Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Well, here we are, our first day in the Winter wonderland. It’s been snowing all day although we only seem to have received a few inches here in Northern New Jersey. My feelings about the snow coincide with my general feelings about cold weather, I’m against it. Being retired now I also look at it from an economic viewpoint. I always thought to myself when sitting in my living room and heard the heat come on that it was my money that was burning in the furnace. Similarly, when I see the snow I compute the cost of having someone else take it away. But I am grateful that I have someone else to take it away as I have absolutely no desire to ever do that particular chore again. I find myself thinking about Spring training in baseball which I tell myself is only two months away. Actually baseball is in my mind because I’ve finally gotten around to watching Ken Burns documentary on the sport. It was on PBS in 1994 over 9 straight nights, if memory serves, and I knew I wasn’t going to devote 18 hours over 9 nights to watching it so I taped it on my VCR. I never did get around to watching it, along with numerous other videotapes and thought to myself I would catch up when I retired. I also have Johnny Carson’s last four shows on tape which was broadcast even longer ago taking place in 1992. When I decided I wanted to see the documentary I first looked on Youtube and was pleased to discover it was available. I watched the first three episodes and then was disappointed to note there were no episodes available so I brought out the videotapes. I wasn’t sure they would still play having not been used in 23 years but happily they did although I had trouble rewinding the second tape. I’m in what they refer to in the series as the sixth inning, when the color line in baseball was finally broken with Jackie Robinson’s ascent to the Brooklyn Dodgers. The series is very enjoyable, lots of old photos and films and interviews with personalities and reminiscences from people directly involved in the game. I especially enjoy the interviews with Buck O’Neil, the first baseman and manager of the Kansas City Monarchs in the old Negro leagues. A few years ago Burns filmed a tenth inning which dealt with, among other things, the steroids era, but I’m not sure if or when I’ll get to see that. Not too sure I really want to either.
Let’s move on to more cultural topics. This week I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art for their current blockbuster exhibit, Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer. It’s an enormous exhibition, with more than 200 works, and a core group of 133 drawings by Michelangelo himself, the largest number ever assembled, on loan from some 50 front-rank collections. It filled a number of galleries and was laid out in a way that made my normal museum navigation of constantly turning right from the entrance and then back difficult to follow but I’m confident I didn’t miss anything. The show was composed of art from Michelangelo as well as his peers, students and associates in his workshop. It was mostly drawings but there were paintings and sculptures as well. It was very crowded, especially in the first gallery, to the point that I wondered if I would be able to go through it. But the crowd ebbed and flowed and I was able to get close to everything.
One highlight is a recreation of the Sistine ceiling at one quarter of the original. It was impressive although it was difficult for me to view it having to look directly over my head and keep turning as the figures face different directions. I was there for more than an hour and three quarters. The Met has to be pleased by the crowds and by the Universal acclaim from the media. The Met website doesn’t have a lot of images but below are other links that will fill in the blanks as to what’s to be seen.
These two links are both 11 minute videos without narration that take you through the entire exhibit. To see the faux Sistine ceiling go to the end of the first video which will automatically continue on to the second video and pick up another minute or so of the ceiling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUqDHoNbxIg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yxykLs5Q18This is a link to the New York Times review with a number of illustrations as follows, I especially enjoyed the Cleopatra’s and the two sculptures. There is a video with the curator of the exhibit as well:
“Portrait of Andrea Quaratesi,” The British Museum, London
“The Archers,” Queen Elizabeth’s Royal collection
The Fall of Phaeton, Queen Elizabeth’s Royal collection
The painting, “Venus Kissed by Cupid,” by Michele di Jacopo Tosini, after a Michelangelo design;
The sculpture “Apollo-David (unfinished),” by Michelangelo
“Cartoon of Venus Kissed by Cupid,” attributed to Michelangelo and Workshop upon which the painting is based.
The sculpture, “Young Archer”
The drawing, “Studies for the Dome of Saint Peter’s.” Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille
“Roman Soldiers, cartoon fragment for the Lower Left Part of the Crucifixion of Saint Peter in the Pauline Chapel,” a full-size preparatory drawing for a fresco. It is the most important surviving monumental cartoon by Michelangelo. Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
The drawings, “Cleopatra in Bust Length” and “Sketch for Cleopatra” are on reverse sides of the same sheet, Casa Buonarroti, Florence; Casa Buonarroti, Florence
The drawing, “Pietà for Vittoria Colonna,” Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/arts/design/michelangelo-review-metropolitan-museum-of-art-carmen-bambach.html?_r=0 This link shows, among other items:
Michelangelo’s painting, The Torment of Saint Anthony, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
Daniele da Volterra’s painting of Michelangelo, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
And this truly remarkable relic,W
Model of the Vault of the Chapel of the King of France. Fabbrica di San Pietro in Vaticano, Vatican City created in wood by Michelangelo and the carpenters of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in Vaticano.
https://artssummary.com/2017/11/19/michelangelo-divine-draftsman-and-designer-at-the-met-fifth-avenue-november-13-2017-february-12-2018/ This link shows all 14 items loaned from Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Collection with descriptive comments for each.
https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/near-you/metropolitan-museum-of-art-new-york#/ As the Times article says, this is the must see exhibit of the season and I’m glad I was able to go. I’ll probably go back before it closes.
Now let’s see if we find any masterpieces at the Flickrs.
Andy G.
ariel
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22704178@N07/13918365238/IMGP5412
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134164999@N08/36990481560/Sissybrianna's outdoor adventure task
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sissybrianna/36406392641/IMG_1161
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137498113@N06/36600093202/20160923_213522
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jasmin963/29800614791/Prissy sissy slut
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kellyukslut/26211027073/20170910_113533
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sallyjj/37031150201/Service With A Smile
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30517065@N00/16354323137/image
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132621551@N07/33384042494/I love wearing a pretty dress with a petticoat
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53516713@N06/18014852911/
Betty's Pub 20.1
Topic: As we sadly bid farewell to the Summer Flickr in walks the Fall Flickr! (Read 14121 times)
