August 23 -- a visit with Nelson

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On the 23rd, Mom, Dad, my brother, and I paid a visit to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. 

We began our visit with a very nice lunch in the cafeteria (which is in a very pleasant court).  I had some spicy hummus (with pita) and a salad with pickled artichokes and olives.  Both were quite good.  We ate and chatted, and then went to look at art.



We wandered through the First Peoples' art, and then through the Asian art.

I don't remember seeing anything like this before, with all the little human figures....

Wasco/Wishxom, Oregon/Washington, circa 1900.  Hemp and leather.

Love the decoration on this piece.

"Large sake bottle with plum branch design.  Japan, Edo Period," late 17th to early 18th century.  "Yatsushiro ware; stoneware with inlaid slip design, clear glaze."

I'd never have guessed that the slip was inlaid............  The design looks free, to me, rather than contrived.....

(A mini-rant -- while I surely understand, and totally honor!, the need to keep bright light off textiles and other organic materials, it is really annoying when I can't take a decent picture of a stoneware pot, or of a metal object, or something made of stone, because the lights are too dim..........................................  Humph.)



I don't remember seeing anything like this before, either.

Geese.  I especially like the snow on the vegetation......

Kishi Renzan.  Japanese.  19th century, ink and color on paper.

I'll always have a fond spot for this.  I saw it in my first History of Art class.  It is a devotional piece, which was carved in a cave (hence the very directed light from one side).

After my first term of History of Art, my mom and I went to the Nelson-Atkins, and I told her what I knew about this piece.  Knowing how much she enjoyed that day is part of my pleasure in this piece.....

Chinese.  Binyang cave, Longmen, Henan Province.  Fine dark gray limestone, about 522. 

Buddha.  Chinese.  Coarse limestone.  584 or later

Bodhisattva.  Chinese.  Fine hard limestone, 550-577.

Modern poem, amongst the old treasures.

Copper red pot.  Love its apple-y look.

Narasimha ("man lion") -- an incarnation of Vishnu.  Interesting that the Chinese works' labels all say "China" and then usually breaks it down to where in China, where this one is labeled "Tamilnadu" with a map showing that's part of the southern tip of India.  But the label never says India at all......  Bronze, circa 12th century CE.

Ganesha.  Similar label to the above -- Tamilnadu, with a map showing that means the western part of the southern tip of India.  Bronze, circa 10th-11th cen. CE.

I like the lighting/shadows.

This is one of my favorite pieces in this museum.  I love this horse.

Alas, I was so interested in the horse that my capture of explanatory info came to a halt.

Painted "texture" on a pot.

This guy always catches my attention.  His eyes, and the faint look of disgust.....  Someone has committed a faux pas, and he's letting them know..............

Another Bodhisattva.

Another horse (or two).  Love the circles on nearer horse......

We listen to podcasts of A History of the World in 100 Objects on car trips.  We heard about a jade bi on our recent trip to the Toledo Zoo.

Like the cave carving above, this is considered by art historians to be a very significant work........

The very first History of Art lecture I ever heard was about Shang dynasty bronzes......

These came out WAY green in my pics.  I lowered the yellow (incandescent lighting!) heavily, but perhaps not enough in these second two images.  I knew they were going to be green (my camera is very honest about showing on the screen what the pic is going to look like), so I did my best to remember what these pieces really looked like to my eyes.  The one above is my best effort, I think, at getting the right color.  Gray, mostly, with hints of green........

I like this shape, but didn't recognize it.  Interesting to learn it is much more recent than the two pieces above, and exhibits non-Chinese influences.......

At last something in decent light -- this is just the color I remember...........

As you may have guessed from the size of the threads in the cloth on which this sits, it's a little thing that would be happy in the palm of your hand.

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