Boat Party!!

Last night was the infamous Goodenough College Boat Party - a little party with me and 199 of my closest friends at the college...on a boat at night...on the Thames...with a dj...and a bar. Clearly a recipe that equals SO MUCH FUN! 

Here are a few pics I took...

And here are my friends from the college so far! We met on our tour of the College the first day we got there and had dinner together that first night. Since then we've hung out at a few pubs together and always meet up when there are all-student events. Henry from Scotland is on the left and Philipp from Germany is in the center!

Afterwards, Goodenough students got free entrance to a club on the Victoria Embankment, the road running along the Thames. Climbed into bed around 3am last night but totally worth it! Great start to the year - I am so thankful to be living here it is fabulous!

Hurlingham Club

Today I met Ann and Richard Chilton at the Hurlingham Club, an incredibly exclusive club on the edge of the Thames in London. Mary, the woman who works at the ESU, told me there was a 50-year waiting list to become a member so you must be put on as a child to really take advantage of it. Crazy! It was a beautiful day and Richard had just come in from playing croquet. Here are some of the croquet lawns with the clubhouse in the background...

I met Mrs. Chilton at the Polo Bar inside the club and we went to the dining room for lunch with Mr. Chilton and two of their friends. Afterwards, Richard walked me around the gardens and past the croquet lawns and tennis courts. Here are the gardens...

and here are the tennis courts (2 out of the 24 on the property)

Mrs. Chilton told me that Margaret Thatcher comes to the Hurlingham Gardens to walk around and they take wonderful care of her there. How cool!

To the left of the picture below is the Thames and you can see right across the river - really is a beautiful little spot! 

And here are some of the interiors (I tried to take a few pictures surreptitiously while I waited for them when they were in the bathroom...haha)

There are a series of sitting rooms like this and then the bar and  the dining room.

The club has been in existence since 1869. The name came from the Saxon clan that settled there in the 500s, the clan of the "Herla". Their farm become known as Hurlingham Field. Since the 1600s, "persons of quality began to build villas in Hurlingham Field to enjoy rural and riverside peace a few miles from the city," so the website states.

It soon become a popular and fashionable resort. Polo was played there for the first time in 1874 (in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales!) and the club become the headquarters of polo for the entire British Empire. Now it is more focused on croquet and tennis instead, although I believe a polo club still exists.

Interesting history and I feel privileged to have been able to have lunch there with such distinguished members! 

ESU (English Speaking Union) Visit

Today I stopped by the ESU Headquarters to say hello to the people and organization that has facilitated my scholarship...the donors for the scholarship are the Chiltons (more about them later) but the ESU organizes the award for one Christie's Education student and as a recipient, you automatically become part of the ESU network. 

Located in Mayfair, central London, the Dartmouth House (so the residence is called) is absolutely stunning. Gilded paneled walls surround each room - here are a few pictures

Mary, the woman I have been corresponding with via email for months now, was perfectly lovely and we chatted for a bit about how I am setting in before she gave me a quick tour of the building. Always wonderful to meet new people and become a member of a new network. She said I was always welcome to stop by anytime I would like but I would find that incredibly intimidating without having a reason so we will see what I can come up with  as far as excuses go to get back there - perhaps a visit from someone would be a good enough reason! 

Beautiful day!

When there is no reason not to be outside on a beautiful day, complete with blue skies, big clouds, and perfect temperature, that is certainly a reason to go outside. 

Here was my path...from Goodenough College down to Trafalgar Square...

through the middle of the square

out the southwest side...

to St. James Park

where there were beautiful ducks, geese, and swans!

and lots of adorable children waving to the wildlife

next, down to Buckingham Palace

and then walking away towards the Thames

to the Tate Britain - a museum housing exclusively British artists and art.

I do love Gainsborough portraits...

Lady Bate-Dudley, about 1727

and Reynolds as well...

Suzanna Beckford, 1756

The Tate Britain had a TON of Turner works - a whole wing dedicated to him! I am not the biggest fan in the world though. 

Next, off to see parliament!

then across the river and over a bridge...

to see parliament from the other side of the Thames

At this point I was very near the London Eye

before I crossed back over and headed towards Westminster Abbey

and was very tired, so grabbed a Barclays bike and biked home from here.

I can't wait until I can run again! This area has MAJOR running route potential. 

Soon enough, fingers crossed!!!!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

Today was my first day of school!

I can truly and honestly say that I absolutely love it. 100%. I could not imagine myself doing anything else I was more excited about. YAY! All the people in the program are passionate, driven, hard-working, smart, accomplished, and friendly! Everyone is there with a purpose and the teachers are incredibly knowledgable and passionate about what they do. 

We have two international trips, one to Venice and the other to Paris (each about 5 days - woohoo!) and there will be numerous visits to manors in the countryside similar to Downtown Abbey (or so the professor said while laughing). 

We have lectures in the morning (10:15-11:45) by visiting lecturers from around the UK, distinguished academics and notables from various parts of the art world. The afternoon will be filled with seminars led by our professors on various topics such as how to literally handle objects (in the handbook is actually a small section on how to hold paintings - always with both hands, if you were curious), becoming well-versed in models of classification, analysis, and assessment of objects, cataloguing work (aka what you find on museum placards and in auction house catalogues), critical analysis of objects within a cultural, social, and ideological context, historiography, as well as "gallery and curatorial studies." We will learn about the significance of display in both galleries and museums (why is an object on a pedestal, in a glass case, or hung a certain way? what about the lighting? are the paragraphs of text on the walls effective or unreadable?) and learn to write curatorial reports. Among many other things. And at the end, another thesis!

Trips behind the scenes at the plethora of museums in London and England at large will also occupy our afternoons. 

Here's to an incredible year! 

Touristy Instagrams

Touristy, instagrammed photos of London :-)

St. Paul's Cathedral

A quaint little telephone booth (...did I mention that nobody uses these...)

and Big Ben! 

National Gallery (first of 99494389405392 visits I'm sure I will make)

The National Gallery! 

Perhaps my new favorite museum in the world next to the Louvre.

It is absolutely beautiful inside and out, located at the top of Trafalger Square. 

I did not take a picture because it was raining out when I went (surprise, surprise...) and on top of that, pictures are not allowed to be taken inside the museum. Google Images will have to suffice...

(see top of the museum here ^^ bottom middle of this picture)

...and below is a view of the front of the museum.

There are countless masterpieces inside that I do not even have enough energy to recount right now but plenty of time to talk about these later. What I went to see first was the last day of an exhibition, Metamorphosis. 

My initial interest was sparked when I read the Venetian Renaissance painter Titian would be prominently featured in the exhibition. I studied him in college in the only graduate-level class I took (I was the only undergraduate...intimidating) and since then I've had a particular affinity for his work.

Titian, or Titziano Vecellio, is particularly famous for his poesies, which mean "poems" and by which Titian meant that his series of paintings that were the visual equivalent of poetry. The three paintings depict three scenes from Ovid's Metamorphosis featuring the goddess Diana. 

The first, Diana and Actaeon, 1556-9

(In this story, the hunter Actaeon accidentally walks in on Diana, goddess of the hunt, bathing in the woods with her nymphs)

the second, Diana and Callisto, 1556-9

(in this, Diana and her nymphs are bathing in a stream again, and her favorite nymph Callisto is revealed as being pregnant - by Jupiter nonetheless - something not allowed in Diana's crew of nymphs. She is expelled by Diana after the nymphs reveal her)

and the third, The Death of Acteaon, 1559-75.

(Diana tuns Acteaon into a stag because he saw her bathing - she then orders his hunting dogs to tear him to shreds and he cannot stop them - he is an animal and cannot command them. Titian has chosen to depict the moment the dogs are attacking Acteaon and adds Diana shooting her bow at him even though this moment is not described in Ovid - artist's liberty I suppose)

This exhibition is the first time since the 1800s that all three paintings have been united.

I was excited enough by this alone! Having looked at these paintings on a powerpoint for hours on end before, it was thrilling to stand in the middle of the circular room where the museum housed them and regard them together. The room was dimly lit and wallpaper a deep burgundy, adding a sense of drama to the scene.

However, the exhibition had more to offer! 

Accompanying Titian's three infamous paintings, there was a contemporary artist's "response" to the paintings. Chris Ofili created a series of eight paintings that combined a kaleidoscope of bright colors - inspired by his native Trinidad - infusing elements of cubism, primitivism, and a bit of abstraction. Here is one of my favorites below:

Olifi's work, adjacent to the room of Titian works, is striking both in color but also in size - they are huge! Looking at one long enough, the themes Olifi focused on from Ovid become clear - themes of water, needing to "free oneself," and amorous desire pervade his work.

To accompany the paintings, The Royal Ballet commissioned 7 choreographers to respond to the Titian paintings. The sets were designed by the Olifi along with two others, Conrad Shawcross and Mark Wallinger. One room in the exhibition featured an ongoing movie of the ballet dancers practicing the dance and choreographers critiquing them. An excerpt of the ballet is online here.

There were also to very modern works, one depicting Diana as a machine and another an installation featuring a dark room where you could peek in on Diana in the designed "house" of sorts in the room - it was meant to engage the viewer and make him or her a participator in the very same act (of looking) that Acteaon was killed for for in Ovid's Metamorphosis. 

This is certainly a simple description of the exhibition as a whole but it truly was striking. There were also miniature versions of the ballet sets to look at - it would have been amazing to actually see the ballet! And what an incredible project to undertake - so many works of art inspired by and responding to the three poesies by Titian. 

St. Bride's

My "getting-to-know-London" spree has so far involved me pushing myself onto a Barclays bike and getting lost...riding around in one direction until I run into a one-way street (they don't mark those well on maps...). Then I get turned around, going the exact opposite direction I intended. This causes me to ride in circles. Surprisingly, I do make it places, just not very quickly. This is precisely why I decided, after my trip to the Tate, I would WALK home. And thank goodness I did! 

Walking very slowly on the sidewalk because my cup of coffee was very full, I happened to look to my left and see this beautiful church! 

St. Brides, tucked in between two office buildings.

St. Brides is a site where people have been worshipping for over 2000 years. Archaeological evidence shows that there was a Christian Celtic community active on this very spot. 

So cool!

Beneath the church, there is a crypt where you can still see the ruins left from when the Romans built a church here. After the Anglo-Saxon invasion to Britain, a Saxon church was built on top of the spot. After that, there was a Norman church. This church was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 of London. Christopher Wren (builder of St. Paul's Cathedral) designed the another, new version, of St. Bride's. The steeple he designed actually inspired the traditional "wedding cake" steeple.

Unfortunately, in 1940, this version of the church was burnt down in a fire-bomb raid on London. Only the steeple was left. 

When the modern church was being rebuilt after WWII, excavations were done on the foundation and this is when archaeologists discovered the Roman ruins. Today they are preserved in a humble museum of sorts in what would be the "basement" of the church.

They even found pieces of the medieval church and have them on display.

The church has an incredibly rich history - it went from Catholic to Anglican (thanks to Henry VIII) and back again to Catholic (thank you Queen Mary for burning the "heretic" bishop appointed by your brother Henry, RIP Father John Cardmaker). It has literally lived and breathed the changes religion underwent in 16th-century England.

It is was ALSO a well-established hub for writers and printers - Milton himself was a parishioner.

Today, Mass is still held each Sunday. Daily Mass is held in the crypt (aside Roman ruins) below the church. 

It honors its journalistic roots and held all-night vigils when journalists like John McCarthy and Terry Anderson were held hostage. 

What an incredible place! So happy I took the time to step inside. 

Tate Modern

I made a trip to the Tate Modern today, the London equivalent of the MOMA in NYC. There were a few special exhibitions like Edvard Munch but I only explored the regular rooms (which are free...exhibitions are, unfortunately, not). 

Of course they had the basics.

Picasso...

(Bust of a Woman, 1944)

Giacometti...

(Man Pointing, 1947)

Rothco...

(Untitled, c. 1950-2)

and Pollock....

(Yellow Islands, 1952)

Which are all wonderful! 

But what I really like to do in a museum is browse for something that really makes me think. Something that piques my interest and makes me look a bit longer. Something that puts my years of school work to use.

Today that was Room #7, The Reclining Nude.

The motif of the reclining nude has been around since the 1500s. Most people would recognize the reclining nudes by Giorgione and Titian (even if they don't know that is who painted them). Titian's Venus of Urbino is below, painted in 1538. 

This motif has been repeated a myriad of times since its rise to popularity during the Renaissance. In the early 1800s, the Neo-Classicist work by Ingres, Le Grande Odalisque, appeared in 1814, looking remarkably similar to the work by Titian done almost 300 years prior. 

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, "modern" artists embraced this tradition and twisted it to fit their particular aesthetic. The Tate Modern gathered a few of these types of works into Room #7  that exemplify the modern take on the female nude. 

Below is a sculpture by Henri Matisse, French impressionist artist who lived from 1869-1954. Matisse treats the female nude with an element of abstraction not present in the more classical versions by Titian and Ingres seen above. Made of bronze, this sculpture features smooth, relaxed curves like the Renaissance works. However, there is no face on the woman, the level of detail has been blurred into the surface of the bronze, and the arms appear more robust than those of the paintings because the woman holds herself up on them. 

Picasso's variation on the theme is exemplified by his work from 1932, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust. Consequently, this work was the one that caused such a fuss in the auction world in May of 2010 selling for over $106.5 million dollars, setting a new record for the highest price paid for any work of art at auction.

(Here is a LINK to the YouTube video of the actual auction when it took place at Christie's in NYC)

Even more recent is the work by Henri Laurens from 1948. L'Automne is a bronze sculpture created to resemble the traditional odalisque or reclining female nude, however Laurens imbued it with "ripeness," stating that he "should like to succeed in making it so full...that nothing could be added." I think he succeeded. The fullness of the forms recalls the ripeness of the autumn season, as the title suggests, yet the traditional positioning still resembles the Renaissance painting by Titian we saw earlier. 

Much more going on at the Tate Modern - this was just one small room. The museum features videos, installation art, and actual performance art. I'll be back I'm sure!