Curated Letter N°18

December&January 2022/2023 Edition

Smart culture. Sharp Information. Noteworthy Chatter.

Your monthly invitation to be the most interesting woman in the room

My Dear Friends,

If you’ve made it to December with your sense of humour and ethos intact—congratulations. This month’s Curated Letter offers cultural gems, just enough sharp information and some sparkle to go out in style while staying the most interesting woman in the room.

Being informed is always in season. Wishing you a joyous festive season and buckets of brilliance in the new year.

– yours, Harper

Bookology

Intelligent, atmospheric reads for when the light changes, the conversation deepens, and the instinct to reflect gets pleasantly harder to resist.

Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud, 1939-1954

Editors: David Dawson & Martin Gayford
Published: Thames & Hudson, September 2022

Lucian Freud was a maverick genius whose life from the off was as singular as his paintings were celebrated. These quirky communications are set, like rhinestones on a velvet cloak, within an elegant rolling narrative that explains, elucidates and connects them, propelling the story on through three eventful decades and culminating in Freud’s inclusion in the Venice Biennale of 1954 and his emergence, at 31, as an artist of international renown.

101 Essays that will change the way you think

Author: Brianna Wiest
Published: Thought Catalogue Books, 2018

The book features pieces on why you should pursue purpose over passion, embrace negative thinking, see the wisdom in daily routine, and become aware of the cognitive biases that create how you see your life. Some of these pieces have never been seen; millions of people around the world have read others. Regardless, each will leave you thinking: this idea changed my life. 

From scratch

Author: Tembi Locke
Published: Simon & Schuster, 2019

It was love at first sight when Tembi met professional chef Saro on the street in Florence. There was just one problem: Saro’s traditional Sicilian family disapproved of him marrying a black American woman, an actress no less. However, the couple, heartbroken but undeterred, forges on. They build a happy life in Los Angeles, with fulfilling careers, deep friendships and the love of their lives: a baby girl they adopted at birth. Eventually, they reconcile with Saro’s family just as he faces formidable cancer that will consume all their dreams.

Jo van Gogh-Bonger

THE WOMAN WHO MADE VAN GOGH FAMOUS

Author: Hans Luijten
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing, November 2022

Little known but no less influential, Jo van Gogh-Bonger was the sister-in-law of Vincent van Gogh and the wife of his brother, Theo. When the brothers died soon after each other, she took charge of Van Gogh’s artistic legacy and devoted the rest of her life to disseminating his work. Despite being widowed with a young son, Jo successfully navigated the male-dominated world of the art market-publishing Van Gogh’s letters, organizing exhibitions in the Netherlands and throughout the world, and making strategic sales to private individuals and influential dealers-ultimately establishing Van Gogh’s reputation as one of the finest artists of his generation. In doing so, she fundamentally changed how we view the relationship between the artist and his work.

Know How

From the oddly relevant to the glamorously unnecessary—here’s what caught my eye and might spark yours as the most interesting woman in the room.

A portrait of Jeff Guenther, known as the therapy Jeff, wearing a chequered shirt and leaning against a wooden wall -introducing the December–January Curated Letter, curated to build confidence and help you become the most interesting woman in the room.
How to fool your therapist

Jeff Guenther, who goes by Therapy Jeff on TikTok, is a licensed professional counsellor (LPC) and is messing with his global colleagues by telling clients exactly how to prank them. Imagine a therapist giving away the code on how to mess with your therapist in session. Curious?

This way
Installation view of Art Basel in Miami Beach with curious and inspired visitors- the Curated Letter and the Art Basel Miami are curated for a similar purpose-to help you become the most interesting woman in the room.
Art Basel Miami 2022

Overall, galleries were in great spirits and satisfied with the sales precisely because of Miami’s draw for institutional and private collectors. “We always love coming to Miami and seeing a cross-section of America. Painting dominated the booths, as it has at art fairs all year. And while much of it was reflective of the most talented crop of contemporary abstract and figurative painters working today, fairgoers appeared fatigued by the overwhelming repetition of the medium and were hungry for anything different. 

More Details
Tutanchamun

On 26 November 1922, Howard Carter held a candle to peer through a tiny breach chiselled in a doorway sealed for three millennia. His patron, Lord Carnarvon, waited anxiously nearby. After a century of making news headlines, Tutankhamun can boast an impressive afterlife in the 21st century. Just a very different one from what he would ever have imagined.

This Way

Really Important

The oddly relevant, the glamorously unnecessary, and the quietly dazzling

Estee Lauder goes shopping

Luxury cosmetics firm Estee Lauder will buy designer fashion house Tom Ford in a deal worth $2.8bn (£2.4bn), the company has announced.

Health Warning

There is a new dangerous hype- Ozempic-just one shot a day, and you lose weight without dieting or sport. Sounds fantastic; Instagram, TikTok, and Hollywood celebrities praise this ” miracle” drug. Ozempic was originally designed to treat diabetes, it supresses appetite by slowing down gastric emptying But be warned, it has serious, very unpleasant side effects.

A mountain resort against the backdrop of mountains covered in snow, lanterns and several jacuzzis. The glow of open fireplaces is reflected in the window, depicting deep relaxation and serenity similar to the December-January curated Lettercurated to build confidence and help you become the most interesting woman in the room.
World‘s best wellness retreats

It you are still carrying the baggage of anxiety or long-term health consequences brought on by these fraught times, a wellness-inducing activity will certainly come as a welcome escape. From deep cleanse to mental wellness- here are some of the best rejuvenation hotspots the world has to offer.

2023 Resolution

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.”

J.P. Morgan, 1837-1913, american Banker