J'AIPUR Journal

23/05/2024

A home without books is like a body without a soul…📚

14/05/2024

📸 Homai Vyarawalla (1913–2012), commonly known by her pseudonym Dalda 13, was India’s first woman photojournalist. 🖋️ She began her career in 1938 working for the Bombay Chronicle, capturing images of daily life in the city. Vyarawalla worked for the British Information Services from the 1940s until 1970 when she retired. In 2011, she was awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award of the Republic of India and was amongst the first women in India to join a mainstream publication when she joined The Illustrated Weekly of India. Google honored her with a doodle as India’s “First Lady of the lens” in 2017.

“People were rather orthodox. They didn’t want the women folk to be moving around all over the place and when they saw me in a sari with the camera, hanging around, they thought it was a very strange sight. And in the beginning they thought I was just fooling around with the camera, just showing off or something and they didn’t take me seriously. But that was to my advantage because I could go to the sensitive areas also to take pictures and nobody will stop me. So I was able to take the best of pictures and get them published. It was only when the pictures got published that people realized how seriously I was working for the place.”
— Homai Vyarawalla in Dalda 13: A Portrait of Homai Vyarawalla (1995)

{Photo: Sam Panthaky/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images}

12/05/2024

An appropriate day to share this tender artwork titled The Bath (1891) by prolific American artist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) who is associated with the Impressionism art movement (developed in France in the 19th century and based on the practice of painting out of doors and spontaneously ‘on the spot’ rather than in a studio from sketches.)

🖋️ In 1890, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris held a large-scale exhibition of Japanese prints that strengthened Mary Cassatt’s interest in printmaking. The exhibition inspired her to create a series of 10 color aquatints. The Bath is the first print in the series and derives from an extensive group of related works of mothers and children.

Japanese art influenced not only Cassatt’s choice of subject matter but also her technique and composition. Japanese woodblock prints commonly depicted women bathing children.

Cassatt’s woman and child are neither clearly European nor Asian. She rendered the figures and tub as two-dimensional shapes. Indeed, she almost completely eliminated the traditional shading and tonal variations that create the illusion of depth in Western art.

{Soft-ground etching with aquatint and drypoint on paper, 12 3/8 x 9 5/8 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts , Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; Photo by Lee Stalsworth}

30/03/2024

It’s always delightful to receive photos from J’AIPUR readers enjoying the magazine at home. Thank you ! 💛

26/03/2024

Molly Hatch, “40 Porcelain plates, hand-painted”, 2023, USA.

26/03/2024

Happy Holi 🖼️ “Prince Playing Holi in Harem” (c. 1800), National Museum, New Delhi.

🖊️ Holi, the festival of Spring, is also when love and sensuality bloom as this Deccan-style painting by an unknown artist depicts. The countryside is bathed with color and fragrance whilst the subjects seem to be maddened by the colors of Holi and the season’s compulsions. The passionate young prince is touching his beloved and she makes no resistance. Her shyness however is shared by some of her companions who look away, perhaps feeling the same pull of love as their mistress. The artist has symbolized the festival through the spray-pipe in the hands of one of the attendants and the colour-spots scattered all around. Two women are playing on the flat and round drums while another is probably singing the song of Holi.

25/01/2024

30/12/2023

From the archives: a tiny selection of photos of the magazine received from readers all across the globe. I look forward to bringing you more beautiful content across print, digital and social media formats in 2024. Thank you dear readers for your continued support.💛🙏 - Rupi

30/12/2023

East-meets-West at Studio Frantzén, a restaurant in London’s Harrods department store designed by Joyn Studio. Notice the gridded geometry, warm woods, curved walls, glass bricks and paper lampshades that contribute to this ‘Japandi’ design style in which Scandinavian and Japanese influences come together.

“Inspired by the journeys of our predecessors to the far east, where they assimilated influences and pioneered a style known as Swedish Grace, we embraced the resonances between traditional Japanese and Nordic architecture and craftsmanship.” — Ida Wanler, Joyn Studio

{Images via Dezeen & Joyn Studio. Photography by Åsa Liffner.}

28/12/2023

Princess Durri Shehvar Berar, only daughter of the former Sultan of Turkey, wearing a jewelled sari in India, circa 1944. (Photo by Cecil Beaton/ Imperial War Museums via Getty Images)

24/12/2023

“The highly sensitive tend to be philosophical or spiritual in their orientation, rather than materialistic or hedonistic. They dislike small talk. They often describe themselves as creative or intuitive. They dream vividly, and can often recall their dreams the next day. They love music, nature, art, physical beauty. They feel exceptionally strong emotions—sometimes acute bouts of joy, but also sorrow, melancholy, and fear. Highly sensitive people also process information about their environments—both physical and emotional—unusually deeply. They tend to notice subtleties that others miss—another person’s shift in mood, say, or a lightbulb burning a touch too brightly.” ~ Susan Cain, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

Artwork: The Lady with a Mirror (1894), oil on canvas by Raja Ravi Varma

15/12/2023

As part of the Masters Week auctions last week in London, ‘Mughal Lady’ by Italian-English Old Master Francesco Renaldi—the most sought-after portrait painter of his time—went under the hammer. It was painted in the late 18th century during the artist’s tenure with the East India Company spent in Calcutta (presently, Kolkata). The painting surfaced after 50 years, in pristine condition, and sold for £650k. The artist is also known for ‘Muslim Lady Reclining’ which is currently held in Yale University’s art collection.

Images via Architectural Digest and Sotheby’s.

12/12/2023

Who was Conrad the Corsair (1824), in this artwork by Horace Vernet (1789 - 1863), a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects?

The subject of this painting is taken from Lord Byron’s poem ‘The Corsair’ (1814). Byron, was a popular source in contemporary British literature for younger French painters in the 1820s. Conrad, a pirate chief in the Aegean Sea, notorious for his violent character, is seen here being approached nervously by two of his men. The picture demonstrates Vernet’s early style when he used more heavily impasted paint, a technique in which the paint is thickly laid on a surface, so that brushstrokes or palette knife marks are visible.

On view at 🖼️

09/12/2023

A beautiful event hosted in Jaipur by Ralph Lauren and Princess Gauravi Kumari for the Princess Diya Kumari Foundation.

08/12/2023

Here are a few works by South Asian artists to see at this year’s Art Basel Miami (until Dec. 10th):

1. Sunil Gupta, Untitled, Humayun’s Tomb, 1982
Silver gelatin print; Hales Gallery
2. Anwar Jalal Shemza,
Square Composition 13, 1963.
Oil on hardboard; Hales Gallery
3. Chitra Ganesh
Devika Rani, 2012.
Charcoal on paper; Hales Gallery
4. Suchitra Mattai, Re-Union, 2023. Vintage saris, ribbon and armature; Roberts Projects
5. Siji Krishnan, Unknown Families, Watercolor on rice paper; Kohn Gallery

Images via respective artists and galleries.

03/12/2023

a perfect pair 💛🤎

05/02/2023

During this month of love, The Proust Questionnaire (published by ) might be a good way to get to know someone you fancy. I’m considering it as a new interview series on here though. It consists of 35 questions the French novelist Marcel Proust originally answered in 1890 in a confession album (journal) which became a popular parlor game among Victorians.

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
2. What is your greatest fear?
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
5. Which living person do you most admire?
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
7. What is your current state of mind?
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
9. On what occasion do you lie?
10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
11. Which living person do you most despise?
12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
16. When and where were you happiest?
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
21. Where would you most like to live?
22. What is your most treasured possession?
23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
24. What is your favorite occupation?
25. What is your most marked characteristic?
26. What do you most value in your friends?
27. Who are your favorite writers?
28. Who is your hero of fiction?
29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
30. Who are your heroes in real life?
31. What are your favorite names?
32. What is it that you most dislike?
33. What is your greatest regret?
34. How would you like to die?
35. What is your motto?

30/12/2022

Remembering the words of Dame Vivienne Westwood who passed away on December 29, 2022 at the age of 81. She was an English fashion designer who was largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. A few looks from her Autumn-Winter 2022/23 Collection (images via ) are below.

16/05/2022

Dreaming of Capri 🌊 … and the gorgeous Etro suite at the Le Corbusier-conceived Punta Tragara. ✨

14/05/2022

Reminded of this lovely memory today (thanks Serena!) when I first met the uber-talented photographer Serena Chopra in person at her exhibition of photographs at Sepia Eye gallery in NYC. I’ll never forget that evening as Richard Gere, a longtime supporter of Serena’s work, was in the room and I tried to stay cool! The next day, Serena and I met for a long interview and she was so gracious and generous with her time and stories. You might recall the beautiful feature ‘Bhutan Calling’ on Serena’s work in the first print edition of JJ. I feel blessed that the magazine has connected me with such wonderful creatives from around the world. ✨ 🙏

14/05/2022

I feel so fortunate to have visited the Louvre Abu Dhabi just before the pandemic. The art and architecture took my breath away but this quote encapsulates the driving force behind everything that stirs our soul:

"No matter how many buildings, foundations, schools and hospitals we build, or how many bridges we raise, all these are material entities. The real spirit behind the progress is the human spirit, the able man with his intellect and capabilities."
-HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004)

02/01/2022

Namasté 2022. 💕 {As much as I wish I was back in my muse city of Jaipur, this is a pre-pandemic photo.}

31/12/2021

Live and learn from past experiences and mistakes - but keep walking into 2022 and take what you deserve! ⚡️HNY dear readers. 🙏

10/11/2021

Thank you for this kind introduction. 🙏
Posted • .co

In , East-meets-West stories are told about inspiring people and places. The journal was developed by Rupi Sood, who has been a writer and editor for fifteen years. She has an excellent understanding of the global art scene and has a Masters Degree (Honors) in Contemporary Art from Sotheby's Institute of Art in New York City in addition to leading J'AIPUR's creative and editorial team.⁠
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In addition to promoting quality journalism, J'AIPUR magazine highlights the work of creatives with a connection to the East. Several designers, photographers, researchers, and writers from around the world are involved in its production, with its headquarters in New York. This magazine is truly a crossroads where East and West, old and new, creativity and culture all give rise to interesting stories as they converge in the jewel-like pink city of Jaipur (India).

04/11/2021

Wishing a Happy Diwali to you all dear readers. ✨✨✨