"Prague", St. Stephen's Day, Richard Diebenkorn and James Turrell

Prague by Arthur Phillips

Several years ago, Arthur Phillips's Prague was read very broadly; at certain time, I could see someone reading it almost everyday.  Finally I got the chance to read it myself and on the day I finished reading it, I chance encountered the St. Stephen's Day celebration (Hungarian National Day) in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, two days before the holiday -- a nice coincidence since the entire novel of "Prague" took place in Budapest.  "Prague" related the adventure of several young westerners in  post-Communist Budapest, trying to find their life's purposes, while pining for the more apparently alluring Prague.

It was a fascinating read for me since I did visit Budapest after a stop in the more exotic-looking Prague during the same trip to Central Europe for a wedding took place in Margaret Island (Nunavut) of Budapest, a beautiful island referred to many times in the novel.  The book was also very fascinating to me because the author had ably summarized the long history of the struggles of the Hungarian people for their identity and freedom, and their sufferings in the hands of the Communist regime. My personal experience of growing up in Communist China and having lived through the 1989's Tian'anmen Massacre in Beijing made the read more poignant.

The story line of the novel was not linear and the book often threatened to unravel but then those strands were pulled back and re-braided into a coherent rope, ushering the reader further along the path with the meandering characters who were often quirky and  predictably unpredictable, and were prevented from being sentimental because enough timely irony were employed by the shrewd author.

Quite an engaging read, particularly for people had fascinations with central Europe history and people, the impact of Communism, and the yearning of the young people.

~~~~

It was on 18 August 2013 that I encountered the celebration of St. Stephen's Day in Golden Gate Park.  The actual St. Stephen's Day falls on today, 20 August.  First we heard music, then saw two dancers danced to Hungarian folk tunes.



A while later, when we moved away from the stage, we saw several Hungarian Hussars on beautiful horses, in their impressive full regalia.

~~~~

What brought us to Golden Gate Park was to see the special exhibit of Richard Diebenkorn, Berkeley Years (1953-1966).

Deeply engaged with the unique setting of the Bay Area, artist Richard Diebenkorn profoundly influenced postwar American art during his years spent working in Berkeley, from 1953 to 1966. Explore this first exhibition to focus on this pivotal period in Diebenkorn's career.

During his years in Berkeley, Diebenkorn was deeply engaged with the unique setting of the Bay Area, saturating his works with color, light, and atmosphere. More than 130 paintings and drawings, beginning with the artist's earlier abstract works and moving through his subsequent figurative phase, display his profound influence on postwar American art. [source: De Young Museum]

Diebenkorn was the artist that we thought we knew everything about him but actually, his opuses were much broader and deeper and much more mercury than the familiar (semi-)abstract pieces most closes representing his maturity, and it was gratifying and startling to see the richness of his works, even though confined to only his Berkeley years.  Since I was not allowed to take pictures in the special exhibit, I found this photo I took when visiting Oakland Museum of California, featuring Diebenkorn's semi-abstract piece which was actually included in this exhibit, and quite a good representation of his Berkeley era.


Figure on a Porch, 1959, Oil on Canvas, Richard Diebenkorn

~~~~

Since we saw James Turrell's special exhibit in LACMA, we were recommended by our artist friends to see a "hidden" James Turrell's work in De Young Museum.  It was a site specific work created for De Young's Osher Sculpture Garden. 

This "skyspace," titled Three Gems, is the first work by Turrell to enter the museum’s collections. It is a subterranean installation that will feature a view of the sky altered by L.E.D. lighting effects, and that highlights changing light and weather conditions outside.

Although Turrell has created other skyspaces, his project for the de Young will be his first skyspace to adopt the stupa form. The sculpture will be sited in a grass-covered hill in the Osher Sculpture Garden. Viewers will walk through a short tunnel cut into the hill, and then enter into a cylindrical space carved out of the hill. The retaining walls of this cylindrical space will be white concrete and the floor will be red stone. At the center of this cylindrical space will be a rough-hewn, black basalt stupa form. Entering the round stupa through a door, viewers will sit on a stone bench that runs around the circumference of the skyspace and view the sky through an oculus cut in the roof of the chamber. Viewers’ perceptions of the sky color will be subtly altered by an L.E.D. lighting system inside the chamber, and by changing light and weather conditions outside the chamber. [source: De Young Museum]

This sculpture/installation was like a burial mound and after a little wooded pathway, we circled around the structure then entered the "shrine," and joined a group people sitting on the circular stone benches to look at the sky through the round opening on the domed ceiling.











The site was surprisingly small and the meditative effect was diminished by the closeness to other people and the claustrophobic atmosphere.  I wished that it were raining or snowing, then the effect could be more interesting.

This installation reminded of me of Richard Serra's gargantuan installation "Sequence" we saw in Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, featuring two two joined spiral spaces formed by curved steel plates.  Serra's work was much more interesting to me because when we walked through those spiral spaces, we were greeted with myriad variations of shapes, colors, and lights.  Much more spiritual and magical.


Sequence, Richard Serra

~~~~

Osher Sculpture Garden in De Young Museum was a beautiful and soothing place to relax after my gluttonous art consumption.  Below are several whimsical works I enjoyed particularly:

~~~~

The museum itself was also a piece of art in its own rights and the ever changing views with shifting view angles continued to impress and delight:

Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst: 
- My Favorite De Young Museum Collections

- Urs Fischer Exhibit at MOCA, Los Angeles
- Pixar Exhibit and Newly Renovated Oakland Museum of California
- Rodin and Richard Serra in Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University

- Review of "The Stranger's Child" by Alan Hollinghurst

- Review of "As Above, So Below" by Rudy Von B. Rucker
- My Favorite Paintings from Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest) (Szépművészeti Múzeum)
- My Favorite Paintings at the National Gallery (Schwarzenberg Palace) in Prague
- My Favoritate Sculptures on Karl's Bridge, Prague
- Another Look at De Young Museum in San Francisco

My Favorite Sculpture and Painting at Strahov Monastery, Prague

Strahov Monastery (Strahovský klášter) in Prague (Praha), a Premonstratensian abbey founded in 1149 by Bishop Jindřich Zdík, Bishop John of Prague, and Prince Vladislav II, is a beautiful cloister, and houses wonderful art collections from Italy, Holland and Central Europe dating from 1300 through 19th century (Collection of Czech and European art from the Gothic to Romanticism). 

Amongst its collections, two works struck me as particularly interesting.  One was a sculpture by an unknown artist, portraying the God figure.  It had a wonderfully stiff and eloquent pose, beautiful patina, and mesmerizing facial expression. The sculpture was both reassuring and mysterious, perfectly captured the essence of the omnipresent yet allusive god.


Lower Austrian Sculptor, early 16th century
God the Father of the Coronation of the Virgin Mary
Linden wood

The second work I cite here was a painting by Gerrit Dou, a Dutch Golden Age painter, the Portrait of Rembrandt's Mother.  The old woman, richly but somberly attired, against a pale green/black background, with pinched mouth, wrinkled and unguarded face, downcast yet penetrating gaze, indirectly confronted the viewers, in an almost unbearable intensity, seemed to demand our confession as well.  I was in awe of her great presence and startling characterization.  The interplay of dark and light, worthy of Rambrandt himself, though with less subtlety, perhaps.  A striking portrait.


Gerrit Dou or Gerard Dou
Leiden 1613 - Leiden 1675
Portrait of Rembrandt's mother
Oil on wood

The monastery was also famous for its wonderful library, featuring incredibly beautiful baroque ceilings and enormous manuscript collections.  Actually, I have to say that the library made much stronger impression on me than its art collections.






My Favorite Museum Collection Series

>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 38: My Favorite Paintings at Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
<< My Favorite Museum Collection Series 36: My Favorite Paintings at the National Gallery (Schwarzenberg Palace) in Prague

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

My Favorite Paintings at the National Gallery (Schwarzenberg Palace) in Prague

I must confess that Prague itself was a living museum and the uniqueness and beauty of it overshadowed any artwork I saw in its museum.  However, it's National Gallery (Schwarzenberg Palace (Schwarzenberský Palác)) did collect some important and quite moving paintings, particularly those with dark and nationalistic works, documenting the endless struggle of the great nation.

The National Gallery in Prague had several locations, each host a specific group of collections.  Here in Schwarzenberg Palace, the collection was labeled as "Baroque in Bohemia - Permanent Exhibition of the Collection of Old Masters of the National Gallery in Prague".

Schwarzenberg Palace was a renaissance building, located near the Prague Castle, built between 1545 and 1576 for the Prague Count Jan Lobkowicz the Younger, and for that reason it was originally called the Lobkowicz Palace. The castle passed to the emperor then Petr Vok z Rožmberka, and the Schwarzenberg family, who owned the palace from 1719 until 1948.

My first favorite painting there is a diptych featuring four Saints - Wenceslas,Vitus, Sigismund and Adalbert, by Bartholomaeus Spranger (21 March 1546 – August 1611), a Flemish Northern Mannerist painter, draughtsman, and etcher.  The somewhat stiff poses of these saints gave these four figures an other-worldliness and timelessness.



Saints, Wenceslas, Vitus, Sigismund and Adalbert (after 1585)
Bartholomaeus Spranger (21 March 1546 – August 1611)

My second favorite was "Portrait of a Man" by Karel Škréta (1610 – July 30, 1674), a Czech Baroque painter.  Though produced rather early, the verisimilitude of this work was quite astonishing and the contrast between light and dark created a symphony of light, though in a minor key.


Portrait of a man (after 1640) 
Karel Škréta (1610 – July 30, 1674)

Finally, I must include a picture of the building - a marvelous palace with wonderfully characterful façade. 




My Favorite Museum Collection Series

>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 37: My Favorite Sculpture and Painting at Strahov Monastery, Prague
<< My Favorite Museum Collection Series 35: My Favoritate Sculptures on Karl's Bridge, Prague

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

My Favoritate Sculptures on Karl's Bridge, Prague

Prague was my first stop in Central Europe in early 2000s, which included the capitals of Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary.

The most impressive art in Prague is the city itself, more so than anything I'd seen in a museum, cathedral or a monastery.  The best of it was Karlův most (Charles Bridge) over Vltava, linking the "Old Town" to the even older "Malá Strana (Lesser Quarter)", named after the Holy Roman Emperor, Karl IV, who was the first Bohemian king who ascended the imperial throne.

We stayed in Malá Strana and every morning, I would take a little short stroll to walk on the wonderful bridge, to savor the quiet and intimate moments when most tourists had not flooded the bridge and to admire the continuous alley of statues and statuaries, 30 in all, mostly in baroque-style, originally erected around 1700 but now all replaced by replicas.

I will cite two as my favorites.  One is St Philip Benzi (St. Philip Benitius) (socha sv. Filipa Benicia):



It was designed by Michal Bernard Mandl in 1714 and portrayed St. Philip Benitius, fifth general of the Servites, holding a cross, a book and a spray. A papal crown lay behind his foot. This is an understated, but highly charged statue.  The inner conflict was betrayed by his unsettled right leg and arm, despite the calmness on his face.  The picture I took above had a very dramatic clouds background and it was a perfect foil for the restrained sculpture.

My next favorite was a much more ornate sculpture of Saint Francis of Assisi (socha sv. Františka Serafinského), flanked by two large winged angels.  The frontal view of sculpture was quite plain and humble, befit to the character of the saint. However, when viewed with the impressive wings as focal point, it became incredibly dramatic and ornate - perhaps Rodin would not have approved it but I loved its view like this. 



Perhaps a bit sentimental, whenever I looked at this picture, I remembered that street musician playing "Que sera, sera", under a colorful umbrella.  The very essence of bohemian life.


My Favorite Museum Collection Series

>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 36: My Favorite Paintings at the National Gallery (Schwarzenberg Palace) in Prague
<< My Favorite Museum Collection Series 34: My Favorite Sculptures at Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, Paris

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

Remembering Václav Havel (5 October 1936 - 18 December 2011)

Amongst the political figures from the second half of the 20th century, one of them truly earned my admiration - the former president of Czechoslovakia then of Czech Republic, Václav Havel (5 October 1936 - 18 December 2011), who died today.

He was a renowned playwright and poet and before the fall of the communist regime, he was a leading voice of dissent and had been imprisoned due to his involvement with the human rights manifesto Charter 77, which brought him international fame as the leader of the opposition in Czechoslovakia.

1989, I was a college student and marginally participated the mass demonstration for democracy and free press in China, and only witnessed the brutal crackdown by the government in mid-year and then with envy, saw the success of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, which led to the end of the communist government and launched Havel into the presidency.

I admired the then Chinese Communist Party chief, Zhao Ziyang, for his refusal to participate in the crackdown with troops, yet, grieved that there was no Chinese Havel to lead the fight for human rights and democracy in my native country.

Many years later, in 2002, after I had become the U.S. citizen, I visited Czech Republic and was by chance, had one of the most amazing experiences in my life.

We arrived in Prague in the evening and the next day, we visited the imposing Castle - the inspiration for Franz Kafka's eponymous novel.  There were musical performances in the castle, and the musicians would appear in period costumes.  It would be fine and fun but just a tad too precious and touristy.  I made a decision that after the tour of the castle and the cathedral, we ought to go to theMunicipal House to try our luck to buy a pair of tickets for that evening's opening performance of Prague Spring International Music Festival.  It was on May 12, the day of the opening of the festival, also the day of the composer Bedřich Smetana's death, and the program would be Smetana: Má vlast (My Country), an evening-length six movements tone poems. Smetana is considered the founding father of the national music movement and in Má vlast, he combined the symphonic poem form pioneered by  Franz Liszt with the ideals of nationalistic music which were current in the late nineteenth century.  Each poem depicts some aspect of the countryside, history, or legends of Bohemia. 

When we arrived at Municipal House, a couple hours before the performance, we realized that this would be a grand gala performance and our chance of getting a pair of tickets was practically none but we were extremely luck because someone just returned a pair of tickets to the box office.  After procuring the tickets, we pushed through guests just got off the limousines to have a quick bite for dinner.

When we came back, we automatically went to the nose-bleeding seats but was sent down to a corridor.  We saw people at the far end of the corridor but they didn't not talk to us and only gestured that we could go no further.  Eventually we found our seats, in a box, to the left of the stage.

Just before the performance, some music started and people started to get up so we followed suit and then realized that the president Havel and the First Lady of Czech Republic emerged from that box we tried to crash in.  It was a thrilling moment.  I am not a hero-worshiper but I had deep admiration for Havel - for his tireless fight for human rights, for his wisdom and his integrity.  He was not typical politician and he relied on his humanism to guide his country towards a better future.

Czech people love their music and Smetana's music spoke eloquently of the characteristics of the land and its inhabitants.  The performance of the soulful and stirring music was absolutely electrifying and the presence of the Havels definitely etched this concert into my memory.

Remembering My London Trip (2004)

The newly identified likely Shakespeare portrait, reminded me my wonderful trip to UK, along with the Netherlands and Belgium, in 2004.

Since this was my first trip to UK, I naturally visited other prominent landmarks, such as Parliament, Westminster Abbey, etc., but museums and theaters were definitely the highlights of the London visit.

On the very first day, I tried to catch the Edward Hopper retrospective, which ended that very day (5 September 2004), in the newly opened Tate Modern, metamorphosed gloriously from a former power plant. Unfortunately one of the Underground lines was closed on weekend, so it took much longer for me to get to our hotel; and when the proprietor offered a nicer room after we checked in, we were detained further. The bus we took to the museum stopped off the regular route so we had to walk a long stretch and when we breathlessly reached the window, they had just stopped selling tickets to the Hopper exhibit. The consolation was the Tate itself. Honestly I don't remember the collection much, except for some enormous sculptures in the front hall. The museum itself was a masterwork, with a breathtaking view of the Thames.

The main place for paintings was National Gallery. It had way too many treasures for me to recount. My favorite was "The Doge Leonardo Loredan" (1501-4) by Giovanni Bellini, and "The Arnolfini Portrait" or "Portrait of Giovanni (?) Arnolfini and his Wife ('The Arnolfini Portrait')" (1434) by Jan van Eyck. Incidentally, when we moved on to Brugges, Belgium in the same trip, we stayed in Hotel Lucca, built by the very same Arnolfini.



National Portrait Gallery boasted many important portraits and I was equally fascinated by their Tudor portraits and contemporary ones.
















I was very moved by the Parthenon Frieze (aka Elgin Marble) Room in The British Museum. The great reading room was stunning and I looked for the footprint supposedly left by Karl Marx. The newly covered grand courtyard was visually stunning and I stayed there for a long while, as if time ceased to exist. I also loved their Babylonian and Egyptian collections. I felt disoriented after the visit.

I stumbled upon the Wallace Collection, which was the "finest private collection of art ever assembled by one family" according to their own website. I honestly, though, cannot remember a particular piece, only the general musty and mysterious atmosphere. According to Frommer's, "the art collection includes works by Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard, and Greuze, as well as such classics as Frans Hals's Laughing Cavalier and Rembrandt's portrait of his son Titus. The paintings of the Dutch, English, Spanish, and Italian schools are outstanding."

The last museum in London I visited was Tate Britain, which featured British art, particularly Turner's.

Our day trips in UK included a rain-drenched trip to Stonehenge and an excursion to Cambridge, highlighted by the mandatory punting on the Cam. The permanent collections at Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge contained remarkable antiquities from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Again, I cannot pinpoint any specific piece of work. I only remember that I felt exhausted and exulted.

In other cities, besides fine arts, cathedrals and cemeteries, I might go for classical music. In London, I went for drama. It was Olympic year in Greece so we were blessed with two remarkable plays by by Euripides -- Iphigenia at Aulis at Royal National Theatre and Hecuba at Donmar Warehouse. The former was good and it was wonderful to see one play at Royal National Theatre but the later was an experience as remarkable as the opening night of Spring Festival in Prague, with President Václav Havel in attendance. I rank Hecuba as the best drama experiences I ever had, period. It turned out that the actress Clare Higgins won Laurence Olivier Best Actress Award for this portrayal. I had never heard of Donmar Warehouse before but a little searching yielded some information: Since 1992, Donmar original productions have received 27 Olivier Awards, 17 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, 9 Evening Standard Awards, as well as 12 Tony Awards from eight productions transferring to Broadway (wikipedia.com).

I had a certain trepedation when I approached Shakespeare's Globe Theatre for Measure for Measure by Shakespeare. Kitsch! I was afraid. Jesters opened the curtain and trumpets rang out. Kitsch! I murmured. It turned out to be a nice surprise. It was a high quality performance, not the tourist trap at all. A few hours' standing and looking up the raised stage tired me, though in our general standing "seats" I did feel that I had experience a little bit resembled those of the great Elizabethans.

I was surprised that I loved London more than I cared to admit. The Queen was in Scotland for her summer holiday therefore she didn't deign to receive me. Alas.