The Road Goes Ever On: Amsterdam

Showing posts with label Amsterdam. Show all posts

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Museumsplein

Sunday the 24th saw more rain on the way, so we headed into town on the metro and out to the Museumsplein on tram #5. Seems like every time we are at the Rijksmuseum or the Van Gogh, it is raining, often heavily raining. We have the same track record at the British Museum. Anyway, we spent the mid-day at the Rijksmuseum, seeing a few old friends, visiting ever more parts of the great museum we had not seen before, having lunch, and then venturing across the park to the ConcerteGebouw. As the skies cleared, we worked our way back to the central station, partly by tram, partly on foot, enjoying a last day in Amsterdam.

Rijksmuseum Hall of Biggies

The Vermeer room...3 of his paintings are there

The Hals room, rather more of his stuff

A beautiful new Hobbema...alone and lonely among the
Rembrandts

Night Watch watch

Moving right along into other parts of the museum, special
collections, etc; interior of collector's case, a miniature
pharmacy

Thus

My herring and beet salad (with herring caviar in creme fraiche);
Vicki's chicken salad was less photogenic

My mint tea; also counted as salad

Speaking of tea, a nice Meissen tea service, for six

The winner and still champeen, in my book, Bartholomeus
van der Heist's Banquet of the Crossbowman's Guild Celebrating
the Treaty of Munster, 1648

Moving right along in the special collections...the FK 23 Bantam,
Dutch-designed for (Britain) for WWI; the war ended before it got
into production; interestingly, the pilot's head stuck out above the
upper wing

1940-41 German chess set, figures are instruments of war,
nations invaded/to be invaded, along the sides of the board

Screening of Andor von Barsy's 1928 short Hoogstraat, in which
early 20th century urban life on main street Rotterdam parades
before the camera; fascinating as the camera focuses on people,
products, commerce, light and shadow...and then one remembers
that all this was destroyed, utterly, in May of 1940, when the
Germans bombed Rotterdam into oblivion, to show what would
happen to the rest of the Netherlands unless it surrendered

The rain having lifted, we are now out in the park, at a famous
Amsterdam tourist site, and an artistic happening

Looking across the park toward the Concertgebouw

This takes some courage

Vincent would be so proud

Rijksmuseum from Concertgebouw

New bit of the Van Gogh museum

The Concertgebouw; finally got there and finally got in, but
only as far as the cafe; a concert was in progress; next time

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Amsterdam's Tuschinski Theater, 2

Continuing the tour of Amsterdam's Tuschenski Theater...

Sadly, Tuschinski's story has a very disturbing end. In 1936, he went bankrupt. In 1939, his son died. In 1940, his four Rotterdam theaters all were destroyed in the German bombing of the ancient city. In 1942, he and the remaining members of his family were arrested and taken eventually to Auschwitz, where they were murdered among the millions of others.

Mementos from the opening night

Ditto

Larger view of the VIP room

Another lamp, among the distinctive decor

Stairs

Floor of main hall

Under balcony

Unforgettable ceiling lighting

Looking out from center stage

Ceiling again

Stage right (left?)

More illumination

Bust of Tuschinski

In the Moorish rooms

Thus

And thus

More Moorish

Ditto

Interesting art throughout

Thus

And thus

Lobby window from which Tuschinski kept an eye on interior construction
and decoration

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Amsterdam's Tuschinski Theater, 1

I happened onto the Tuschinski Theater last year, walking in the Rembrandtsplein. It is open for audio tours only from 9:30 to 11:00 in the mornings, and we never made it back that year. The facade is striking enough, but stepping into the lobby for a peek was a thrill. We vowed not to miss it in 2016.

The theater was opened in 1921, by Abraham Tuschinski, a self-educated entrepreneur who had already opened four cinemas in Rotterdam. The Tuschinski Theater is an amalgam of Art Deco, Jugendstil, and Amsterdam School...but mostly Tuschinki's own taste, his interest in the emerging art form of cinema, and his desire to build a theater that itself would be a work of art. He succeeded. It is one of the world's great theaters, and something not to be missed in Amsterdam.

Again, I took way too many photos and can't bear to edit them down.