Art & Culture

New York City Living 360

Balenciaga: Spanish Master Exhibit Opens November 19

Photo credit:

Balenciaga “Infanta” evening dress, 1939.

Copyright, R.J. Horst—Courtesy Staley/Wise Gallery, NYC.

Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Francisco de Goya are known “Spanish Masters”.  Now add the name Cristóbal Balenciaga, the 20^th century Spanish Master of the fashion arena.  BALENCIAGA: Spanish Master, the first exhibition to honor the fashion master, will open November 19^th here in New York.  Balenciaga dressed 20^th century traditional royalty like the Duchess of Windsor,  Princess Grace of Monaco and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.


Photo credit:

Balenciaga evening dress and stole, 1952.

Frances McLaughlin-Gill / Vogue; Copyright © Condé Nast.

Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain will visit New York to open the exhibit at the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute in New York on Park Avenue.  Oscar de la Renta, Chairman of the Institute’s Board of Directors is the inspiring force behind the exhibit, which will focus on Balenciaga’s career from the 1937 opening of his Paris fashion to his1968 retirement.   Hamish Bowles, Vogue’s European Editor at Large and curator of the 2001 exhibition Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years serves as curator of the exhibit.

Photo credit:

Balenciaga flamenco-inspired evening dress, 1951.

Henry Clarke / Vogue; Copyright © Condé Nast.

Balenciaga’s style signature, which featured square shoulders, open necklines and close fitting waistlines, has inspired designers like Givenchy, Ungaro.  This style continues to inspire Nicolas Ghesquiere, who now heads Balenciaga’s fashion house.  The design genius of Balenciaga kept his fashion followers on the best dressed list during the 50s and 60s. Highlights of the exhibit include Balenciaga’s 1939 “Infanta” gown, and his famous abstract influenced four-point silk gazar dress of 1967.  Balenciaga Paris has loaned more than seventy items of Cristóbal Balenciaga clothing and accessories from its archives plus access to the other related materials to be showcased in the exhibition. 

Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, founded as The Spanish Institute in 1954, is on a mission to promote greater awareness and understanding of the culture of the Spanish-speaking world in the United States. The exhibit will run through February 19, 2011 and will travel to the De Young Museum in San Francisco where it will run from March 26 through July 4, 2011.

Please visit www.queensofiaspanishinstitute.org

Queen Sofia Spanish Institute

684 Park Avenue

New York, New York 10065

212-628-0420