Il Sentiero delle Orobie – Tito Terzi Exhibit

Left: Flyer for Tito Terzi Exhibit. Center and right: Friends of Terzi photographed with backdrop of Orobie. Friends in high places?

It's been three years since we did our Sentiero delle Orobie (Path of the Orobie) hike, documented in the posts:

• Seven Days on the Sentiero delle Orobie – A Journey Through the Bergamo Alps
• Seven Days on the Sentiero delle Orobie - Up Close with Flowers of the Bergamo Alps

So it was a little bit nostalgic for us to walk in and see the exhibit by Tito Terzi titled "Montagna da vivere – Le orobie negli scatti di Tito Terzi" at the Museo della fotografia Sestini, Convento di San Francesco in Bergamo's Città Alta. The exhibit is not only about the Sentiero delle Orobie, but it figures large in the photos shown in the exhibit. For each stop on the Sentiero delle Orobie, the exhibit includes an overview and several photos taken on that segment of the hike, including one of the rifugio. The overview and rifugio photos are shown below.


Tito Terzi loved nature and the mountains he grew up in, and by extension the Sentiero delle Orobie, an enchanting hiking path through those very mountains. The Sentiero delle Orobie was mapped out by the CAI Section of Bergamo between 1950 to 1970. Orobie is a term that means the Bergamasque Alps. Some references:

• CAI Bergamo description
• Wikipedia page for the path – in Italian
• Visit Bergamo - overview

What we show here are a few photos of the exhibit – the path of the Sentiero delle Orobie (Orientale). Enjoy.

Overview of the route.


Leg 1 – Rifugio Alpe Corte


Leg 2 – Rifugio dei Laghi Gemelli


Leg 3 – Rifugio Fratelli Calvi


Leg 4 – Rifugio Antonio Baroni al Brunone


Leg 5 – Rifugio Mario Merelli al Coca


Leg 6 – Rifugio Antonio Curò


Leg 7 – Rifugio Luigi Albani


Leg 8

Seduzione Repulsione: What Plants Don't Say

Left: Flyer for the exhibition Seduzione Repulsione; Right: A statue shivers in Città Alta.

We've been in Bergamo for several weeks (on and off) and haven't seen much precipitation, let alone snow, and finally one Sunday we wake to snow. Of course, we do what's everyone else thinks to do and we hike up to Città Alta to see how the jewel of Bergamo looks in snow. The answer: pretty as always. With the flow of tourists, we amble up via Gombito, which changes to via Bartolomeo Colleoni, and find ourselves in the Piazza della Cittadella. In a tucked away corner we never noticed before, we stumble on the Sala Viscontea dell’Orto Botanico and the fascinating exhibition Seduzione Repulsione: quello che le piante non dicono ("Seduction Repulsion: What plants don't say").

The exhibition is travelling exhibition ("mostra itinerante") sponsored by the Rete degli Orti Botanici della Lombardi. The exhibition consisted of large information boards discussing various aspects related to seducing and repulsing abilities of plants. Items to touch and smell and associated research papers accompanied the boards. In other words, a place plant geeks could spend hours.

Examples of the information in the exhibit Seduzione Repulsione.

Pompeii and the Pooped Out Premier Exhibitions Formula

Left: Statue Greeting You Upon Arrival; Center: Bronze Statue Originally Silver Plated; Right: Fresco with Dionysus Enthroned (Painted Plaster, 50-70 A.D., House of Naviglio, Pompeii)

I'm starting to detect a trend in the exhibitions at Pacific Science Center: light on artifacts and curation and high on "wow" factors and recreations. The Pompeii Exhibition follows this formula. Yes, the ticket price is high for what you get. Yes, some who know something or nothing about Pompeii will enjoy it. But, ultimately the exhibition leaves you unfulfilled.

First, like I also mentioned for the King Tut exhibit, the music was too loud, schlocky, and repetitive.

Second, the audio guide was pretty bad. If we've shelled out the extra money for it and we are standing in a crowded room jockeying with people to see the exhibits, the audio guide better lift my mood by educating and titillating me. It didn't.

Third, the wow factor is a movie at the end of the exhibition that simulates - with sound, vibration, and stage smoke - the day Pompeii got buried in 79 A.D. Nice, but not great.

Finally, the problem is not so much the Pacific Science Center, but the creator of the show, Premier Exhibitions. This is the company that produces the Bodies Exhibition. (Are you sick of seeing that exhibition in every city you visit?) I'm guessing they provide these "package" exhibitions and different cities or institutions buy them.

If you go to Premier Exhibitions site for Pompeii and try to find out information about something you saw at the exhibition, there is just a few pretty pictures and a simplistic statement about the exhibition. There is no solid information or even an inventory of the what is displayed. (If it was there, I did not see it.) It's clear: the exhibition is meant to entertain, not educate. With that goal in mind, why waste the time putting that information together?

Similarly, you can't find anything on the Pacific Science Center's site about what artifacts were shown. That's not good science in my book.

Did I like anything about this exhibit? Yes, there were some interesting facts about foods, amphorae shapes to store food, and in particular the fermented fish sauce, garum.  (The shape of the amphorae indicated their contents, and the bottom of one amphora fit into the top of another.) And, the statues and artifacts they had were interesting, just too few to get a sense of anything.

Left: Amphorae for Garum (terracotta, 1st century A.D., Pompeii); Center: Mosaic of Garum Amphora (white limestone and black slate, 1st century A.D., House of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, Pompeii); Right: Cast of a Youth, House of Cryptoporticus, Pompeii

Pompeii: The Exhibition was at the Pacific Science Center from Feb 7 – May 25, 2015.

SAM – Pop Departures

The exhibit Pop Departures runs from October 30, 2014 to January 11, 2015 at the Seattle Art Museum. We caught it last Saturday, along with City Dwellers. I can’t say I really liked Pop, but I liked it enough and learned a few things *. I’ve never been a fan of Pop art, for no particular reason other than it doesn’t move me – whatever that means. In this exhibit, with our knowledgeable guide Kevin, I learned more than I knew walking into the exhibit, so it was a success from that point of view. And, I dare say I liked some of the pieces.

*The silly things I learned from the visit:

• Andy Warhol called Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg the staple-gun queens. See, for example, the book Pop Trickster Fool
• Johns and Rauschenberg had a romantic relationship for six years according to the Slate article Is MoMA Putting Artists Back in the Closet?
• Random, but fun quote on fame from opera singer Joyce DiDonato in a 2013 interview in the New Yorker: “You know the four phases of an opera career? ‘Who is Joyce DiDonato? Get me Joyce DiDonato! Get me someone like Joyce DiDonato! Who is Joyce DiDonato?’ ”

POP Departures Collage with bits of work by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Barbara Kruger

SAM – City Dwellers: Contemporary Art from India

The exhibit City Dwellers: Contemporary Art from India runs from August 30, 2014 to Feb 16, 2015 at the Seattle Art Museum. We took a look at it last Saturday. I admit I was struck by the intriguing image Reassurance, from the series Definitive Reincarnate, 2003/2006 by Nandini Valli Muthiah, which came in the mail weeks earlier. The photograph features the blue-skinned god Krishna looking, well, reassured. The brochure describes the series as juxtaposing “traditional Hindu iconography and mythology with contemporary urban life.”

The two sculptural pieces include the red India Shining V (Gandhi with iPod), 2008 by Debanjan Roy and the gold Scooter, 2007 by Valay Shende. The scooter is made from gold-plated disks.

Left: India Shining V (Gandhi with iPod), 2008 by Debanjan Roy and the gold Scooter, 2007 by Valay Shende
RIght: Reassurance, from the series Definitive Reincarnate, 2003/2006 by Nandini Valli Muthiah

Modernism from the National Gallery of Art – Exhibit @ de Young Museum

Brochure for Modernism From the National Gallery of Art

Not until I started preparing this post did I realize we’ve seen two Modernism-themed exhibits in one month. What’s up with that? The first was at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), Modernism in the Pacific Northwest and the second, this exhibit at the de Young museum in San Francisco. Either the word “modernism” has lost its impact to register any connections in my mind, or we are museum junkies and will go to a museum at the drop of a hat. Probably both. The SAM exhibit was interesting, the de Young exhibit was so-so. The best I can come up with for my feelings about the de Young exhibition are:

• I’m puzzled by the phenomenon of a rich couple whose collection is served up for us to ogle (no, not Google). This time at the de Young, we have Robert and Jane Meyerhoff to thank. They, thankfully, “amassed one of the most outstanding collections of modern art”[ref].
• I think Frank Stella pieces are not the least bit interesting to look at, and there were a few in this exhibition.
• We just came from the Precita Eyes mural tour where we saw a lot (almost too much) mural and street art in the Mission District of San Francisco. Then, walking into this exhibit at the de Young made me wonder about art in general, and how the importance of art is determined. 

Enough with the negativity, some positives:

• The most interesting piece in the exhibit was Barnett Newmans’ 15-painting The Stations of the Cross: Lema Sabachthani (1958 – 1966) not so much for the subject matter, but for the presentation: in a somber chapel-like separate room. It reminded me of the Rothko room at the Tate Modern in London.
• Terry Winters’ Graphics Table [1998] – reminds me a little of Mark Tobey.
• Jean Dubuffets’ La ronde de images [1977] - reminds me of street art, and Dubuffet’s name is just fun to say.

Left: Terry Winters Graphics Tablet [1998]; Right: Jean Dubuffet La ronde de images [1977]

Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: The Mythic & the Mystical

Left: Modernism in the Pacific Northwest Brochure Cover (with detail of Moving Moments [1970] by Mark Tobey)
Center: Signs and Messengers [1967] by Mark Tobey
Right: Crane Holding a Snail and Dancing [1945] by Morris Graves


The exhibition Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: The Mythic & the Mystical contains many interesting pieces from the Marshall and Helen Hatch Collection. The Hatchs started collecting Northwest art in the 1970s and donated the collection to the Seattle Art Museum in 2009. They knew many of the artists personally. The artists included in the exhibit are Mark Tobey (1890 – 1976), Morris Graves (1910 – 2001), Kenneth Callahan (1905 – 1986), Guy Anderson (1906 – 1998), Tony Angell (1940 - ), George Tsutakawa (1910 – 1997), and Philip McCracken (1928 - ). An interesting note is that many of the artists included in the exhibit worked at or for the Seattle Art Museum.

Subtitles like The Mythic & the Mystical could be enough to put you off from seeing this this exhibition, but don’t. It’s actually an interesting exhibit. It makes up for the bit of a snooze that was the last exhibit at SAM: Miró: The Experience of Seeing – Seattle Art Museum.

What is modernism? As one site put it, “modernism is notoriously difficult to define clearly because the term encompasses a variety of specific artistic and philosophical movements…”. I think this aspect defined in the Wikipedia page for Modernism is a pretty good starting point for the purposes of this exhibit:

“[modernism] includes the activities and creations of those who felt the traditional forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, philosophy, social organization, and activities of daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political environment of an emerging fully industrialized world.”

As for dates, modernism began in the late 19^th century and carried on into the 20^th century. The artists in this exhibition began creating art in the 1920s onward, developing a variation of Modernism that employed the symbolic abstract art of the Native Americans of the Northwest and Asian art. For a brief period, Tobey, Morris, Graves, Callahan, and Anderson were at the forefront of Modernism before the spotlight shifted east to the New York artists, like Hans Hoffman (1980 – 1966) and Jackson Pollock (1912 – 1956).

Favorites

Mark Tobey is an artist we’ve always been aware of (as good citizens of the Northwest), but finally in this exhibit we were finally able to develop an appreciation of his work. Examples of his work in the exhibit include the busy urban scene of E Pluribus Unum [1942] (Tempera on paper mounted on paperboard), the Asian-influenced Broadway Girl [1957] (Sumi ink on paper), his calligraphic-like Signs and Messengers [1967] (Tempera on board), and Moving Moments (detail) [1970] (Oil on canvas), which appears on the brochure for the exhibition.

Morris Graves was definitely the artist we were most intrigued with in the exhibit. Many pieces on display powerfully express his views about war, for example, confusion and devastation in Oh, Where are the Bright Birds [1944] (Charcoal, ink, and transparent and opaque watercolor on Japanese paper, mounted on linen), and hope at the end of the war with an unlikely dance (peace) between a crane and a snail in Crane Holding a Snail and Dancing [1945] (Opaque and transparent watercolor on gold-toned paper).

Is Moor Swan [1933], an earlier piece featuring a black swam, a metaphor for being gay? We knew Graves was gay (through information at the exhibition) and later learned (according to this article: Gay Mystic Painters) that Tobey and Anderson were also gay.

Perhaps two works by Graves that really stood out where: Spring with Machine Age Noise [1957] (Sumi ink on Chinese paper) and Spring with Machine Age Noise, No. 3 [1957] (Ink, transparent and opaque watercolor on paper). The description to these works includes this: “There is a strip at the bottom of some of the paintings with a little indication of the movement of spring, but the rest of the painting is given over to noise –discordance- nature violated – aggressive machine noise.” YES! Perhaps someone to consider for my Just-Say-No-To-Noise club (a la Noise and Nuisance; Bronzino to Babbage).

Finally, we’ll mention Leo Kenney who, as an information card put it, “painted his own lamentation for the end of the world and then his own retreat into the realm of imagination under the influence of mescaline.” It shows in works like Metamorphosis [1948] (Ink and gouache on Chinese paper) and Voyage for Two [1953] (Gouache on Chinese paper).

Left: Modernism in the Pacific Northwest Exhibit Wall
Center: Broadway Girl [1957] by Mark Tobey
Left: E Pluribus Unum [1942] by Mark Tobey

Left: Moor Swan [1933] by Morris Graves
Right: Oh, Where are the Bright Birds [1994] by Morris Graves
Left: Spring with Machine Age Noise [1957] by Morris Graves
Right: Spring with Machine Age Noise, No. 3 [1957] by Morris Graves

Left: Metamorphosis [1948] by Leo Kenney
Right: Voyage for Two [1953] by Leo Kenney