Birds Of A Feather Hanging Together

I couldn't help myself.  The comparison screamed out at me.  7th century Peru / the color field painting of the 1960's?  The Rothko paintings have so much depth and texture as do the Peruvian hangings made from the feathers of the macaw. 

On the way to Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at the Met, a dozen of these hangings are on display.  These are just a taste of the 96 hangings discovered in the early 1940's inside 3 ft. high ceramic jars.

Site of the discovery of the feathered hangings, inside the ceramic jars pictured in the photograph.

These feathered offerings are the counterpoint to the large Met show, Interwoven Globe (The Worldwide Textile Trade 1500-1800). Upstairs at Interwoven Globe,  in room after room, one can see dazzling feats of craftsman, from amazing dying techniques to luxurious silk embroidery  Downstairs two simple squares of color convey power and artistry.  Take your pick.  My choice is obvious.

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Feathered Hanging
7th-8th century
Peru
Wari culture
H 29 x W 83.7/8 in.
Believed to have functioned in some dedicatory
or supplicatory manner.

NecessaireOui ou Non?

SET IN STYLE
Van Cleef and Arpels
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

Having a strong fantasy life is essential to enjoying the Van Cleef and Arpels show at the Cooper-Hewitt. The section entitled "Transformations" is a case where the sum of the parts are much greater than the whole. 

   To celebrate an expectant mother, a husband commissions Van Cleef to design a "stork" brooch composed of a yellow diamond briolette of 95 carats.  As astonishing as this is, it is only the beginning. The piece transforms in a variety of ways:  the wings come off to form earrings, the tail comes off to form a brooch, and the pendant can be detached and worn separately.  Maybe, that is the ultimate in getting your money's worth.

Thinking Outside the Box
European Cabinets, Caskets, and Cases
from the Permanent Collection
(1500-1900)
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Feeling in a rarefied mood, I skipped down to the Met to see Thinking Outside The Box: European Cabinets, Caskets and Cases.  Lucky for me, Danielle Kisluk-Grosheide, Curator of the show was giving a talk about the boxes, followed by Jukeboxes of Old:  Music from Past Centuries.

For me these boxes are simply beautiful: for curators like Kisluk-Groshide they tell a story about the social life of the people who used them.  There was a box made from precious materials for every possible aspect of life:  strongboxes, bonbonnieres (sweet boxes) root boxes (toothbrushes) tea boxes, sugar boxes, shaving boxes, spice boxes, snuff boxes, gaming boxes, cosmetic boxes, wig boxes, and of course, the Necessaire (small boxes for a host of miniature objects).  The history behind these boxes cannot found by googling:  it's in paintings, etchings, diaries, and letters.

Duval de l'Epinoy with snuff box.

Reproduction of 16th century harpsichord

Part II:  a program of 17th and 18th century music played on vintage or reproductions of vintage instruments.  The flute player told us his flute was made from BOXwood, the tenor was introduced as the human voice-BOX and Kisluk-Grosheide linked the two programs together: the harpsichord is simply a large decorated BOX with strings inside.

No one I know uses a jeweled encrusted gold box for their knickknacks.  But there is one box that almost everyone owns, finds indispensable and contains all their daily routines.

"I think boxes still appeal to us today, and I really like to think that the combination box of choice today is the modern Blackberry or iPhone, which offers us all we need, just like the necessaires of the past did to the eighteenth century men and women. " Danielle Kisluk-Grosheide

A thousand peakswithout leavingthis small window

QUIALONG GARDEN
The Emperor's Private Paradise

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
February 1- May 1 2011

MADAME  CURIE
Jennifer Steinkamp Video Installation
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California
February 12 - March 12, 2011

When seemingly diverse events come together and form a connection in my mind, it's time to write a blog.  The current show:  The Emperor's Private Paradise at the Met and Jennifer Steinkamp's video installation, Madame Curie have something in common, but we will get to that  later.

Versailles

When your contemporaries are Louis XV, Frederick the Great, George III, George Washington and Catherine the Great, you've got some competition. The Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799) wasn't much bothered by this fact.  Not concerned with keeping up with the Jones', he created his own Chinese version of Versailles, a complex of buildings and gardens, which rely on illusion as much as any other technique.

Qianlong Garden - The arificial stream references 4th century tradition of
cups of wine floating down the river as poems were written.

 "In one sense, this interest in illusions matched the whole conceit of the garden, which - as a sanctuary from political intrigue situated right in the heart of the palace, a mountain gateway in the center of the capital city - was nothing if not illusory." 
Sebastian Smee, The Boston Globe

 One of the pathways within the Qianlong Garden,
a circular path deviates from the usual Chinese convention of straight pathways.

The Emperor was interested in manipulating art.  He kept a Jesuit missionary, Giuseppe Castiglione as his sidekick and adviser on what was happening in the arts on the other side of the globe.  The extensive use of trompe l'oeil painting is only one indication of the Emperor utilizing art to create image and persona. 

Walking through the rockeries,
a series of caves, sitting areas  and grottos created by the Qianlong Emperor.

On Sunday, Nancy Berliner, organizer of the show at the Met, gave us a virtual tour of the garden.  Among the 27 buildings in the garden, a pavilion created to honor an ancient Catalpa tree. Another viewing pavilion, contains a mural of perpetual Spring, just in case Mother Nature displeased the Emperor.  He didn't need a weatherman to tell him which way the wind was blowing; he created his own reality. 

The Three Friends:  Bamboo, Plum Blossom and Pine

Jennifer Steinkamp is an Artist, not an Emperor, but she has an empire: the world of videography.  Her piece, Madame Curie was inspired by reading a biography of Madame Curie written by her daughter.  In the book, Eve Curie names 40 plants Madame Curie was fond of.  Apparently she was an avid gardener.  This was the jumping off point for Steinkamp's video.

The video, a field of moving flowers and trees puts the viewer in a timeless space. 

"As powerful phenomenological environments, Steinkamp's installations ask for a novel reading of the role played by architecture and takes viewers beyond the physical boundaries of a built interior to contemplate their surroundings as more than a matter of space, but also as a factor of time, desire and memory." from the Museum of Contemporary Art announcment, San Diego, Ca.

The Qianlong Emperor used every means possible to compose a world for contemplation. Steinkamp uses a 21st century art form to create another kind of retreat.  Both have achieved an "abundance of things" within four walls.

With a gentle breeze that is blowing freely.

When looking up, one can see the vastness of the heavens,

And when looking down, one can observe the abundance of things.

The contentment of allowing one's eyes to wander.

Excerpt from Poem Composed at the Orchid Pavilion by Wang Xizhi

TO SEE A VIDEO OF JENNIFER STEINKAMP'S WORK: 
Madame Curie

http://jsteinkamp.com/quicktime/html/madame_currie.html

P.S.  It's weird.  The day-long Qianlong lectures at the Met were introduced by the Director of the Museum, Thomas Campbell. He has  launched a new series called Connections.  Curators pick a topic, like Motherhood, choose  pictures or sculptures in the museum that have to do with that theme and talk about it (on screen) in a very personal way.  It's not art history speak, it's more like facebook chatter.  This venerable institution, like the rest of us, seems desperate to make CONNECTIONS.