The Met: India

Doing pretty much all of the Met's Asian art in one day was probably a hall or gallery too far for us, but, for some reason, we persevered, we pressed on, persisted, plugged away, perhaps thinking we'd be back. Maybe we will. I took the usual pix, but somehow not the usual accompanying documentation...so I have had to make up my own. [Please note, as the foregoing 4,000 posts show, anything religious here is fair game...]. Our visit to the sex temples of Khajuraho in 2008 also may well have affected our appreciation of the sub-continent's arts. Nevertheless...

Click to enlarge for insight

Statue of Liberty pose

Early Anne Boleyn pose 

St. Christopher

Click to enlarge to see an architectural frieze with mermen playing
musical instruments, 2nd century; mermen!

Super hero deity: the cape is a total give-away; actually a large
metal Buddha icon, north India, 7th; interesting representation
of divine sexuality

Said to be a phallic thing; "ooooo", "ick" she seems to
be saying...

Unusual dorsal view

Head scratcher (slashes through ignorance); Kashmiri style

Really into multiple limbs and other things

Conehead prototype

Breastplate of the Spirit Deity Jumadi; 20th century,
worn by shamanic priests (priestesses?); possibly somewhere
other than India, but culturally close

Ever noticed how dogs and their owners come to look alike?

Electrifying yoga pose

Dynamic Duo 

Gothic Buddhess? 

Pierrot 

Jewel casket, ivory, 17th, Sri Lanka

Ceiling of a reconstructed temple, carved wood, too many
steps to climb up to...impressive even from afar, however

Memories of Khajuraho...

What other blogs don't show you

Votive offering to fertility goddess

Very intricate earrings; earplugs, I mean

Swiss Army deity; okay, I think maybe we need a do-over for
the India collection; alternatively, you can see all 6,997 objects
yourself here

Flashing Back To The 80s In Japan

In late November of 1983--in my first month's employment in the president's office at SMU--Vicki and I traveled with the senior administration to attend the Mirage Bowl in Tokyo, and then stayed another week with the president and provost and others as guests of sister university Kwansei Gakuin, near Osaka and Kyoto. Whether hosted by the Mirage Bowl or by KGU, we were the beneficiaries of legendary Japanese hospitality. There is no way we could ever top that visit. Plus there was a football game.

View from our hotel room

At the Mirage Bowl, even more pageantry than an American football
bowl game

Our cottage at the inn near Kyoto

Vicki by the water feature; scenes like this led to our trying our
own hands at Japanese gardening...alas, the soils and climate of
Dallas are very different from those of Edo and Kyoto...

Autumn in the garden

At a palace

"I'll drink to that!"

Eating very fresh lobster at the all-lobster restaurant in Osaka; among
quite a few memorable incidents from that trip; this occasion gave
new and special meaning to the expression "live lobster"

At the sushi bar after the honorary degree ceremony; I was seated
between Vicki and the dean of international education, both unwilling
to eat raw fish, trying to cover for them and not offend our hosts...

The Met: Japan

We toured the Met's Japan collection on the same day we did China, with the similar advantage of having been to Japan personally and having maintained a passing acquaintance with its art. We were there for two weeks in 1983, along with SMU's senior administration, band, and football team, mostly for the Mirage Bowl in Tokyo, but also as guests of "sister" university Kwansei Gakuin near Osaka. Nothing surpasses Japanese hospitality. Our home in Dallas also featured an atrium we turned into a sort of Japanese garden. Having now reviewed my pix from 1983, I'll have to do a short blogpost on them, following this post.

Fudo Myoo, wood, lacquer, etc., 12th century; a Buddhist
deity...uses his sword to slash through ignorance...could be
really handy now...even better would be one that slashes
through lies and disinformation

Assorted Buddhist figurines I forgot to document

Writing box, wood, lacquer, gold, silver, etc. 18th

Hanging scroll, Grapes, by Motsurin Joto, 15th;
representative of the three perfections in Japanese
art: poetry, painting, calligraphy...

Closer up

Lacquered box, mother-of-pearl inlay, etc., 17th

Jizo Boddhisvatta...13th...Jizo is an enlightened being
known for leading others along the path of Buddhism...
rescuing souls from hell and protecting children...also why
when stepping on a Lego piece, Japanese always say
"Jizo Christ!"

Screens are very big in Japanese art history, and this is the first of
several here...Screen with Chinese Poetry, Ryokan Taigu, 19th

Another hanging thing, Maruyama Okyo, Dragon and Tiger, 18th

Japanese and Chinese Poems of the Four Seasons, attributed to
Konoe Sakihisa, 17th 

Another screen, whose name, attribution, and age I neglected to get

Ninsei-style incense burner, 17th century

Poetry card, scenes from The Tales of Genji; Edo period

Screen with scenes from The Tale of Genji; okay, The Tale of Genji,
is an 11th century work, argued by some to be the first novel, and 
certainly the first large literary work by a woman, the Lady Shikibu
Murasaki, Japan's Shakespeare; I bought a copy when we were in
Japan and tried mightily to read it...

More Tale of Genji

Tea ceremony equipment 

More tea ceremony

Yosa Buson, Hanshan and Shide, hanging scroll,
ink and color, 1770s; painting evolves...

Hara Zalchu, Orchid Pavilion by a Winding Stream, hanging
scroll, ink and color on silk, 1829; our docent on the right

Modern Japanese art...a basalt Water Stone, Isamu Noguchi, 1986

Kohei Nawa, PixCell-Deer#24, taxidermied deer with
artificial crystal glass...and now for something completely
different...there really is a stuffed deer inside all the glass...