WINTER HOLIDAY WINDOW DISPLAY INSTALLATION
BERGDORF GOODMAN
(WOMEN’S STORE)
NEW YORK CITY
Reviewed by Julie “Jigsaw” Ashcraft
If babies-in-hay seem de’classe’ and Santa’s claws fatigue you, then make your way, get ready to pay, Bergdorf’s may entice you!
I half expected to turn and see the ghost of “Liturgies of Satan” author, and art critic, Charles Baudelaire standing beside me on the Fifth Avenue sidewalk as I soaked up the decadent splendor of Bergdorf’s holiday windows. A pathologically self-destructive connousieur of beauty, Baudelaire would have reveled in seeing such exquisite clothing and objects presented so artfully, so deftly. The (mannequin) painter at work on a canvas in one window would have especially drawn his attention. Surely Charles would have appreciated the wit shown by the (actual) display artists in having the (mannequin) painter not merely paint a portrait of the (mannequin) lady sitting for him, but rather the (mannequin) painter painting himself painting her portrait! He would have recognized this visual device from “Las Meninas” by Valasquez. (See footnote below.) Continue reading
