TheBanyanTree: Big Voluptuous Nudes

[Margaret R. Kramer]

I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts this afternoon to see the Titian
exhibit (http://www.artsmia.org/titian/).  The Institute has these paintings
on loan from Scotland and I believe they have never been the USA before.
Titian was an artist during the Italian Renaissance.

If you like looking at curvaceous nude women that do not have perfect
bodies, these are the paintings for you.  The Diana paintings (Titian
painted four and two are on display at the Institute) are gigantic!  The
text described that the emperor liked to retire to the room where the Diana
paintings were on display after his lunch.  I wonder what he was doing in
there!  I guess back then, these paintings were the royal Playboy
centerfold.

I also went through the Facing the Lens: Portraits of Photographers exhibit
(http://www.artsmia.org/index.php?section_id=2&exh_id=4026).  This exhibit
was an interesting display of the photographers as the subjects.  I didn’t
know that photographer, Alfred Stieglitz, was married to one of my favorite
artists, George O’Keefe.

One of portraits was Andy Warhol dressed in drag.  There were a couple of
Ansel Adams portraits.  There were some portraits of very early
photographers and some portraits of contemporary ones.  It was a great
exhibit.  And yes, there were some nudes there, too.  Not as voluptuous as
Titian’s, sad to say.  But there were a few male nudes included as well.

Finally, I walked through The Mourners
(http://www.artsmia.org/index.php?section_id=2&exh_id=3728).  These are
exquisite little sculptures of mourning monks from a duke’s tomb in France.

That’s all I saw when I visited the Institute today.  It’s a huge place with
tons of great art from all periods and cultures, but I just wanted to focus
on those exhibits.  

The Institute was also showing Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” this afternoon.
I saw it with my college boyfriend years ago, and I think I fell asleep
during it.  I wasn’t a big fan of Bergman, but I suppose if I wanted to get
a nap in . . . I could see the film.

So on this sunny, but still chilly spring day, I joined many other people in
visiting the Institute.  It was difficult to find a parking spot.  The
galleries were crowded.  People were milling around all over the place.  And
that made me feel good, because people still care about art enough to take a
Sunday afternoon and spend it at the Institute.

Oh, I saw another bald eagle today.  I saw it circling above the freeway as
I was driving home from the gym.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
www.linkedin.com/in/margaretkramer

Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind.       
-Patanjali