Filed under: Art
An elderly woman standing behind me in line was talking to her husband. I overheard her telling him about the last time antiquities from Pharaoh Tutankhamen were on display at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. She had walked up to a docent standing at the front door and asked if she could get tickets to the exhibit that day. He laughed at her.
Obviously, the boy king commanded much popularity.
I visited the exhibit two days ago with a mid-morning entry ticket. The line was tolerable and I bought an audio tour to help keep my mind off of the growing crowd of visitors packing in line around me. Thanks to the Internet I was able to surf the official exhibit site and get a sneak preview of the layout of this current tour. A video presentation followed by separate themed rooms alternating between life and death. The selection of antiquities was carefully designed to impress as well as educate. Plenty of fine examples of ancient Egyptian artistry and craftsmanship. Gold – loads of it. Some items so delicate yet so well-preserved.
There were a few notable items on display. A pair of gilded wooden statues depicting Tutankhamen as lord of Upper and Lower Eygpt. The lid of a canopic jar whose face some scholars argue cannot possibly belong to the boy king (but nevertheless was found in his tomb). The small golden shrine decorated throughout with scenes of the pharaoh and his young wife hunting, feeding and sitting together. And a tiny coffin pried open with a miniature death mask propped beside it, curiously circled by solemn visitors leaning into their headsets as the narrator described how both arfifacts once housed the royal couple’s dead fetus.
The famous funerary mask of King Tut was not on display. I read on the official web site that this piece is not allowed to leave Egypt. A bit disappointing, but understandable given the great importance and value the mask bears. Overall, I would say that it was an excellent exhibit. Better appreciated at a slow pace. It’s not often that we can see royal artifacts up close and personal like this.
And with online ticket purchase, anyone can catch a glimpse inside without having a docent laugh disapprovingly in their faces.
Just over three months ago I printed this photo:
A tangle of limbs and branches
and I haven’t been back to the darkroom since. There’s a roll of film still loaded into my camera, and seven more in the side pocket of the camera bag. I want to get back to photography but there just hasn’t been enough time for it. Maybe later this month I’ll find some room in my schedule. But with work, bills, housekeeping, tax season, a pending California drought and the “r” word floating thereabouts, I am not sure if I can scrounge up enough quality time to produce great photography.
Perhaps a long afternoon spent experimenting with available light or delving into push-pull studies? Goodness knows I’ll need it. I’m feeling a bit rusty.
I just got back from a members-only preview event at the SFMOMA. Its latest special exhibit is a collection of sculptures by African American artist, Martin Puryear. A beautiful body of work. Elegant and smooth curves and a seemingly simplistic form that belies a highly symbolic meaning. Being one of the earliest visitors, I was able to enjoy this exhibit at my own slow pace – something I couldn’t do with the melee surrounding Frida Kahlo’s exhibit earlier this year. It was nice being able to study his work up close, often times from within a few inches from each piece. I walked around many of them, taking each in at different angles, savoring the beauty of their forms.
What amazed me about his sculptures was how he constructed each of them. Many of the pieces were carefully assembled and intricately joined. Though many of the works as a whole looked delicately minimalistic, a close inspection of each piece revealed unique touches – flush and precise joinery, asymmetry (especially in the sculptures with visible interiors), juxtaposition of surfaces, knurls from the wood that added character to the overall piece, patterns that arise from the materials themselves. Wonderfully ingenious. Excellent craftsmanship. My personal favorites were Brunhilde, C.F.A.O., Old Mole, and Ladder for Booker T. Washington, which was suspended over the SFMOMA lobby:
Martin Puryear - Ladder for Booker T. Washington
This was the only work of his exhibit I was able to photograph. Although its placement in the museum lacked the effect of its original installation, I think it went well with the interior architecture.
Puryear’s exhibit runs throughout this holiday season and it is worth visiting. It’s a great way to learn more about form, simplicity and symbolism in three-dimensional art.
If you don’t mind mingling with a couple hundred other art lovers on a nice Summer day (or evening … that’s what we did), then head on down to the SFMOMA for a trio of great exhibits.
FRIDA KAHLO
Who hasn’t heard of Frida? Her face easily recognizable from the many self portraits she painted, her life story memorialized in volumes of books and one recent cinematic film. But I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not as familiar with her work and the progression of her painting career apart from those ubiquitous self portraits. Having the opportunity to see them in person helped me overcome that lack of knowledge. Frida was a highly skilled painter and she used both abstraction and realism in her work. Her grasp of Surrealism is extraordinary. The symbols she employed aren’t too far-fetched yet quite thought-provoking. She wasn’t afraid to tell it to you straight up what she wanted you to take from her paintings. Brazenly employing even the most graphic visuals, the most appropriate symbology, she told you her thoughts. Showed you her pain.
There were far too many gems in this exhibit to mention. My personal favorite is The Two Fridas, seen here:
The Two Fridas
I think the painting speaks for itself. I’m just in awe of how gripping this is. How much information it communicates. Great paintings do that.
THE ART OF LEE MILLER
Achieving success both in front of and behind the camera lens, Lee Miller deserves praise for her contribution to 20th century photography. Examining her work at the SFMOMA, I was very impressed with her eye and her grasp of form, light and shadow. Equally impressive was the range of subject matter she photographed. Fashion models, still life, landscapes, etc. She employed both fine art (including her work with solarized prints – a style that ex-lover Man Ray and her made popular) and documentary approaches.
Kudos to the SFMOMA for presenting two strong women artists this Summer.
CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ART
Last but not least was a neat selection of artwork from various Chinese artists. You couldn’t miss this exhibit – not only does it share the floor with Kahlo, but the set of large, smiling caricature sculptures by Yue Minjun placed bowling pin style across the hall will draw you in. The selection of art in this exhibit varies from politically-motivated paintings to simple expressions of identity. There’s even a large scale mixed media statue of Chairman Mao asleep in bed while a colorful landscape of plastic toy dinosaurs winds its way towards him in a dreamlike march. Irreverence? Or whimsy? Whatever your take on this piece it’s anything but simple.
… … …
POWER AND GLORY: COURT ARTS OF THE MING DYNASTY
Let me squeeze in one more art review, okay?
Sure there were vases at the Asian Art Museum’s Ming Dynasty exhibit. And silk paintings, and funerary soldier statues. And gold. Loads of it. But there were also great stories along with those items. History that spans centuries so long ago. That was the real draw of this exhibit. And there was a touch of humanity behind this rich display of wealth. The court scenes painted on scrolls showed that.
My favorite, though, was the Portrait of Prince Zhou Youyuan in a ceremonial uniform. It’s a simple painting depicting the seated father in royal attire. The accompanying information plaque detailed all of the symbols inserted into this painting – a careful selection of auspicious symbols and colors that heap reverence and praise for a loved one. That, to me, spelled power more convincingly than pure gold bracelets and ranking symbols.
Like I said in my earlier entry, The City’s museums stepped up to the plate this season with their selection of art exhibits. Stepped up and hit a grand slam.
Filed under: Art
… if you look hard enough …
wicked, no?
Cool.
