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FUNDACIóN COLECCIóN THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA
Hubert de Givenchy
Text by Hubert de Givenchy, Philippe Venet, Eloy Martínez de la Pera, Igor Uría, Lourdes Fernández, Paula Luengo.
Published on the occasion of the first major retrospective of the work of the great French fashion designer, this volume celebrates a key twentieth-century creator and a living legend in the history of haute couture. The exhibition, devised by Hubert de Givenchy himself and curated by Eloy Martínez de la Pera, provides an exceptional survey of the couturier's creations over nearly half a century, from the opening of the Maison Givenchy in Paris in 1952 to his professional retirement in 1995. A hundred or so of his finest pieces selected from museums and private collections all over the world, many of them never previously shown, establish a dialogue in the Museum's galleries with a group of works belonging to the Thyssen-Bornemisza collections. Hubert de Givenchy (born 1927) was born to an aristocratic family in Beauvais, France. After completing his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, Givenchy worked for several fashion designers, including the avant-garde Elsa Schiaparelli. In 1952 he opened his own fashion house, his style markedly innovative compared to the conservatism of his contemporaries. He was, at age 25, the youngest couturier of the Parisian fashion scene. Thanks to his elegant, feminine designs, the Givenchy brand soon became synonymous with Parisian chic, and the designer is known for dressing celebrity icons such as Jacqueline Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.
Givenchy, 1985. Photo by Frank Horvat, reproduced from Hubert de Givenchy.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Elle Magazine
The Editors
Celebrate the eighty-eighth birthday of Hubert de Givenchy: One of the last living twentieth-century French couturiers looks back on his extraordinary career with a self-titled volume (Artbook/D.A.P.) coinciding with his first major retrospective, at the Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.
Surface Magazine
Aileen Kwun
Published on the occasion of a recent retrospective at Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Hubert de Givenchy (Artbook/D.A.P.) surveys the French fashion designer’s nearly half-century career, beginning with the opening of Maison Givenchy in 1952, through to his retirement in 1995. Richly illustrated with photo reproductions, it features a wealth of archival imagery, including a few sources of inspiration—from geometric paintings by László MoholyNagy, to portraits of 19th-century aristocrats, to more modern-day muses like Audrey Hepburn.
DuJour.com
Meaghan Hartland
This is a must-have for any fashion lover’s collection.
Bal Harbour Magazine
The Editors
Madrid's Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza releases a stunning monograph on the occasion of the first major retrospective of one of the last living 20th-century French couturiers. Hubert de Givenchy. The designer and fellow curator Eloy Martinez de la Pera trace the evolution of the fashion house from the maison's founding in 1952.
Frank Horvat's 1958 photograph of Bettina Graziani, early press secretary, model and muse to Hubert de Givenchy, is reproduced from Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza's stunning new catalogue to the first exhibition ever devoted to this legendary designer. The show was curated by Givenchy himself, alongside Eloy Martínez de la Perla, who concludes his essay, "An artist sees himself in his work; he prolongs himself through his art and provides answers to anyone who comes to gaze at it. Halfway between the purity of form and ornamental ecstasy, Givenchy infused each of his creations with his delicacy, with his singular poetry, confronting the past, the depths of his soul, his highly personal pantheon of myths. And there were the colors of Watteau, the cotton muslins and velvets he had seen in Titian; the tout Paris, the laces of Goya, the veils that concealed beautiful gazes according to Verlaine and all the modernity of an age that eventually came to an end. 'Fashion has turned into that extravagance, that ugliness, all that circus,' he stated regretfully. The time had thus come to retire, 'to tend to the garden at Versailles,' to see life, art and fashion from the perspective of the wise man, he who has meant everything to it." continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.5 x 12.75 in. / 160 pgs / 85 color / 23 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $85.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $112.5 GBP £75.00 ISBN: 9788415113591 PUBLISHER: Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza AVAILABLE: 3/24/2015 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza. Text by Hubert de Givenchy, Philippe Venet, Eloy Martínez de la Pera, Igor Uría, Lourdes Fernández, Paula Luengo.
Published on the occasion of the first major retrospective of the work of the great French fashion designer, this volume celebrates a key twentieth-century creator and a living legend in the history of haute couture. The exhibition, devised by Hubert de Givenchy himself and curated by Eloy Martínez de la Pera, provides an exceptional survey of the couturier's creations over nearly half a century, from the opening of the Maison Givenchy in Paris in 1952 to his professional retirement in 1995. A hundred or so of his finest pieces selected from museums and private collections all over the world, many of them never previously shown, establish a dialogue in the Museum's galleries with a group of works belonging to the Thyssen-Bornemisza collections.
Hubert de Givenchy (born 1927) was born to an aristocratic family in Beauvais, France. After completing his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, Givenchy worked for several fashion designers, including the avant-garde Elsa Schiaparelli. In 1952 he opened his own fashion house, his style markedly innovative compared to the conservatism of his contemporaries. He was, at age 25, the youngest couturier of the Parisian fashion scene. Thanks to his elegant, feminine designs, the Givenchy brand soon became synonymous with Parisian chic, and the designer is known for dressing celebrity icons such as Jacqueline Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.
