Announcement by Baroness Philippine De Rothschild Kicks-Off the Exhibition of Mouton Rothschild - Paintings for the Labels at The Wolfsonian-Florida International University February 19-March 8, 2009
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Each year since 1945, a great artist has created an original artwork for the Chateau Mouton Rothschild label. Today, at a press luncheon that also previews the opening of MOUTON ROTHSCHILD-PAINTINGS FOR THE LABELS at The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, the owner of Mouton, announced that she has given the commission for the 2006 vintage to the British painter Lucian Freud, born in 1922, a universally acknowledged master of contemporary portraiture. Last year, one of his works was sold for the highest price ever attained by a living artist. Far from the tormented portraits and nudes for which he is renowned, for Mouton 2006 Lucian Freud has chosen a joyously exotic transposition of the pleasure of drinking, in which the vinestock is transformed into a springing palm tree and the wine lover into a happily anticipatory zebra.
(PHOTO: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090219/NY73184 )
The new label will be on display from February 19th through March 8th, 2009 at The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, as part of an extraordinary exhibition of original paintings commissioned to illustrate the labels of vintages of the famed Chateau Mouton Rothschild, one of the world's greatest wines and a First Growth in the Bordeaux region. Over 60 vintages ranging from 1945 to 2006 are represented. The exhibition premieres during the 2009 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival.
The exhibition also includes works by important artists such as Joan Miro, Marc Chagall, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, Robert Motherwell, Keith Haring, and Balthus, among others.
As one of the other highlights of the Festival, two gala VIP dinners/auctions will be held on Saturday, February 21st and Sunday, February 22nd in the presence of Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, the current owner of the Chateau, to benefit The Wolfsonian-FIU and the FIU School of Hospitality and Tourism. The world renowned chef Daniel Boulud will prepare two different spectacular meals each paired with a special selection of the finest wines from Chateau Mouton Rothschild. A wine auction will follow each dinner, featuring large format bottles of Mouton from a variety of vintages.
Baroness Philippine has continued a tradition begun in 1945 by her father, the legendary Baron Philippe de Rothschild: Each vintage is bottled with a label illustrated with an original work by a renowned artist.
Speaking of the exhibition, Baroness Philippine said: "I am particularly happy to have been given this opportunity by The Wolfsonian to present, in the heart of South Beach, an exhibition which brings together the most famous names of modern and contemporary art. It will allow those who love our First Growth, but who until now have only been familiar with reproductions of the artworks on the labels, to admire at last the originals created since 1945 by all these artists to the glory of Mouton."
About the Mouton Labels and the Exhibition
Bringing together art and wine at the pinnacle of perfection has always been one of the most original and inspired ambitions of the owners of Chateau Mouton Rothschild, first Baron Philippe de Rothschild, and then his daughter Baroness Philippine. In turn, the bottle also was to become the symbol of this marriage of wine and art.
In 1924, to salute his first chateau-bottled vintage, Baron Philippe had the revolutionary idea of commissioning the poster artist Jean Carlu to design the Mouton label. Ahead of its time, however, his initiative was not repeated.
In 1945, this time to celebrate the return to peace, he decided to crown the label for the vintage with a drawing representing the "V" for Victory, drawn by the young painter Philippe Jullian. From an exceptional circumstance a great tradition was born, and from 1946, every year a different artist has been invited to create an original artwork for the label. Initially, Baron Philippe chose painters from amongst his friends, such as Jean Hugo, Leonor Fini and Jean Cocteau. In 1955, Georges Braque agreed to illustrate the vintage, and he was succeeded by the greatest artists of our time, including Dali, Cesar, Miro, Chagall, Picasso, Warhol, Soulages, Bacon, Balthus, Tapies, etc.
Responsible for choosing the artists since the 1980s, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild respects the artists' creative instincts, though most of them are attracted by certain themes, such as the vine, the pleasure of drinking, or the ram - the emblem of Mouton. The artists receive no fee for their work but are given cases of Mouton Rothschild, including of course "their" vintage.
Over the last 20 years or so, on the initiative of Baroness Philippine, the fascinating collection has formed the basis for an exhibition, PAINTINGS FOR THE LABELS, which has already been displayed in museums around the world, including in Europe (London, Edinburgh, Berlin, Brussels), Japan, Canada, Hong-Kong, China, Russia and twenty-one cities in the United States, including the latest in Miami Beach at The Wolfsonian.
