Van Gogh, Cezanne and Beyond and my Art Cube

-

Does too much excitement make you forgetful...or am I getting old?

A few weeks ago, during our visit to San Francisco, I had the opportunity to fulfill a dream in my life- to see the works of the great Masters of Art- Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin and the rest. While my wife was shopping at Costco, I saw an advertisement that the works of the post-impressionist masters are displayed in the de Young Museum at the Golden Gate Park
 
My super loving wife Grace was unable to come with me; she had to pack our things for our flight back home later that night. Good thing that my newly married sister, Mary Elizabeth Tambis who also loves art, was kind enough to accompany me to the Musee d Orsay exhibit. 
 
The Musee d Orsay is a train station created for the Paris International Exposition of 1900 which was transformed into a museum by world renowned architect, Gae Aulenti. It first opened to the public in December 9, 1986 with its goal to highlight the art of the western world from the period 1848 through 1914. Its collection, one of the world finest, is composed of paintings, sculpture, drawings, decorative arts, furniture, photography and architectural work from this period consolidated from the collections of the Louvre, Jeu de Paume and Modern Art Museum in Paris as well as major gift from private collectors, artists and their heirs. 
 
Their collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings represents the finest survey of its kind in the world. The museum was full when we arrived late in the afternoon. One has the option for an audio guided tour, but since we were pressed for time we skipped this one. The exhibit was entitled, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Beyond: Masterpieces from the Musee d Orsay, which was the second part of the two part exhibition, the first showcasing the Birth of Impressionism. In this exhibit, eight signature paintings by Cezanne, such as the Bathers, were shown, illustrating his pioneering exploration of pictorial structure. Great works of Van Gogh were also featured, including, a Self-Portrait, the colorful Bedroom at Arles and my sister Mary's favorite, Starry Night over the Rhone. 
 
 I kept trailing a learned "art critic" who was eagerly explaining the paintings to her friends. I learned so much from her, like how the chair in Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles was blocking the door, the simplicity of the floor and the who the pictures were in the frames. She said that Van Gogh was in depression during this times and ostracized himself from the world which led to his eventual suicide. One of my favorite pointillist painters, Georges Seurat was also featured. 
 
My favorite was Model in Profile. His paintings are light and dreamy from afar, but when you go near the painting, you'll notice that all the strokes are in dots. It must have taken him a long time to finish one painting considering that a hundred thousand dots would be required for one work. Paul Gaugain's influential position is also represented through ten of his superb works like the Portrait of the Artist with the Yellow Christ and the Tahitian scene Arearea. Toulouse-Latrec also makes an appearance with bold The Lady Clown Cha-U-Kao and the contrastingly intimate, The Bed. 
 
Other artist prominent artists featured in the exhibit include Monet, Signac, Denis, Moreau, Bonnard and Vuillard (the Le Nabis), and Henri Rosseau. His Snake Charmer was mystifying. Expansive canvases by the Nabis created a tapestry-like environment, filling the gallery space with the gaiety painted light and flat patterned color. It was truly a visual treat. 
 
Riding a cab on our way home, I saw Ludwig van Beethoven's statue in front of the California Academy of Sciences building. We told the cab driver to stop cause I need to have myself pictured beside my musical idol. 
 
We alighted, and my sister took some pictures- which brings us back to my first statement. At the back of the life-like statue, I placed the Art Cube which I purchased from the Museum store before posing for pictures. I never got it back. On our way to the airport for home, it suddenly dawned on me that the Art Cube was left at the Golden Gate Park. I sat at the pre-departure area dismayed and rode the plane for 16 hours thinking and dreaming about life, my wife and kids, the paintings and the Art Cube. 
 
When we arrived two days later, my sister posted on her FB wall- "dorky brother, we found your cube"....

Popular posts from this blog

The Visayas Art Fair 2024- Connect, Create, Cultivate

-
Image
  How do you show appreciation for your art and culture? By owning it- it is a piece of your heritage - a future relic. It does not have to be very beautiful or costly. But if it "speaks" to you, acquire it, keep it, because you like looking at it, your descendants will thank you for it. Your painting might be in the Cebu City museum in 2068!    Take the time to visit the Visayas Art Fair 2024. Twenty eight galleries from all over the country showcasing deeper visual imageries and a diversity of styles and representations. The VAF aims to expound on the relationship between the visual arts and the creative industries that fuel their economic potential.    The Visayas Art Fair was a historical undertaking in 2021 with the banner, Connecting The Islands Through Art, initiated by the National Commission for Culture and Arts , together with the Cebu Design Week Inc., Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas , Sacred Heart School for Boys Batch 1985 Foundation, a
Read more

Rodolfo S. Cornejo on Stamp

-
Image
Rodolfo S. Cornejo is the first Filipino composer who received an honory degree from a government recognized music school in the United States . He is also remarkable for his pianistic and compositional know-how by improvising a piano composition at the spur of the moment.   He was born on 15 May 1909 in Singalong , Manila . At the age of six, he had his formal piano lessons. After 2 years, he played fourteen pieces and six encores for his recital. In that same year, he became the organist of the Pasay Catholic Church when they moved in. When he was ten, he composed a piano piece entitled, " Glissando Waltz ". He became so keen and inspired about music by his mother's genuine support.    At 13, he composed the "Salute", a military march that was also published. He also composed the Philippine Suite: Paalam sa Pagakadalaga , Okaka Variations , Paalam na Sinta , Oriental Fantasy , Nocturne in G, Piano Concerto no. 1 , and the Moro Wedding Dance . At 14, tw
Read more

Manuel H. Bernabe on Stamps

-
Image
Manuel H. Bernabe (1890-1960) “King of Balagtasan ” in Spanish was a poet, linguist and politician, Manuel Bernabe was born on February 17, 1890 to Timoteo Bernabe and Emilia Hernandez of Paranaque, Rizal .   At the age of 10, he already started writing verses. He studied at the Ateneo de Manila where he finished his Bachelor of Arts degree with high academic standing in 1907, and then took up law at the University of Santo Tomas , but not able to took up the bar exams. In 1910, Manuel’s first poem was published in the Renacimento Filipino.   In 1912, he translated Virgil’s Aenid from Latin to Spanish. In 1913, he received an award for his poems: “Himno al Sagrado Corazon de Jesus (Hymn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus ), “El Zapote,” and “Espana a Filipinas”.   In 1912, he joined the staff of La Democracia and in 1918, of La Vanguardia of the Roces Publications . He was a columnist but from time to time he also published poems and short stories in the magazine Exelsior.   Manuel
Read more

Tops Artfest 2024- A Celebration of Art

-
Image
The TOPS ARTFEST 2024: Why The Cebu Community Should Not Miss It?  By Celso Duazo Pepito I was happy to graduate in Fine Arts in 1981 at the University of the Philippines Cebu . But for the next two to three decades of  my art practice, my journey as member of creative community were full of difficulties and challenges. In the 80's and 90's we had very limited platforms for exhibition, encouraging us to organize our exhibits in hotels , restaurants , malls , hospitals , etc . Added to our problems is the limited art collectors in Cebu during that time. Attendees of exhibitions, more often than not were same people who have the heart for collecting artworks. And there were instances when these collectors will shy away from art exhibitions, with valid reasons that they do not have enough walls to hang their collections. With this problem in mind, few artists have opted to look for another job, if only to survive. There were few passionate painters, however, that opted to nurture
Read more

Glimpses of Old Cebu: Images of the Colonial Era

-
Image
" Glimpses of Old Cebu: Images of the Colonial Era " is a 276-page coffee table book of nearly 600 of the best photographs, postcards , stereoviews and lantern glass slides of Cebu and its many towns taken between 1870-1945. More than just a mere showcasing of rare, never-before-seen images, the book also provides a treasure trove of information accompanying nearly every picture. The author, Lucy Urgello Miller has been collecting vintage Philippine postcards and photographs for over 20 years, the thrust of her collection being Cebu . She acquired 90% of her Cebu collection in the United States where she is living with her husband Richard "Rick" Miller. Most of the collection was bought at antique postcards shows. Lucy has about 1,000 pictures and postcards on Cebu but she selected only the best and most interesting for this book. Mommy Gingging, Lucy and my wife Grace A blue-blooded Theresian, Lucy spent her entire education from kind
Read more

The Kudyapi- The Philippine Two-Stringed Lute

-
Image
The kutiyapi or kudyapi, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is the only stringed instrument among the Maguindanao people, and one of several among other groups such as the Maranao and Manobo . It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax . The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as from the jackfruit tree.   Common to all kutiyapi instruments, a constant drone is played with one string while the other, an octave above the drone, plays the melody with a kebit or rattan pluck (commonly made from plastic nowadays). This feature, which is also common to other related Southeast Asian "boat lutes", which were influenced by varying degrees by Indian concepts of melody and scale via the Malay archipelago .   Among the T'Boli , Manobo and other Lumad groups, the instrument (known as Hegelung, Kudyapi or Fedlung) is tuned to a major pentatonic scale . Among groups like the Bagobo , the Kutiyapi (Kudlung) is also used as
Read more

Vicente Fabella on Stamps

-
Image
Vicente F. Fabell a (1891-1959). Educator, economist, civic leader and the first Filipino certified public accountant . He was the founder of Jose Rizal College .  He was born on May 7, 1891 in Pagsanjan , Laguna , the third of six children of Juan Fabella, who served as mayor of Pagsanjan during the Spanish and American regimes, and Damiana Fernandez.    He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines in 1912 and then continued his studies in the United States, obtaining concurrent degrees of bachelor of philosophy from the University of Chicago and diploma in commerce from Northwestern University in 1915. That same year, he became a certified public accountant in the state of Wisconsin .   In 1916, upon his return to the Philippines, he became a professional lecturer in accounting and auditing at the University of the Philippines . At the same time, he opened the accounting firm, Vicente Fabella and Company.   He was instrumental in the founding
Read more