Thursday, March 14, 2013

New Blue & White at the Art Museum


Sketch in 5X7 paperblanks book. 
At the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston yesterday I wandered unexpectedly into "New Blue & White", a show with giant paper cutouts, textiles, & mostly ceramics. Oh glorious surprise & delight! For so long museum art has seemed so serious. I love the way I smile & laugh viewing many contemporary objects.
Nakashima Harumi: "Work 0808". Ceramic, "departing from his Japanese traditions,
making an abstract statement, says the curator. I say, "Totally fun!" 

About Blue & White in art: It was first used to describe cobalt pigment applied to white clay. More than 1,000 years ago blue & white ceramics emerged from the Middle East & Asia. In the last 15 years, 40 artists & designers from Latin America, Asia, the Netherlands, the US, looked to various blue & white traditions & interpreted them with various ideas.
There is a "diverse array of art" but for me the best part was being surrounded by the imaginative abstract designs & colors. Even the air seemed blue & white! For more information on the show, click here.
 The last Exhibition I visited was The Postcard Age. Even though I adore postcards, & even though there was a huge selection of Postcards from Paris, I was fatigued. I had spent some time on a French language guided tour & some "serious" time in other galleries. So I relaxed & looked at the lookers looking. Next time I'll start with the postcards.

  
This young couple came dressed up, he in shiny black hat, she wearing a crown. Maybe they were themselves contemporary art, in the midst of more traditional attire.

17 comments:

  1. just love your sketches of the observers. really felt like i was right there watching them, you captured their personalities so well.

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  2. Thanks, Tex. Art museums are so much fun to sketch in because you get so charged with all of the visual energy. But no matter where, I always seem to be caught by people. PS I left you a response on my previous post, about the ad...

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  3. I imagine you sketching folks and objects with the delightful eye you always seem to use in your work -- barbara

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    1. It is my way of taking in little vignettes of the world around me, Barbara. There is so much going on, it's my way of focusing...Thanks, Rita

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  4. I particulary love the last one...

    Pierre

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    1. Me too Pierre. They were so much fun, this couple who came dressed up in their own way...

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  5. I like this blue and white japanese ceramic!Do you know that an artist in Nice has created a new kind of blue in the 70ies? " le bleu Klein " ; you would like it, I'm sure!
    I always love your silhouettes , it seems to me that I recognise people! :o)

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    1. I did look up le bleu Klein, merci, Malyss! His work with color was very conceptual. How interesting that his first monochromes were misunderstood...I like that he dove into such focused studies of color & invented the new blue. Blues are indeed my favorite hues & the show gave such pleasure! (along with of course the "personnages" visiting the museum...) Thank you for stopping by, R.

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  6. I loved learning from you, Rita, about New Blue and White. Of course, I love postcards, too. That's what you'll get next from me in the mail.

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    1. Postcards in the mail!! One coming your way too! Thank you1

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  7. Fun post. Will need to come back and really read over when I am not so wiped out from painting and not pictures... Enjoyed all the sketching and Would love to see the postcard art.

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    1. Cris, after 2 visits to the museum, I still didn't get to the postcard show for any length of time! Next time!

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  8. At least when you're sketching, the museum guards don't get all worked up! When you pull out a camera, their ears go up!
    V

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    1. At the MFA in Boston they don't get worked up when you draw, & the musuem even provides little stools. Here in Portland, they don't let you draw or write with ink. Oh, don't get me going on that!!

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  9. Another great post and love the dynamic of the observer (you) observing the observers. . .

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    1. Sharon, yes, the observers are like characters in a play with wonderful scenery. Have you all gone to the Farnsworth yet? Depending on what's there, I enjoy it. Also, the art museum at Bowdoin isn't too far from you, I like that one a lot...Thanks for stopping by, Rita

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  10. Oh I am so glad to see upbeat art at the museum and your sketches are excellent ~ Enjoy ^_^

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Thank you for your comments! They mean a lot to me!