Bert Stern

Recently the Photofestival in Milan has dedicated a whole session to Bert Stern, an American fashion and celebrity portrait photographer. His best known work is arguably The Last Sitting, a collection of 2,500 photographs taken of Marilyn Monroe over a three day period, six weeks before her death. I was very impressed by them.

Bertram Stern was born in Brooklyn, New York on 3 October 1929. From early age on he got into cartoons and advertisements. After first jobs as an office hand, Stern began to work as an Art Director for the fashion magazine ‚Mayfair' in 1949. There he also began to work with photography. He was brought to success thanks to a cover photo for ‚Vogue' in November 1960, followed by many shootings with celebrities especially from the movies. In 1962 Bert Stern his best known pictures were taken: shortly before Marilyn Monroe's death, Stern received the permission to hold a three-day photo-shooting with the actress for ‚Vogue'. Today Bert Stern lives and works in New York.

Here are some of his beautiful pictures

and those from the Last Setting with Marilyn

Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna

This morning I woke up quite early (around 8.00, after all it was Sunday), took my bike, had breakfast in a cafetteria in the city center and then visited the Pinacoteca (today all the public museums were open and free and my Husbee was/is abroad..so I was all alone).

I have to admit that I had never been there before..(and yes, it was something to be ashamed of).

The National City Art Gallery is located in Via Belle Arti 46, quite close to the University. The gallery is divided into sections and has a valuable collection of paintings from different periods between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. There are many famous names of artists amongst the list of paintings. Some of the following are particularly famous like Giotto, Raffaello, Parmigianino, Franceso Cossa and Lorenzo Costa.

Here are some of the pics I took ...

Pic 1. a details (shoes...no comments on that pls :) in Sposalizio della Vergine by Lorenzo Costa

Pic 2. Girl with rose and cat by Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665-1747)

Pic 3. Portrait of a girl by Gaetano Gandolfi (1734- 1802)

Pic 4. A portrait of Teresa Capomori by Angelo Crescimbene (1734-1781)

 Pic 5. Boy by Ubaldo Gandolfi (1728- 1781)

Pic 6. Sibilla by Guido Reni (1575-1642)

Pic 7-8. The entrance/exit

I am glad I visited the museum..I think some of the paintings are truly stunning...it was worth waiting so long then!!



Madame and Eve - South Africa's most popular cartoon strip

 Last night I fell asleep at 3.00 am. I spent most of the time in bed reading a super funny cartoon strip I bought in a bookshop in Stellenbosch, Cape Town. It's a very smart, very well designed comic called Madam & Eve (invented by Francis &Rico).
Erkki has been reading it for ages and he was the one who suggested me to buy it.
Now I am addicted to Madame & Eve!!

Madam & Eve takes a humorous look at the daily lives of two people from very different backgrounds as they experience life in postapartheid South Africa. The strip's main characters are:
- Gwen Anderson, also known as Madam, is a typical white South African madam struggling to come to terms with the new South Africa. Madam's new year resolution is to learn the difference between the washing machine and the dish washer.
- Eve Sisulu, Madam's "domestic maintenance assistant" who actually runs the household.  Madam & Eve fight a lot, but they secretly like each other, even though neither of them will admit it.

The strip is currently syndicated in 13 publications and read by over 4 million people everyday!!
Here are some sample of the cartoon strips...I think they are just great!




Check out at http://madamandeve.co.za/index.php if you are interested in buying the comics or simply have more info

A Farmers Market in Bologna

Bologna has welcomed me today with a light rain.
My Husbee was at the airport to pick me up. It was so exceptionally good to see him!
I have spent only 2 weeks away but time in Africa has a different dimension: those 14 days have seemed like 2 months as they have been full of events, new people, new places, and the experience of a totally new life style for me.  
Living at Erkki's house in Maputo has been amazing: every night we had many people to come over to dinner and every night the most absurd-interesting-funny conversations have taken place...
So being back to Bologna is a sort of shock.

This afternoon I have quickly unpacked, taken a shower, and gone shopping at a farmers market.
I guess I had to force myself to go back to my old daily life because Africa has definitely left a sign on me.

The farmers market I have been to takes place every Thursday in Via Fioravanti, quite close to the railway station. I love the relaxed atmosphere there: the most interesting thing to me is that people seem really to enjoy grocery shopping, so you see plenty of smiling faces and ...there is a nice chit chat all over the market.
Below are some of the pics I have taken.

One night in Lisbon

After 11 long hours on the plane (and a very bad headache), I have finally landed in Lisbon from Maputo.
I think I ll never fly with TAP again....it has almost been a nightmare: no screens to watch a movie, almost nothing to drink except water and orange juice....and the food (well, food in Africa was definitely much better!).
I have 12 hours to spend here (well, actually 9 right now): my flight to Bologna will leave tomorrow morning at 8.00.

I have just had dinner in a nice restaurant in Barrio Alto and now I am back to my room.
I ll try to get some sleep, but it's really hot (28°c at 23.00) and I am also too tired...I feel a bit upside down...and I wonder if it is a consequence of the wonderful days I have spent in Africa...

My last day in Maputo

Back to Maputo

Today I came back to Maputo from Cape Town. I still don't know how I feel like about being back here and having already to leave for Europe the day after tomorrow.
I am definitely sad. I have probably been "africanised" already...you can easily get used to the African way of life (if there is possibly just one)...simple and beautiful people, amazing nature, good vibrations..after all, this is what I need.