Art Experiences Post:8

Through out my trip, I have visited many art and design museums and galleries and have not written about it, except for the occasional add-in. So, in this post, I will write about some of my favourite artists and design exhibitions. In a footnote, I've also listed the art and cultural experiences I've had to date (for my later use).


While staying here in South Bohemia (Czech Republic) I had the pleasure to meet and talk with two fine artists face to face, as well as see their work. The first that I spent time with was Karel Hrubeš, an abstract painter who has fantastic and interesting paintings. His paintings are abstract, but not to the point that it is a mish-mash of colours.* I think that some of his works reflect on the global warming issue. The second artist I met in South Bohemia is Petr Šladek, a ceramic artist and painter; less abstract and very well composed and pleasing.

A few days ago I also went to a museum dedicated to the artist Egon Schiele, and while I was impressed with the building (a converted 14th century brewery) the works in the exhibition were not all that good in comparison to the Leopold and Belvedere museums in Vienna, Austria. The Austrian museums had quite a lot more paintings, and were very well done unlike the works in South Bohemia which were delightful but, did not have the quality of the others. My father suggested that the Bohemian museum being new, unfortunately has too little money to purchase 1st rate paintings by Schiele, and also can't afford the high cost of insurance needed to borrow paintings for its exhibition. Yet, I enjoyed the chance to see any of Schiele's work.

In London I visited the National Gallery where I saw in my opinion the best Giovanni Antonio Canaletto paintings. I like this 17th century painter very much, especially his water pictures of Venice. Although I saw some of his paintings in the Historical Art Museum in Vienna they were small and not as beautiful in colour and composition. I particularaily like the way he highlights objects with white to make them stand out, and his buildings are so detailed as though they are fine photographs.


In the L'Orangerie Museum in Paris, I saw a collection of eight Claude Monet water lily paintings that were about 15x20 meters and were quite beautiful and magnificent. Those were better than any Monet paintings in either London or Vienna, which I thought did not have as much charm and as good composition as the ones in Paris.


The best Paul Cézanne paintings in my opinion, were also at the L'Orangerie in Paris. One is of autumn trees on a hillside and the other of a house and trees under the summer's sun. Both, you could not add a single brush stroke anywhere to improve on the picture. They were wholly complete. These two are the best of any Cézanne paintings I have seen so far. In comparison the Cézanne paintings I saw in both London and Vienna did not amount to how wonderful these two paintings in Paris are .

In terms of design exhibitions, the best were in Vienna, which had two very good exhibitions in the Applied Arts Museum and Vienna City Museum. The Vienna City Museum featured 10 contemporary Viennese commercial design companies. They exhibited everything from chairs and tables to lamps and skis, all of which were very well executed and displayed. In the Applied Arts Museum, they showed a gathering of chairs in chronological order with an explanation for each one (who was the designer, when designed, where, etc.). When you had finished reading about each chair you could pass to the other side of a linen panel hung behind the chair, from ceiling to floor, and observe its silhouette made by a back light onto the chair casting the silhouette onto the panel. Also, while in Vienna I saw a very interesting display of the inventions by James Dyson in the Design Centre, in which you could test out all of his products and watch a short video on him and his inventions. While finding solutions to common problems, such as vacuum cleaners, he also makes machines quite pleasing to the eye. It is said thatVienna is becoming a hub for design, and am looking foward to visiting this city again.





*For Pictures Please Visit http://www.frozenmiceblogpics.wikispaces.com/


Fn: European Museums, Galleries, Monuments, Environmental Design and Cultural Landscapes I Experienced On This Trip To Date

United Kingdom
Albert Hall, London (architecture)
Courtlauld Museum, London (art)
Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Lincoln's Inn Fields & Regent Park (environmental design)
Museum of Natural History, London
London historical core w/ the Strand, Somerset House, Picadilly Circus, Sloan Square, Leister Square, Portabello Road, etc. (environmental design)
Perth History & Art Museum, Perth (history, art, applied arts)
Perth Historical core w/ St. Johns Cathedral, Rose Terrace, etc (environmental design)
Perth area (cultural landscape)
Science Museum, London
Sir John Sloane's House, London (art, architecture & envirnomntal design)
St. Paul's Cathedral, London (architecture)
The National Theatre (architecture)
The British Museum, London (history, art, applied arts, archeology)
Tower of London, London (history and art)
Tower and Millennium Bridges, London (architecture)
Tate Modern Museum, London (art)
Tate Britian Museum, London (art)
Victoria & Albert Museum, London (art, applied arts, tribal art)

France
Ardeche/Rhone Alps area (cultural landscape)
Bois de Boulogne, Champ-Elysee, Tuilleries, Paris (environmental design)
D'Orsay Museum, Paris (art)
Guimet Museum, Paris (Asian art, applied arts, architecture)
Charles de Galle Airport, Lyon Train Station, Paris (architecture)
L'Orangerie Museum, Paris (art)
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris (architecture)
Paris historical core w/ Opera Quarters, Latin Quarters, Isle of Paris, Seine bridges, etc. (environmental design)
Pompidou Centre, Paris (art)
Quai Branly Museum, Paris (tribal art)

Italy
University of Venice, Venice (art, architecture)
International Architecture Bienalle, Venice (architecture, environmenal design)
Venice historical zone, w/ San Marco Square, etc, Venice (environmental design)
Venice Laguna area (cultural landscape)

Austria
Applied Arts Museum, Vienna (applied arts, architecture)
Bellevedere Museums, Vienna (art)
Design Centre, Vienna (art, architecture, industrial design)
Historical Art Museum, Vienna (art)
Leopold Musuem, Vienna (art)
Natural Science Museum, Vienna
Secession Building (art, architecture)
Vienna City Museum, Vienna (art, applied arts, history)
Vienna historical zone w/ the State Opera, Museum Quarter, Hofpalace area, St. Stephan's Square, Kartner Street, Charles Square & Church, etc, Vienna (environmental design)
Wienerwald area (cultural landscape)

Czech Republic
Cesky Krumlov and Ceske Budejovice towns' historical zones, Cesky Krumlov and Ceske Budejovice (architecture, environmental design)
Egon Schiele Art Centrum, Cesky Krumlov (art, architecture)
Rozmberk Castle, Rozmberk (architecture, art)
South Bohemia area (cultural landscape)
South Bohemian Gallery, Hluboka (art)
Naprstkova Museum of Ethnography, Prague
Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague
Alphonse Mucha Museum,Prague
Museum of Modern & Contempory Art, Prague
Czech Cubist Museum, Prague