Bristol (Day 2 - morning) - The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery - The 16th of January 2015

(...)

By ten (the opening hour for the Museum) we were outside its main entrance. Once inside I was astounded by the interior decoration  of the Edwardian Baroque building housing the Museum and couldn't help photographing it, particularly the biplane replica hanging from the ceiling of the main hall, said to have been made in 1963 for the film "Those magnificent men in their flying machines".

Having realised we would most probably not be able to visit the whole Museum galleries in the morning we decided on venturing onto the second floor where French Art and old master Italian  and Dutch paintings were in display, as part of the permanent collection, not wothout having first photographed  an oil  and pencil on paper painting by Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) called The Hands, which caught my attention on the ground floor.

 

 

The painter is said to have made her hospital drawings after having watched surgeons in the operating theatre when her own daughter was being treated. In this picture the surgeons'hands stand out in a prayer-like and peaceful pose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bronze bust of Kathleen Garman (left), Sir Jacob Epstein's long-term mistress and muse, whom the sculptor (1880-1959) would marry after the death of his wife. I came across an account of the making of this work worth of note "a trembling eagerness of life pulsates throughout the work ... a quartet of harmonies ... head, shoulders, body and hands like music." Madame Récamier's marble bust (right) after Joseph Chinard celebrating the beauty of the hostess known to have great wit and charm.

The pianist by Eugene Carrière (1849-1906) - oil on paper laid on canvas. The almost monochromatic grey aplette and soft focus contribute to the naturalistic recreation of light , space and colour according to specialists.

La Frette by Lucien Pissarro (1863-1944) - oil on canvas. This late (neo-) Impressionist scene was painted from a high vantage point on the river bank at the village of la Frette on the Seine.

 

Saint Jerome in a landscape (detail) by Giovanni di Niccolo Mansueli ( -1526) - oil on canvas. According to Christian legend when he was in the wilderness Saint Jerome removed a thorn from a lion's paw. His compassion towards the creature was interpreted as an act of Christian charity.

Andrea del Verrochio (1435-1488) - Madonna and child with angels - painted stucco and wood.

 

Madonna and the child (1509) by the Flemish School - oil on panel.

Giovanni Bellini - The descent of Christ into limbo (detail) - oil on vellum on panel. Christ is depicted in a radiant white mantle, trampling down the gates of hell as he enters the abyss, from which the naked figures of Adam and Eve have already been liberated, whilst another man cringes at the cacophony made by the trumpeting demons.

Il Cerano (1575-1632) - The flight into Egypt - oil on canvas. The quiet drama of the scene painted by the well considered Milanese painter of the 17th century is created by the extreme contrasts of light and dark, as well as the nearly life-size depiction of the Holy Family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Larkin attributed (1585-1619) - Portrait of an unknown lady - oil on panel. Although little is known about this painter it is certain that he worked for patrons connected with the Royal Court over a decade.

 

Cornelies de Zeeu - Portrait of a young man (1565) - oil on panel.

 

Jan Steen (1626-1679) - Kitchen interior - oil on panel. A lascivious gesture towards a serving maid with a man in the shadows laughing behind the scene.

Dutch School - The denial of Peter (about 1630) - oil on canvas. A young woman is depicted pointing her finger to accuse Peter of being a follower of Christ. This highly admired picture has been associated with the early work of the Dutch artist Gabriel Metsu, although the question of attribution has not yet been satisfactorily resolved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(To be continued)

 

Bristol (Day 2 - early morning) - Amusing ourselves around the Millennium Square - The 16th of January 2015

We left the Ibis Hotel fairly early in the morning and before heading to the Bristol Museum and Art gallery amused ourselves posing next to the Millennium Square statues and the huge ball as if we weren't mother and daughter but children, which wasn't too bad a feeling ... and the more so if one considers how unnatural we sometimes are in not doing what we just feel like ... (... and it did feel good).

Gary Grant's statue by Graham Ibbeson

 

The poet Thomas Chatterton's statue

 

William Penn's statue

The English scholar William Tyndale's statue

(To be continued)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bristol (Day 1 evening) - On the way to the Hotel -The 15th of January 2015

We reached Bristol by early afternoon and headed soon after to the city centre, where our Hotel was located. Having been dropped at the Red Cliff bridge we walked towards the Millennium Square not before having come across the first interesting statue I photographed before it got any darker, despite not knowing anything about its meaning (I'd try to find out about it later).

The Millennium Square was right after having crossed the Pero's bridge over what was signalled on the map as the floating harbour and on it the Ibis Hotel we would be spending the next three nights at.

Soon after having dropped our back packs we headed to the Cathedral area, just a few minutes away from the hotel where we walked into a bookshop we were to spend our next hour in before darkness fell, once it would be impossible to visit anything given the limited amount of time.

 

 

 

When we headed back to the hotel we were carrying our first purchased goods - a few books and DVDs.

 

The latest book I have read ...

As I read the synopsis of this book I knew almost instantaneously I would have to buy it, though at the time I had no idea I would actually buy it and read it over night. I couldn't help thinking back to when I visited the Facteur Idéal's dream-like palace and my youngest daughter's own words when she so eagerly wanted to  become a postwoman for reasons that sounded rather "visionary" - participating in the go-around cycle of handing out written messages to addressees in a rather respectable way bearing in mind the importance of handwriting.


One of the main characters - the postman (in the original Franch version referred to as "facteur émotif")  by intercepting and secretly steaming open envelopes and reading the letters inside not only finds an escape from his rather gloomy and lonely routin-like life but is also caught in a relationship between a long-distance couple who use poetry as their way of communicating.


The story is brilliant and intricately weaved adding a touch of unexpected magic to what is beyond no doubt a book worth reading. 

"Captivating philosophical tale in which everything happens in slow motion, as in a dream. Endowed with a powerful imagination."

 

 

"This unassuming short novel has all of the best of short contemporary literary fiction: experimentation, freshness and wonder. (...) Centred on haiku and briefly the tanka (...) it reads like a poetic conversation, but also an ode to Japanese poetic form. (...) With notes on the poetry and a strong poetic presence throughout, the novel also does a praiseworthy job of making these poetic forms accessible and understandable to new readers. Nad like these pithy but provocative poems, Thériault's novel does a lot in a short place."

 

 

"Enchanting, philosophically astute and deeply poignant."








 

Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the shore ...

I had been given this book in its French version sometime in 2014 but only got around to reading it at the begining of the New Year. I wish I had read it earlier as I very much enjoyed being enfolded in such a rather unique world, where cats had a voice, spirits slipped out of their bodies and mixed with the living in a no less unique way ..., just to mention a few "unconventional" issues displayed in the book but what I was most impressed with was Murakami's way of  "throwing in" certain "concepts" which have given me food for thought.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"While anyone can tell a story that resembles a dream, it's the rare artist, like this one, who can make us feel we are dreaming it ourselves."

 

 

"Part bildungsroman, part metaphysical thriller, part meditation on the elusive nature of time Kafka on the shore displays all the talents that have made Haruki Murakami one of the most loved novelists in the world today."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Private Art collection of Franco Maria Ricci - temporary exhibition at Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon - The 28th of December 2014

From among the several temporary exhibitions on display at Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga I sellected the one covering paintings and sculptures from Ricci's private Art collection for mere curiosity, taking into account the little I had read about the personal characteristics of Ricci, considered one of the most brilliant Italian graphic designers, amidst various other remarkable "accomplishments".

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I walked into the first gallery two of three paintings on the right hand side caught my attention, maybe because that was not exactly what I had been expecting. I soon fount out they were Antonio Ligabue's (1899-1965). His oil on hardboard self portrait was really impressive not only because of reminding me of the famous self-portrait by Van Gogh but because the stripped shirt framing the painter's face highlights his profound expression. Ligabue's is said to have had a rather distressing life spent between psychiatric clinics and the Lombardy forest with practices of self-mutilation (of which we can see a wound marked on his self-portrait painting) until his  final success and recognition.

 

 

I enjoyed quite a few religious oriented paintings dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, though most of the pictures I have taken are from sculptures for obvious photographic reasons but also for the variety of styles.

 

 

 

I couldn't help taking several pictures of a gallery dedicated to several artists' obssession with death in the form of either sculptures and paintings.

 

 

"Vanitas" - linden wood - first half of the 18th century. The quality of the material used for this sculpture and its accentuated chiaroescuro effect, albeit the macabre austerity that typically characterises so many compositions of this genre suggest that the piece can be attributed to the artist of Dutch origin and later naturalised English, Grinling Gibbons because of his recognised technical virtuosity.

"Allegory of Death" - oil on canvas - late 17th century - circle of Juan de Valdés Leal (right). Linked to various Spanish examples dating from the late 17th century this painting represents the ephemeral condition of all men; the papal tiara, the bishops's mitre, the sceptre and the crown are all symbols of the disillusion of earthly glory. Believed to originate from a Cistercian Monastery.

 

"Dead Christ" - terracota with patina - early 18th century. This sculpture forms part of the almost serial tradition of representing the body of the dead Christ in the tomb with his shroud open.

 

  

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598 - 1680) - "Portrait of Pope Clement X Altieri" - marble - c. 1675 (left). The sculpting of this bust may have sealed the reconciliation between the most famous Roman Baroque sculptor and the pope after a serious misunderstanding that had occurred between the two of them. Lorenzo Merlini (1666 - 1745) - "Portrait of Cardinal Paluzzo Paluzzi degli Albertoni Altieri" (right) - marble. The hunched back, fallen chin, short sightedness and roguish expression reveal a caricatural force in the tradition of Bernini.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Francesco Orso (1745 - 1820) - "Portraits of Victor Amadeus III of Savoy and Maria Antonia Fernanda of Bourbon" - polychrome wax. Having trained at a workshop that produced religious pieces Orso later settled in Paris where his first steps on working with wax led  to success once he was taken by the soon famous to be Madame Tussaud.

Giovanni Battista Bernero (1736 - 1796) - "Victor Amadeus III and Maria Antonia Fernanda of Bourbon (pair)" - plaster of Paris and stucco - 1774. The profiles of the King of Sardinia and his consort made in oval frames belong to what is considered a more mature period of the sculptor.

Marie-Anne Collot (1748 - 1821) - "Portrait of young woman" (left) - terracota with patina - 1765. This is one of the scuptress's first works, made when she was sixteen. Considered to be one of the greatest French portrait artists of the 18th century, she left an important group of busts she produced of famous personalities of the time. Giovan Battista Nini (1717 - 1786) - "Mademoiselle Jeannette Nini" (right) - terracota - 1762. Giovan Nini was famous in France for having produced portrait medallions in terracota, in which he immortalised many of the European sovereigns, aristocrats, courtiers and artists.

Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741 -1828) - "Portrait of Marie-Ange-Cécile Langlois, the sculptor's wife"- plaster of Paris. It was the art of portraiture that gave Houdon his fame. Throughout his career he sculpted the effigies of leading figures from the Parisian artistic and intellectual life of the time.

A. Riffard. "Bust of a woman" - terracota - late 18th century. This bust forms a pair with a male portrait (not in display) both of them said to express a new aesthetic that was typical of the revolutionary period.

Lorenzo Bartolini (1777 - 1850) - "Bust of Paris after Antonio Canova"  (left) - marble - 1823. Based on the famous statue of Paris made by Canova for the Empress Josephine Bartolini sculpted at least two versions of the Greek hero. Tito Angelini (1806 - 1878) - "Bust of Venus after Antonio Canova" (right) - marble.After his aprenticeship with his father at the Naples Academy of Fine Arts Tito perfected his art in Rome, where he adopted a form of dogmatic neoclassicism. 

Adolfo Wildt (1888 -1931) - "Mother" - fragment from The family -marble - 1922. A stylistic abstraction. 

Giandante X (1900 -1984) - "Man's head or Head of Benito Mussolini" - bronze. Its author is said to have been a multifaceted figure . architect, painter, sculptor, ceramist and poet who defined himself as "extra expressionist-constructivist".

Giuseppe Baldrighi (1723 -1803) - "Old lady with small dog" - oil on canvas. Having returned to Parma in the mid- 18th century following a period of training in Paris Baldrighi dedicated himself almost exclusively to painting portraits of the Duke's family and local personalities from the Court circles.

 

Pietro Melchiorre Ferrari (1734 -1787) -"Portrait of Antonio Ghidini with his family" - oil on canvas. A masterpiece of Italian portraiture from the second half of the 18th century.

Francesco Hayez (1791 -1882) - "Portrait of Francesca Madjnoni d'Intignano dell'Acquafreda"- oil on canvas - 1829. This portrait with its extraordinary introspective force was directly commissioned by the widow of a senior Milanese official and advisor to the emperor Francis I of Habsburg. Hayez is said to have been able to interpret the strong character of Francesca, who did not hesitate to sell her husband's precious collections to sustain her numerous offspring.

Placido Fabris (1802 - 1859) - "Count Giambattista Serbelloni Sfrondati"  (detail) - oil on canvas - 1847. In the portrait of one of the most illustrious members of a Milanese family the light-filled backdrop enriched it by having it turned into a well established compositional scheme oriented portrait.

Joseph Ritter (1800 - 1861) - "Portrait of a man" (detail) - oil on canvas - 1832. A rare work by a still little known artist, which has a certain rustic force ennobled by the artistic reference. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exhibition ended on a gallery in the opposite side of the main entrance hall, where not only a replica of Ricci's library had been put up but a film based on the idea behind the construction of his labyrinth surrounded Museum, as well as interesting details of his life was running. He is definitely a very unique person and from what I was able to see he has undoubtedly already made an aesthetic and cultural difference. 

 

 

The two hours I spent admiring the artistic pieces of this collection were well worth it and I do believe I might go back sometime to further look at details. Clearly one of the best Sundays in recent months.