Edvard Munch By Himself, Royal Academy of Art
I have started going to exhibitions again. Last week was Rousseau and today was the patron saint of wallowing in self pity and mistrusting women.
I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of work on show and they had a selection from youth to old age of Munch's work and not just oils on canvas, there were lithographs, woodblock prints, drawings and photographs.
The predominant subject of the work as you may guessed was Munch himself, having studied Art History I still find its methods of analysis both educational and at times stuffed up its own rectum for want of a beter phrase. Some of the information boards were informative but then closed with paragraphs suggesting that certain images and motifs were there to highlight and accentuate his misery, I'd agree and also disagree. This was my problem with Art History that sometimes imagery that is there is not there...what if the artist genuinely painted it because he liked the shape or colour, certain symbols yes, certain objects as a symbol of this or that...I say hell no! (bit of a rant there...apologies!)
I preferered the black and white work that Munch did and the canvases with limited palates but overall worth seeing. So yes, Munch was self indulgent, self absorbed and mistrusting of women but I didn't leave feeling down...he would have had an interesting Blog...or not...
Went to the exhibition with my friend S. who asked to hold her bag for most of the exhibition, no wonder her back hurts...it wasn't exactly light. I need to stop trying to cram stuff into my jacket pockets though...
Winter has descended upon London the only colour you see on people is their scarves otherwise everybody is in a black coat of some sort.
Dinner: Vietnamese food - Pho Special...mmm it was good!!!!
I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of work on show and they had a selection from youth to old age of Munch's work and not just oils on canvas, there were lithographs, woodblock prints, drawings and photographs.
The predominant subject of the work as you may guessed was Munch himself, having studied Art History I still find its methods of analysis both educational and at times stuffed up its own rectum for want of a beter phrase. Some of the information boards were informative but then closed with paragraphs suggesting that certain images and motifs were there to highlight and accentuate his misery, I'd agree and also disagree. This was my problem with Art History that sometimes imagery that is there is not there...what if the artist genuinely painted it because he liked the shape or colour, certain symbols yes, certain objects as a symbol of this or that...I say hell no! (bit of a rant there...apologies!)
I preferered the black and white work that Munch did and the canvases with limited palates but overall worth seeing. So yes, Munch was self indulgent, self absorbed and mistrusting of women but I didn't leave feeling down...he would have had an interesting Blog...or not...
Went to the exhibition with my friend S. who asked to hold her bag for most of the exhibition, no wonder her back hurts...it wasn't exactly light. I need to stop trying to cram stuff into my jacket pockets though...
Winter has descended upon London the only colour you see on people is their scarves otherwise everybody is in a black coat of some sort.
Dinner: Vietnamese food - Pho Special...mmm it was good!!!!
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10:36 PM
5 Comments:
I always read the information boards with a bit of a sarcastic mind. Sure - that must be EXACTLY what he meant :) This was especially the case at an exhibit I went to this summer (long story - but I think the artists...all living...were responsible for their own information boards)
Boston is a great city for art & I don't take advantage of that often enough. We have excellent pho too :)
what did you think of the Rousseau? i am going in a week, taking advantage of late fri night hours. i love that about our museums here! 2 good things about london winter this year, better movies out, and better museum exhibits (can't wait 2 c 3 emperors).
I remember in my high school Art History course an work (I don't remember the name or the artist) I had to write an essay on, describing what the artist was depicting.
I got nothing from it. It was just a mess. The textbook said something like it was a surrealist, postmodern take on sexuality, but all I saw was a bunch of metal and glass parts glued together.
Thanks for dropping by today; you lucky thing, you...I would die to be able to go to art galleries but we don't get much other than contemporary, which I am not such a fan of...and pho for dinner.mmmmm
So you are Art History too...Those are excellent news Finn :-)
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