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.

Awful weather, hot racing – Memsie Stakes Day

Humidor wins the Memsie Stakes

It was supposed to be the first day of Spring, but you wouldn’t know it from the weather.

Yes, it was another wet and miserable afternoon at Caulfield for the first Group 1 meeting of the Melbourne Spring racing season.

Needless to say I’m thoroughly sick of winter and can’t wait for the weather to warm up, which hopefully it will do soon.

It took me rather more time to arrive at Caulfield racecourse than usual, with buses replacing trains to Caulfield Station. I was unaware of the service change when I arrived at Flinders Street, but soon ascertained that I would have to take the express replacement bus. This meant tramping up to the Arts Centre to catch it. Once in transit it didn’t take that much longer than the train, so I reached Caulfield just after Race 3, at around 1.15pm.

You might think that taking photos on rainy afternoons would be tricky lighting wise, but surprisingly the light was not a problem at all. With overcast skies there are no shadows, so the available light is neutral, which is good for photography. The only problem was the rain and keeping the camera dry and the lens unspeckled with raindrops.

Race 4 was the Jockey Celebration Day Handicap, run over 1400 metres. Night’s Watch started as favourite and didn’t let his supporters down with an eye catching win, defeating Lite’n In My Veins by 2¼ lengths with Muraaqeb running third. Apparently , Night’s Watch will be tackling the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes next Saturday.

Just past the post in the Jockey Celebration Handicap – Night’s Watch is the dark brown horse with a star on his forehead

I only stayed for four races and Race 5 was the Heatherlie Stakes, run over 1700 metres. Again the favourite, in this case Call Me Handsome won convincingly from Mr Garcia and Sin To Win.

Just past the post Call Me Handsome still leads

Call Me Handsome on his way to the barriers

Having attracted  a really classy field of three year old Guineas hopefuls, the Group 3 HDF McNeil Stakes was a must watch race. Vain Stakes winner Tony Nicconi was the starting favourite, but he finished out of the placings. Instead, Native Soldier took command from the start, and leading throughout, won by 2¾ lengths to hold out The August storming from the back of the field  with Seabrook taking third place a further length away.

Native Soldier returns to scale

The rain was drizzling down when the contenders for the feature Group 1 Memsie Stakes were parading in the pre-parade ring, but cleared for the race itself.

Here are some of them in the ring or heading for the barriers…

Black Heart Bart – who won the Memsie in 2016

Happy Clapper

Vega Magic – last year’s Memsie winner

The handsome Grunt

Humidor

Kementari

Kings Will Dream

Showtime

Humidor’s win in the Memsie Stakes took everyone by surprise, though it shouldn’t have as his CV is first class, and he did come close to beating the mighty Winx in the Cox Plate last year. He payed close to $25.00 for the win – very good odds for a horse of his class.

It was a blanket finish with the first five horses all finishing under a length from Humidor who broke through the wall of those horses at the last minute to win. Kementari ,who had a torrid run racing wide throughout, finished second and Kings Will Dream was third. Hot favourite Vega Magic looked the winner at the 400 metre mark, but faded to finish fourth, the wet weather not to his taste.

I didn’t stay for the final two races, even though they looked really interesting. The afternoon had grown chillier as I headed back to the station to catch the replacement bus back to the city.

Next Saturday the racing returns to Moonee Valley for the Group 2 Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes (AKA Cox Plate Qualifier) for which a super field has been nominated that includes last year’s winner, New Zealand mare Bonneval. Also on the cards is the Group 2 McEwen Stakes, always a good race that attracts a quality field.

Handsome Brute – Racing at Moonee Valley

Brutal returns to scale after winning the McKenzie Stakes

One of the star attractions for me at Moonee Valley last Saturday was to see the hyped colt Brutal run the second race of his career. He had won his first start at Caulfield back in July by 5 lengths, so there was a great deal of interest in seeing how he’d fare in his second, and whether he would live up to expectations.

Though he didn’t win the Listed McKenzie Stakes by as great a margin, it was a tougher competition and he prevailed, overtaking race leader Tavisan for a gritty hard fought win.

He’s a very pretty young fellow, quite an eye catcher in fact. I noticed him in the parade ring early in the afternoon and he had a distinct air, that stood him out from other horses circumambulating at the same time.

The McKenzie Stakes was run as Race 7 in late afternoon, but I reached Moonee Valley around 1.45pm, and just caught the end of Race 3, the MSC Signs Plate, which Michelle Payne won on Sweet Rockette, a filly she also trains, upstaging the race favourite Multaja. Quite an achievement!

Getting to Moonee Valley from Ivanhoe is pretty easy with a number of public transport options. I chose this time to catch the 510 Ivanhoe to Essendon bus, which links to a connecting tram near Pascoe Vale Road. This I caught  to Moonee Ponds Junction, the whole journey taking about 45 minutes all up.

Entering Moonee Valley racecourse I noticed this special display honouring Winx’s three Cox Plate victories.

Winx tribute close to racecourse entrance

I didn’t manage to get any photos of Race 3, so sauntered around the stalls area to kill time until the next race. I was hoping to get photos of Brutal and Hey Doc, but neither were in their stalls at that time.

Returning later I snapped this photo of Brutal in his stall

Brutal in his stall

A woman standing by asked the strapper if Brutal was a biter. The strapper admitted he was a biter, but having a large over bite didn’t cause too much damage.

Back trackside on the public lawn I watched Race 4, the Woodside Park Handicap, run  over 2500 metres.  Starting favourite Tiffany’s Lass led from start to finish and won by 1¼ lengths from Fontein Lad, with French import Zilbiyr running third.

Tiffany’s Lass leads down the straight to the finish line

Tiffany’s Lass returns to scale

Fontein Lad returns to scale

As you can see from the above photos the afternoon was sunny for a change and good for taking photos. Though it remained sunny out the back in the stalls area, as the afternoon progressed the shadow of the grandstand gradually overlay the the track.

Race 5 was the Dr Sheahan Plate, a race for mares over 1200 metres.  The Chris Waller trained Our Malambo won, with Mamzelle Tess running second and Chiavari third.

Our Malambo has a good lead down the straight

By the time Race 6 was run the shadows had lengthened over the track, which made photography somewhat tricky, so these photos of the finish are somewhat dark.

Trap For Fools, another who led from start to finish on the pace favoured track, won the I Print Handicap (race 6) from Our Venus Beach and Sikanderabad.

Trap For Fools crosses the finish line 2½ lengths ahead of his nearest rival

Trap For Fools returns to scale

Moonee Valley recently installed a new finishing post, doing away with the old display that required a couple of blokes to change the sponser names after each race…

Moonee Valley old finishing post

…to a new snazzy digital display.

New winning post

Throughout the afternoon I’d mostly watched the races from the east side of the course, but by the time the feature Mckenzie Stakes was run, the track was shadowed up to and beyond the finishing post, so I moved back to the public lawn for the remainder of the afternoon.

Brutal is about to overtake Tavisan as they gallop towards the finish line

I stayed for Race 8, the Carlyon Stakes a sprint over 1100 metres. Dual Group 1 winner Hey Doc was the favourite, but he only managed to finish 5th. The race was run at a blistering pace, close to the track record, and the globetrotting Faatinah won the bickies from race leader Sunday Escape with Mr Sneaky running third.

Up the straight, Faatinah (blue silks) is about to overtake Sunday Escape with Mr Sneaky trailing behind

I called it quits after the Carlyon Stakes and headed for the bus terminal at Moonee Ponds Junction, just managing to catch the 504 Moonee Ponds to Clifton Hill bus.

It was pleasant being back at Moonee Valley it being one of my favourite race courses, and generally excellent for taking action photos.

I’ll finish this post with a final photo.

It’s not every day that you come across a unicycling juggler, so I couldn’t resist getting a photo of this friendly bloke, who was only too pleased to pose for it.

Unicycling Juggler

Next Saturday the racing returns to Caulfield where the Group 1 Memsie Stakes is the feature race, with an interesting support card. Black Caviar’s second foal, a colt named Prince of Caviar, is nominated for the Group 3 HDF McNeil Stakes, so I hope he is part of the field at acceptance time, as I’ve yet to see him in the flesh.

Sunlight on a Wintry Day

Showtime wins the PB Lawrence Stakes from Hartnell

As expected the weather was awful for an afternoon at the races being cold and occasionally wet. Otherwise it was a stimulating race meeting, the three feature races making attendance at the track worthwhile.

In Sydney Winx was the star attraction and delighted her many fans with a stunning win in the Winx Stakes, demonstrating that she was back just as good as ever, surpassing her own and Black Caviar’s record winning streak and knotching up 19 Group 1 wins into the bargain. She made front page news on The Age on Sunday, and Australia Post has issued a stamp to honour the occasion.  The stamps are available online now on the Australia Post website, and will be on sale from 23 August in Post Offices.  There are a variety of celebratory stamp packs to choose from and I’ve already purchased a few to complement my collection of Black Caviar stamps.

I arrived at Caulfield Racecourse around 1.45 pm, so had time to stroll around the stalls before Race 4 was run. It was great to see so many of the good horses back at the track, particularly Hartnell, Sunlight, Grunt, Mighty Boss and Black Heart Bart, among others.

Race 4 was the Nitto Denko Handicap run over 1400 metres. It was won by the favourite Streets of Avalon, from Wayanka and Arkham Knight.

Streets of Avalon returns to scale

New kid on the block Tony Nicconi was the favourite for the Vain Stakes, after he had won his first start by four lengths, and proved at this, his second start, that it wasn’t a fluke, winning the Vain Stakes narrowly from Long Leaf with Native Soldier running third not far behind.

Tony Nicconi still leads just past the post.

Tony Nicconi returns to scale

Long Leaf returns to scale

Native Soldier returns to scale

Back in the stalls area after the Vain Stakes we had the good fortune to run into Sunlight’s trainer, Tony McAvoy, and got him to sign our racebooks against her name. He was pretty positive that his star filly would win the Quezette after we mentioned that we didn’t want to jinx her after getting his signature.

But before the Quezette Stakes was run we took time out to watch the Winx Stakes on a screen nearby. Fortunately this area was sheltered as it had started to rain heavily as Winx romped home in the race named in her honour, winning by over two lengths from outsider Invictus Prince and stablemate D’Argento.  The mooted challenge from Kementari was short lived as Winx sailed past him in a trice, as they turned the corner into the straight, and he was lucky to finish fourth.

Sunlight was the starting favourite for the Quezette Stakes and prevailed, fighting out a challenge by Humma Humma to win by a nose.  Thrillster finished third. It was pleasing to see Sunlight back in the money after her game second to Nature Strip recently in Adelaide.

Quezette Stakes just past the post – Sunlight still leads Humma Humma

Sunlight returns to scale

Humma Humma returns to scale

Thrillster returns to scale

It was pretty dark and overcast while the Quezette Stakes was run, hence the darkish photos above, but amazingly it fined up for the feature P B Lawrence Stakes which was up next.

Here are some parade ring photos of some of the contenders…

Black Heart Bart

Grunt

Jungle Edge

Kings Will Dream

Mighty Boss

Boom Time

Three year old colt Grunt started as favourite, but finished 5th, though less than a length from the winner Showtime, who was second favourite after being highly spruiked by the Hawkes, his trainers. In a way I was relieved that my favourites didn’t win considering the P B Lawrence Stakes hoodoo on winners. It will be interesting to see how Showtime fares for the rest of the spring racing season.

Hartnell finished second, beaten half a length on the line and outsider Widgee Turf was third.

Showtime on his way to barriers

Hartnell returns to scale

I headed home after the Lawrence Stakes, heartily glad to climb into the comparative warmth of a train after being quite cold for most of the afternoon, despite dressing appropriately.

Next Saturday the racing is at Moonee Valley which has a few interesting races on the program. The weather is predicted to be fine and sunny for a change, so I’ll probably attend. I haven’t been to Moonee Valley since Cox Plate day last year.