Tag Archives: art

Prosciutto and parmigiano spiced with art

Santa Maria Assunta cathedral and Baptistery, Parma, Italy

Prosciutto and parmigiano you’d find all over the world. Two famous brands that added Parma on the list of UNESCO Creative Cities for gastronomy. But even if it were not its famous foods Parma stands out with its magnificent buildings and its remarkable works of art. Its cathedral, Santa Maria Assunta rebuilt in the 11th century is a remarkable example of Romanesque architecture. The cathedral’s campanilla, built about a hundred years later shows sign of the coming Gothic.

Benedetto Antelami’s “Deposition from the cross” dates from the 12th century

The inside of the cathedral brings together the most famous names of the Parma artists of the time with Coreggio painting the cupola and Benedetto Antelmi’s famous “Deposition”. On the nave’s walls stunning cycle of frescoes by Latazzio Gambara that tell the story of the Life of Christ and episodes from the Old Testament and the “Christ in glory” fresco in the apse by Gerolamo Mazzola Bedoli.

At the end of the 12th century the city council commissioned Benedetto Antelmi to build its now famous baptistery, an octogonal building symbolizing the transition from the rectangular form of cathedrals representing the earthly realm to the spherical form symbolizing the heavens. Besides being the architect of this masterpiece Antelmi sculpted a set of 12 statues representing the sign of the zodiac that were perched up in the loggias. Recently the statues were cleaned up and moved at the eye level, adding to the astounding plethora of treasures of the Baptistery.

Pedestrian Cavour street in Parma, Italy

After visiting the UNESCO heritage of Parma old town, Cavour street invites for a casual stroll and a stop on one of the restaurants’ terraces, a change of scenery from the incessant art that bombarded you in the old town. You take a break, clean your mind and your eyes and become ready for visiting the dense collections of Palazzo della Pilotta.

Biblioteca Palatina, Palazzo Pilotta, Parma, Italy

Palazzo dela Pilotta, taking his name from the game of pelota played once by the Spanish soldiers in its courtyard took us a large part of the visiting day. Its Biblioteca Palatina has one of the largest collection of Hebrew writings in Europe.

The palace hosts the national art gallery of Parma, an extensive collection displaying works of art of Italian and Flemish artists. And as it is the case in Europe and not in North America, the art is displayed sequentially, a march of history through art showing its evolution.

And when all is ready and done, the museums and churches closed for the evening, you revert to prosciutto and parmigiano reggiano for a delicious dinner.

Modernism

Most of the people know Friedensreich Hundertwasser as a remarkable painter. An artist whose graphic designs seem to dive into a more profound spirituality of the visible and inspire the viewer that admires his work. His colorful spirals dominate his many collections, twisting and turning, like delving in an absconded realm that he could effortless see even if we try pointless to figure it out its meaning.

Hundertwasserhaus Museum, Vienna, Austria

His architectural designs try to avoid straight lines – “the straight line is God less”, he said – embedding in the rooms unregulated irregularities. He strives for a humanity in harmony with nature, with trees growing in windows and flowers coming out of the floors. These trees are called tree tenants and he had an entire manifesto regarding their use and right to be there, cohabitating with humans in windows and balconies.

Besides, Hundertwasser was a philosopher and mainly an activist for ecology in a time when this was not a cool thing to do. He wrote letters and manifestos, speeches and public performances criticizing the doctrine of permanent growth that is so alive mainly today, the wasteful society and the ridiculous conformism of the society. Probably he would die again to see the fake corporate culture spread across the world.

The Romanian poet Eminescu lived here during his stay in Vienna

Not far from Hundertwasserhaus Museum is the place where another modern, this time the Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu lived while studying in Vienna where not having yet the baccalaureate exam he was accepted as an extraordinary auditor. The word went that Eminescu seemed to lack money. I don’t know how the neighborhood looked in his time but for sure now it is a very spiffy location.

Modernism in Vienna’s turn of the 20th century arrived on top of ruins and devastation caused by the war. The empire collapsed forced by huge inequality and poverty of the masses and acute tensions among many of its nationalities.

The exhibit at Leopold Museum presents this remarkable advent of the new modernist current in all its aspects, a wealth of artistic and intellectual achievement. At the time of this explosive movement towards modernity Vienna was the city of contradictions that lived side by side: nobility and liberals intellectuals, magnificent building and the squalor of the slums, Zionism and anti-semitism.

The remarkable Secessionists and the concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or universal work of art brought art to all areas of life. The Austrian Expressionism started exploring the soul extracting feeling that showed a dissolution of the self, a subject kept tabu for generations by exactly that conformity of the society that I mentioned above. A lot of these artists were part of the new bourgeoisie, many of them Jewish who later on had to flee Vienna, leaving behind them a vacuum of creativity.

From painting, to furniture to architecture to sculpture to jewelry and poster design the exhibition passes through all forms of art that made Vienna what was renown for in its heydays. But what is impressive of this exhibition “Vienna 1900 Birth of Modernism” is the breadth of art of all kinds, from paintings to decorative and home use objects brought from private collection to fill three floor of this remarkable museum.

I passed by at the Kinsky auction house in Vienna where it was the pre-auction viewing of a number of Klimt drawings and a portrait of Margarethe Constance Lieser, the daughter of Adolf Lieser. Actually the auctioneers were not sure if the painting depicted her or one of the two daughters of Justus Lieser and his wife Henriette but no matter who the woman was the guy who won the auction paid 30m for it days latter. Anyway I planned to be in Budapest for the day of the auction so I decided to pass on bidding against whatever Arab sheik or a rude Russian disguised as a gentleman. Better a goulash by the Danube…

Following my own steps

Munich welcomed me with snow. It was almost freezing overnight but so late in April I did not expect to snow. The white flurries descended on Marienplatz bringing tearing zits on the weathered gothic windows of the city hall. I decided to take a later train to Vienna and follow for a bit my own footsteps in Munich. Footsteps from a life behind, an intermediate life, a life in limbo, a suspended life that many these days experience way worse than we ever had.

And as today, my steps always brought me to Marienplatz, a place that now is way more touristy than I ever remember.

The snow stopped and the sun came out, the cold German sun of spring, somehow like an excuse for the German spirit, precise, cold and distant like the frigid days of a long winter.

My footsteps ported me to Frauenkirche and Stachus, to the opera house on Maximilianstrasse, to OdeonPlatz and Theatinerkirche, Residenz, Englisher Garten, Franz Jozef Brucke, Maurerkirchestrasse and beyond on a walk that I did almost daily many, many years ago.

The Munich “Bahnhof” is in a process of reconstruction, a thing that adds to the ugliness of its surrounding, a quarter still inhabited by migrants selling wares of all sorts, loitering and calling loudly each other in all languages of the world. The hotels around the rail station that I knew so well were converted in “boutique” hotels, probably looking not much better than decades ago but branded for the new cool of the day.

Chinesischer Turm in Englisher Garten, Munich, Germany

Englisher Garten is charming even in a snowy day, even if nobody gathered with beer maas around the Chinesischer Turm.

But a newer Pinakothek was a sign of renewal. The two famous Munich art collections, Alte and Neue Pinakothek have a new neighbor, Pinakothek der Moderne that displays works of the German expressionists, as well as lots of contemporary works.

The collection is housed in a new spiffy 3-floor building having a UFO at its entrance.

To the utmost surprise the basement has an exhibit of Paula Scher, “Time is image” that has many of her works including …all the posters for Shakespeare in the Park, the free-theater summer performances in Central Park in New York.

An der Donau

It seems that Donauworth’s claim to fame came from Maria de Brabant’s beheading in the 13th century. Her husband, Louis of Bavaria suspected an affair and decided to whack her with no proof – Why? Because he could – just to come quickly an “oops” moment and the church to decide that it was a mistake. The rock where the old citadel was built is marked as the place where Maria was beheaded, her tomb now being in the Holy Cross Church, whose history goes back to the 11th century.

Donauworth sits on what is known in Bavaria as Romantishe Strasse. The name may have been created for marketing purposes but the small municipalities that belong to this collection are charming and a visit to them does not disappoint. Many years ago, in a time that looks like a previous life, I lived in Germany and traveled through these charming towns. Rothenburg ober der Tauber, Quedlinburg, Dinkesbuhl , Nordlingen, Fussen, Augsburg, Bamberg, Wurzburgh are just a few of these attractive places that transport you to the medieval time with their atmosphere.

Vornitz before meeting the Danube in Donauworth, Bavaria, Germany

Located at the confluence of Vorlitz and the Danube, Donauworth is actually a reconstruction. Only the churches were left standing after the war bombardments and the burgmeisters rebuilt the town in the traditional style.

I had many times encounters with people that seemed to be pure coincidences. But I always suspected that there may have been other factors that synced beyond the visible of the worlds and forced those encounters to happen. I went in Munich just to meet two good friends and have a beer together. But the encounter we all three had at Meister Werke exhibit in Stachus was unexpected. We entered just to see what’ s there looking for a roof bar just to find ourselves surrounded by large canvases of famous frescos that you can see only if you stretch your neck looking towards lofty ceilings and walls of cathedrals and palaces. The guys who came up with this concept wanted to lower the large frescos to the eye level and without a physical and anatomical effort visitors to be able to admire Michelangelo and Leonardo’s work sitting in front of them. Besides here you have all the time in the world to admire them, not rushed by the throngs of tourists to vacate the place.

The exhibit traveled the world, in New York happening 7 years ago at the Oculus. We had a long chat about the works and the cultural connection between these artists, connections that sometimes proved friendly and other times nefarious, with intricate details about their life, work and deeds. The story was told by the founder/owner with whom we started a chat in my struggling German, switching to English and after a while, by a slip of a tongue to realize that everybody spoke Romanian as well, switching to a heartfelt and warm conversation. Thank you, Gabriel for the warm-heartedness you showered upon us!

New Caryatides

In front of the Louvre new caryatides, live ones this time stand on construction blocks to pick between their fingers the tip of the pyramid. There are probably 5-6 blocks and it was a waiting line for each of them. It took me a while to understand why people were lining up in the middle of the square. And surprised in way that the guys who were selling umbrellas did not come with a milk crate to rent it as a photo studio. That’s a good start-up though based on the demand on a day when the museum was closed.

Otherwise Paris had stalls installed everywhere. Or at lest it seems so. Bleachers were raised in all places where there will be olympic competitions and as a result the entire center city looks like a building site up for an encompassing renovation.

But even with no olympic competition at the moment, a city in a beautification process and the whimsical April’s weather the city is flooded with tourists. And all take photos or selfies that at one point becomes more interesting to watch them than the objective they take photo of that you already have seen it many times before.

Everywhere in the city are offered bike tours that seem enchanting in a sunny day. Only that the sun in Paris shows up occasionally just to be followed by several downpours after which it shines again for a bit. But if you look on the weather app the showers or even constant rain is not mentioned at all. But everybody, locals and tourists, expects the downpours and carry with them an umbrella.

Right in the heart of the symbol of cuisine refinement, on Champs Elysees very close to Arc de Triomphe got inserted the utmost peak of refined food; “Five Guys, burger and fries”. I don’t know if the fries are marketed as “French Fries” or “Liberty Fries” 🙂

“Paris 1874 Inventing Impressionism” @ Musee d’ Orsay has beside a super-extremely crowded but interesting exhibition, a virtual reality one-hour show. I’ve had to see VR content several times for the media companies I am dealing with in NY but never had the patience to sit for an entire segment. But, in Paris wearing this time a tourist hat, I decided to join the crowd bellow and walk blindly through an empty room painted with weird signs. What I found interesting is that after the one-hour show ends and you take off your VR contraption the people you see around in the museum and exhibition you associate with the virtual ones in the show that seemed more real.

The other people, the crowd you joined the tour with, look like ghosts that trespass in front of you and no matter how tangible they are (because you may bump into them) are still perceived as just …phantoms. And ourselves may have felt like ghosts as long as we could not see our bodies and the moment we touched anything our hands were passing through the object! It’s like the Matrix again and again. So you have to get out on the street to feel again what is real and what is not. Watch the bus coming your way!

Brancusi

One hundred twenty years ago a young Romanian walked most of his way from Bucharest to Paris and ended up changing the world of art. For this anniversary, Paris’ Museum of Modern Art dedicated an all encompassing exhibit to Constantin Brancusi with more than 400 works of art, 120 sculptures and lots of archival content and films.

Brancusi seemed to be a rat pack and kept all papers, detailed correspondence, postcards from places where he or his friends traveled, personal documents, films made by him or some others about him, photos, music on vinyl and, of course, all the tools he used in his studio.

This is a treasure trove to understand Brancusi’s complex personality and to put together various aspects of his life. I may have seen before lots of his works in the American and European museums but I’ve never seen this impressive collection of documents that augments this spectacular exhibition.

One after another come also photos and letters from his forays in foreign lands, from America to Egypt and Asia. But one thing that is not mentioned is his visit to Romania when he was in his 70s with the intention to donate all his archive, copyright for his works, and the studio to the Romanian state.

However, after examining the offer, the Romanian Academy run by imbecilic communists and their Soviet darlings who were lurking in the shadows (like today), considered the work as ‘decadent’ and so incompatible with the proletarian art they wanted to promote.

The exhibit mentioned that Brancusi applied and received the French citizenship because he was afraid for the future of his work that may not be able to enter French museums if he were not a citizen but he did it also as a snub to the Romanian commies who refused his offer.

In the end Brancusi left his studio and all his archive to the French state that now is located at Center Pompidou in the heart of Paris, the city where he lived most of his life.

Slashed paintings

Paintings may get destroyed by time or events. But some are destroyed intentionally. Eduard Manet hated the way his wife Suzanne was painted by Degas in a relaxed family portrait gifted to them. We don’t know exactly what Manet did not like – for sure she did not look like a model – because he slashed the unwelcome side of the painting. Furious of this barbarous act, Degas took back the painting returning a painted still life that Manet gifted him.

The execution of Emperor Maximilian by Manet

The large Eduard Manet political painting of Mexico’s Emperor Maximilian execution got destroyed during its storage. The emperor’s story is a classical one of unkept promises in foreign politics as we see it now, on and on. After Manet died the painting was cut in pieces and sold by his inheritors. Eventually part of the recovered pieces were collected by Degas who put them together. Both paintings are showed in the Manet-Degas retrospective at the Met.

Roaming the world

FLYING MONK