“I want to be a living work of art” so proclaimed to the masses, Luisa Casati, and so she was! Like Rubinstein her contemporary she was represented by more artists than any other female of her time. However, there are two distinct differences between the Rubinstein portraits (see
http://david-toms.blogspot.com/2009/08/helena-rubinstein-portraits.html) and those of Casati. Even though Rubinstein had commissioned some of the most well known artists of her time, the portraits are of a woman, who wanted to be remembered for what she wanted to be. That is, a beautiful, and elegant woman. Casati on the other hand wanted to be remembered for what she was, an exotic creature, ever changing and immortal.
Giovanni Boldini
Artists such as Augustus John, Giovanni Boldini, Kees Van Dongen, and Romaine Brooks immortalised her on canvas.
Augustus John 1919 Augustus John Kees Von DongenDe Blaas
Drian and Alberto Martini sketched away to their heart’s content, Man Ray, Cecil Beaton and Aldoph de Meyer clicked their camera shutters with gay abandon.
Alberto Martini 1906 Paget-Fredericks 1920Man Ray
And not let’s forget the sculptures by Jacob Epstein and Giacomo Balla.
Settings ranged from the canals of Venice to the wild west of America, with Casati in some fantastic garb, a high priestess of the bizarre one minute a knight in shining armour the next.