Roaming Around L.A. in August with Friends

I had a ball roaming around L.A. with Seattle friends.  We started last Thursday with a trip to Malibu to the Getty Villa for lunch and to enjoy the architecture of the rich Romans of yore and antiquities from the Mediterranean culture about 2000 years old...some much older.  Each time I visit I see something new to me.   Here are some of favorites from this visit:

"Head of a Young Bacchus," Roman, A.D. 1-50, bronze and silver

Upper:  "Mixing Vessel with a Comic Mask," Greek, made in Apulia, South Italy, 350-300 B.C. terracotta.  Lower:  "Wine Cup with Dionysos and an Actor."

"Prize Vessel from the Athenian Games," Greek, made in Athens, 340-339 B.C., terracotta.  The event is pictured on the vessel.  The winner of the event received this prized reward. 

"Queen's Vase with Berenike II," Greek, made in Egypt, 243-221 B.C., faience.

A beautiful side garden with a fountain and water lilies...reminiscent of a wooden lake. 

On Friday we explored the Huntington Gardens, Cafe, Library, and Art Galleries.  It was a beautiful day to explore the gardens that were abloom with color.  Here is one flower bed being admired by a nymph.

More Water Lilies

Saturday was a beautiful day at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.  We lunched and roamed around enjoying the beautiful permanent collection and a few art visitors.  Here are some:

 "Portrait of an Elderly Man," 1575 by Giovanni Battista Moroni, Italian, 1525-1578, oil on canvas.  Moroni depicted citizens of his native Bergamo and even Titian sent him clients as he is considered one of the great portrait painters of the sixteenth century.

 "Wyoming Slab, 1974 by Ronald Davis, American born 1937, vinyl-acrylic, copolymer and dry pigment on canvas.

 "The Seine at Les Andelys," 1886 by Paul Signac, French, 1863-1935, oil on canvas.

 "The Stone Breakers, Le Raincy," 1882 by George-Pierre Seurat, French 1859-1891 (age 31), oil on canvas.

 "Still Life with Apples and Violets," 1890-91 by Paul Serusier, French, 1864-1917

 "The Yellow Boat," 1891 by Gustave Caillebotte, French, 1848-1894, oil on canvas.  The composition abandoned unfinished in 1891, depicts a stretch of the river not far from his house.

 "Black Tree - Bordighera," 1914 by Alexei Jawlensky, Russian, 1864-1941, oil on cardboard..  Bordighera is a resort not far from San Remo on the Mediterranean.

 The above two paintings are double sided.  This painting is on the reverse side.

"Lower Main Street, Muranau," 1915 by Gabriele Munter, German, 1874-1962.  She was a founding member of the German Expressionist group "Der Blaue Reiter." This village of Murnau is where she lived in southern Bavaria with Wassily Kandinsky in 1908.  Jawlensky and others visited for long periods.

"Near the Palace," 1914-1915 by Lyonel Feiningwer, American, 1871-1956, oil on canvas.  Feininger was sent to Germany as a teenager and remained there, influenced by Cubism and the German Expressionists.  The painting was inspired by an alley near Weimar.

"The Tug," 1934-37 by Lyonel Feininger

 This and the following photos are a part of a special exhibit of photographic art.  This is entitled "Auduboniana," 1998-2001 by Victor Landweber, American, born 1943, digital pigment print.  The artist uses James Audubon's "The Birds of America" where he re-imagines  Audubon's birds in present=day America.  "Bohemian Chatterer, Museum of Modern Art, NYC, NY," 2000.

"Gyrfalcon, Windows on the World, NYC, NY," 2000.  The Gyrfalcon's dappled plumage mimics, in reverse, the night lights of New York.  The photo was taken from the World Trade Center's North Tower about a year before it was demolished 9/11/2001.