National Gallery of Art II

Now I'm really getting behind.  Today I went to the Museum of American History, and tomorrow housemate and I are going to the Museum of Natural History.

So, Flighty, one more artsy-fartsy post for you to endure but there are some photos from today's excursion that you may like, and three I took especially for you - and that was before I came home to find your comment about the NGA ;-)

***************

So on we go:

National Gallery of Art II

The main entrance to the original West Building

A restful Fountain Courtyard inside the gallery

The fountain in one of two courtyards

The sculpture gallery is the spine of the museum, connecting the rotunda and two courtyards.  All specialty galleries branch off from it.

L:  Justice

R: Calliope

(19th C French Neoclassical sculptures)

Bacchus and a putto

(19th C bronze sculpture)

L: Neapolitan girl

R: Painting and Sculpture

(19th C French Neoclassical sculpture)

Approaching the Rotunda
Americans love their rotundae.

An Apollo fountain with fresh flowers under the rotunda dome

The oculus (eye) and embossed dome.  Reminiscent of the dome of the Pantheon in Rome (and by that token, probably the one in Paris too though that memory has faded)

My pick of the post:  a bust of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who in nearly every depiction frowns more than anyone else.

Continuing the Greco-Roman foundation of the building, there were lots of olive trees in the museum's open spaces.

I didn't know photography was allowed in the rest of the museum because not many people had cameras out, so I felt self-conscious then found out later photography is allowed everywhere except where noted and in special exhibitions.  So....you missed a load of exquisite Dutch masters and American 19th century landscapes and still lifes.

But each gallery was equipped with those easels used by art students and copyists for anyone to use, I guess.  Each section also had really good free mini-guides.  I have three:  one from the Pompeii exhibition, one from the Dutch and Flemish Cabinet Galleries, and one from Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age (special exhibition).  

Here's one from Dutch Cityscapes which I recognized with a shock of recognition because I bought the postcard of it at the National Gallery in London!  (View in Delft by Karel Fabritius, likely painted with the help of a lens casting the image onto a canvas in a dark room, hence the uncorrected convex effect which today we can duplicate with our fisheye cams.)

I really really like the Delft domestic scenes.  Amsterdam artists tended to paint buildings and civic architecture, but the Delft artists like Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch focused on the quiet domestic chores in great detail, though Jan Steen managed to combine both elements.  The Delft works give me a feeling of satisfaction, de Hooch in particular (many of his postcards I also bought at the NG London) because of the equal attention to architecture and people, who lend humanity to the potential sterility of a solely architectural focus (I know I am guilty of this, however).

The Courtyard of a House in Delft, de Hooch, 

But check this out, a Bird's Eye View of Amsterdam by Jan Micker (1652):

The artist thought of cloud shadow!

**************************

Stay tuned for today's adventure, it was such a wonderful day!

National Gallery of Art I

Winter is going out like a lion this week, which I hear is highly unusual for the area. Tonight I hear we will be breaking some 100 year old record lows, and places deeper in Maryland or Virginia with more snow cover are still not opening schools tomorrow.

This is some pretty snow though.  It's so white and really complements the Colonial-houses-with-picket-fences-ness of the neighborhood.


I'm not kidding, on my way to the Metro I was thinking about how white picket fence this section of town really is.  I think it's a bit like St John's Wood (NW London), or a combination of the Museum District and the Heights (Houston) or The Woodlands (north of Houston).  Chris thinks it's like Austin.

Icicles outside my window, though this morning the sun was so bright there was considerable melting going on, with sheets of ice sliding off roofs and icicles crashing to the ground.



By the weekend we will have definite spring temperatures approaching 65F/17C!!!
The Park Service predicted today that the cherry blossoms will peak around the first week of April.


******************************


On Saturday I was to join a cultural group at the NGA to see the exhibition, Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples.

On my way there, I was crossing Pennsylvania Avenue and happened to look to my left and THERE was the Capitol dome. I looked down and laughed to myself thinking, "Wow, I'm in Washington."

I couldn't find the group, and neither could a few others, but the organizer promised to hold a sign next time so I hope to join them again for more cultural activities.

So back to the museum. It's FREEEEE (like the UK), and so are the special exhibitions (unlike the UK), and even coat check (it's £1 in London). And the restrooms are so nice (definitely unlike the UK). I don't know how they do it. So much for the years of threatened budget cuts to the arts...?

Speaking of toilets, Chris had high praise for the Metro, which he said made him feel like he was in a real transport hub going somewhere, rather than the NYC subway system which he said is like traveling "in a toilet".


***********************


Anyway, back to the museum (again).



This is the modern East Building of the NGA

The Pompeii exhibition, held in the East Building, was small and intimate. It showcased a comprehensive array of artifacts, objets d'art, frescoes, mosaics, including duplicates on the floor, and sculptures. I've been to Pompeii so it was like a taste of something familiar.



Large, light common areas showcase large modern sculptures

Afterwards, I decided to make a day of it and flitted through a few more of the modern galleries.



Remember similar ones at the MoMA in NYC?  Giaccometti, he is everywhere...


And so is Picasso, and Mondrian...

I am calling this the ABC sculpture.  One view from the side, one view straight on.

The walkway between the East and West buildings is enshrouded in a randomly programmed LED light display called Multiverse (2008) by Leo Villareal.

Sometimes they are all alight, sometimes they shoot, crawl, flash, wave.  It had me gaping, slack-jawed, to see what would happen next.

The walkway takes you through the HUGE Cascade Cafe, filled with a variety of food stations.  I was tempted to eat there.  But I passed through, then realized I'd left my coat in the East Building, so went back to get it and then exited out the side and crossed to the West Building's side entrance.


The East Building.  QUESTION:  Do these glass pyramids remind you of something somewhere?

The West Building

Stay tuned for the second NGA post.  (I thought I could do it all in one installment but you know brevity is not my forte when it comes to this blog!)

Frick and Friends

I know, I have about 3 memes to catch up with in the next few days!  :)

At the beginning of the week, it rained, which turned to sleet, which turned to wet snow.  

It stuck a little bit.

It would not have been nice if the wet roads had frozen, but at the most it settled, became slushy.  By Wednesday all was reduced to a falling mist which obscured the tops of buildings.  On Thursday, the sun was laser bright.

But today there was a snowstorm that had the city scrambling to salt the roads.  Like clockwork, half the neighborhood was out shoveling driveways and scraping the sidewalks because the snow turned to sleet which is fast becoming freezing rain as darkness falls.  Ooh, I think I just saw some winter lightning, yep, and there's the thunder.

**********

Thursday, the day of falling mist, I went into town to meet fellow blogger Rick (oh he of Palm Springs fame) for breakfast at the Waldorf-Astoria, which is the done thing, like tea at the Ritz.

A couple of jetsetters are we, to meet twice in the same year in two different world cities.  I enjoy this tradition and hope it continues.

Eggs Benedict seems to be the dish of choice for breakfast, but as I was not very hungry I had a bagel instead and now regret that decision because I am not likely to go back anytime soon.

The Waldorf-Astoria is one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever seen.  Like the city of New York, it is full of Art Deco detail (the present incarnation of the W-A having been opened in 1931), so much that my eyes were overwhelmed and I would have taken photos of the corners of everything if I hadn't felt so self conscious about it.

The Waldorf-Astoria looms over St Bartholomew's 

So I made do with a quick shot of one of the elevator doors

...And a view of the Park Avenue (exterior) lobby.  The Main (interior) lobby was more like the heart:  darker and warmer, with an ezquisite central clock flanked by the Peacock Alley restaurant.

After breakfast, I wandered into St Bartholomew's for the midday Holy Eucharist but left before it started because the only people in there were two Polish women gossiping behind me, a businessman who went to the front to pray for a few minutes, and the permanent fixtures, a handful of snoring bums installed at the ends of the pews.  I suppose it would have been unchristian of the ladies at reception to turn them away.

Feeling unusually discouraged by the quietness I skipped the free Baroque Christmas concert too and re-emerged into the light of day to start my trek uptown.

This is when I like New York City - along the great Avenues - when I have my great impressionistic moments.  Looks like I'm more of a city girl than I'd thought.

********************

I had told Rick I might visit the Frick Collection, and I was true to my word.  I walked 20 blocks uptown on Park Avenue and then cut across to Fifth, which took about half an hour and soon found myself at this neat little mansion/museum, former home of steel magnate Henry Clay Frick (protege of Andrew Carnegie).

Of all sources outside the collection's website, my longtime subscription The New York Social Diary has perhaps the best pictures of the interior along with a great deal of enlightening social column-style gossip on Mr Frick and his circle.

The Frick is one of the best private collections in America, containing lots of Renaissance bronze sculptures, a few pieces bequeathed by his contemporary John D Rockefeller, a number of Old Masters and medieval Italian panels, some works by Vermeer, Constable, and others I recognized as in:  "Oh, wow! I didn't know this was here."

I also greatly appreciated the small jewel-like Boucher Room (see NYSD), like a tiny and perfect ballroom: candy-toned Boucher wall panels and little Louis XV mechanical tables, complete with 17th century creaking parquet floor shipped from France.

Frick was not a great fan of James McNeill Whistler, yet these musically-themed pieces were perhaps my favorite pieces in the collection.  On a musical theme, L to R:

1 - Harmony in Pink and Grey:  Portrait of Lady Meux, 1881-82

2 - Arrangement in Brown and Black:  Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, 1876-78

3 - Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink:  Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland, 1872-73

4 - Arrangement in Black and Gold:  Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, 1891-92

Mr Frick's collection perfectly mirrors his simple personal tastes.  There is little violence, mostly serenity.  According to the video presentation in the Music Room, after a particularly harrowing day, Mr Frick might stroll through the darkened halls to his Gallery, turn on the light, and sit for an hour or more on one couch and then another, absorbing beauty into his soul.

Soul Food

Today the weather is very English: rain, wind, and temps under 10C (about 47F).

I'm off to Canada on Thursday for a few days, for a big family reunion on the occasion of my eldest cousin's 50th birthday.

So I'd better catch you up before I go...

(Apologies if some of the images are clipped short by the sidebar, which detracts from their impact.)

*********************************************************************

A couple of weekends ago, I stayed at my cousin Ryan and he drove us up to Westchester for the birthday of cousin Mandy's husband C. I enjoyed all the wonderful homecooked Guyanese food in their lovely cosy warm house, hanging out with their very intelligent kids. The guests were mostly C's relatives. His brother and sister-in-law are dentists - in fact they said if I wanted I could have an assisting job for the asking. I didn't know while I was there that his other brother is a lawyer, but I am considering legal assisting.


Skippy rules the world, and as he'd had a hard day cooking the food and supervising the kids, by the end of the night he was the sleepiest member of the family!


*****************************************************************************

Last Friday I was invited to the Chanel Mobile Art exhibition in Central Park. However, seeing as I live so far outside of Manhattan AND at the end of a train line, there was a significant delay which meant that the time slot on my ticket had expired by the time I got there half an hour late. (Fortunately it was free.)

While I waited for my friend to emerge from the pavilion, I took photos:



The pavilion designed by architect Zaha Hadid





An auxiliary building blends into the landscape.

*********************************************************************


Afterwards, we walked a few blocks to Alice's Teacup for lunch/afternoon tea on E 81st St. and 5th Ave.(?)



This teacup really is an antique, from Bavaria



We chose the "Mad Hatter Tea for Two" which included 3 scones, 2 sandwiches, and a dessert spread. There were 150 types of tea to choose from! Predictably, I got one that would go with milk and sugar.

Scones: winter berry, oatmeal chocolate chip, buttermilk - with strawberry preserves and cream of course.

Sandwiches: 1) smoked chicken, stilton and granny smith apple and 2) chicken curry with apples and red onions (the flavor is haunting me right now).

Dessert: a hefty slice of mocha chocolate chip and buttercream icing cake, and a variety of crispy cookies.




***************************************************************************

Then we went to the MET since it was such a lovely day, neither of us wanted to go straight home.

I snapped quite a lot of Greco Roman artefacts and sculptures but most of them didn't turn out so well with my phonecam. These are the best ones:


Roman religion required the woman to be covered during devotions


This rock crystal perfume bottle is the size of a man's thumb, so imagine the fine workmanship on the chain - I have an identical necklace which is only 40 years old, and this is about 1,960 years older than that!


Fine granulation and filigree on a gold Roman brooch



However, on this day the Egyptian images turned out better:



The Cat Goddess (Basta) in her simple Bastet form


A wooden head


Pharaoh whose name is on the tip of my tongue...



She-Pharaoh Hatshepsut, from her tomb









A scarab


These glass bead frogs are about the size of peas!


The Temple of Dendur, rescued from flooding as a result of the building of the Aswan Dam


Papyrus fronds in front of the Temple


The amazing space dedicated to the Temple of Dendur

****************************************************************

And on Saturday, I cooked cutlets: