Tag: museum

Rainy Day And Museums

Both Sunday and Monday were rainy, but Sunday was still more or less OK. These were our only two free days before the conference started, and we initially planned a private tour on Sunday morning, exploring the city on our own in the afternoon, and visiting museums on Monday. Fortunately, the Visit-a-City app knows all the opening hours and told us all museums would be closed on Monday, so we had to rearrange things. Sunday became a museum day.

The first one we visited was the Ceramic Museum. Itis housed in the Palace of the Marqués de Dos Aguas, and the palace living quarters are part of the museum. I saw a no-photo sign near the entrance and didn’t take pictures for the first 30 minutes, but then I realized everyone was taking photos and the museum staff were fine with it, so I started taking pictures too.

Valencia endured several sieges: first by Romans, then by Moors, and then by Christians, and its ceramics reflected different stages of the city’s history.

Unfortunately, the museum had almost no English signage: some palace rooms had flyers in English, but the Ceramic Museum had almost none. I read a little bit later, but I wish I had done it before the museum visit!

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Visiting Lena: part 3

And Saturday was not over yet! We walked around Belle Isle for some more time,

Looked at Canada:

And then visited the Aquarium; not as big as Shedd, of couse, but still lovely!

Then we walked around a little bit more (the fountain doesn’t work!)

And that was not it! We returned to Lena’s home for dinner, and then went to a local community theater.

Lena In Chicago

A summer weekend when Lena comes to Chicago is always special. We have some favorite activities that we do each time, and we always try something new. Here is a short summary of all our activities.

Lena arrived on Friday evening. It was not super late, and we tentatively planned to go to Jarvis Beach and even went there, but the wind was cold, and we didn’t feel like getting into the water (and even more so – getting out), so we just sat there and talked, and then went home.

On Saturday, I went for an early bike ride by myself, and Lena just walked to the lake.

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New CAC Exhibit: Flyway City

Wednesday was the opening day of this exhibit, and I had a member preview ticket. I figured the exhibit wouldn’t be that large, and I could probably go there around my lunchtime. That worked well!

The exhibit was very informative. I was shocked to learn how many birds die every year during migration because the collide with the building glass! The exhibit provides valuable suggestions on what each homeowner can do to make it safer to igratory birds – I will definitely try not to leave the lights on when it’s not necessary!

And a literal “cherry on top” – Fannie May now serves gelato with all their signature creations!

A Visit To The Adler Planetarium

The Adler Planetarium is one of the two big museums in Chicago that I am not a member of (the other is the Museum of Science and Industry). Both museums are farther away, but that’s only part of the reason I am not a member. For the latter, the distance is a problem, although I really love it and am considering joining for the sake of my granddaughters. But for Planetarium, it’s not the distance; I am just not into it that much, so the distance wouldn’t be a problem.

Recently, I found out that the Planetarium has free public days (or rather, free nights), which they announce on their website, and any Chicago resident can get a ticket. It took me a while to find a free day to attend (these days are always Wednesdays), but I finally got a free ticket for May 6. In addition, you can buy tickets for different shows, and I bought a ticket for the Skywatch Live.

Below is a visual report of my visit.

The piece of the Moon
Gemini 12 – for real

One thing I really enjoyed, and there is no way to reproduce it here: the footage of the Control Center when the astronauts are landing on the surface of the Moon. This footage presents America at its greatness, the feeling we are now missing!

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Matisse’s Jazz

On Thursday, I finally went to the Art Institute to see Matisse’s Jazz exhibit. Usually, I try to see every new exhibit on the day it opens, but as I’ve mentioned multiple times, it’s been a stressful month. Or a couple of months:).

This is a small exhibit, and it made me think. At first, I didn’t quite get the concept. I could not understand why Matisse abandoned painting and drawing in favor of colored paper cutting. I learned that he started using scissors and paper after the surgery, when, for a very long time, he could not stand long enough to paint. But then he switched to this technique entirely, and I was looking and looking, and trying to find the rhythm which I am always looking for in Matisse’s works. And then I finally found it.

Daizies – an earlier Matisse’s work
After – Jazz cutouts

MCA

I almost never make it to the Museum of Contemporary Art, and it’s hard to tell why – there are other museums which are not close to my office, and harder to get to. If anything, the MCA is between my work and my home, and not far from the Chicago Red Line stop. And, because I tend to consume too much information about what’s going on in the city, I learned that they have free admission on Tuesday evenings for all Illinois residents, so I decided to check it out (sort of “getting out of a familiar routine”). I went there on Tuesday when I had a midday doctor appointment, and worked from home, which is also not my typical way of going to the museums.

“The Trophy” by Marlene Dumos

From Firelei Báez exhibition:

City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago Exhibit:

And I didn’t know these facts about the Montrose Harbor:

I was slightly disappointed that the permanent collection is not on view, and overall, there are fewer things on view than I expected. I am going to hold off getting one more membership: now that I know it’s not so difficult to get there (and it a purely physological thing that I flelt this museum was not on my way), I am happy to see all new exhibits during these free Tuesday evenings.

Albertina Museum In Vienna, Part 2

Paul Klee
Boris Grigorjew. A couple: Thief and Prostitute. 1917

Once again, I didn’t know anything about this artist, so I saved some notes from the exhibit:

Boris Grigoriev is one of those artists who, despite the omnipresent search for new forms of avant-garde expression in the contemporary Eastern European art centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg, stuck to figuration and the classical genres. A brilliant draftsman, he initially worked as an illustrator for magazines and made a name for himself as a recognized portraitist of well-known personalities. Self-Portrait with a Cigarette is one of these powerfully expressive portraits.

Grigoriev’s portraits thrive on a direct confrontation with the sitter and the exaggeration of gestures and facial features, as well as the expression of an emotion that captivates the viewer. In this sell-portrait Grigorier presents himself in a defensive posture: the raised shoulder and the skeptical, grim gaze suggest a defensive aloofness; in addition, the figure is viewed from below, by which the artist elevates himself while subordinating the viewer it is through such powerful means that Grigorier lends this traditional genre o modernity that a comparable and roughly contemporaneous with the visoalizations of Expressionism and New Objectivity. Not lost because of the criticism of his “European style,” the artist left Russia in 1919 and settled in Paris in 1921

I recognized Deineka, and was wondering how he could possibly paint a baseball game, and it turned out that he was “awarded” a trip abroad, including the USA, approximately at the same time as Ilf and Petrov
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Albertina Museum In Vienna, Part 1

On Sunday, we planned to visit both Albertina and at least some of the Hofburg museums, but we ended up spending the whole afternoon in Albertina (including lunch, which took longer than we expected for a museum cafe).

We started with the State Rooms exhibit, then moved on to Monet to Picasso and Fascination Paper.

This very unconventional piece of furniture was made for Archduke Carl, who got tired of the constant presence of the staff who didn’t allow him to do anything by himself. Having this very modern looking, and for his time, revolutionary, this stand allowed Archduke to put things on it and take them off independently (do not ask, that’s what the exhibit description says!)
And that’s how Archduke Carl looked
On the opposite side of practicality – a porcelain table
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Bruce Goff Exhibit

I briefly saw this exhibit when I was at the Art Institute with my granddaughters during their winter break, and I wanted to go back and see it one more time when not in a rush (and possibly more times later – I usually try to visit each new exhibit several times). My original plan to do it on January 3 didn’t work, so my next opportunity was this Thursday, when the Art Institute is open until 8 PM. I still had to visit my mom on that day, so I planned to be there for no more than 1.5 hours, and maybe come one more time later.

When I entered the hallway which led to the exhibit, I saw a sign “Free event today,” but since I had never seen any evening free events in the Art Institute (just fancy receptions sometimes), I thought that this sign was left there since midday. But to my surprise, when I walked into the exhibit hall, I heard a conversation which sounded exremely interesting, and I hurried up to join it.

It turned out that there were two docents conversing with the group of visitors. I can’t even call it a tour, because it was very informal, and both docents were passing the ball of the conversation to each other, happily including the visitors, and turning their questions into the prompts to tell more. It was a million times better than any lecture!

These drawings represented different music genres

Goff was an artist, an architect and a composer, and he didn’t want to follow conventional way in anything he did, including the choice of materials.

From Goff’s shirt collection. He loved extravagant shirts, and people were gifting shirts to him.
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