D’abord celle de l’ Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), à Toronto: «The Great Upheaval: Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection, 1910-1918». Les premières pièces collectionnées par le fondateur du musée Guggenheim à New-York (l’exposition même est de fait organisée par le Guggenheim)! Essentiellement des peintures (quelques sculptures) de ceux qui allaient devenir des « maîtres » : Constantin Brancusi, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Vassily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Piet Mondrian and Pablo Picasso, parmi d’autres. Un excellent narratif - un par année et un pour les années de guerre, où on fait état, entre autre, des progrès technologiques de l’époque. Une fenêtre sur les 8 années, en Europe surtout, de la Grande Guerre et des 4 ans qui l’ont précédé. On met en évidence le lien serré qui lie toutes ces communautés culturelles d’un pays à l’autre; et le fait que ce lien est irrémédiablement brisé par le conflit des nations, ce qui frappe! C’est bien réussi comme expo!
Ce qu’en dit l’AGO sur son site: “The Great Upheaval bears witness to how dazzlingly fruitful an eight-year period can be….In the brief interlude before the outbreak of war, original ideas sprang up in such profusion that a single metaphor cannot contain them: they skyrocketed, snowballed, mushroomed, and multiplied - Ariella Budick, Financial Times “The Great Upheaval: Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection, 1910-1918 showcases the dynamism, creativity, and innovation of art produced in Europe in the years leading up to and during the First World War...the exhibition chronologically traces the achievements of these tumultuous years as artists experimented with new ways to create art while launching such movements as expressionism, futurism and cubism. The exhibition’s focus on the years 1910 to 1918 represents an intense chapter in European and world history, marked by sweeping social change, technological developments and scientific advances. During this time of tremendous creativity and innovation, European cities were evolving, and artists, who were founding groups, staging exhibitions and issuing manifestoes, likewise adapted and responded to 20th-century modernity. The Great Upheaval spotlights the dynamism of this fertile period — as artists hurtled toward abstraction and the ultimate “great upheaval” of a catastrophic war — while presenting some of the foundational modern masterpieces that shaped the art of future generations. Organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.”
Et puis celle du Musée des beaux-arts à Montréal : «Splendore a Venezia», où on réussit très bien à lier l’art visuel de l’époque (XVIe au XVIIIe siècle – Titien, Canaletto, Guardi, et d’autres) à celui de la musique (Albinoni, Vivaldi, etc..,) pratiqués au quotidien dans cette ville que l’on surnomme la Sérénissime! Le musicien, créateur de musique, s’élève au rang du peintre, socialement parlant. A tel point, que même les peintres s’essaient à la musique! On y réunit non seulement des peintures, mais aussi d’autres effets – instruments de musique, manuscrits et publications, venus de plusieurs musées – américains, italiens et d’autres d’ailleurs en Europe. Fort bien illustré et rendu! Chapeau! Ce qu’en dit, en partie, le site du Musée des beaux-arts : Art et musique de la Renaissance au Baroque à Venise Du 12 octobre 2013 au 19 janvier 2014 Le Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal présente en grande première et en exclusivité canadienne l’exposition Splendore a Venezia : art et musique de la Renaissance au Baroque à Venise. Cette exposition, organisée, produite et mise en tournée par le Musée, est la première à exploiter l’interaction entre les arts visuels et la musique à Venise du début du XVIe siècle jusqu’à la fin du XVIIIe siècle – de Titien à Canaletto, de Willaert à Vivaldi. Une réalisation qui a demandé plus de cinq ans de labeur et de planification ! Grâce à 61 prêteurs exceptionnels incluant des collectionneurs privés et de prestigieuses institutions internationales, dont le Musée du Louvre, le Metropolitan Museum of Art, la New York Public Library, la National Gallery of Art (Washington), la Galerie des offices, la Palatine Gallery, l’Accademia (Venise), le Thyssen-Bornemisza, la National Gallery (Londres) et la Cité de la musique, les visiteurs sont transportés à Venise pour découvrir sa magnificence à travers la scène musicale. Composée d’environ 120 peintures, estampes et dessins ainsi que d’instruments de musique anciens et de partitions manuscrites, l’exposition trace le portrait d’une période d’une extraordinaire vitalité en rassemblant des chefs-d’œuvre d’artistes tels que Titien, Tintoret, Bassano, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Francesco Guardi, Bernardo Strozzi, Pietro Longhi et Canaletto. Splendore a Venezia met aussi en valeur le génie de plusieurs compositeurs, notamment Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Albinoni, Lotti et Vivaldi en montrant leurs manuscrits parmi lesquels figure la première édition de l’œuvre Les quatre saisons de Vivaldi, qui donnait des cours de violon à l’Ospedale della Pietà. L’exposition est conçue sous la direction de Nathalie Bondil et Hilliard T. Goldfarb, le commissaire de l’exposition. De plus, le Musée a le grand honneur de bénéficier du haut patronage de Son Excellence M. Giorgio Napolitano, président de la République italienne. Montréal, le 2 décembre 2013
mardi 3 décembre 2013
samedi 19 octobre 2013
Vienna October 2013
Staying at Topazz Hotel, well located in the center of town (Innere Stadt). Modern, “trendy”! Great room (corner – 2 oval-shaped windows; good shower pressure!) Earthy breakfast on premise. Staff enthusiastic – very helpful with restaurant recommendations and reservations (requests few days before arriving! Certainly very recommendable!
Spent time –not enough, considering what is there to see! – in museums: saw part of the Picture Gallery at the Kuntzhistorisches Museum (Bruegel the elder) – we were inspired to visit by the recent movie “Museum Hours” seen in Toronto!) and the special exhibition of the British painter Lucian Freud’s work (first time apparently shown in the city of his grandfather Sigmund!); the incomparable Schiele (who died so young at 28, victim of the Spanish flu after the first world war!) and a special exhibition (“Vienna 1900”) which includes quite a bit on Klimt and “Viener Werkstätte” works at the Leopold Museum; and finally a special exhibition on “Matisse and the Fauves” at the Albertina Museum.
We had to skip the Belvedere Palace, built in the 17th century as a summer residence, and its baroque gardens, somewhat outside the city but nearby. Now a museum, housing notably Klimt’s famous “Kiss” painting! There is also the Schloss Schönbrunn (which we did not go to), built on a hill, southwest, outside of the city – another display of imperial splendor – some 2000 rooms! Maria Theresia (18th century) chose it as its seat and court (Napoleon stayed there for 4 years!) We walked through what I called the Hofburg complex, south of the Michaeleplatz, which houses some of the museums we eventually visited, and the famous Spanish Riding School (no interest in seeing a performance by the so-called “Lippizaner” white stallions!)
Attempt to spend the last day in the wine country – Vienna apparently is the only world city with a ‘wine country’ within its city limits! – without much success though as we were caught by the rain; as a result, we came back in town (Bus 38A and U4 to Schwedenplatz) and had light lunch at coffeehouse Demel, near the Hofburg, where we had our “Viennese culinary moment” – a mélange coffee and an applestrudel!
Leaving tomorrow…
(leopoldmuseum.com)
Egon Schiele
With 41 paintings and 188 works on paper the Leopold Museum is the largest and most prominent collection with works of Egon Schiele worldwide.
When Egon Schiele died in 1918 at the age of only 28 year of the Spanish flu he was seen as being one of the most important artists of his time. During the turmoil of the following decades he was more and more buried in oblivion until he completely disappeared into thin air after being judged as “degenerate art”. When Rudolf Leopold saw works by Egon Schiele at the beginning of the 1950s he immediately recognized that their quality, emotionality and technical bravura could absolutely be compared to the Old Masters. The life of the young eye doctor changed radically. From now on he entirely devoted himself to collecting and trading art. Many Schiele paintings and drawings were on sale on the free market at the time and even quite affordable even though they were not that cheap: a large-sized oil painting pretty much had the same price as a new car. Compared to the many million Euros that one would have to pay for them today this is nothing. Rudolf Leopold made significant contributions to the international esteem in which he is held today.
Besides the oil paintings and graphic works the Leopold Museum also houses the Egon Schiele-Documentation Centre that is dedicated to research on Schiele’s work and also holds numerous autographs. For the first time the lyricist work of Schiele dawns on a broader audience.
Schiele as lyricist
While Schiele was quite popular for his paintings and drawings in his lifetime, his poetic work was unnoticed for a long time although his expressionist lyricism is indeed quite important. The originals of Schiele’s poems belong in large part to the Leopold collection. Many letters and poems were almost designed as graphic works of art by Egon Schiele. The topics are similar to those depicted in his paintings: those are personal visions with the greatest expressiveness, colorfulness and directness. Unusual word combinations and wird coining, gramatically incomplete phrases and graphically positioned hyphens coin this so unusual atmospheric language. For instance Schiele wants „to taste dark water“, „see wild air“, „build white clouds“ oder he creates „rainbow foam“, foot race alleys“ or a „wind winterland“. His hard pressed soul that finds expression in his artistic world also breaks out eruptively in his lyricist work: „Excess of life“ and „agony of thinking “ are just as present as dark forces: „demons! – brake the violence! – your language, - your signs, - your power!“, proclaims Egon Schiele. The range of his contradictory feelings culminates in the paradoxical and final finding: „Everything is lively dead“.
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt (1862 Vienna – Vienna 1918) is the greatest and most impressive person of the Austrian art at around 1900. Coming from modest circumstances, Klimt studied at the Staatliche Kunstgewerbeschule where his talent for drawing soon was discovered. Therefor he got a number of public contracts together with his brother Ernst und his university friend Franz Matsch. The panaches at the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the great paintings at the staircase of the Burgtheater testify the technical perfection of this young „Künstler-Compagnie“. However these works were entirely committed to Viennese historicism. During the 1890s Klimt was looking for different means of expression and finally founded the Secession in 1897 with other like-minded artists. Klimt was the first president of the Vienna Secession. The culmination of this development were the University of Vienna ceiling paintings that burned in 1945 in a mansion in Lower Austria. The Leopold Museum presents these major works by Klimt for the first time as black and white photographs in the original size. The radical depiction of his personal view of the world was too pessimist for the professors at the University of Vienna and led to a huge scandal at the time. As a reaction Klimt decided to never accept any public contract again and focused on the creation of lyric landscape paintings that he painted during his summer visits together with the Flöge family to the Attersee region in Upper.
After decoratively overloaded, splendid art works, his style gets softer at around 1910. The painting “Death and Life” gets created and several times over-worked. Klimt elevates the topic into something general and gives „life“ a wonderful beauty with some inherent sadness – with death standing next to it. Enfeebled by a cerebral apoplexy, Gustav Klimt dies of pneumonia on 6 February 1918.
Gustav Klimt once said about himself:
“I can paint and draw. There is no self-portrait of myself. I am not interested in my own person – more in other people, females. […] I paint day by day from morning to night – figurative paintings and landscapes, less often portraits. Already when I should write a simple letter I get frightened like due to imminent seasickness. Those who want to know more about me shall observingly regard my paintings, and try to realize who I am and what I want.“Wiener Werkstätte
This movement finally led to the foundation of the Wiener Werkstätte by Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and the patron Fritz Wärndorfer in 1903. It was the aim of the Werkstätte to renew the art term in the field of applied arts and to embellish the life by everyday objects designed by artists. Following British examples, the challenge was to offer simple, elegant unique items in reply to the uncharitable and industrial replicas of past styles. A tea pot and a wardrobe were designed with just the same diligence and idealism. Everyday objects thus were elevated to an art object. All spheres of life should be designed homogenously and do justice to a modern culture.
Until the 1920s the company opened up sales affiliates at the top addresses in Vienna and abroad. Nevertheless its failure loomed ahead. It was especially for the high prices of their products that the Wiener Werkstätte failed to accomplish its social cause namely to ensure that the life of everybody was embellished by everyday objects designed by artists. Until its final closure in 1932, the company always relied on the support of prosperous patrons.
The Leopold Museum shows metalworks and furniture by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser as well as selected objects by Otto Wagner and others in its permanent exhibition.
Vienna 1900
How the conservative and culturally quite sedate city of Vienna of the 19th century could one of the most creative cities in the world at around 1900 is still up to discussion. One reason could be that compared to relatively closed groups in other European centres, the cohesion of the elite in the capital of the Habsburg Empire was quite strong until the early 20th century. The achievements of the “Moderne” could therefor easily spread to all different areas, beginning with paintings, literature and music right up to medecine and jurisdiction, and bestow one last great rebellion on the battered Habsburg Empire.
In Austrian art the year 1897 with the foundation of the Vienna Secession marks the birth of modern art. Nineteen artists led by Gustav Klimt pulled out of the traditional Künstlerhaus on 24 May 1897 and founded the “Association of visual artists Austria, Secession”. They did not want to submit themselves to the historicist taste and the political will anymore. The journal Ver Sacrum was a far-reaching voice for modern art and the building of the Vienna Secession, opened in 1898, provided the young artists with the possibility to present their art works to a large audience. They wanted to actively teach the inhabitants of Vienna modern art, organized big international exhibitions and for the first time brought artists like van Gogh or French impressionists to Vienna. The entire life was meant to be penetrated with art. Art handicrafts were put on a level with paintings and sculptures. Architects as well as painters used their talents over and over as designers of various objects. Thus the Vienna Jugendstil soon could be seen on billboards, designed entire churches and embellished private apartments. The final aim was an artistic synthesis, which would embellish life and set people in the best case into a veritable paradise.
Art Nouveau
„In the beginning we of course had to struggle with the strong conservatism of big Viennese companies. We literally had to force our designs upon them, didn’t ask for any remuneration but only for royalties. But suddenly the public seemingly took pleasure in the new type of furniture and materials and book covers and so also the shop couldn’t get enough of the secessionist stuff.“ This is how Kolo Moser remembered the exploding demand for art nouveau motifs at around 1900.
This „Jugenstil“ (as art nouveau is referred to in Austria) was part of a pan-European art trend that was referred to as „Modern Style“ in Britain an das „l’art nouveau“ in France. Art nouveau was seen as a countermotion to past historicism which only copied past art styles. By elegantly curved lines and floral decorations they didn’t only create single art works but entire artistic synthesis. Art nouveau buildings were furnished with art nouveau furniture, wallpapers, carpets and tableaus by people wearing art nouveau clothes and art nouveau jewelry that ate from art nouveau crockery. The complete blend of art and everyday life was their aim - nothing was neglected.
Being a versatile designer, Kolo Moser coined the Austrian Jugendstil, worked as a graphic artist of the journal Ver Sacrum and even designed the letter head and the signet of the Wiener Werkstätte. However the poster for the first exhibition of the Vienna Secession was designed by Gustav Klimt and by its reduction it is one of the pioneer art nouveau prints. The influence by Gustav Klimts is also very present in early works of the Wiener Werkstätte, which from the beginning developed revolutionary jewelry designs hat radically broke the mold: what counted was not material value but the artistic idea. Gustav Klimt, who designed patterns and ornaments for applied arts himself, often bought elegant jewelry of the Wiener Werkstätte which he liked to make Emilie Flöge a present of, who is also because of that one of the iconic figures of art nouveau.
Go to the exhibition Vienna 1900.
The Interwar Period in Austria
The year 1918 marked a turning point in several ways: Firstly it was the end of the First World War and the Habsburg Empire, which lasted for 645 years. And secondly, the death of the artists Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Koloman Moser and Otto Wagner entailed a considerable hiatus in Viennese artistic activity. The Austrian provinces thus gained rather quickly in importance. The experience of wartime atrocities, the collapse of the Austrian monarchy, a strengthened sense for pacifism and certain social utopias led to existential bewilderment, which is reflected in the art of the era. And furthermore because of the lack of a decisive centre, the artistic work of the interwar period is particularly rich and diverse.
Based on selected masterpieces of Austrian art, the Leopold Museum presents a comprehensive overview of the manifold appearances of paintings of the interwar period and treats their importance which has been so far regarded as being not very high in the context of international developments. As successors to Cézanne, as exponents of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) and especially of late Expressionism, Herber Boeckl and the Nötscher Kreis stand out in particular. In Nötsch, a small town in the Austrian province of Carinthia, a lose artist community gathered together in the early twenties. Beside Franz Wiegel, the leading figure of the Nötscher Kreis, Anton Kolig, is on view in the Leopold Museum which presents many of his most outstanding paintings.
The Collector Rudolf Leopold
When the great art collector and patron of the arts Rudolf Leopold died on 29 June 2010 aged 85 as director of the museum, that carries his name, he left a unique lifework behind. Collecting art was his purpose in life. This obsessions was by far not restricted to „Fin de Siècle“ Vienna but extended to Old Masters, colored peasant-cupboards, glass or gothic mortars.
When Leopold visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) in Vienna for the very first time as a young medical student at the age of 22, he was so overwhelmed that he decided to study art history and to compile his own art collection. But since the Old Masters were of course way too expensive, he first acquired works of the 19th century. But when he happened across the artist Egon Schiele, he realized that Schiele was on a par with the Old Masters and on top of that affected issues of today’s world. Over the years thereby the largest and most prominent Schiele-collection in the world developed. Not least, it were the Schiele paintings of the Leopold collection exhibited in museums and exhibition halls all over the world that made Egon Schiele known internationally and shifted him into the first row of European artists. Leopold‘s catalogue raisonné with a first index of motifs, published in 1972 after years of work, is an unrivalled standard reference down to the present day.
Prof. Rudolf Leopold did not only campaign for Egon Schiele, but just as relentlessly for the appreciation of his contemporaries. Over the period of five decades and with the everlasting support of his wife Dr. Elisabeth Leopold, he compiled a collection consisting of over 5200 works of art, that were consolidated into the Leopold Museum – Private Foundation in 1994. Today, the Leopold Museum enjoys worldwide reputation and is one of the major attractions of Vienna.
Paid our homage to the “city of music”: attended “Aïda” at the State Opera House (Staatoper – part of “monumental” Vienna on the Ringstrasse!). So many sites in the city remind you that Mozart, Beethoven, Hayden, Schubert, Strauss, Mahler, etc. all at one point or another, German or Austrian, lived here, had the greatest moments of their career here!
Started visit with a tram tour on the Ringstrasse (a circular road around the Innere Stadt, built in 1857 where stood the fortifications of the city before), a matter of getting a sense of the dimension of this 1.8 million people city (was 2.2 in 1900!) Walked to and visited of course Stephansdom, the gothic cathedral that dominates the city! Walked down one of the city main commercial street, Kärntnerstrasse – une piétonnière for most of the day; stopped along the way by the Loos American Bar, a small tiny place on a side street, built by Adolf Loos in 1908 – walked in for a glimpse; could only take picture from the outside! Had a “Maltese moment” when we stopped along Kärntner at the Church of St-john the Baptist, which was established in the 14th century and belongs to the Order of Malta – the order has, we learnt, some 1800 volunteers in Vienna caring for local charitable organizations.
We had to skip the Belvedere Palace, built in the 17th century as a summer residence, and its baroque gardens, somewhat outside the city but nearby. Now a museum, housing notably Klimt’s famous “Kiss” painting! There is also the Schloss Schönbrunn (which we did not go to), built on a hill, southwest, outside of the city – another display of imperial splendor – some 2000 rooms! Maria Theresia (18th century) chose it as its seat and court (Napoleon stayed there for 4 years!) We walked through what I called the Hofburg complex, south of the Michaeleplatz, which houses some of the museums we eventually visited, and the famous Spanish Riding School (no interest in seeing a performance by the so-called “Lippizaner” white stallions!)
Attempt to spend the last day in the wine country – Vienna apparently is the only world city with a ‘wine country’ within its city limits! – without much success though as we were caught by the rain; as a result, we came back in town (Bus 38A and U4 to Schwedenplatz) and had light lunch at coffeehouse Demel, near the Hofburg, where we had our “Viennese culinary moment” – a mélange coffee and an applestrudel!
Talking of meals, had a wonderful walk (first day was a true sunny Fall day!) to the Stadtpark for a memorable lunch at the Meierei café, the lunch place at the esteemed (some say ‘the best in the world!’) Steirereck im Stadtpark restaurant – housed in a former dairy farm but far from being rustic! Followed by a coffee ( a “mélange” of course) at the celebrated Prückel Café. Lunch as well at the Glacis Beisl, in the Museum Quartier, recommended by the Hotel for typical Viennese foods. Also, dinner, first after the opera, at the nearby Plachutta’s Gasthaus zur Oper, to have authentic “boiled” beef dish (a Vienna specialty, apparently); then at Chinese Sternzeichen (where Lang Lang takes his mother for food when touring in Vienna!); and finally at Fabios, an Italian, near the hotel…discussion about Lucian Freud…
Somehow, the Jews occupy a special place in Vienna’s history and culture. They are identified as such, wealthy people eventually, but persecuted, and the ethnicity of several artists. The first pogrom goes back to 15th century (1421 to be exact, during Emperor Albrecht II’s reign), having been left in peace and flourishing for some 200 years. Then again in the 17th century (1670). The city could not prosper though without their full participation in the financial world. Hitler did it again in 1938, after the Anschluss, that culminated with the notorious “Reichkrystallnatch” when some 6500 Jews were round up, executed or sent to a concentration camp! All in all, very few Jews survived the Second World War in Vienna
Vienna is really defined by its past, a hundred years old past and more. First the baroque and neo-renaissance styles of the Hapsburg centuries-old empire and the official buildings of the Ringstrasse, but also the “fin de siècle” (the turn of the last century) culture! A world that did not quite hear or understand those who would become emblematic in the years to follow: Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele (see below from Leopold Museum website), Oskar Kokoschka, Sigmund Freud, the architect Otto Wagner (his greatest opponent: Ferdinand, the Archduke, who believed the “Maria Theresa” style as the most beautiful!) among others (the turn coat Adolph Loos - the American Bar which we had a look at; Joseph Hoffman – the Stoclet Palace in Brussels; and Joseph Maria Olbrich – the Secession building, which we walked by); the Jugendstil, the Secession movement, and the Wiener Werkstätte.
Very telling that Klimt, Schiele, Wagner, along with Kolo Moser the designer, were all to die at the end of the first World War, in 1918! It is quite surprising, at first sight, to see so many famous “rebellious” types, evolving in such a conservative environment, but again it may be that only such a prosperous and diversified society could produce and sustain such dissidence!...
Leaving tomorrow…
Vienna, October 17. 2013
Bibliography:
Leopold Museum Vienna; Prestel Museum Guide
The Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna; Prestel Museum Guide
Vienna 1900; Art, life & Culture; The Vendome Press, New-York
Lucian Freud, Sebastian Smee, Taschen
Vienna 1900; Leopold Collection Vienna; Christian Brandstätter Verlag, Vienna – Munich
Only in Vienna; Duncan J. D. Smith. Christian Brandstätter Verlag
Vienna, City Guide, Lonely Planet Publications Pte Ltd, Nov 2010.
Vienna, A Traveler’s Literary Companion, edited by Donald G. Daviau
Vienna, Knopf Mapguides, 2011
Leopold Museum Masterpieces,
Vienna 2013, Wallpaper City Guide
Le Petit Klimt, Catherine de Duve, Kate’Art Editions
(leopoldmuseum.com)
Egon Schiele
With 41 paintings and 188 works on paper the Leopold Museum is the largest and most prominent collection with works of Egon Schiele worldwide.
When Egon Schiele died in 1918 at the age of only 28 year of the Spanish flu he was seen as being one of the most important artists of his time. During the turmoil of the following decades he was more and more buried in oblivion until he completely disappeared into thin air after being judged as “degenerate art”. When Rudolf Leopold saw works by Egon Schiele at the beginning of the 1950s he immediately recognized that their quality, emotionality and technical bravura could absolutely be compared to the Old Masters. The life of the young eye doctor changed radically. From now on he entirely devoted himself to collecting and trading art. Many Schiele paintings and drawings were on sale on the free market at the time and even quite affordable even though they were not that cheap: a large-sized oil painting pretty much had the same price as a new car. Compared to the many million Euros that one would have to pay for them today this is nothing. Rudolf Leopold made significant contributions to the international esteem in which he is held today.
Besides the oil paintings and graphic works the Leopold Museum also houses the Egon Schiele-Documentation Centre that is dedicated to research on Schiele’s work and also holds numerous autographs. For the first time the lyricist work of Schiele dawns on a broader audience.
Schiele as lyricist
While Schiele was quite popular for his paintings and drawings in his lifetime, his poetic work was unnoticed for a long time although his expressionist lyricism is indeed quite important. The originals of Schiele’s poems belong in large part to the Leopold collection. Many letters and poems were almost designed as graphic works of art by Egon Schiele. The topics are similar to those depicted in his paintings: those are personal visions with the greatest expressiveness, colorfulness and directness. Unusual word combinations and wird coining, gramatically incomplete phrases and graphically positioned hyphens coin this so unusual atmospheric language. For instance Schiele wants „to taste dark water“, „see wild air“, „build white clouds“ oder he creates „rainbow foam“, foot race alleys“ or a „wind winterland“. His hard pressed soul that finds expression in his artistic world also breaks out eruptively in his lyricist work: „Excess of life“ and „agony of thinking “ are just as present as dark forces: „demons! – brake the violence! – your language, - your signs, - your power!“, proclaims Egon Schiele. The range of his contradictory feelings culminates in the paradoxical and final finding: „Everything is lively dead“.
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt (1862 Vienna – Vienna 1918) is the greatest and most impressive person of the Austrian art at around 1900. Coming from modest circumstances, Klimt studied at the Staatliche Kunstgewerbeschule where his talent for drawing soon was discovered. Therefor he got a number of public contracts together with his brother Ernst und his university friend Franz Matsch. The panaches at the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the great paintings at the staircase of the Burgtheater testify the technical perfection of this young „Künstler-Compagnie“. However these works were entirely committed to Viennese historicism. During the 1890s Klimt was looking for different means of expression and finally founded the Secession in 1897 with other like-minded artists. Klimt was the first president of the Vienna Secession. The culmination of this development were the University of Vienna ceiling paintings that burned in 1945 in a mansion in Lower Austria. The Leopold Museum presents these major works by Klimt for the first time as black and white photographs in the original size. The radical depiction of his personal view of the world was too pessimist for the professors at the University of Vienna and led to a huge scandal at the time. As a reaction Klimt decided to never accept any public contract again and focused on the creation of lyric landscape paintings that he painted during his summer visits together with the Flöge family to the Attersee region in Upper.
After decoratively overloaded, splendid art works, his style gets softer at around 1910. The painting “Death and Life” gets created and several times over-worked. Klimt elevates the topic into something general and gives „life“ a wonderful beauty with some inherent sadness – with death standing next to it. Enfeebled by a cerebral apoplexy, Gustav Klimt dies of pneumonia on 6 February 1918.
Gustav Klimt once said about himself:
“I can paint and draw. There is no self-portrait of myself. I am not interested in my own person – more in other people, females. […] I paint day by day from morning to night – figurative paintings and landscapes, less often portraits. Already when I should write a simple letter I get frightened like due to imminent seasickness. Those who want to know more about me shall observingly regard my paintings, and try to realize who I am and what I want.“Wiener Werkstätte
This movement finally led to the foundation of the Wiener Werkstätte by Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and the patron Fritz Wärndorfer in 1903. It was the aim of the Werkstätte to renew the art term in the field of applied arts and to embellish the life by everyday objects designed by artists. Following British examples, the challenge was to offer simple, elegant unique items in reply to the uncharitable and industrial replicas of past styles. A tea pot and a wardrobe were designed with just the same diligence and idealism. Everyday objects thus were elevated to an art object. All spheres of life should be designed homogenously and do justice to a modern culture.
Until the 1920s the company opened up sales affiliates at the top addresses in Vienna and abroad. Nevertheless its failure loomed ahead. It was especially for the high prices of their products that the Wiener Werkstätte failed to accomplish its social cause namely to ensure that the life of everybody was embellished by everyday objects designed by artists. Until its final closure in 1932, the company always relied on the support of prosperous patrons.
The Leopold Museum shows metalworks and furniture by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser as well as selected objects by Otto Wagner and others in its permanent exhibition.
Vienna 1900
How the conservative and culturally quite sedate city of Vienna of the 19th century could one of the most creative cities in the world at around 1900 is still up to discussion. One reason could be that compared to relatively closed groups in other European centres, the cohesion of the elite in the capital of the Habsburg Empire was quite strong until the early 20th century. The achievements of the “Moderne” could therefor easily spread to all different areas, beginning with paintings, literature and music right up to medecine and jurisdiction, and bestow one last great rebellion on the battered Habsburg Empire.
In Austrian art the year 1897 with the foundation of the Vienna Secession marks the birth of modern art. Nineteen artists led by Gustav Klimt pulled out of the traditional Künstlerhaus on 24 May 1897 and founded the “Association of visual artists Austria, Secession”. They did not want to submit themselves to the historicist taste and the political will anymore. The journal Ver Sacrum was a far-reaching voice for modern art and the building of the Vienna Secession, opened in 1898, provided the young artists with the possibility to present their art works to a large audience. They wanted to actively teach the inhabitants of Vienna modern art, organized big international exhibitions and for the first time brought artists like van Gogh or French impressionists to Vienna. The entire life was meant to be penetrated with art. Art handicrafts were put on a level with paintings and sculptures. Architects as well as painters used their talents over and over as designers of various objects. Thus the Vienna Jugendstil soon could be seen on billboards, designed entire churches and embellished private apartments. The final aim was an artistic synthesis, which would embellish life and set people in the best case into a veritable paradise.
Art Nouveau
„In the beginning we of course had to struggle with the strong conservatism of big Viennese companies. We literally had to force our designs upon them, didn’t ask for any remuneration but only for royalties. But suddenly the public seemingly took pleasure in the new type of furniture and materials and book covers and so also the shop couldn’t get enough of the secessionist stuff.“ This is how Kolo Moser remembered the exploding demand for art nouveau motifs at around 1900.
This „Jugenstil“ (as art nouveau is referred to in Austria) was part of a pan-European art trend that was referred to as „Modern Style“ in Britain an das „l’art nouveau“ in France. Art nouveau was seen as a countermotion to past historicism which only copied past art styles. By elegantly curved lines and floral decorations they didn’t only create single art works but entire artistic synthesis. Art nouveau buildings were furnished with art nouveau furniture, wallpapers, carpets and tableaus by people wearing art nouveau clothes and art nouveau jewelry that ate from art nouveau crockery. The complete blend of art and everyday life was their aim - nothing was neglected.
Being a versatile designer, Kolo Moser coined the Austrian Jugendstil, worked as a graphic artist of the journal Ver Sacrum and even designed the letter head and the signet of the Wiener Werkstätte. However the poster for the first exhibition of the Vienna Secession was designed by Gustav Klimt and by its reduction it is one of the pioneer art nouveau prints. The influence by Gustav Klimts is also very present in early works of the Wiener Werkstätte, which from the beginning developed revolutionary jewelry designs hat radically broke the mold: what counted was not material value but the artistic idea. Gustav Klimt, who designed patterns and ornaments for applied arts himself, often bought elegant jewelry of the Wiener Werkstätte which he liked to make Emilie Flöge a present of, who is also because of that one of the iconic figures of art nouveau.
Go to the exhibition Vienna 1900.
The Interwar Period in Austria
The year 1918 marked a turning point in several ways: Firstly it was the end of the First World War and the Habsburg Empire, which lasted for 645 years. And secondly, the death of the artists Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Koloman Moser and Otto Wagner entailed a considerable hiatus in Viennese artistic activity. The Austrian provinces thus gained rather quickly in importance. The experience of wartime atrocities, the collapse of the Austrian monarchy, a strengthened sense for pacifism and certain social utopias led to existential bewilderment, which is reflected in the art of the era. And furthermore because of the lack of a decisive centre, the artistic work of the interwar period is particularly rich and diverse.
Based on selected masterpieces of Austrian art, the Leopold Museum presents a comprehensive overview of the manifold appearances of paintings of the interwar period and treats their importance which has been so far regarded as being not very high in the context of international developments. As successors to Cézanne, as exponents of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) and especially of late Expressionism, Herber Boeckl and the Nötscher Kreis stand out in particular. In Nötsch, a small town in the Austrian province of Carinthia, a lose artist community gathered together in the early twenties. Beside Franz Wiegel, the leading figure of the Nötscher Kreis, Anton Kolig, is on view in the Leopold Museum which presents many of his most outstanding paintings.
The Collector Rudolf Leopold
When the great art collector and patron of the arts Rudolf Leopold died on 29 June 2010 aged 85 as director of the museum, that carries his name, he left a unique lifework behind. Collecting art was his purpose in life. This obsessions was by far not restricted to „Fin de Siècle“ Vienna but extended to Old Masters, colored peasant-cupboards, glass or gothic mortars.
When Leopold visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) in Vienna for the very first time as a young medical student at the age of 22, he was so overwhelmed that he decided to study art history and to compile his own art collection. But since the Old Masters were of course way too expensive, he first acquired works of the 19th century. But when he happened across the artist Egon Schiele, he realized that Schiele was on a par with the Old Masters and on top of that affected issues of today’s world. Over the years thereby the largest and most prominent Schiele-collection in the world developed. Not least, it were the Schiele paintings of the Leopold collection exhibited in museums and exhibition halls all over the world that made Egon Schiele known internationally and shifted him into the first row of European artists. Leopold‘s catalogue raisonné with a first index of motifs, published in 1972 after years of work, is an unrivalled standard reference down to the present day.
Prof. Rudolf Leopold did not only campaign for Egon Schiele, but just as relentlessly for the appreciation of his contemporaries. Over the period of five decades and with the everlasting support of his wife Dr. Elisabeth Leopold, he compiled a collection consisting of over 5200 works of art, that were consolidated into the Leopold Museum – Private Foundation in 1994. Today, the Leopold Museum enjoys worldwide reputation and is one of the major attractions of Vienna.
mardi 15 octobre 2013
Malta (Fort-Chambray) – October 2013
Spent last 10 days roughly at our flat in Fort-Chambray,
Gozo, Malta. Mostly occupied at relaxing (if possible!), preparing for our coming
visit to Vienna, and eventual move and settling here next January! Attended major
annual event: the one-night-only opera
– this year: “Falstaff” de Verdi –
which is organized under the chairmanship of Dr. Michael Caruana, the developer
of Fort-Chambray (and our “best man” when we got married here a few years ago!)
Quite an affair! He and Carol, his wife, are usually, like this year, hosting
the president of the country (George Abela, at least for the last few years)!
One has to remember that there are only 2 opera companies in Malta, all in Gozo
and none on the big island – it is a national event! People, all dressed up, the
majority coming from the main island! This year, the heat was stifling – there is
no air-con in this theater (named Aurora) – which is probably unusual at this
time of the year (mid-October)!
Tried a few different restaurants: the Maldonado Bistro, in Victoria (early dinner, the night of the opera
– to avoid the crowd and having to find a parking spot later on!) – A pleasant
surprise! (We should try it again); the Boat
House, in Xlendi, a recommendation from friends; and Aaron’s Kitchen, identified as “the best in Malta” by one of our “guests”
at Fort-Chambray (good, but we prefer our usual – the Ambrosia – on the
same street (Archbishop) in Valletta…)
So aside from a drink on our South African friends and neighbors’
(Janet & Brent) 69-foot sailing boat (in company of a neighbor Swedish
couple), anchored for “refitting” (Brent’s project) in the harbour at Mgarr – now
the renovations of the jetée are completed – a very quiet stay!... Ran every
day; lost 5 pounds which I am sure to regain as quickly in Vienna…!
Malta, October 14, 2013
dimanche 1 septembre 2013
Arowhon Pines 2013 - Forest Edge cabin
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Stopped on our way up from Toronto, at this gem of
a restaurant – “one fifty five street” – in Bracebridge…for a soup and a salad
(the shrimp bisque was delicious, but the added chicken to the Caesar salad was
a bit off I would say…!) with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc… This is the 4th
meal we have had there, the first one going back to a visit in the Muskoka area
4 or 5 years ago (see the write-up then in the bourlinblogue)…nice “escale” on
this rather long drive…
It was overcast for the time we were there (but
still relatively warm – in the low 20s in the afternoon), except for the last
morning when the sun came out.
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The day before, we went out for a walk along the “yellow
trail” (we had done that trail before!), around our side of the lake, and in
the afternoon, after a swim (me!), went along the main gravel road leading to
the camp.
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A little tour “en canot” the morning before we
left, a matter of checking a few facts about the “yellow trail” (and how it did
not lead us to the abandoned “chalet” across the lake!)…
The usual plentiful meals (breakfast, lunch and
dinner!), with the several bottles of wine we had brought (a white and a red
from the “futures”, among others…). This is what is great about this place – you
can count on good food and you can bring your own choice of wine to go with it!
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The restaurant staff is very courteous: young
people from around the world really – one can hear the various accents! Some are
there for the summer (going back to school in September); others are staying to
the end of the “season” (usually to the end of the Canadian Thanksgiving
week-end, in October, when the lodge closes for the year) – one of the girls
was from within Ontario (St-Marys - Cynthia knew where it is: between Stratford and London! I had no clue. We learned though that it is the location of the Canadian "Baseball Hall of Fame"!) The wages must be decent: she was there to make money and “pay off” her
student loan!
Cynthia’s mother and sister joined us for lunch,
the day we left…
ALGONGUIN PARK
“BY THE NUMBER”…
Distances: Toronto
to Arowhon Pines: 305 kilometers
-
Toronto to the Park–West Gate (400 to
Barrie; 11 to Huntsville; 60 to Park): approximately 280 kilometers
-
West Gate to the fork that leads to
Arowhon Pines (on highway 60): 16km (10mi)
-
Highway 60 to Arowhon Pines: 8km (5mi)
– Arowhon private (gravel) road
Highway 60 Corridor
runs through the Park for roughly 60km.
Lakes: over 2400
and 1200kms of streams in the Park.
“The Friends
of the Algonquin Park” began in 1983; the group has a cooperative agreement
with Ontario Parks “to enhance the educational and interpretive programs” in the
Park. It has 7 fulltime staff (16 seasonal) and counts some 2300 members.
Animals
Birds: 278
bird species known to have occurred in the Park (see 474-page book by retired
Park naturalist Ron Tozer, published in 2012).
Moose: Number
of moose estimated in the Park: 3642 according to a Park staff 2012 survey!
Black Bears:
about 2000 (1 for 3 square kilometers). People killed by black bears in North-America
since the early 1900s: fewer than 70!
Wolfs:
approximately 300
There are also
white-tailed deer and beavers as well.
Fish: 54
different species have been recorded in the Park (the Park is known for its
“Brook Trout”!)
Sept 1, 2013
dimanche 18 août 2013
Stratford – 2013 season
2013
Playbill:
Romeo and Juliet (seen June 22)
Fiddler on the Roof (seen May 28)
The Merchant of Venice(seen August 15)
Othello (seen August 14)
Measure for Measure (seen August 16)
Mary Stuart (October 03?)
Waiting for Godot (seen August 13)
The Thrill (seen August 13)
Of the 2013 season, I have seen, so far, those
above in bold (see some assessments later on). I also attended several “Forum”
activities, such as the “Shakespeare
Slam” in Toronto (in May); “Budrus”,
a revealing documentary on a small village’s successful resistance to the
building (or rather to the offending “tracé” should I say) of Israel’s “fence”
that would have isolated the village, in Palestine (followed by a Q&A with
one of the producers – a young, very articulate, Jewish woman from Montreal –
directly from Washington D.C., by video-conference); a very touchy session, “Writing About the Right to Die”, with playwright and lighting designer Itai Erdal (How to Disappear Completely – performed
in the afternoon), author Zoe FitzGerald Carter (Imperfect Endings) and playwright
Judith Thompson (The
Thrill), a discussion moderated by Alex Bulmer; Itai Erdal’s production of “How
to Disappear Completely”, narrating
his experience as a son being asked by his mother, a terminal-cancer patient, to
assist her in her suicide, as well as his approach to theatrical lighting (his
profession); Stanley Wells’ address on “Sex and Love in Verona, Venice and Vienna” (after the location of the 3 Shakespeare
plays in the season). Stanley Wells is Honorary President,
Life Trustee and former Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace
Trust, emeritus professor of Shakespeare studies at the University of
Birmingham and general editor of the Oxford and Penguin Shakespeare (joined at
one point by Paul Edmondson with whom he edited one of the most recent books
about the “Shakespeare authorship” question – Shakespeare Beyond Doubt
which I had both of them autographed for Cynthia); and Stephen
Lewis’ address on “Disability,
Disillusion and Self-Discovery” (as rousing, and
convincing, a speaker as ever!)
Saw earlier this year “Fiddler on the
Roof”- excellent (better than the one we saw in Toronto a few years ago – to the
extent I remembered!) and “Romeo &
Juliet”, once more!
Added “Waiting for Godot” (at Cynthia’s
suggestion – she loved the play at its première!) to the list of plays I wanted
to see while in Stratford this month. It’s Beckett at his most absurd; two guys
exchanging while waiting for someone that never shows up – a minimalist setup,
and open to all possible interpretations! (I hear from the guy sitting beside
me that this version of the play – written in French at the end of the 40’s –
is based on the 1975 Berlin version – which was directed, I learn afterwards,
by Beckett himself; it has become a standard)! With the company’s most “chevronnés”
actors, Stephen Ouimette (Estragon – gogo) and Tom Rooney (Vladimir – didi),
plus an incredible Randy Hughson in the role of Lucky. The performance was
followed by an interview, carried out by Toronto Star theatre critic Richard Ouzounian,
with Brian Dennehy who plays Pozzo in the play (Dennehy, forever the raconteur,
delighted us with stories of his beginnings on Broadway. We also learned,
through Dennehy, that Ouzounian attended that celebrated Jesuit college,
St-Regis, in NYC!)
That same evening, saw “The Thrill”, a play commissioned by
The Festival, with Lucy Peacock – world première of course. Not particularly
enthused by it, but a good prelude to the Forum’ program the morning after (see
above).
Then, the première of “Othello” at the Avon theater – I find
it so convoluted (mind you, this is a very common treat of Shakespearian plays!)
but a stage design and a production that are remarkable! Quite outstanding production (I liked the decors; very dramatic!) The critics (G&M;
The Star) that I have read (yes, Ouzounian!) were ecstatic –best ever “Othello”
at the Festival!
The première of “The Merchant of Venice” did not disappoint
either! A marvelous Shylock (Scott Wentworth – I seem to recall seeing him,
years before, as a soldier commander in Lope de Vega’s “Fuente”; he is also the
star, Tevye, in this year “Fiddler on the Roof” which I have seen at its première
in May)! Set up in the 30’s in Italy (well done set and production at the
Festival Theater!), I don’t think I have ever seen before the anti-Semitism played
out so markedly in that play…Cimolino directed - he and Wentworth were both the stars!
Saw only the first part of “Measure for Measure”; the play was too
long for me to see it all and be on time for Wells’ talk. Particularly struck
by the debate it poses about public policy and personal choice! I also like
Geraint Wyn Davies – he plays here the Duke and the “friar”!
Stopped and Langdon Hall (picture) for lunch on the way back
to Toronto: in the garden (beautiful sunny day!) As tasteful and pleasant as
ever! Dinner a few times in Stratford at the Taverna.
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August 18, 2013
Annex
Synopsis (from
Wikipedia) of “Othello” that helped me to follow the plot!
The play opens with Roderigo, a rich and dissolute gentleman, complaining to Iago, a high-ranking soldier, that Iago has not told him about the secret marriage between Desdemona, the daughter of a Senator named Brabantio, and Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. He is upset by this development because he loves Desdemona and had previously asked her father for her hand in marriage. Iago hates Othello for promoting a younger man named Michael Cassio above him, and tells Roderigo that he plans to use Othello for his own advantage. Iago is also angry because he believes, or at least gives the pretence of belief, that Othello slept with his wife Emilia. Iago denounces Cassio as a scholarly tactician with no real battle experience; in contrast, Iago is a battle-tested soldier. By emphasizing Roderigo's failed bid for Desdemona, and his own dissatisfaction with serving under Othello, Iago convinces Roderigo to wake Brabantio, Desdemona's father, and tell him about his daughter's elopement. Iago sneaks away to find Othello and warns him that Brabantio is coming for him.
Before Brabantio reaches Othello, news arrives in Venice that the Turks are going to attack Cyprus; therefore Othello is summoned to advise the senators. Brabantio arrives and accuses Othello of seducing Desdemona by witchcraft, but Othello defends himself successfully before an assembly that includes the Duke of Venice, Brabantio's kinsmen Lodovico and Gratiano, and various senators. He explains that Desdemona became enamored of him for the sad and compelling stories he told of his life before Venice, not because of any witchcraft. The senate is satisfied, but Brabantio leaves saying that Desdemona will betray Othello. By order of the Duke, Othello leaves Venice to command the Venetian armies against invading Turks on the island of Cyprus, accompanied by his new wife, his new lieutenant Cassio, his ensign Iago, and Iago's wife, Emilia as Desdemona's attendant.
The party arrives in Cyprus to find that a storm has destroyed the Turkish fleet. Othello orders a general celebration and leaves to spend private time with Desdemona. In his absence, Iago schemes to get Cassio drunk after Cassio's own admission that he cannot hold his wine. He then persuades Roderigo to draw Cassio into a fight. The resulting brawl alarms the citizenry, and Othello is forced to quell the disturbance. Othello blames Cassio for the disturbance and strips him of his rank. Cassio is distraught, but, as part of his plan to convince Othello that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, Iago persuades Cassio to importune Desdemona to act as an intermediary between himself and Othello, in order to convince her husband to reinstate him.
Iago now persuades Othello to be suspicious of Cassio and Desdemona. Desdemona drops a handkerchief that was Othello's first gift to Desdemona and which he has stated holds great significance to him in the context of their relationship. Emilia steals it, at the request of Iago, but she is unaware of what he plans to do with the handkerchief. Iago plants it in Cassio's lodgings as evidence of Cassio and Desdemona's affair. After he has planted the handkerchief, Iago tells Othello to stand apart and watch Cassio's reactions while Iago questions him about the handkerchief. Iago goads Cassio on to talk about his affair with Bianca, a local courtesan with whom Cassio has been spending time, but speaks her name so quietly that Othello believes the two other men are talking about Desdemona when Cassio is really speaking of Bianca. Bianca, on discovering the handkerchief, chastises Cassio, accusing him of giving her a second-hand gift which he received from another lover. Othello sees this, and Iago convinces him that Cassio received the handkerchief from Desdemona. Enraged and hurt, Othello resolves to kill his wife and asks Iago to kill Cassio. Othello proceeds to make Desdemona's life miserable, hitting her in front of visiting Venetian nobles.
Roderigo complains that he has received nothing from Iago in return for his money and efforts to win Desdemona, but Iago convinces him to kill Cassio. Roderigo attacks Cassio in the street after Cassio leaves Bianca's lodgings. They fight, and Cassio mortally wounds Roderigo. During the scuffle, Iago comes from behind Cassio and badly cuts his leg. In the darkness, Iago manages to hide his identity, and when passers-by hear Cassio's cries for help, Iago joins them, pretending to help Cassio. When Cassio identifies Roderigo as one of his attackers, Iago quietly stabs Roderigo to stop him from revealing the plot. He then accuses Bianca of the failed conspiracy to kill Cassio.
In the night, Othello confronts Desdemona, and then smothers her to death in their bed. When Emilia arrives, Othello tries to justify his actions by accusing Desdemona of adultery. Emilia calls for help. The Governor arrives, with Iago, Cassio, and others, and Emilia begins to explain the situation. When Othello mentions the handkerchief as proof, Emilia realizes what Iago has done, and she exposes him, whereupon Iago kills her. Othello, belatedly realizing Desdemona's innocence, stabs Iago but not fatally, saying that he would rather have Iago live the rest of his life in pain. For his part, Iago refuses to explain his motives, vowing to remain silent from that moment on. Lodovico, a Venetian nobleman, apprehends both Iago and Othello for the murders, but Othello commits suicide with a dagger he had hidden. Lodovico then declares Gratiano Othello's heir and exhorts Cassio to have Iago justly punished.
lundi 5 août 2013
On Chinese films – Summer 2013
The 80-year retrospective of Chinese cinema is
concluding at TIFF. I have seen a few of what was shown, and missed some
classics because of schedule conflicts (e.g. Shanghai 1948's "Spring in a Small Town"). Of those that I have seen (notably “Farewell
my Concubine”, a projection attended by the director, Chen Kaige, and Zhang
Yimou’s “Red Sorghum”, as a souvenir of my time in Shanghai where I saw it first
in the mid-80’s…), I remember in particular 2 “recent” wuxia films, (both incidentally
featuring Zhang Ziyi): “The Banquet” – inspired by (more than a “loose adaptation”
from) Shakespeare’s Hamlet – and the earlier film (2006 versus 2000 – in between
there have been a few wuxia films by Zhang Yimou, “Hero” with Jet Li, and “House
of the Flying Daggers” with…Zhang Ziyi! ) Ang Lee’s popular “Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon”, with, aside from Zhang Ziyi, Hong-Kong Chow Yun–Fat and Malaysian
Michelle Yeoh, eclipsing by far the first one in America’s box office (although
“The Banquet” covered it would appear its costs put at some $15M). I truly
enjoyed both films, especially “Crouching Tiger…” – I had forgotten the plot
and much of the film! but I believe “The Banquet” would have been better
without the last bit, when the empress gets killed – it’s like the director
could not bring himself to a close, or that 10-15 additional minutes were
commercially required – a last “vehicle” to show Zhang Ziyi!
Missed out on most films of the 'new waves" and the "new directions" sections, during the retrospective - but remember well Wong kar-wai's "In the mood for Love" from another time...and totally missed films of "a new China" ("The East is Red"!)
August 04, 2013
dimanche 16 juin 2013
Banff, June 2013
Back in Banff! This time a day earlier than the conference (World Media Festival) so that we could enjoy the surroundings. Spent the Saturday at Lake Louise, first climbing the “Lake Agnes and the Beehives” trail: a 4-hour round-trip, 11 KMs long, moderate to difficult, climb (about 500 meters altitude difference) along the famous Lake Louise (named after the daughter of Queen Victoria – she was the wife of the then Canadian Governor General!), right up to a teahouse by Lake Agnes (named after the wife of Sir John A. Macdonald, then Prime Minister, who would have climbed up to that lake in the late 1890’s - “wives of” seem to have been an important factor in the local toponymy!) Short stop at “Mirror Lake”, a small lake on the way up that allows a fantastic view of the big “Beehive” mountain. Even met a SOCAN colleague going up the trail! Had tea (of course) at the top! Going further was blocked by snow still in the trail…went back down the way we came up…
Then a half-hour canoe ride on the (small) lake, to escape the shore filled with visitors (even though we are not yet in the full tourist season!). Lake Louise (in the National Banff Park – the first National Park, created a year after Banff was established as a place in 1885!) is probably, we are told, the greatest attraction in the Rockies because of its very blue waters – it looks turquoise (which is caused by the glacier silt carried down from the surrounding mountains).
We drove nearby for a ride on the “artificial” lake, Lake Minnewanka (dammed again in 1941 – by decision under the War Measures Act – to provide power for some mineral exploitation in the area; however, we are told, it took until 1947 – 2years after the war was over - for the waters to rise the needed 100 feet – useless!) This is the largest lake (27 KMs long) in the Park. Saw a bunch of mountain deer (?) along the lake. Fell asleep for a while on the boat – to the amazement of the very informative guide, even though in the end he did not have an answer to all my questions!
There is light in the Rockies at this time of the year, right up to late evenings! The hot springs pools (e.g. the Upper Banff Hot Springs pool) are open until 11pm! We soaked in a 39 C degree pool of mineral waters near Sulphur Mountain for an hour or so. We read that Banff exists because of the “discovery” (by the white man anyway!) of the hot springs in the late 1800’s: the waters, because of the sulphur, apparently has some medicinal value (that was never proven, but nonetheless very soothing to rest in these hot springs, surrounded by the majestuous mountains!)
Sunday morning, raining! Visit to Whyte Museum. Local history: railroad construction; tourism; alpinism; skiing; luxury travel (CPR) and hospitality (Banff Springs hotel); local tribe pictures; paintings; etc…
Back to business that afternoon with opening of Festival…
Cynthia explored the town of Banff and its surroundings on bicycle in the following days.
Saw some wild life throughout our stay (a bighorn sheep and an elk; no bears though, although we learned you can tell a grizzly bear from the black variety – which could be brown! – by the hump on his back – no need to ask them directly!)
Best meal: dinner at “The Bison”. Discovered “Coyotes” (very good “Mushroom Tagliatelle”!). Had lunch at “Maple Leaf” – very good. Breakfasts at the ‘Wild Flour” (for the coffee!).
Banff, June 13, 2013
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