Tuesday, November 26, 2024

The Met: Decorative Arts, 1

The Met's extensive decorative arts collection sprawls over many rooms as well as major divisions of the institution and includes several gazillion artefacts as well as whole rooms and halls extracted from various places around the world. On several days' visits, we focused on the officially designated decorative arts sections, mostly European, but saw much more en passant as we traveled the various other departments and divisions. The pix below represent a tiny fraction of the collection. More will appear in a subsequent post. Still only a tiny fraction.

"Merovingian" Armoire, oak, silver, 1860s, Paris, depicting the
victory of King Merovich over Attila the Hun in 451; "go Frogs!
beat the Huns!"

Porcelain Cabaret, designed by Regnier, manufactured by Sevres, 1860s
Stained glass apartment building window in NYC; French, 1885;
what? your apartment doesn't have stained glass windows?!
Stained glass window in the downstairs bathroom of our home
on Horseback Ridge, west of Missoula, MT; c. 2007


Vase, designed by Hector Guimard, manufactured by Sevres, 1903;
unbeatable combination

Wagner, stoneware, Itasse and Mueller, Paris, 1895; OK, never
miss a Wagner

Clock, silver, gold, precious stones, French, 1881

Fireplace surround, glazed stoneware, Mueller, c. 1900

Bookcase on stand, oak, walnut, etc.; Michetti, Rome, 1715

Cabinet, marquetry of various woods, attributed to Jan
Mereken, Amsterdam, 1700 

Silver fountains and basin, Lewis Dedecke, German, early 18th

Architectural Model of King Solomon's Temple, Thomas Newberry, mid-19th

Tapestry of Napoleon, wool, silk, metal thread, France, early 19th

Demidoff Vase, Malachite, Paris, 1819

Roll-top desk, nice marquetry, German, 1776

Mantel Clock, The Triumph of Love over Time, Paris, 1780s

Reception, Hotel de la Tesse, Paris, 1772 (hotel is just a very large house)

In another room, Hubert Robert, Portico of a Country Mansion,
1773; as we saw earlier, the Met has many Roberts, so many they
can afford to spread a few around in the decorative arts areas

Music room of the Hotel de la Pamplemousse, Paris...

Bedroom from the Hotel de Lepetomaine, Paris, ...

Room from Hotel in Bordeaux

Check it out for yourself

Room from another hotel 

Assorted snuff boxes

A fitting conclusion, Steen's Dissolute Household, 1663;
not in the European painting division, alas...


Saturday, November 23, 2024

Kamala Harris On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

Vicki has a rare talent for scoring the toughest tickets, and she outdid herself in early October. The Late Show was in re-runs for the week of October 7, but the Harris campaign called, and a special Tuesday segment was scheduled. Vicki had been applying for tickets to the Late Show for some time, and, for whatever reason, and through whatever special pleading, we got the call to attend the October 8th taping. Being in the audience for one of these shows is an arduous process...very early arrival, security, waiting, waiting, and more waiting, no food nor drink for 3-4 hours while you're in the theater, no photos nor videos in the theater, strict enforcement, etc. Add to that the requirements and strictures of the Secret Service. But we did it and were pleased to be part of what might have been an historic occasion. Alas, the election did not turn out as we'd hoped--rather, it surpassed our worst fears. But we saw Kamala's appearance with Stephen, from the second row, center section, and it was perhaps the high point of our New York visit. File it, however, in the "Bittersweet" folder.

In the line, mid-afternoon

Into the theater at last

The historic old Ed Sullivan Theater; formerly CBS Studio 50

One of a few photos around, from the day...the Ed Sullivan Age, some
call it...the Toast of the Town, later, the Ed Sullivan Show, was broadcast
on CBS from 1948 to 1971; longest running anything such ever...

During the taping (off the web)

Afterward, outside, looking toward the security tent



Friday, November 22, 2024

The Met: Sculpture

On October 7 we did the Met's sculpture tour. There are sculptures all over the museum, in large halls and various corridors and numerous galleries, and we had seen many sculptures already in our visits to the Greco/Roman department, Egypt, China, and so on. This particular tour included only a few later European and American sculptures. After the tour we spent another couple hours wandering in the decorative arts areas, to be covered in a later post. 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Diana, cast 1928; the original much larger
Diana stood atop the old Madison Square Gardens building
(demolished, 1925); this is a half-sized cast of the 2nd version...
it's a long story...

Domenico Guidi, Andromeda and the Sea Monster, 1694;
originally in Rome, but spent more than two centuries at
Burleigh House, in the UK


Moving right along, Umberto Boccioni's Unique Forms
of Continuity in Space
; conceived 1913, cast 1950; part of
the early 20th century Futurist movement

Clodion, Model for the Balloon Monument, 1784; intended to
commemorate the first manned flight, by the Mongolfier brothers,
Paris, 1783; the larger sculpture was never realized...


Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Ugolino and His Sons, 1865-1867,
Paris; not a pretty story
Sort of a cannabilistic Sophie's Choice






Frederic-Auguste Bartholdy, Liberty; painted terra cotta
model, 1875; larger one out in the harbor


Thursday, November 21, 2024

Interim Update #1,285

Much to recount. We left NYC on October 22nd, flew to Little Rock, AR, bought a car, drove it to Knoxville, TN ("home") for a 2 week stay there, then to Cary, NC for a week, and then to Orlando, FL, where we are presently and for the next several months. Except for excursions to Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, St. Pete, Tallahassee, Cary again, and so on. Except for this interlude, the blog will remain in NYC for a few more weeks.

In Little Rock, picking up the new car, a 2024 Toyota Sienna Platinum; no, we don't really
need a seven passenger van: the plan is to convert it into a mini-camper; tentative name...
Silver Sleeper 

Autumn in the Smokies

Our Cary storage unit after a week's work (the usual reorganization, adjusting to our
ever-changing modes of operation, transportation, and habitation)

Best of the Cary stay, grand-daughter Penelope's appearance in James and the Giant Peach

Vicki receiving her Disneyworld annual pass...fulfilling a nearly life-long dream...

Entering Epcot and its annual international food and wine festival

Awaiting fireworks at the center of Disneydom on Earth
















































 



















































































Our new home in Orlando, near Disney Springs, a one bedroom unit at one of the "suites"
hotels; until mid-March, when we embark for our 2025 campaign in Europe (Madrid,
Nice, Paris...)

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

The Met's Cloisters, 2

Cloisters pretty much always involve arcades, colonnades, covered walkways, etc., and their columns had capitals which, in England, France and Spain, often had grotesques, which, in the parlance of this blog, means funny faces. With four (4) cloisters to examine at The Cloisters, we had a great time and will share below some of the better (laughable, lurid, lewd) pix of these capitals. Also some of the better corbels, which were far lower down than in situ, high up near the roof. And then also some of the more conventional museum stuff, much more of which we'll see back at the main museum on 5th Ave. Another day.

But first, and without further ado, here is the unicorn
tapestry for which The Cloisters is perhaps best known;
one of a set concerning the hunting of the unicorn; similar
but also very different from the unicorn tapestries at the
Cluny in Paris, also Belgian/French in origin, 16th; the
docent-led tour was excellent


























Wrestlers

Vulcan mind-meld


Green monster

Contortionist

Maracas percussionist?

Still processing this one; "wrestling"?

Satan, and sinners being led to Hell

Hell

Lunch-time in one of the cloisters; garden still going

Now back in the museum area, Medieval playing cards

Joker (of course)

Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc du Barry; devotional book,
illuminated, late 15th

Beaker with Apes; silver, enamel; early 15th, Burgundian

Passion Triptych with mother of pearl; devotional item
for travel kit; late 15th, German

Chalice, paten, and straw; silver, jewels; mid 13th, German; the paten
was for the bread, the chalice for the wine, and the straw for sipping
the wine after it had been transubstantiated into the Holy Blood (to prevent
holy spills); strange to me that there are no legends about the Holy Straw...
   

Incredibly carved rosary bead (!), rosewood, Netherlandish, 
early 16th, various Biblical scenes; the size of a button!

Lots of glass in The Cloisters' gothic chapel, Austrian, mid-14th 

Happy angel, Ile de France, probably decapitated c. 1789





Circumcision, painted glass, German, late 15th

Choir stalls with misericordia, French, 15th; a gift from J. Pierpont Morgan;
as I've probably remarked elsewhere, oftentimes the Met's donors are more
noteworthy than the gifts

Open carry

Beautifully painted ceiling in the room housing the Merode Altarpiece
(previous post)

Christ Is Born As Man's Redeemer, wool and silk, south Netherlandish,
early 16th; among the many tapestries at The Cloisters