wandering wednesday

a wednesday in early august – with out a doubt the single most beautiful day of summer!  cool enough to enjoy our city…the isabella stewart gardner museum, lunch at the public market and a trip through one of our national parks – a great line up!

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if you have never visited the isabella stewart gardner museum….go! go NOW!  i admit i am not a big lover of the ‘old masters’ (particularly those dark foreboding flemish painters) – and i am completely ‘fine arts illiterate’, have no desire to stare + admire a piece for hours or to contemplate meaning + symbols etc.  ….but i just love this museum.  (to be sure, maureen is a fine arts minor and has a much ‘finer eye’!)

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check this out…the doors haven’t opened and we have this fabulous extension to admire – design, architecture, technology – beauty!

in we go…the centerpiece, literally, of the original museum (which was also isabella’s home in boston) is the courtyard – changed 9 times a year – currently a cool, inviting melange of greens + whites, textures + hues, shadows + light

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courtyard-fern-isabella-stewart-gardnerleave time to sit, admire, cool down

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a few of the masterpieces i really did enjoy

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EL JALEO, john singer sargent – in the spanish cloister…i had no idea this would be a sargent, thinking he did so many portraits of prominent bostonians and the like that he would not have time for travel (so uninformed)…here’s what i learned about this piece -“a lean toward the daring, risky, unconventional, dramatic, erotically off center and odd” (hmmm…is that why i liked it?) – john singer sargent was apparently a big fan of gypsy music, dance + picturesque costumes

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THE VIRGIN AND CHILD EPIPHANY WITH SAINTS, giuliano rimini – usually this piece would not be a ‘show stopper’ for me – but the scale (and possibly the age) of the baby jesus did catch my eye.  i did investigate and didn’t see anything mentioned about this aspect of the painting…but i did learn this altar piece was made ‘for a religious order of nuns and the painter specifically tailored his imagery for devout women’….hmmm – even in the dark hallway the piece was vibrant.

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THE VIRGIN CHILD WITH SAINTS, simone martini     admittedly, the gold did catch my eye…but mostly it was saint lucy (2nd from left) – she was, by all current measures, beautiful!  …and baby jesus seemed more size appropriate!

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another surprise…i picked out something different – THE TRAGEDY OF LUCRETIA, botticcelli – what did i learn?  at the end of his career botticcelli changed his style – this is an example – the description of his new style “intensely overwrought figures”

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THE CHARIOT OF VENUS, francois boucher – it’s about the blue + the light…the french really do ‘the best blues’ – clothes, paintings….plus it is fun to say rococo! rococo!

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tiles in the spanish cloister – from iraq, turkey and mexico – very similar to the sketches in isabella’s diary from her travels in egypt

then there’s a pair of shoes….yes it often comes down to the shoes – they are purple satin silk, narrow, tiny, stunning!  made for isabella by chapelle’s of paris during one of her visits.  no photo – but here is a pair of wedding boots made by the same chapelle – currently in the LACMA (los angeles county museum of art)

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here’s a little wander on a wander…if you are in the LA area you may want to check out the LACMA – this installation looks really cool:

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back east…the new addition includes the calderwood theater – the room is stunning.  there is a great calendar of performances (at reasonable prices) on the website.

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before we left we spent some time in the richard floor living room – where we sat, enjoyed the plantings, books, information – and just being in the room.  it’s fantastic.

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one of the museum’s neighbors is MassArt – replete with old buildings, new buildings + unquantifiable talent.  it’s interesting that 2 cool buildings on campus are the old ‘boston normal school’, founded in 1852 to train elementary school teachers and the treehouse – a edgy new award winning building inspired by gustav klimt’s 1909 TREE OF LIFE.

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while reading about MassArt i learned that they are the largest FREE contemporary art venue in new england – with loads of galleries + shows.  one gallery that looked particulary intriguing is the Bakalar + Paine Galleries (looks like another ‘wandering wednesday adventure)…these pieces are Rogan Brown’s Paper Sculptures

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did you know?  MassArt was our nation’s 1st independent public college of art and the 1st art school to grant a degree – very cool!

after lunch at the boston public market – a short walk to the harbor

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nothing better than having a national park ‘in our own back yard’ -the harbor islands – outdoor time on spectacle island – clear sky, fresh breeze – once ‘just a pile of garbage, then piled high with the debris of the big dig…then capped with some pretty darn good soil + native plants!

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end of day – christopher columbus park + the light over boston + a boston nickname

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the nickname for the custom house tower is ‘the four faced liar’ as never do any of the 4 clocks show the same time.  the wind effects the clock hands on each side differently…and 1/4″ of snow can stop one clock completely…it’s a beautybetween-dark-and-light-view-north-end.jpg

isabella stewart gardner museum – beauty, art, history, music + horticulture…an amazing lady

boston harbor islands – live music, yoga, beaches, forts, kite flying, scenic, hiking + walking

rose kennedy greenway + christopher columbus park – strolling, music + dance, flora + fauna, food carts – connecting chinatown + the leather district to the north end

MassArt Galleries