The Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain, was one of the many influences on the work of Mariano Fortuny.
(JOSE LUIS ROCA/AFP/Getty Images)
Fortuny and The Magic Lantern is a made-for-TV documentary about Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, full of information and beautiful images, that’s a cut above most TV docs that I’ve seen. And it’s about much more than lamps – in fact they don’t come into the picture until near the end of the film.
Various scholars put Fortuny’s work in context, discussing Romanticism, Orientalism, Western colonization, particularly of North Africa, the switch from gaslight to electricity, challenges connected with theatrical lighting and textile printing, changing tastes in design and architecture, etc., etc. (These people, and their insights, are quite interesting, just in case you fear otherwise.)
Before watching this, I knew Fortuny mostly for his Delphos gowns and his other elegant, pleated garments, which were inspired by the clothing on ancient Greek statutes. But there was lots more to him than that.
The FIFA catalogue says: “The creations of Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (1871–1947) are rooted in the rich Orientalist tradition of the nineteenth century. Born in Granada (Spain), but a citizen of Venice, he created fashions and textiles, as well as 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.”
Fortuny’s father, the painter, had moved the family to Granada in search of inspiration for his paintings. He had also visited North Africa, painted extensively there and brought many craft items and objets d’art home with him.
Granada, the junior Fortuny’s birthplace, was home to the Alhambra, now one of the world’s most famous building complexes. It inspired painters and writers of the day (including the American Washington Irving) and many homes in Europe had “Alhambra lounges.”
The Alhambra and his father’s collections inspired Mariano Fortuny’s work for the rest of his life. A move to Venice, a city that had “always faced East” provided further inspiration. His former home in Venice is now a museum to his output and a textile-printing factory that Fortuny established there in the early 1900s is still in business today, using machines Fortuny designed in the 1930s.
Fortuny also revolutionized the lighting used in theatrical performances.
Fabric by Mariano Fortuny uses a pomegranate motif, which was popular in many cultures.
This fabric features carnations and tulips.
Lamps designed by Fortuny are available once again. They are hand-made and they are stunning. A close look reveals Chinese, Italian Renaissance and Islamic motifs all cohabiting harmoniously on one lamp. They sell for thousands of euros each, putting them out of reach of most people. (The film doesn’t discuss prices, I looked them up myself.)
Ironically (or not) they are very popular in fancy restaurants and private homes in Dubai. A European imagining of Eastern style, sold back to wealthy (Middle) Easterners.
Fortuny and The Magic Lantern was made in 2010; it’s 58 minutes long and narrated (quite nicely) in Spanish, by director Claudio Zulian. His words are translated into English subtitles, as are any non-English interviews.
Fortuny and The Magic Lantern will be shown Sunday March 17, 2013, at 1:30, at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, 1920 Baile St., along with La Poussette MacLaren, (2009) a 26-minute French-language film about an English baby stroller, that was directed by Anna Celia Kendall.