National Archeological Museum of Athens

Here are a few of my favorite pieces in the National Archeological Museum in Athens.  When I checked into the lovely Athens Gate Hotel in the shadow of the Acropolis, I found two randy (okay, arty) pictures, almost identical to above, over my bed.  The next day who did I happen upon in the museum but the two lovers, life-size, in the marble.  I'd recognize those abs anywhere!

Love this statue of Aphrodite fending Pan's advances off with her sandal!  On my last day in Athens there was yet another protest march --- by the poets and artists of Athens.  Apparently all their signs were in poetic form.  A poetry slam!  I wonder what the busloads of police in full riot gear thought of this group?  Next stop, Venice....

Van Gogh's Starry Nights revisited

Dear WM fans, As always, thanks for the comments---they are like little dollops of excitement falling into my day.  Recently, an anonymous reader left the following comment on the post about Arthur Buxton's pie charts of Van Gogh paintings---"Where is Starry Night? Must have lots of blue and a good bit of yellow.  None of the pies match it!" 

Well, I initially thought the same thing.  And the comment reminded me of another very cool and very new resource on the web --- the Goggle Art Project.  You can "visit" famous museums all over the world and look at some of the most famous art in the world.  In fact, in many cases, you can get much closer to it than you could in the actual museum.  So I went the the MOMA in NYC to take a closer look at Starry Nights......

 

I zoomed here...

 then there... 

 I zoomed everywhere... 

(all click to enlarge)

My conclusion: The top left pie chart of the Buxton poster (a small fraction of that poster below) is Starry Nights.   Or is it the bottom right one below?   Argh, I can't decide.   Keep in mind the pie charts only plot the five most common colors (which of course begs the question of how the colors are defined.  Are they Pantone colors?).  At any rate, go have some fun at the museum!

The decisive moment...

In San Francisco this week I visited the SF Museum of Modern Art where the first major retrospective of the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson (died 2004 at age 95) is on exhibit until late January.  From the exhibit:

"An innovative artist, trailblazing photojournalist, and quintessential world traveler, Henri Cartier-Bresson ranks among the most accomplished and original figures in the history of photography. His inventive images of the early 1930s helped define the creative potential of the medium, and his uncanny ability to capture life on the run made his work synonymous with "the decisive moment." This major retrospective offers a fresh look at Cartier-Bresson's entire career, revealing him as one of the great portraitists of the 20th century and one of its keenest observers of the global theater of human affairs."

The exhibit is vast and engrossing and left me wondering how much an original would cost.  From Artnet and various other places on web it looks like a signed photograph is typically between ten and twenty thousand US dollars.  This reminded me of a friend I had in graduate school in the 80s---Joanne had two firmly held goals in life, she wanted a signed Picasso drawing and a fur coat.  You might appreciate this seemed quite exotic to the rest of us scientist-students and I've often wondered since if she achieved these goals. 

In February the exhibit will go to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

The exhibit book....gorgeous!

"It is through living that we discover ourselves, at the same time as we discover the world around us."

----Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1952

Gayer-Anderson Museum, Cairo

I know that the Egypt posts are getting old at this point but I have two more sets of pics to put up.  The first is the Gayer-Anderson Museum in Cairo, a house museum considered to represent the finest example of 17th century domestic architecture in Egypt.  The house was preserved by a British major (Gayer-Anderson), who lived there between 1935 and 1942.  He bequeathed his extensive collection of art objects and decor to the government on the condition that the residence was turned into a museum.

As always, what I love about house museums is you see exactly how normal people lived their lives (although obviously these are often people known for their exceptional aesthetic taste and artistry).  Lots of good ideas here, like the simple fringe valance above two panels of printed cotton.  You could buy an Indian tapestry just like these at Urban Outfitters.

 Mashrabiya, the architectural term which describes these traditional wooden screened windows.  One has a perfect view of street but with complete privacy.  If you remember the post which visited H. H. Richardson's famous house Stonehurst, you will see his inspired use of the mashrabiya element.

An interior courtyard...

Painted wooden mottos....

rooftop patio....

Used as set in James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me....

Egyptian stained glass uses plaster to separate glass.

built into corner of stairwell....it is made of stone but could just as easily be painted wood.

outdoor living....

The Bullerswood Carpet, Now you see it.....

The Bullerswood is the grandest of all the hand-knotted carpets made by Morris & Co.  It dates to 1889 and is based on ancient Persian and Turkish carpet samples collected by Morris.  It has woolen pile on a cotton warp, is colored with vegetable dyes, and is HUGE, approximately 4 meters by 7.5 meters (13 feet by 25 feet).  It is currently on view in the British Galleries at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The carpet is rarely displayed and its colors are still vibrant.  While researching the carpet I found a fascinating article about how scientists have determined the ideal display and lighting conditions for this masterpiece.

The vegetable dyes used in the carpet "range from reasonably light-fast to very fugitive."  (What a great use of the word fugitive!)  The curators must consider that the "brighter the illumination, the easier the object will be to see but the greater the rate of light-induced deterioration."  What to do?  The approach was to carry out a series of experiments on the back of the carpet.  Sections of different colors were brightly illuminated over time intervals long enough to detect fading by measuring spectra of reflected light with a spectrophotometer.  Unexpectedly, they discovered that the blue areas on the carpet faded the most with the least fading occurring for burgundy, opposite of what is typically the case for objects colored with vegetable dyes.

 The V&A has developed a lighting policy which establishes acceptable fading rates for artifacts, namely that changes be limited to one 'just noticeable fade' (JNF) in 50 years.  After a very technical discussion of how one measures a JNF (a new unit for this scientist) the article concludes that exposure for the carpet would need to 19 years of display at 50 lux to conform to the policy.  As the light level in the gallery is 100 lux, it was decided that the carpet would be on display for only 5 years, a length of time which allows for errors in the above calculations as well as preserving the possibility of a further five years display over the next half century.  Pretty interesting!  I now realize how lucky I was to even get a glimpse of this beauty.

 Morris notebook sketch of design for Bullerswood Carpet

Some Lovely Linen, V & A Collection I

An embroidered hanging made in 1896 at the Haslemere Peasant Industries workshop in Surrey, an artisans collaborative started by Godfrey Blount in 1894.  Haslemere Peasant Industries served as a marketing organization for local craftspeople and supported a London shop for the sale of work. This panel, one of the "Peasant Tapestries", is made using applique of linen on linen with the edging in linen thread.  It was designed by Godfrey Blount.

 A stenciled linen panel, characterized by soft colors and stylized motifs, designed and executed by George Walton in 1898.  Panels such as this were used as wall decorations.  This one, measuring about 2.5 by 6 feet was up over a door in the V&A.

 The central courtyard of the Victoria & Albert Museum, William Morris's home away from home.....

Red House Ceilings

One of the really spectacular aspects of Red House are the ceilings, many of which were hand-painted by Morris and his friends.  Some have since been repainted by subsequent owners but the main stairwell ceiling is still original (and smoke stained).

On many of the ceilings you can see the patterns punched with small holes on the ceiling board.  The docent said that Morris did this to guide the later painting (after the ceiling boards were installed).  In some rooms the ceilings were never painted but the pattern was punched.

Up the stairs and through this archway you find the hall with the ceiling below....

To the left is this bedroom.....

In the main living room the small window seat alcove sports the ceiling pattern below.....if the historians hadn't confirmed it was a pattern and color original to the house, I would have guessed this was painted in the sixties!

Love the castle turrets on the stair posts!

A beautiful three-quarter arch...

In the Morris bedroom is this reproduction of the famous blue serge bed-curtain embroidered by Janey.  I have always loved this pattern (daisy)----if I was ever stranded for a year on a desert island with nothing but yarn, fabric and a needle, this would be a great project!

I hope everybody was inspired by these pictures of Red House!  I want to go home and paint white rooms with fabulous ceilings and doors.   Next, the Ducal Palace in Urbino, Italy....