mae West a Regular Churchgoer" • •
• • Mae West is a regular churchgoer, and the general public has an entirely wrong idea of her, according to Canon J. F. Mitchell, pastor of Hollywood's Little Church Round the Corner. He made the statement when he was in Aberdeen, Scotland, revisiting his birthplace. "Miss West is one of the regular worshippers at my church. Many of them film stars," he said. ...
• • Source: Item in News (Adelaide, Australia); published on Thursday, 7 February 1935
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2871st blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • portrait by Vezzoli • •
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1 comment:

  1. Mark Desjardins2:41 PM

    I heard some very negative reaction to the artistic license taken with this Mae West portrait. Personally I am of the thought that any modern reinterpretation of Mae West is very positive in that it brings new attention and interest to her. A young Southern California graffiti artist has taken Mae on as a subject of one of her wall homages, and I am thrilled by this hip hop image. In my research I uncovered that Mae was quite thrilled by being seen as a room, though at the time quipped, "It's something I'd hang in my bathroom." R. Mark Desjardins

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