Hibernation

Bingo – photographed today

I’ve been awfully slack on the blogging front, but truth to tell, there has not been much to write about.

With Covid 19 still being a big factor in our lives, there is limited opportunity to do something different or go on outings that do not involve shopping for provisions.

It being winter, a surprisingly mild one at that, the horse racing is not that interesting, but there’s not long to wait for the Spring racing season to start. Of  course Covid restrictions may stymie actual attendance, but hopefully I will get to witness the big races of the Spring Carnival.

I’m looking forward to finally being fully vaccinated in 10 days, which will ease some of the anxiety attendant on any kind of outing, as has been the case over the last year and a half.

The photo above is of Bingo who is thankfully in good health this year, after giving us a scare the last two winters by losing his appetite in early July of both years.

There’s nothing wrong with his appetite this year – he is ravenous – so we worry about him becoming overweight instead.

On the time killing front, I’ve not been doing much mostly replaying the Monkey Island games and reading the odd book. I’m mostly uninspired by the new literature available at present, but have recently enjoyed Ronan Hession’s (of Leonard and Hungry Paul fame) new novel Panenka, which I thought quite as good and as heart warming as the earlier novel. Ronan Hession is a brilliant writer that I’m delighted to have discovered.

Once fully vaccinated I intend to go and soak up some culture, by attending the French Impressionists Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria and the Treasures of the Natural World at Melbourne Museum.

In the meantime I will continue my winter hibernation.

Japanese Modernism–A Short Break Before Lockdown

Toraji Ishikawa– Resting (Woodblock print)

Here we are in Melbourne forced again to stay home for the next six weeks in a second lockdown.

But, just before this second constraint on liberty occurred, I visited the National Gallery of Victoria ostensibly to see the current exhibition featuring Japanese art from the 1930s – Japanese Modernism.

You had to pre- book your visit online, nominating a date and time, as visitors to the gallery were limited to around 450 persons at a time.

I opted for July 8th and it’s lucky I selected that day as the lockdown came into effect from 9 July and the Gallery is closed again for visitors.

It was like having the gallery all to yourself; so few people being in attendance at the same time made the outing pleasant with not having to cope with other attendees hogging the exhibits.

One of my favourite old calendars is that for 1989, Prints of the Dark Valley which features the woodblock art of Japan in the 1930s. I was smitten back then with Toraji Ishikawa’s  series of prints titled The Ten Beauties (AKA Ten Types of Female Nudes).  They were so stylish -  sort of oriental Art Deco with an unusual composition aesthetic.

So I’m delighted to discover that NGV acquired the series for their permanent collection in 2014 and are currently featuring them in their Japanese Modernism exhibition. I can go back and see them anytime when I am not as distracted as I was last Wednesday due to Bingo being unwell. (More about that later)

The Japanese Modernism period is described in the exhibition notes as follows:

During a brief window between the destruction caused by the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 and the calamities of the Pacific War (1942–45), the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka developed into some of the world’s most vibrant and modern metropolises. Bustling streets filled with glamorous department stores, fashionable cafes, popular movie theatres, swinging dance halls and high-tech transportation catered to a new generation of confident and financially liberated youth, who challenged conservative views and delighted in disrupting the establishment by making their own lifestyle choices.

Playfully known as moga and mobo – modern girls and modern boys – this new generation represented the arrival of modernity in Asia and in turn spurred the inspiration, iconography and dynamism behind a creative movement that energised Japanese creativity and innovation during the early twentieth century. This exhibition investigates the increasingly socially liberated status of women in Japan at the time. Japanese Modernism also features fashion of the 1920s and 1930s, including women’s and men’s kimonos, and related accessories. Decorative arts objects include beautifully crafted glassware, lacquerware and bronzeware, and popular culture is represented by street posters,
magazines and graphic design.

Not being entirely sure as to where the exhibition was situated in the gallery, other than knowing it was on the first floor somewhere, I headed that way and came upon the NGV’s collection of Asian Art.

The first object that caught my eye was this amazing metal motor scooter, the creation of Indian artist Subodh Gupta.

Cow by Subodh Gupta

Cow (back view)

Also in this area were various Buddhas…

Dainichi Buddha – Japan Kamakura Period 1185 to 1333

…and Guanyin – Chinese Goddess of Compassion

Guanyin – China Jin Dynasty 1115 to 1234

I was also taken by these contemporary Japanese artworks in the Japanese Design – Neolithic to Now exhibition

Bag by Issey Miyake 2016

Fan by Taro Yamamoto -Green maple and boat on flow (2012)

Up In the Clouds  by Wei Guan – bronze sculpture 2012

Also exhibited in the Japanese Design section were Noh Theatre Robes of elaborate design…

Noh Theatre robe

…and the following exquisite lacquer bust

Lacquer Bust by Ah Xian

Eventually, after wandering around the Asian Art collection and failing to find the up ramp which led to the Japanese Modernism Exhibition I asked one of the Galley staff for directions. The gallery is a maze – a Chinese Mystery Box of rooms within rooms within rooms.

The Japanese Modernism exhibition encompassed not only woodblock prints but clothing and other objects such as this lacquer box…

Lacquer Box with horses and hand printed gift envelopes to the left

…and small animal sculptures in bronze.

  Polar Bear by Junmin Yamamoto

There was a wall of woodblock prints of  young Japanese modern women enjoying various activities.

and another wall of popular music scores.

Music scores

The Toraji Ishikawa series of nudes also occupied its own wall.

Toraji Ishikawa display

Toraji Ishikawa – The Sound of the  Bell

Toraji Ishikawa – Reading

Toraji Ishikawa – The Blue Parrot

As opposed to traditional kimono design, those of 1930’s Japan have a thoroughly contemporary look that would be attractive and unusual even today.

Kimonos

Kimono design detail

Kimono design detail

Kimono design detail

Even the modern (1930s) Japanese male had interesting modern undergarments decorated with such things as planes, cars, record albums etc.

Man’s undergarment with records

Men’s undergarment with planes and cars detail

As you will have ascertained that there was a lot to see in the Japanese Modernism Exhibition, and truth to tell I did not view the whole in as much detail as I could.

However one cannot move on from the exhibition without posting two quite famous pictures.

Shunko Saeki – Tea and coffee Salon

Hisui Sugiura – The First Subway in Asia – Ueno to Asakusa

The Japanese Modernism Exhibition  is on until 2 October 2020. It’s a refreshing, colourful and unusual look at Japanese society before World War II changed everything.

Before leaving the Gallery I decided to go and have a look at Liquid Light- 500 Years of Venetian Glass. It ranged from exquisite creations to over the top excess.

Venetian Glassware

Candelabrum C 1880– not really to my taste

Wine Glass -  more my thing

Wine Glass

Goblet

Of course I couldn’t leave the Gallery without visiting the NGV Shop. It being a Wednesday, my Seniors Card permitted me to claim a 10% discount on purchases. The NGV Shop has quality items at various prices. I generally buy a few postcards for my collection and greeting cards to send to friends on their birthdays.

Back to the cause of my distraction, Bingo the cat was very unwell last week, refusing food from Monday and looking quite poorly – listless and quite unlike his usual self.  We took him to the vet on Tuesday. who had no idea what was ailing the cat, other than that he had a fever, but gave him an antibiotic injection as a precaution. Bingo was slightly brighter on Wednesday but refused food again, which meant that he had not had any solid food since Sunday evening, though had been drinking water. Back to the Vet he went and spent the day there on a drip.  He was extremely distressed when we got him home that night, but he eventually settled and even nibbled on some leftover sausage. I left a small  portion of said sausage in a bowl over night and he ate it. On Thursday he had improved and even managed some breakfast of sausage. Today he is back to normal, thank goodness, but he certainly caused a great deal of fret and worry to his human companions last week.

The Vet gave us some pills to boost his appetite and a liquid painkiller that seemed to zonk him out. Described by the Vet as cat heroin, we’ve discontinued administering it over the last few days.

Curiously, at pretty much the same time last year he had a similar episode of not eating for a week. Coincidence?

A Thousand Blog Posts

Though no doubt many other weblogs have celebrated (or not) one thousand posts, I’m pleased to have achieved this milestone in the almost thirteen years I have been maintaining this blog.

To celebrate I will write about the Escher X Nendo Exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria, which I finally attended last week.

Sign outside Gallery

Subtitled “Between Two Worlds”, the exhibition is a masterful blending of the remarkable mind bending graphic art of Dutch artist M. C. Escher and Japanese design studio Nendo, the art being displayed within a  physical space created by Nendo.

It worked a treat.

Escher’s art was very popular in the 1960s and 70s and indeed was used in a number of record covers at the time.  I have a large paperback edition of The Graphic Work of M.C. Escher published in 1973 (third printing) which I acquired during that time.

Many of the graphic works in the book were on display at the exhibition.

Hand with reflecting globe

Three Worlds

Rippled surface

Depth

Bond of Union

Belvedere

The exhibition was comprehensive, detailing Escher’s development as an artist and master of his craft (wood engraving and lithography).

The Nendo installations scattered throughout did indeed give a dizzying version of what was on the walls. I took some photographs in the Nendo Transforming House installation which turned out remarkably well; even the blurred photo looks mysterious and out of this world.

Transforming House installation

Section of installation

Section of installation with silhouette

Installation section – blurred with silhouette

There was a lot to absorb, and it grew quite disorienting by the end, the brain ( a heavy cold didn't help) growing tired of optical illusions. You’d need a few days (with breaks in between) to take in the whole exhibition.

NGV 50 Years On & MOMA

Roy Lichtenstein – Drowning Girl

It’s hard to believe that the National Gallery  of Victoria in St Kilda Road is now fifty years old, and celebrated that anniversary in August.

I still recall when it was first opened and indeed went and had a look at it in the first week.  I recorded the following in my diary:

Shirl and I went to the Arts Centre on Tuesday (27/8/68). It really is a superb building and admirable for artistic displays. The effect is one of quietness and dignity with a timeless monumentality.

The falling water in the main entrance is very effective and gives a perfect break in the grey mass of the exterior.

Inside the Centre isn't any less pleasing. The Oriental Garden is very beautiful. There are superbly aesthetic fountains of water foaming forth from young bamboo. From the main sculpture court, Rodin's great bronze statue of Balzac stares imperious and contemptuous in a blaze of spring sunshine. Near him one of Henry Moore's sculptures, in a mass of bronze, sits triumphant.

The exhibition rooms are beautifully subdued to give the paintings and works of art the advantage of their pure essence.

We only caught a glimpse of the ceiling of the auditorium which is stained glass by Leonard French. It has an effect of Byzantine splendour and Gothic lighting.

All over,  the Gallery is very pleasing. The place, however, was swarming with people - mothers tugging along droves of children on holiday, who ran all over the place.

There was so much to see, and so many inviting directions, we didn't know where to turn or what to look at first. Compared to the old Gallery where one's footsteps echoed eerily on the stone floors, the new Gallery is carpeted all over and very restful and peaceful - if there weren't so many bloody people around!

Shirl was my sister in law (wife of my deceased older brother) and at the time we were good friends, though now haven’t spoken for over 27 years. The last time I saw her was at my mother’s funeral in January 1991.

All that is water under the bridge and I doubt our paths will ever cross again.

Anyway, the new Gallery was a great success and is now one of the iconic buildings of Melbourne.

Speaking of iconic objects, the current Winter Exhibition at NGV  features famous artistic works from MOMA (New York Museum of Modern Art)

I welcomed the chance to attend the exhibition as when I was in New York in 2002 it was closed, so I never got to visit it in situ.

When you walk into the exhibition, the first paintings on display were instantly recognisable by artist, which boded well for the rest of show that encompassed over 130 years of artistic movements, from the Impressionists, Post Impressionists, Expressionists, Surrealists, Cubists, Pop Art , Abstract and everything in between.

Side by side were 5 wonderful pictures by Seurat, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Toulouse Lautrec and Gauguin.

Georges- Pierre Seurat – Evening Honfleur

Vincent Van Gogh – Portrait of Joseph Roulin

Henri de Toulouse – Lautrec – La Goulou at the Moulin Rouge

Paul Gauguin – The Moon and the Earth

Moving on into the exhibition there was a film on the wall  by Louis Lumière of a dancer performing Danse Serpentine, several layers of her dress creating a wild swirling as she moved.

I won’t do a blow by blow, but concentrate on my favourite exhibits

As you progressed through the rooms, there were many delights, such as this rather wonderful metal fan

Fan of cast iron and bronze

A beautiful red and blue chair

Red Blue Chair – Gerritt Rietveld

I’ve always been a bit of fan of Bauhaus, so was delighted that works associated with this cool style were included. 

Le Corbusier – model building – an inspiration for Bauhaus

Dali’s iconic painting The Persistence of Memory was on a wall by itself, and as everyone remarks, is a tiny masterpiece.

It was thrilling to see it up close.

More treats were in the offing such as paintings by Matisse and Magritte

Henri Matisse – Japanese Girl

Rene Magritte – Self Portrait

Also Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo – Self Portrait with cropped hair

The following Edward Hopper painting was my favourite of the exhibition. I love his paintings – their feeling of desolation pleases me the same way sad songs do.

Edward Hopper – Gas (detail)

Then there is Pop Art – the above Roy Lichtenstein & Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol – Marilyn Monroe

There was even a Fender Guitar on display along with famous record covers

Fender Stratocaster Guitar - 1957

Record covers – Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Cream & The Rolling Stones

It was hard to get a photo of the Space Invaders game with school children hogging the controls. Weird to think that they were not born when this iconic computer game was created in 1978.

Space Invaders computer game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado

There was much to see and some of it I only gave a cursory glance at, the ultra modern stuff leaves me cold, but most of what was on display was fabulous.

So fifty years on the Gallery still puts on a good show. I highly recommend the MOMA exhibition. It’s a class act.