The Skinny: Boston Arts Review
Did everyone enjoy the long weekend as much as I did? I flew out to Logan last Thursday night before MLK weekend and stayed in Boston until Monday night with two good pals from college. We explored Newburry Street, Faneuil Hall, the Freedom Trail, and the Boston Commons! We also ate a bunch of excellent food! Favorites include: calamari & clam linguine @ The Daily Catch, eggs benedict @ Cafe Luna, paella valencia @ Toro's, sashimi @ Duozo, and slow roasted chicken tacos @ Lolita's.
My personal favorite portion of the weekend was checking out the fine arts scene in Boston! My friend Sammie and I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on Saturday and my friend Dana and I visited the Museum of Fine Arts with her roommates on Monday. Below are my favorite pieces and tidbits from both museums.
Enconchado The MFA was housing Made in America and they had some really amazing enconchado pieces. A particular favorite was an enconchado piece by Juan Gonzalez. The work was inspired by the Asian decorative arts and produced with inlaid fragments of shell. It was so refreshing to see these two styles mixed - giving way to a special type of Spanish colonial art with a spunky Asian accent.
Japanning Japanning is a type of lacquer finish that originated as a European imitation of Asian lacquerwork. The Made in America exhibit had a number of really lovely wardrobes and desks featuring this style. I loved seeing the contrast between portions of the illustration which had been painted several times had so much more depth than those which had been painted once - it made the engraved potions really stand out!
Chinoiserie The fashion for Asian art as a decorative style is known as chinoiserie and reached its height by the mid-18th century. In the Americas, the style manifested itself in lavishly painted and decorated interiors, ornate furniture and ceramic objects made in the style of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. In quite the resourceful fashion, Latin American countries often painted a white base coat on regular clay pottery because porcelain was too expensive - the resulting works gave a very distinctive look to these imitations of traditional Asian ceramics!
Talavera Poblana Talavera poblana is a type of maiolica pottery made in Puebla, Mexico and is distinguished by a milky-white glaze. What constitutes "traditional" talavera poblana is highly regulated and only a few master painters can outline the designs for the pottery. The entire process from start to finish can take up to 4 days. During the second firing in the kiln, the paint sinks into the milky-white glaze to produce the vibrant colors that this type of art is known for.
The Astronomer & The Geographer (Vermeer) We popped down into the Rembrandt & Vermeer exhibit that was wrapping up at the MFA and I was drawn towards two works by Vermeer. I was trying to explain why I prefer Vermeer over some of the other Dutch painters being featured in the exhibit, and the best explanation that I could muster is that the subjects of his painters never looked strained or unnatural. He seems to articulate their bodies in such a way that suggests a completely nature state - as if he'd just taken a hazy photograph in a moment when they were so consumed in their work that they couldn't be bothered to notice.
Saint George Slaying the Dragon (Crivelli) While at the Gardner we visited an exhibit called Ornament & Illusion: Carlo Crivelli of Venice featuring Saint George Slaying the Dragon. Our guide provided a really wondering description about Crivelli's artist process - beginning first with an underdrawing, bringing three dimensionality to his paintings using gesso (a style of pastiglia), accenting with gold leaf, and painting the final colorful strokes using egg tempera. Had I not completely destroyed my phone, I would have taken a picture of the work!
This past weekend (and week) has been full of adventures large and small. Last night my friends and I went to see A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder at the Kennedy Center. I'm always so amazed by the talented folks who are on broadway - singing, dancing, and acting! They're truly all triple threats. I was certainly partial to our Monty Navarro (played by the handsome Kevin Massey), but I think the crown truly goes to John Rapson, who played eight different personas during the night: Asquith D'ysquith, Jr., Lord Adalbert D'ysquith, Reverend Lord Ezekial D'ysquith, Lord Asquith D'ysquith, Sr., Henry D'ysquith, Lady Hyacinth D'ysquith, Major Lord Bartholomew D'ysquith, Lady Salome D'ysquith Pumphrey, and Chauncey! It was such a wonderful show - I highly recommend it to anyone who loves romping dance numbers and a hearty laugh!
