NY and flying high

4 April 2008

On the plane to San Francisco. New York was amazing,
Such energy and excitement. Now that is a city!
I walked and walked.
Yesterday I went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the whole day and really just skimmed the surface of what there was to see.
I always recommend to my tour clients, take extra batteries, and have been planning fro days to put them in my bag- well I ran out in Central Park on the way to the museum!

Not a bad thing really, I just looked and was not interrupted by stopping to photograph, I just looked and looked and looked. I also did not stress out trying to remember everything, if the Gods are kind I will visit again [I also did not end up in visual overload trying to hoard images and then nearly bursting into tears , which has happened in the past]

So I had a lovely day-dreamy looking day and when I went to to sleep last night all these wonderful images floating around in my head.
Gainsbourugh again with his soft feminine woman and wonderful layered, dynamic backgrounds- all so idealised.
A wonderful Courbet show- Courbet laid the foundation for the modern art world in the mid 1800 when he decided to paint the everyday world, and people of it not idealised or grand themes. He was also a keen observer of the human condition from these works.
Gorgeous Egyptian stuff, Greek red and black ware, the images on the vases are tantalizing and make me realise how strong a restrained palette, can be for impact visually. The drawing style is rather simplified but set off with small details….
I am realizing I really like tapestries from the 1500’s. The rich imagery, telling complex stories and when you get up close the mark of the hand where they have been stitched together. So representative of the human condition we are all part of a big picture and all make our mark in the details. And a whole series of Kuba cloth from Democratic of Congo, oooohhh what wonderful cloth! I’ve seen some wonderful bark cloth from Uganda in the past- that area is starting to having more tourists in- wouldn’t that be exciting? Day dreaming there…
Whole rooms from other places and eras, amazing to see them juxtaposed together,
All together a very rich and exciting place….