For the third time I have hit the Back key on my browser (IE) while in the middle of writing in the post window and whoosh, all gone -- an hour's effort evaporated into the ether! Next time I had better use Notepad rather than typing directly in the post window. Anyway I'm not going to rewrite it from scratch, dammit, not this time.
In brief: went to the Met today. The Leonardo drawings (thru March 30th) are interesting, but limited in scope. And it's so crowded it's hard to get close enough to really see the drawings. Favorite title: "Sketch of a bear drawn over (faintly visible) outline of a pregnant woman" or something like that. I can see why Bill Gates bought the Codex Leicester (with all its tiny handwriting in mirror-script and marginal doodles of hydrodynamic gizmos) but it doesn't really move me or makes me see the world in a a different way.
The Manet/Velazquez show (thru June 8th?) on the other hand, is really an eye-opener -- how realism in 17th century Spain profoundly influenced 19th century French (and some American) painters, notably Manet. The linking artist is Goya and there are wonderful things here, including examples from Tauromaquia, Desastros de la Guerra (how topical!) and the Caprichos, forerunner of Moreau and Dore and of surrealists too.
Does ambient bellicosity makes one crave art? Hmm, let's see, there's also the Picasso-Matisse show in Queens and the Matthew Barney's Cremaster at the Guggenheim...
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In brief: went to the Met today. The Leonardo drawings (thru March 30th) are interesting, but limited in scope. And it's so crowded it's hard to get close enough to really see the drawings. Favorite title: "Sketch of a bear drawn over (faintly visible) outline of a pregnant woman" or something like that. I can see why Bill Gates bought the Codex Leicester (with all its tiny handwriting in mirror-script and marginal doodles of hydrodynamic gizmos) but it doesn't really move me or makes me see the world in a a different way.
The Manet/Velazquez show (thru June 8th?) on the other hand, is really an eye-opener -- how realism in 17th century Spain profoundly influenced 19th century French (and some American) painters, notably Manet. The linking artist is Goya and there are wonderful things here, including examples from Tauromaquia, Desastros de la Guerra (how topical!) and the Caprichos, forerunner of Moreau and Dore and of surrealists too.
Does ambient bellicosity makes one crave art? Hmm, let's see, there's also the Picasso-Matisse show in Queens and the Matthew Barney's Cremaster at the Guggenheim...
- bruno 3-06-2003 7:53 am