Friday, November 21, 2014

The new Harvard Art Museum is open! And it's a big deal...

Harvard's Fogg Art Museum is dead - long live the Harvard Art Museums! When I did visit the Fogg sometime in the 90's I remember being somewhat underwhelmed, not by the art, but by the space. It was an old world type museum, musty and dim...like something from the ancient Greek empire. This new incarnation of art on the outskirts of Harvard Yard is nothing less than a world class museum. It's not like the art has changed - and Vincent Van Gogh's self portrait does not need an introduction, but the layout and flow along with the addition of natural light makes the space much more inviting...


The current space is located in the building that used to house the Fogg collection, but after seven years of expansionism and modernization you'd hardly know it. The Fogg was the first Harvard art museum, opened to the public in 1896. Two other museums, the Busch-Reisinger Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum have added their collections to the Fogg's and they are all now united under this one glass ceiling. 


I snuck in on Tuesday during opening week an hour before the museum closed - admission was free as part of a grand opening promotion. I performed a brisk tour - unable to hover and contemplate each work and it's importance to my being. What came to mind about half way through my tour was this: holy shit - I can't believe a collection of masterpieces worth billions is a mere a short bike ride from my house!


The collection ranges from ancient Roman and Minoan to to modern and contemporary. If you've ever taken an art history class you will immediately recognize pieces from textbooks and PBS documentaries.


Yep - that right there (above) is a Picasso from his blue period.



The collection holds lots of religious content - did anyone paint anything else during the Renaissance? I would liked to have seen a bit more contemporary work and sculptures, but overall I enjoyed the diversity. 




I get really bored in museums that feature one medium or period. I mean, how many mummy's or medieval suits of armor can you stand in one day. So if you've got the A.D.D.'s, this might be your new favorite museum.

  
The Harvard Art Museum is a monumental addition to the cultural landscape of Boston. If you've been to the MFA umpteen times and you realize the Gardener ain't ever going to change, you now have something to look forward to. I recommend going right meow! 


Now, would someone please go build the Boston History Museum already!




  

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Dirty Old Belmont Water Tower

Seeing the last gasps of warm weather in New England on the horizon, I decided to get out on my bike for one last monster ride. I brought along my camera thinking that I'd take some colorful photos of pretty leaves and other typical Boston area seasonal landscape crap. After a couple hours on side roads and looping trails in Belmont, I still hand't taken the camera out of my pocket. Being a long time New England boy - I guess I'm all set with big yellow trees.

Oh wait - I did take one nature shot...

 
But then I started finding some subject matter more suitable to my tastes. This was on the side of an abandoned barn.


Yeah, yeah...I know it's not a Banksy. But I'm a sucker for all forms of graffiti and street art - be it in the woods or the ghetto. After climbing some hills I noticed an old water tower that was marked up...






Now that's what I call a successful bike ride. But there was still one more surprise - a form of artistic expression that pre-dates spray-paint (and all paint). I've seen all kinds of crazy man-made rock structures buried in the woods, lost to time - rock walls, rock circles, standing stones, cairns, effigies - but this stone circle in the shape of a labyrinth was completely unexpected...


You can see some of the labyrinth pattern from this angle...


A lot of antiquities similar to this have been associated with Native Americans, but my gut tells me this was probably laid down when Belmont was all farmland, prior to the train tracks that were built nearby in 1840. It's about 30 feet in diameter and the headstone points East.



But maybe it is much older, it's really hard to tell with something like this. The New England landscape has changed dramatically over the last 500 years, but with over 100,000 Native Americans living on these lands in 1500 it would be pretty naive to think that they didn't leave their mark here in Dirty Old Belmont - and elsewhere throughout New England.