The Baboon Congress, Travel

Seeing Museums

123 Comments

Today’s post comes from Renee in North Dakota

Husband and I have vastly different ways of processing information. I scan my environment accurately but hastily, taking in only what is pertinent and ignoring the rest. In Rorschach Inkblot terms, it means I have tendencies toward underincorporation, and I may fail to notice something important.

Husband, on the other hand, readily admits he is a super overincorporator. That means he tries to take in all the details he sees without regard to importance. It is as fraught with error as underincorporation, as a person can only process so much information before becoming overwhelmed.

We went to several museums on our recent vacation, including the Rijksmuseum, the British Museum, London’s National Portrait Gallery, Westminster Abbey, the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, and Trinity College Library to see the Book of Kells. Westminster Abbey is a place of worship, but I think of it as a museum as well.

The practical implication of our differing information processing styles meant that by the time we finished with our first museum, I felt great sympathy and kinship with the woman I wrote about earlier who killed her husband with a blow to the head with an ornamental stone frog.

I flit through museum rooms, not concerned about seeing everything but zeroing in on what catches my eye, or what I had planned to see, then moving on. I always plan to come back another time, on another trip, to see what I may have missed, to take in more details of what I saw before, and maybe see something new. I want to relish what I see without cluttering my mind or my emotions. I find museums profoundly moving. Husband tries to see every exhibit, to read every placard, to not miss a thing.  He hates being rushed. This was really a problem in Westminster Abbey, as we had to stop and read every blessed memorial and grave stone in wall and floor. He even tried moving some of the folding chairs that had been placed in Poets’ Corner to make sure  he didn’t miss anybody. He certainly is thorough.

I am happy to say we made it through trip and museum without any bloodshed. In Husband’s defense, he had never been to any of the museums we visited, and maybe that overincorporation tendency thrives with the unknown. We started to plan our next trip that may take place in the next few years, and I will try to work on my impatience and maybe suggest to him a more selective approach to museum viewing.

We shall see.

 

When it comes to incorporation, do you over or under do it? 

123 thoughts on “Seeing Museums”

  2. i laugh because i love the scene in bluebeard by vonnegut where the charachter is rollerskating through the louvre flying past the art work framing it in a make believe camera pretending to snap a photo and saying “got it” ” got it” “got it” as he is flying by.
    i am the impatient typw who want to move at my pace. then we get to something of interest to me and i cant believe anyone would dare to rush me. let me study the brush strokes the painter use on this canvas. look how they painted the hands…. the casting on this bronze is so wonderful… then flit along through the next 5 galleries before landing on another piece to study in oneness with the artist who created the piece i light on.
    i would have to shoot your husband though.. moving the chairs .. cmon more dead guys you never heard of. meet you at the exit at 5.

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  3. I’m a bit in between – I can skip past stuff that doesn’t interest me, but when I hit a gallery or exhibit that I’m interested in, I read all the placards, all the explanatory text, look at everything. When Husband and I visited the British Museum, we knew we couldn’t take it all in, so we did some picking and choosing (and stumbled on an exhibit about Agatha Christie and archaeology). I found, even with that pre-choosing that we got distracted along the way by things…different things. At Westminster and places like it, I’m a little more like you, Renee, hit the highlights, see what grabs me. And I most likely wouldn’t move the chairs…unless it was to sit on one and I was moving it to a better angle to peer at something for a good long while.

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    1. This time at the British Museum we focused on the Sutton Hoo and Saxon exhibit, the Elgin marbles, and a special exhibit of the Norman occupation of Sicily. We were there for 4 hours. It wasn’t nearly enough time.

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      1. Do you know what Time Team is on from British television? It is a long running series about digging up archaeological sites. It is available on Acorn, which is an extension of Amazon prime.

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  4. I probably over incorporate more, but my wife will disagree, even though I think she under incorporates. We invariably notice completely different details about the same situation. In a museum for example, she’ll remember the facial expression of the girl in the portrait along with the color of her dress, hair eyes, and whether there were two or three cows in the background grazing on grass under a cloudless sky.

    I’ll remember the name of the painter, the year it was painted, and his relative place in art history, according to the placard that was to the immediate left of the frame. If that artwork happened to be for sale, I’d also remember the price and if I’d be willing to pay that much for the piece.

    She’s visual, I’m analytical. She’s from Venus, I’m from Mars. Yet we’ve made it 38 years as of last Friday night. Go figure. 🙂

    Chris in Owatonna

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    2. You go right to the point, Chris, that intrigued me about Renee’s thoughtful piece: is it good for a marriage if spouses come from opposite ends of the incorporation spectrum? Marriage experts usually argue that couples do well if they share core values. But popular culture is convinced that opposites attract. I think the best marriages I’ve known reflected a creative mix of shared values and distinctive characteristics.

      I’ve noted that some good marriages involve a partner who enjoys spending and a partner who keeps applying the brakes on expenditures. Does this principle apply to partners who are opposites on incorporation?

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      1. I don’t know if we can make a black & white rule about this. From my own experience, being with a partner much much different than myself didn’t work out so well. When I was a young married I used to believe that our differences complemented each other, but over time, those differences wore down the places where we meshed well.

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      2. I agree with your observation on good marriages, Steve. I like to think of a good marriage as a synergy between the two people. Because of our different strengths and weaknesses, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. (Did I define that correctly? ;-( )

        So I’m in the camp that says opposites attract, but core values must be shared to a certain degree.

        Chris

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      3. I can’t imagine a marriage where the partners have divergent relation to finances as you describe where there wouldn’t be underlying power and control issues.

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    1. There is a talent to filling out forms that I totally don’t possess. I always forget something important, or fill things out on the wrong line, or something. Online forms are good for me, because if (when) I mess up, I am prompted to fill in the missing info. Sometimes it takes several tries…

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  7. Husband insists that I clarify that he WAS NOT like that in the National Portrait Gallery. He graciously toured the museum the alloted time while daughter and I grabbed a bite to eat, and he was ready to go when we were done eating.

    I think Husband and I complement one another with our differing styles.

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  8. I must confess that I just now relied on Mr. Overincorporator to tell me which spelling of complement I should use. I knew there was a difference but couldn’t remember which was the one I wanted.

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  9. I understand the need to not take too much time checking out every piece of art when visiting a large museum. I am one of those people would like to take the time to carefully check out all of the art in a museum. I know I can’t do that because it would take too much time. However, I think just waking through a museum without taking a little extra time to check out the art is mistake. Why go to a museum if you can’t do more than just glance at all of the art?

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  10. It would depend. I would breeze past a bit, then find something that strikes me and study it. In high school, my family went to the Smithsonian, and I remember trying to look at every exhibit, read the placards, soak in as much as I could, but we were on a short schedule. It was still amazing. At Mount Vernon, I remember looking at all the displays, the furniture arrangements, the notes and pens on table as if Mr. Washington was just there, but took a break. I remember the emotional part of taking all that in and trying to feel his presence.

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    1. I’m the same way. When you are in a museum full of art by artists who are not present, and often dead, breezing by the things that don’t grab you is a sensible approach. I have some trouble with this strategy when I’m at an event like an art crawl, though. Then it seems rude not to stop and consider a piece of art that someone may have toiled over for weeks, if they are in the room with you.

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      1. Each year when Hans and I go to the American’ Craft Council’s annual show at the Xcel Centre, we split up and go our separate ways. That way we’re each free to spend as little or as much time as we want perusing the various exhibits and chatting with the artists. We meet up again after a couple of hours for a little rest, refreshments and comparing of notes, and then we set out separately again. He’s much more of a chatterbox than I am, and we’re each interested in different crafts, so this approach works well for us.

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      2. At an art crawl, if you stop to consider a piece of art you are not genuinely interested in, you may then be expected to make some insincere commentary. Personally, I am horrible at dissembling and so I find it preferable to scan a studio at the doorway and move on if I don’t see anything I can honestly admire. Let someone who likes the work praise it.

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  11. I sympathize with Renee. We once attended the State Fair with a poky couple, and it drove me wild. Another time our family did the Renaissance Festival with folks who could lingered on every booth until I wanted to shake them and force them to move.

    My preferred style is to combine approaches. I like to move quickly from one attraction to another, but I’m always eager to find something special that will reward a much more detailed study. For example, at the State Fair I move fast enough to cover pretty much the whole thing in about five hours of brisk walking, but I will linger to enjoy some attractions in depth. I remember a fair that was like that, a fair that was memorable because I got to interview the Queen of Seed Art for fifteen minutes.

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    1. Five hours at the state fair or the Renaissance Fair would be about four hours too long for me. On the other hand, in museums I am probably in the overincorporater camp. It all depends on what interests you.

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    2. The Queen of Seed Art was the late Lillian Colton. She was from Owatonna, I took guitar lessons from her son for a few years. I met her at least once and said hi when I came to their house for lessons. Son lived with Mom (or vice versa).

      (I know, I know, your collective jaws just dropped at the coincidence, right?) 🙂

      Chris

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        1. As the saying goes, “You can’t make this stuff up.” Really, I did say hi to Mrs. Colton once or twice. I wouldn’t call that hobnobbing with celebrities. Plus I think I’m genetically incapable of lying other than the occasional white lie to spare someone’s feelings or smooth over a tense situation.

          Chris

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        1. On this blog we’re all famous by association.

          OT: Nancy and Dale just added a new furry family member by the name of Ruby. A Southern gal from Little Rock, Arkansas.

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    3. i am never sure of what i am in the mood to be attracted to on a given day. i was at the fair and some little old lady was in the craft talking about baking and she was great. i always enjoy the art building. the eco bldg is a place i always hope to be inspired but seldom am. i was laughing the other day. my daughter is trying to get college visits lined up and she is busy until august whatever then doesn’t want to mess with the fair. i guess you pass stuff on. we usually do the fair in 3 or 4 days. the barns the rides the reptiles the blooming onions how can you see it all.
      the challenge for my wife and i is that i chat with folks and she senses they dont care at all about what i have to say so she is pushing to get to the next spot. for what… to have another conversation with someone who doesnt want to talk. enjoy the moment and roll witht e vibes. sometimes its my vibes ruling sometimes hers sometinmes the person on the other end on the moment. the muesuems around the world are a different deal. you have to be there now because you wont be back. the walker or the mia you get to revisit old friends and tell them to keep being the best piece f scullpture you can be until i ge tback next time. you turn the corner anticipating the chinese house at the instatute or the impressionist wing. it never disappoints and there is always something new. i do the chicago instatute of arts every couple of years and it is wonderful to see old friends. the monet hay stacks the bonnard in red in all its glory.. the featured deal in the room at the end of the hall and then on to the jackson pollacks and the abstract expressionists. i zip right by all the stuff i always zip right by and can never get enough of the others. i wonder if i camped out there for a couple of days/ weeks what i would find about how my time would be spent. i never have enough time to get in what i hope so its never an issue

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  12. Renee, you crack me up. Had to chuckle at your crack about feeling great sympathy and kinship with the woman who bludgeoned her husband with a stone frog. And I can relate.

    Overall, I’m more of a big picture person. I tend to skip a lot of details, especially if I don’t find them interesting. Also, patience really isn’t my strong suit, but I’m stubborn as hell. Not sure how that works.

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  13. Morning all. I fit into Anna’s camp. Normally I’m a little of an under incorporator, unless it’s something special that I’ve specifically chosen. A girlfriend and I spent almost three hours at the DaVinci show at MIA last spring. Luckily, like me, she wanted to read every single plaque and pore over every exhibit.

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  14. The Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow was a real nice venue. It had a little bit of everything, from a wonderful Rembrandt to French and English Impressionists to a group called The Scottish Colourists. It had a Dali crucifixtion that was, well, something you would expect from Dali. There also were scientific and natural history exhibits.

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  15. I’m pretty sure I’m an underincorporator. I’ve often noticed that when I’m in a group of friends, it’s the others in the group that are offering comments like “You got a haircut!” “You’ve lost weight!” or “Are those new glasses?” These are things that seldom register with me. It’s probably a barrier to female bonding that I don’t see them.

    I remember once talking to a client at a job site. This was a woman who would call me once a year, around June or early July, to trim up a row of bridal wreath spirea at her building. I would only see her once a year. For a number of years I had a red cordless electric hedge trimmer I used on the job. One year the hedge trimmer quit working, and I replaced it with another. The new one had a slightly longer blade – I think I went from 18 to 22 inches – and was a slightly more orangey shade of red. When I went to the bridal wreath job, the woman immediately exclaimed “You got a new hedge trimmer!” I was rather astounded that she picked up on that. She must be very visual, and an overincorporator.

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    1. Well, Linda, you and I could form a female underincorporator group. I don’t usually notice the new haircuts, glasses, etc. either.

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      1. I think I would be useless as a witness at a crime scene, too – It always surprises me that people can recall details about the clothing that a criminal wore, or what kind of car he was driving. I’d be completely at a loss.

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        2. Maybe you could hire yourself out as clueless witnesses. It’s not as if you could perjure yourself with “I don’t know” and “I didn’t notice.”

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        3. But if it was discovered that we were being paid to be useless witnesses, wouldn’t we get into some sort of trouble?

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  16. Give Sandy two facts about someone and she will invent their whole life and believe it is true.
    I have reduced facebook to family and five friends. I use it almost entirely to communicate with family. My kids put up videos and pictures om the private messenger part. My son will send a video of our young grandson, but before my wife will look at it, we have to discuss all the other images showing on my page, such as ads or posts on which my children have commented. She cannot accept that a.) i am not aware of these and b.) that I am not responsible for their presence.

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  17. I am probably both/either, depending on the situation. For my idea of heaven in a museum, read PJ’s comment about going your separate ways, meeting at some point to compare notes over refreshements… This would also go for farmers’ and flea markets, art fairs, and shopping at Cub.

    OT: At the library for two more days, doing the rest of the move plus Mom on Thursday. Then hopefully Friday I’ll be back as Barbara in River Town… If I have time I’ll duck in before then – carry on, baboons!

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      1. I’ll take your slice of that heaven then. Love museums of all stripes – art, natural history, history history, science, oddball stuff…put it in an exhibit and put up a few note cards and I’m there. An entire museum of Munch? Fabulous! A chance to touch a moon rock and stand in part of a retired space shuttle? You bet! Soviet era propaganda, Little House on the Prairie memorabilia, Renaissance art, the Kon Tiki, Native American art, textiles from hundreds of years ago…it’s all good. 🙂

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        1. I do enjoy some exhibits and some museums – for instance, I saw the Minnesota: State of Wonders exhibit by photographer Brian Peterson at the Minneapolis Photo Center (twice) this past winter and was blown away. I only heard about it through one of my teachers and visited it because one of my assignments was to write up a Gallery Report on a particular piece in an exhibit, but I enjoyed it immensely. However, if I had to spend eternity in museums, it would not be heaven to me.

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  19. I tend to be an underincorporator. With some exceptions, my idea of a good time is not to spend a lot of time in a museum. I think I still automatically react negatively to the idea of going to a museum from being dragged to various museums as a kid. Also, my parents were the type, when on vacation, to stop and read every roadside plaque, which was fine when there was space for me to run around and ignore it, but it felt torturous to just stand there and read it when there was nothing else to do. I can do a couple hours in a museum now, and can even think of some exhibits that I thoroughly enjoyed, but don’t make me go there for all day. I think I get easily overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff there is to see and I start to shut down…that is true other places, too. It is very hard for me to shop in Costco, or some other large grocery stores, because of all the STUFF on display. If I can just focus on my list, get what I need, and get out of there quickly, I”m okay, but if I have to spend a long time there, say, searching for a particular item that’s hard to find, then I’m a mess. I would never just stroll through a store like that, looking at everything.

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  21. I’m wordless with this topic. For one thing, I can’t recall ever being at a museum; for another, my literal brain can’t figure out just what “incorporation” means.

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    1. That’s scary. I’m not a mental health professional, and I had the terminology pegged to psychology types’ professional jargon. You being one of them, I’m concerned. I’m overwhelmed, and probably under-incorporated.

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  22. Morning all!

    Blevins Book Club question: What Sunday in August should we meet? 7th, 14th or 21st? I’ll keep track of which date gets the most votes.

    Books are Castle Danger by our own Chris Norbury and The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

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    2. It’s too early for me to know what my extremely busy social calendar (sarcasm) will hold on those dates, so I have no preference. Go with the majority. Since Jim and Kathy’s house is the backup location in case of inclement weather, maybe their vote should weigh a bit more than others.

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  23. OT – for the metro-area folks, there is music tonight in Minnehaha Park by Wilkinson James. A neighbor of mine plays in the band. Kind of a folk-blues-americana mix.

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  24. I’m probably a bit of both. As to big events such as the State Fair, I can only take it in small bits as I don’t do well in large crowds unless we are all sitting. For museums, it all depends on what type of museum. I am certainly an under-incorporater in art museums. There is a lot of art that just doesn’t grab me. This past weekend I visited the Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale, AZ and was most definitely an over-incorporater. It is huge with fabulous displays of musical instruments from around the world (every country on 6 continents), displays of recording artists ranging from Pablo Casals to Maroon 5, unusual or one of a kind instruments, instruments made from recycled garbage, and a hands on room. It’s a great way to learn about geography and culture as well as music. We spent over 4 hours there and only got halfway around the world – definitely need to return. I highly recommend it if you are in the Phoenix area.

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  25. Driving and waiting day. Now driving another woman to appointments. Waiting for Sandy now at what was my favorite coffee shop, which changed hands a few months ago and has plummeted downhill. No other place to buy coffee downtown. Lots of bars.
    I think I should have hired myself out writing medical report abstracts. 40 years ago I had the skills. Finding the gist is one of my few good skills. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
    MN Historical Society have a program where kids get a rather cheap little stuffed History Hound dog. You have to get stamps at six history sites on their list. Four are right around nd where they live. We took them to one of them. Kids had a ball doing it., knowing the prize was more the accomplishment than the toy. They engaged in every site. Last week they were in Chicago to see Art Institue, aquarium, Field Museum, MSI. Their legs got tired not their brains.

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  26. I won’t have time until Friday for another guest post, so I will propose another question to keep us going. Husband was oddly unenthusiastic about the Elgin Marbles, and I finally got out of him that he disliked statuary. He wants to see things people really used , or else paintings. I love statues. So, in the event there isn’t a guest post tomorrow, what is your favorite statue or carving?

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    2. Thanks for the question, Renee.

      My favorite statue in MN is probably that little nude dancer in the goldfish pond of the Conservatory in Como Park. It is a dated pose, I know, and yet she is so cute I can’t resist her. Plus I associate the Conservatory with all those times we used it to escape the fierce cold of a MN winter. When you walked out of a snowy landscape into the moist, smelly warmth of the Conservatory, your senses got a welcome shock.

      I used to enjoy encountering the Mary Tyler Moore sculpture (throwing her beret) in downtown Minneapolis.

      And there was a rather ordinary statue on the St Thomas campus I used to enjoy for very personal reasons.

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    2. We go by that sculpture on a regular basis.

      Still love it, but miss the old owners if that house who used to dress the characters up for the different holidays.

      I never take the pictures I should.

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  29. -I love any sculpture gardens. The one at the Arb seems not quite well arranged.Still love it. Maybe it will get there. wish I could walk through it.
    There are 179 carvings and ceramic figures in our house.

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    1. It is part of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Greece. Lord Elgin was the ambassador to Turkey and found these marbles in poor condition in Athens and spirited them away top London. It represent the birth of Athena.

      “The Parthenon in Athens has a long and complex history. Built nearly 2,500 years ago as a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, it was for a thousand years the church of the Virgin Mary of the Athenians, then a mosque, and finally an archaeological ruin. The building was altered and the sculptures much damaged over the course of the centuries. The first major loss occurred around AD 500 when the Parthenon was converted into a church. When the city was under siege by the Venetians in 1687, the Parthenon itself was used as a gunpowder store. A huge explosion blew the roof off and destroyed a large portion of the remaining sculptures. The building has been a ruin ever since. Archaeologists worldwide are agreed that the surviving sculptures could never be re-attached to the structure.

      By 1800 only about half of the original sculptural decoration remained. Between 1801 and 1805 Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, of which Athens had been a part for some 350 years, acting with the full knowledge and permission of the Ottoman authorities, removed about half of the remaining sculptures from the fallen ruins and from the building itself. Lord Elgin was passionate about ancient Greek art and transported the sculptures back to Britain. The arrival of the sculptures in London had a profound effect on the European public, regenerating interest in ancient Greek culture and influencing contemporary artistic trends. These sculptures were acquired from Lord Elgin by the British Museum in 1816 following a Parliamentary Select Committee enquiry which fully investigated and approved the legality of Lord Elgin’s actions. Since then the sculptures have all been on display to the public in the British Museum, free of entry charge”.

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      1. The language of this description, apparently the British Museum’s carefully crafted justification for its possession of the Elgin Marbles, sets off all kinds of alarms as I read it in terms of its assertions and misdirections.
        First of all, I don’t think anyone has proposed reattaching the marbles to the Parthenon, which Lord Elgin’s workers further damaged when they removed the sculptures. That comment is irrelevant and misdirection.
        You could say that Greece was part of the Ottoman empire but more accurately Greece was under domination by the Ottomans and not happily. This was only a decade before the Greek war for independence.
        The Ottoman “authorities” was the Sultan, who Elgin likely bribed ostensibly to get permission to take impressions of the sculptures for reproduction. At the very least, it is a matter of considerable dispute whether Elgin had explicit permission to remove any or all of the sculptures completely.
        The parliamentary approval of Lord Elgin’s actions is also subject to question, since the supposed documentation of the sultan’s permission has disappeared. You also have to keep in mind what was happening in Greece at the time of the parliamentary inquiry. The sultan’s authority in Greece would have no longer been applicable and it’s dubious that the Greeks would have been as indifferent to the appropriation.

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  32. Although the sculptures could only be seen from the front, they are perfectly finished front and back. They tell the story of the birth of Athena, and the side friezes show a procession of soldiers, horses, and celebrants into Athens.

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  33. We have not been to a museum in a long time and I miss that.

    Sometimes we would invite a friend along, but mostly not because we linger longer than most people are comfortable with and the flip side of that (for those of you who think we should just get on with it), is that it really means we might as well have just gone out for coffee with the person we are with .

    It is distressing to waste a precious opportunity for an outing like that.

    One of the joys of living near a great museum is that you can, as I did in Washington, DC and at the MIA with the s&h as a small child, choose to visit just one floor, or just the special exhibit.

    Racing through to see “everything” is just wearing.

    There are also parts of the Fair we almost never visit for the same reason.

    But how anyone spends one hot second longer than they have to at a mall is beyond me.

    About couples-the s&h has had the same girlfriend for almost 2 years now, which just stuns their classmates.

    They are similar in a lot of ways, but she hates running and sees no point in watching him race. He is not as out-going as she is. They are shovkingly competitive with each other academically.

    I told him (speaking from my vast inexperience of coupleness) that I think it really comes down to finding the person whose quirks you can put up with.

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  34. Hey Troops–

    We’re back in the central time zone. Had a great trip and it’s always good to be home. The ducks and dogs were excited to see us again too.

    We had a great time in Charleston. We split up a few times as we walked through the aquarium or the displays at Patriots point. I tend to skim the exhibits only stopping at the ones that catch my interest. Daughter seems to read all of them very thoroughly. So I’d go ahead and find a bench and sit and wait for her and Kelly to catch up. Or we’d meet out front in an hour.

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  37. Today is the big day here: the World Naked Bike Ride. It is a “world” event that is celebrated in several cities, I think. But since Portland takes special pride in being “weird,” the naked bike ride is a very big deal locally. There are few rules about this. Some folks wear a bit of clothing, but quite a few do the ride with no concessions to modesty. I sold my bike before moving here, so I’ll probably pass on this event.

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  38. OT: For the first time in two weeks, I woke up able to find everything I need to do laundry. Husband and I scored a rotating clothes line that was folded up behind our friend Walken’s garage, do I get to do laundry today! Life is good.

    New question:
    When was the last time you were separated from most of your stuff?

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    3. I last moved about 28 years ago. I had some remodeling to do in the house, so there was a two-month overlap after the closing before I moved out of the duplex where I had been renting. I recall it was unsettling to have two homes at once. Had to buy extras of things, like a fan and a radio, while I was working on the house but living elsewhere.

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  39. I’m not ready for new question, having just gotten around to answering the one before. My favorite sculpture is one right here at the Minneapolis Art Institute:

    Veiled Lady by Monti Raffaelo

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    1. when asked for a favorite whatever i remember the beer connisouir that was featured on a morning talk show. the asked him if he had to choose only one beer which would it be and he gave a long thought =ful pause and replied “if i had to choose only one beer i believe i would kill myself” i think of the sculpture garden at the walker that is under renovation now and how happy i am that it has grown so nicely. the first yer they plated the trees as quadrants i wondered if this would be too long to wait and then 15 inutes later the trees were all full grown and the garden needed to be refurbished because it could be done better. i have always loved sculpture and also mobiles by calder and the few others who do that. i love the choice vs made with the marble as a veil. with the faintest essence of the eyes and nose touching the veil. masterful and playful. what fun. but i love the big stuff too . the henry moores over the world are all very special to me i have never seen a henry moore i dont just love he is my favorite. picasso had some paintings work and some not so much but his sculptures all work wonderfully. the oldenberg playful french fries in the mia is a window into the brain of his art , the cherry with spoon is a declaration. the simplicity of sculptures like the lions outside the doors at the chicago instatute of arts. the thinker is pretty normal when you are a kid then you look at rodins sculpture technique and his blobs of bronze that equal beautiful sculptures is nothing short of remarkable.
      sculpture is a hot button for me. my friend joe havel who was my bass player in 1971 has become well known as an american sculpturor at the museum and art collector level. the stuff i have from him is wonderful. he stopped in 10 years ago and smiled and said oh i forgot you had all that stuff its probably worth some serious money today. i should ask him how to look into it.

      http://mentalfloss.com/article/62424/12-things-you-didnt-know-about-thinker

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  40. As is true with so many other things, I don’t have a favorite carving or sculpture. There are several that stand out in my mind for various reasons.

    My favorite sculpture at the Walker’s Sculpture Garden is Deborah Butterfield’s horse. I like her ingenuity and use of various materials in her works.

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  41. The giant statue of Roland was impressive in the Bremen Marktplatz. The Anne Frank statue in Amsterdam was bittersweet. There is a sort of naughty and funny statue in the Bremen Schnoor called The Badestubenbrunnen (cheerful bathers) that we liked.

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  42. Just returned from Madison, a trip to see the final live broadcast of Whad’ya Know with Michael Feldman. It ran on Wisconsin Public Radio since 1985. Used to be aired on WCAL on Saturday mornings. I’ll miss it. Another in an increasingly long list of things I’ll miss.

    Madison was lovely. Great farmer’s market. Lots of appealing restaurants. Nice people.

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      1. Attended a taping of it once, many years ago, at tpt in St. Paul. Great fun to watch it live. I wasn’t aware that it was still being aired.

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  44. I love the work of George Morrison. One of Hans’ former shop mates was commissioned to put together a wooden cube for George Morrison. When it was finished, Morrison rejected it for not being exact enough. We bought it and still have it in our home. It’s beautiful, even if it didn’t meet Morrison’s specifications. It looks like this:

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  45. One of my favorite statues is one I haven’t seen personally. It is called The Grieving Parents. It was created by artist Kathe Kollwitz to express the grief she and her husband felt about the loss of their son in the early days of WWI. The statues are in a field cemetery near Flanders, in Belgium. This came to my attention when my daughter photographed it on her honeymoon.

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