Enjoying Raphael and the Japanese Exhibitions at the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

When you go to a birthday party for a four year old, you can come home with butterfly wings.....if you're lucky.  Fiona (4 yr old) and I like to have our faces painted for the party.  

That wasn't the only thrill of the weekend.  We got to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is probably my favorite place to go in NYC.  This time we saw two major exhibitions:  'Raphael'  and 'Japanese Ceramics'.  

Raphael was a painter during the Renaissance in the 16th century.  He worked for the Popes of the Catholic church including Julius II.  The Catholic church were just about the only paying customers for works of art especially if you were Italian.  Raphael was known as "the painter's painter". His talent was immense.  He was acknowledged as a 'master' at age 17.  He did a few portraits of famous people of the time, but he mostly painted religious subjects including several Madonna and Child pictures.  I wonder if he ever said, Oh, no, not another one.  

His most famous work of art is a fresco which means you have to go to the Vatican to see it.  It's called 'School of Athens' and is my favorite Raphael.  

He paints contemporary Italians portraying famous Greek philosophers.  Here's who's who:  Plato and Aristotle (Leonardo Di Vinci) are in the center - top of steps.  They are surrounded by Socrates, Pythagoras, Euclid, Ptolemy, and Hericlitus.  Hericlitus, a portrait of  Michelangelo, is leaning on the box.  Diogenes is lounging on the steps.  Zoroaster holds a globe facing Ptolemy.  Averroes (an Islamic philosopher) in a white turban stands behind Pythagoras.  There are large statues of Apollo and Athena in the background.  Raphael painted this between 1509 - 1511.

The exhibit at the MET is a combination of Raphael's drawings, most of which are studies, and completed paintings from all over the world.  Here's one of my favorite paintings

Raphael's portraits of Mary and the baby Jesus seem like they are real people.  All of his portraits of Mary/Jesus/John the Baptist/Joseph have that same quality.  He achieves it with different models in different settings.

Not only did he paint religious figures, he also painted portraits:

Raphael also created cartoons.  No, not the animated type; a cartoon in the art world means a blueprint for a tapestry.  An artist would draw and paint a picture, then the weavers would create a tapestry of the picture (or cartoon).  The exhibition had a couple of tapestries based on Raphael's cartoons.

Sadly, Raphael's genius was cut short.  He died on his 37th birthday after contracting a fever.  

From the crowds at the Raphael exhibition, we headed to the new Japanese display in the Asia wing.  Our time in Japan made this exhibition that much more enjoyable.

I'm going to begin with the kimonos.  They were scattered throughout the exhibition, but I just love to look at the exquisite embroidery on these pieces of clothing.

There were also ancient and modern pieces of Japanese ceramics.  

Naturally, I took pictures.  Yes, I know you're shocked.

Here is my link to the pix:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UcArqibdo81X4PwYA 

Kyoto, Japan, Springtime on Steroids

 

We arrived in Kyoto on a bullet train which follows the ancient road between Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto.  In a previous blog I talked about Mount Fuji (Fujisan) and it's importance in Japanese religion and culture.  It was easy to see why the volcano captured the imagination of a nation since it dominates the landscape.  I kept thinking about 500 years ago what travelers must have thought while traversing this road.  

Azaleas were in a riot of blooms all over Kyoto.  I've loved azaleas since we lived in Houston and New Orleans.  The profusion of flowers, which need a hot, humid climate to flourish, made me suspect the ideal weather we experienced in Kyoto would devolve into the hot humidity of a sticky summer.

Nijo Castle

Based on the climate, it was understandable that Nijo Castle was the springtime/autumn residence of the Shogun.  Here he could 'hold court', adjudicate disputes, and 'show the flag'.  The current castle is a complete re-build with very little of it original to the 16th/17th century.  The stone wall above is original, but the building is not.  Even if WWII hadn't decimated Japan (firebombing), ancient construction used wood and paper rather than stone due to earthquakes (and volcanoes).  Structures were routinely rebuilt as natural  disasters occurred. 

We actually took a guided tour of Nijo Castle.  This tour was the first time I used a wheelchair to get around since the castle is not small, and even more significantly for me, you had to tour the interior of the castle without shoes.  

This is the impressive entrance to the interior of the castle.

(That's Drake with his back to us.)  You take off your shoes when you go through this entrance.  More importantly, there were decorations of symbolic significance meant to impress.

If you look carefully, you can see the dragons, cranes, phoenixes, lotus blossoms, peonies, and even butterflies.  These symbolize long life, strength, beauty, and rebirth.  

The Emperor visited the Shogun at Nijo Castle.  His visit prompted the Shogun to completely redecorate the interior of the castle.  Today, you see reproductions of those interiors.  Ironically, you can actually see the original rooms in a separate museum on the grounds of the castle in  climate controlled rooms.  Because of the longevity of the site, there have been extensive archeological excavations at Nijo Castle.

The original panels to welcome the Emperor to Nijo Castle:

Audience Room - Raised area = conference table of modern times

The pine trees symbolize the military strength of the Shogun.  Each needle represents a samurai soldier with his sword.  This is a reminder that while the Emperor may hold the spiritual power of Japan, the Shogun holds the political and military power.  It also reminds potential rivals to the Shogun that he is not weak.

Another feature of the museum is the artifacts found during the excavations.  

One of the features of the Nijo Castle was the beautiful garden - yes, I know, I can't get away from gardens.

This is an extremely old bridge

This picture is only available aa few weeks a year

A cherry tree in full bloom

This is the multi-petal cherry blossom - the last ones to bloom

Another interesting site was what I referred to as 'the golden house'.  It's actually covered in gold leaf and does sparkle in the sun. 

There is a phoenix on top of the roof:

This is known today as the Kinkaku Temple, a Zen temple of the Rinzai Buddhist denomination.  When it was originally build in 1397 it was the family villa "Yashimitsu" of the 3rd Shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate.  The villa was centered around this golden stupa: "Kinkaku".  When this palace/villa was built, it was the center of politics and culture.  I welcomed Emperors of Japan and Ming trading partners from China.

Today, it is designated as a Special Historic Site and a Special Place of Scenic Beauty.  It was registered as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1994.  The site is beautiful in all four seasons thanks to the gardens/ponds surrounding the Golden Pavillion.

This site contains one of the most famous pine trees in all of Japan.  It's very old, and is being propped up.

Other spots of interest on the grounds include a small waterfall and a staircase to nowhere - just kidding.  I'm sure the information sign tells you where, I just couldn't read it.

We were very lucky to see this site in the springtime.  Another site, Tenryu-ji Temple (Temple of the Heavenly Dragon) is the head temple of Rinzai Zen Buddhism.  It was built in 1339 in memory of Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339)

The site had been occupied by the first zen temple in Japan.  To finance construction of the new temple, the Tenrkyu-ji Ship was sent to the Yuan Dynasty in China on a successful trade mission.  In 1343, the new temple's main buildings were completed.  It issued in a flourishing Zen literary culture.  Tenryu-ji was ranked first among the Five Zen Mountains of Kyoto.  This temple is now part of the bamboo forest.

Since it's founding, Tenryu-ji has been ravaged by fire a total of eight times most recently in 1864.  Most of the present buildings date from 1868-1912.  However, the landscape garden originally designed by Muso Soseki in the 14th century is one of the oldest surviving gardens in Japan.  It was the first Special Historical Scenic area named by the Japanese government, and in 1994 designated by the United Nations as a World Cultural Heritage Site.

Another wildly popular tourist spot is the Bamboo Forest in Ariyama just outside of Kyoto.  Our taxi dropped us off to walk up the hill to the start of the forest.  Again, this was not a solitary activity.  According to our taxi driver, the day we went 'wasn't even very crowded'.  Could have fooled me!

Well, we joined the crowd and trekked up the hill and into the forest.  It was a sight to see.

The sewer covers inside the walkway into the forest

The bamboo trees are easily 40 to 50 feet tall.  They were large poles with vegetation at the top.  As we went around the orient we discovered bamboo being used in the place of western 2x4's.  Bamboo grows like pine - fast.  The forest walk was quite fun - so different.

Our tour guides at Nijo Castle were contemptuous of the Castle since it was 'rebuilt'.  Initially, I thought WWII was responsible for so many attractions being rebuilt.  Not so.  Japanese attractions have been burning down since they were originally built thanks to the fires which get their start after earthquakes.  That's what makes a temple with 30 temple structures  founded in 778 A.D., and still standing, so special.  

This is still a functioning temple.  The inside of one of the buildings was just as gorgeous as the outside.  Furthermore, you could dress in traditional Japanese dress to tour the temple grounds.

After all these temples I couldn't resist the Kyoto Botanical Gardens.  If the beautiful flowers weren't enough, there was a market at one end of arts and crafts.  That's whereI got my Fujisan broach.  

And you know there are lots and lots more flower pictures.  We saw most of this garden, but missed the conservatory all together.  I really enjoyed the rhododendrons as well as the azaleas, peonies, and tulips.

The Kyoto Museum had a special exhibit of Hiroshige and Hokusai.  Naturally, they wouldn't let me take pictures, so the photos I have are postcards I bought at the gift shop.  The museum had life sized cut outs from some of the pictures which I thought was strange

Outside of the museum were two items which I saw all over Japan.  The first is a telephone booth.  I actually saw people working inside these structures with their laptops.  It wasn't common, but it was noticeable.

Second, here is an example of the vending machines, so handly, which are everywhere in Japan.

If you want to see more pictures from all these attractions, here are the links:

Bamboo Forest/Temple/Garden

Azalea Riot

Nijo Castle

Kiyomisu-dera Temple (778)

Golden Temple

Kyoto Museum