Blog 2, MFA, the American Wing, with Mark Slawson

After all the Asian we wound up in the American wing, worked through there for an hour, then went to dinner in the new restaurant "465" (the museum's address on Huntington Ave)(lovely restaurant, delicious small plates, ridiculously expensive wine-by-the-glass, I mean really, $15. per glass), and then wound up in the "Gender Bending" clothing design exhibit.  Faaaabulous!

Samuel MCIntire  1757-1811

Chest-on-chest

William Hook  1777-1867

Two rooms from the Oak House

taken with the pano function on an I phone

Desk and bookcase

Rhode Island (Newport) about 1755-70

Absolutely jaw-dropping

John Singleton Copley

Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Winslow  1773

I've been visiting art museums all my life, including some of the greatest, and to be honest, I have never been taken with

portraits.  Until I saw this one, this week.  It is breathtaking.  The portrait makes you want to sit down and get to know them both.  He looks like a man you would immediately like and enjoy, and the same for her.  She looks as if she has

some deep, and very meaningful memory going on, or reacting to what he has just said. 

He looks like he is thinking, "Eh? Eh? Am I right?"

There are other portraits in and around the Copleys, but they just enhance his accomplishments. 

John Singleton Copley

Boy with a Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham) 1765

detail of above

According to the description, Copley was very ambitious, and wanted very much to have an international reputation. 

He sent this to Sir Joshua Reynolds, the great English painter, who wrote back, complimented him, 

and invited him to England.

Thomas Birch

Engagement between the "Unites State" and the "Macedonian"  1813

I recently finished "Six Frigates", the story of the creation of the American Navy during the war of 1812, 

by Iam W. Toll, a very good read.  So it was great to see these two nauticals of two important engagements. 

Thomas Birch

Engagement Between the "Constitution" and the "Guerriere" 1813

The battle where the English broadsides bounced off the live oak sides of 

the "Constitution", earning her the title "Old Ironsides"

Gilbert Stuart

John Adams  1823

Horation Greenough

"Arno"  1839

Desk and bookcase

Mexico(Puebla de los Angeles), mid-18th century

detail of above

Diego Romero 

American (Cochiti), born in 1964

Mok a sushi bowl  

Santa Fe, 1999

Alessandro Trincone

Ensemble from the "Annodami" collection 2017

The Gender-bending clothing exhibit was not only some of the most creative clothing

imaginable, but the exhibit's environment was a work of art in itself.  

Victor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren

Look 32 from "One Woman Show"  2003-4

Walter Van Beirendonck

Woest (Fierce): Ensemble  2017-18

Maybe the most beautiful male ensemble in the show.  But I think you would have to weigh about 

120 to really look good in it.  Maybe in a later life. 

I mean, why should women have all the fun?

more male/female outfits. 

MFA with Mark Slawson

Mark Slawson is music director at Second Parish Church in Hingham, and we've performed together for many years, and get together about once a month to tour a museum.  Mark wanted to see the studio where ancient Buddhist statues are being restored, so that was one goal, and the other, for me, was to see the new Asia wing, expanded and re-designed.
So here is part one.

Amida, Buddha of Infinite Light

Kamakura period, second half of the 13th century

Daiitoku myoo, the Wisdom King of Great Awe-inspiring Power

Heian period, 12t century

Miroku, the Bodhisattva of the Future

Kamakura period, 1189

Amida, Buddha of Infinite  Light

Heian period, 12th century

One of the Four Guardian Kings

Heian period, 9th century

restoration lab

Aizen myoo, King of Passion

Nanbokucho period, 14th century

Vase with  peach tree branches

Quin dynasty, Qianlong period, 1736-96

Attributed to Yan Liben, about 600-673

The Thirteen Emperors

Silk Scroll

Tang dynasty

Looking at a scroll painted 1300 years ago

Guanyin, Bodhisatva of Compassion

Jin dynasty, 1200

another view, above.

She looks as if she could suddenly stand up and walk away.

And those clothes!

signed by Abul-Qasim al-Kharrat

Tombstone

Iran, 1138

Elements of a sword belt

Iran, 17th or 18th century

Hafiz Osman

Calligraphic page

Turkey, 1697

Some of the most elegant art ever created.

And the metalwork!!!

Basin

Egypt, mid-13th century

Candlestick

Egypt or Syria, 1342-45

Door

Egypt(Cairo)  14th-15th centuries

Downton Abbey exhibit

The exhibit was so much more than I expected.  From the welcoming videos by the family and staff, wonderful kitchen and dining room layouts, and of course the incredibly elegant costumes, it was all more than  worth what I thought was an extravagant ticket price.  But we parked on a meter (!), and no ticket coming out, so......
A particularly nice touch was coming to a doorway, and seeing Mr. Carson welcoming us to the Abbey, commenting on our strange clothes, and later reappearing, commenting aside ("We'll have to count the spoons....oh, Hi there!").
Here are iPhone photos (Photography was allowed).

We arrived in Boston early so found a coffee, and this elegant little park close by.

And immediately inside the exhibit we run into Jane Lasdow and her daughter Katie, 

old friends, and wife and daughter of Dan Lasdow, of "Touch of Brass" quintet. 

The order of rank of British Royalty

A uniform of King George

Housekeeper Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan)

Mrs. Hughes' housekeys

The kitchen, including Mrs. Patmore, and Daisy's outfits. 

A cookbook of the day

Mr. Carson's room and a dress of Mrs. Hughes.

Carson was played by Jim Carter

More of Carson's study

The handcuffs worn by Mr. Bates when arrested. 

An (empty) bottle of Chateau d'Yquen 1890

(I looked it up, a full bottle's value is now $17,000.)

Part of the call board

Summer frocks of Cora and Mary

Edith's second wedding dress

The wedding ensemble of Carson and Mrs. Hughes

The dress was given  to her for her wedding by Lady Grantham

Vintage dresses, not costumes, from the period. 

Lady Grantham's dress,  worn during her flirtation with the art collector.

Two more vintage(real) dresses, Edith's and Cora's

Lord Grantham's Grenadier Guards uniform

Ahhhh, the dining room table.  Four crystal glasses of four different sizes for each.

And finally, jewelry

Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery)

I would have to say the exhibit was well worth the ticket price, but then Susan and I loved everything

about the show.  I noticed that of all the attendees, perhaps several hundred, only three were male!

I felt very good about that