I just finished up watching Hong Kong’s Symphony of Lights show (I’m afraid the name is the most exciting part of this show) and was headed back to the hotel for the evening. The waterfront is really pretty and the Hong Kong Space Museum was all lit up in oscillating colors.
Even the Art Museums are treasures of antiquity in Italy. If you happen upon the Uffizi Gallery, the building is honestly as much a treasure as the art (and these are some of the greatest examples of their era).
I love homes, old ones…the one’s people design with intent and artistic panache. Pamela and I first learned an original Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian home was coming to Crystal Bridges on a trip to visit the museum over a year ago, it was a brilliant surprise! Wright, a native of Chicago (Oak Park is a complete Joy) didn’t often visit my part of the country. There are a few notable exceptions like Price Tower in Oklahoma (Wright’s only skyscraper), but the best work is not close…until now! There are obvious restrictions, but you can schedule (you need an appointment before hand complete with time of entry) a tour of the Bachman-Wilson House, either guided or self-guided. The symmetry and detail here are completely thought out and elegantly executed. The engineering feet to completely deconstruct a home and build it a new is also quite impressive. I say it all the time, but Crystal Bridges is a Gem of the Ozarks!
Orchids are one of my favorite flowering plants. They are so unique, so diverse. One of our early trips together, Pamela and I went to Tulsa, OK and visited the Philbrook Museum. If you haven’t been, it’s another of those treats in the mid-west. Anytime you blend the 20’s with Italian Style villa’s and sprinkle a ton of art and nature on top, you will find me having a brilliant time. This orchid was found in bloom inside the greenhouse on the grounds.
I, like everyone, am drawn to certain kinds of art. I generally am drawn to, photography, abstract expressionism, impressionism, expressionism generally. I tend to dislike realistic depictions and prefer abstract, often obtuse allegory. When I go to museums, I tend to spend most of my time in these areas, but I try to spend time leisurely perusing though other galleries seeing what strikes my fancy. I especially tend to appreciate the depth afforded to special exhibits, but I always to the same thing. I see something I don’t care about and start to discard this event as boring. Almost always I push though this and am nearly universally rewarded with the unexpected. So was the case when I visited the Stedelijk and saw this massive collection of animated sculptures and automated art machines by Jean Tinguely! Not only was this show incredibly put together with a HUGE space dedicated to so many of his Machines, it was also interesting to see the decay of these monsters.
This is perhaps a more familiar form explored by Dale Chihuly and on display at the Crystal Bridges of American Art. You should go visit the display and the museum if you haven’t been in a while (of have not been at all). The have some wonderful pieces and one of the few museums in the world where you get to listen to people regularly exclaim, “Well I do that”!
(not something you regularly hear in the Chihuly show)
One of the great artistic resources living in the Ozarks is The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It is arguably one of the finest American Art Museums in the world, and I am flabbergasted how often I run across people who don’t even know of its existence. Pamela and I recently made a trip down to Arkansas to visit the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock and on the way home we stopped in to see the Usonain house newly relocated to the grounds. We just so happened to coordinate our visit with a fun Dale Chihuly Outdoor display (another of our favorites). This is the first of a few I will be posting over the next few weeks. It reminded me of some sort of alien form (or if you are into Magic…Emrakul).
I often find the fascination with the tools of war sort of morose. To me, war is the worst of humanity. Even in conflict of purpose or humanitarian resolve, that genesis is to battle some horror, some Inhumanity. Art, and again this is to me, is the exact opposite. Art, and I mean art very broadly, is the greatest of our achievements. I am very often acutely aware of these feelings when visiting a museum like Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam which houses relics of many themes. Perhaps, this is a more balanced view, the best of worst of what we do as a species. Reminders that humans can disembowel someone they don’t know for an unknown reason, or paint “Night Watch”.
A quick photo today from Paris. Pamela and I made a rendezvous while I was on a trip around the world. She didn’t want to go on the entire jaunt, but when I said I was ending in Paris, she cashed in some award miles (January in Europe tends to be cheap as mileage awards go)! This is one of the many museums in Paris and is housed in a gorgeous mansion. I absolutely LOVE opulent home tours and this was absolutely beautiful!
The impressive Udvar-Hazy Center, part of the incomparable collection of the Smithsonian, has this beast as one of its central attractions. The are bigger planes, more historically significant flying machines, few hold the mystique of the space shuttle. This is the back end of Discovery, who’s history is chronicled through the display. Seeing a shuttle that close, seeing what are the scars of it battle on re-entry, is a truly a huge bit of awe that I hope anyone interested in flight gets to witness.
