Musuems and such
Monday, January 1st, 2007I finished the altered book page for the concert, but (story of my life) was unable to get a good photograph of it, since it was midnight and I was in my basement. At the moment, the book is with James, since it technically belongs to him anyway, but next time I have it I’ll get a better picture. I did not add a page for the dance, since I just couldn’t come up with any sort of compelling design. I can always add one later, but I don’t think it’s hugely important.
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On Friday, I went down to DC to visit two museums. I went to the Corcoran Gallery first, to see the Joan of Arc exhibit, which, interestingly, is co-curated by one of the art history professors at my school, with whom I’ll be taking a class next semester. It was an interesting exhibit which traced the “image” of Joan from not long after her death in 1431 through at least World War II. Overall, it was more of a history exhibit than an art exhibit, since opinion of Joan (especially in France) has always been closely tied to the political climate. Her image has been used on everything from American war bond advertisements to letter openers to paper dolls, as well as in a variety of fine art, including a series of incredible paintings by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel. It’s unusual to see an exhibit that spans such a broad historical and artist range while remaining intensely focused on a very specific theme. It’s definitely worth seeing if you’re interested either in Joan of Arc or the way history and politics can alter the way we see historical figures. (The exhibit runs through January 21.)
After a lunch break, I went to the Sackler Gallery to see “In the Beginning: Bibles Before the Year 1000.” The exhibit turned out to be extremely popular–I had to wait in line for an hour to get in, since they (wisely) restricted the number of people in the exhibit at any time. (It probably didn’t help that the exhibit closes on January 7.) Nevertheless, it was well worth the wait. It included fragments and manuscripts written in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Coptic, and more. One relatively late manuscript from Northern England was written in Latin, but contained marginal notes in Old English. It’s absolutely mind-blowing that such fragile materials have survived more than a millenium, through persecutions, wars, natural disasters, and all manner of social, religious, and political upheavals. One of the oldest fragments of papyrus on display (from, I believe, the second century AD) was found in a garbage dump. Talk about beating the odds. The exhibit was spectacular, but I suddenly find myself with no words left in my fingers. If you’re in the area, and you have a free afternoon between now and Sunday, go to the Sackler Gallery and see those fascinating bits of paper.
