Noddle's Island

In 1620 William Noddle settled on an Island - therefore called Noddle's Island - before Boston was founded by the Pilgrims.  As a memory to both him and then the thousands of immigrants who arrived later in Boston, an attractive pavilion was built in East Boston's Pier Park.  This park has a picture book view of downtown Boston and all the passing boats.

The pavilion is richly decorated with symbols of the many countries from which immigrants arrived in Boston during the last 300 years.  They came from all parts of the world escaping to find a better future in the United States.  Now more and more young and hip Americans moving to Boston find that East Boston is an attractive part of town. The parting and landing airplanes from Logan airport fortify their dreams of international travels. 

http://www.bostonharborwalk.com/placestogo/location.php?nid=4&sid=24

"LAM" who?

His name is WIFREDO LAM!  You would not be the only one not yet knowing this artist. However, remember this name because there will be retrospective shows in the Tate Modern Gallery in London and in the Centre Pompidou in Paris coming soon.  Far in advance and right now, many of his paintings and drawings are exhibited in the McMullen Museum in Boston College.

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/artmuseum/exhibitions/archive/lam/index.html

Wilfredo Lam with multiracial background lived in Cuba, Spain, Italy and in Paris, France.  It is engaging to recognize in his paintings the influence of artists known to us. 

Once we think of Matisse, once we think of Picasso and we can find even Pollock's drip technique. 

There are imprints of many styles and in conclusion we meet an artist open-minded to all the cultures he lived in and an acceptance of a life filled with social engagement, love, war, tragedy and happiness.  His paintings - perhaps a metamorphose into poetry in visual form?  

MFA revisited

It is still warm enough to sit outside the Garden Cafeteria in the Calderwood Courtyard of the MFA. Most of the time I keep my distance to large dogs but with this 'Pair of Great Danes' I feel relaxed and can enjoy the beauty of these watch dogs.

Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973) was one of the most famous American animal sculptors and created these Great Danes in 1907.  The sculptures where installed in the courtyard last Spring and after a naming contest with over 20.000 entries they are now named BRENDA and HUGO. 

http://youtu.be/zgz8HkH8OXo

Inspirations

The Decorative Art Museum in Paris, in the same building as the Louvre in Rue de Rivoli is a comprehensive museum in its own right.  In one part, the permanent exhibition of the history of decorative arts from the middle ages up to our times. In another part, special exhibitions which is right now (until Nov. 2) about the Belgian fashion designer Dries van Noten.  No photos allowed - but the entrance is already an introduction to this sparkling exhibition.  The designer refers to the many different inspirations he obtained by visiting the collection of this museum.    http://www.driesvannoten.be/news.php   

The cabinet makers who created a cabinet with this large flower arrangement in marquetry - were they inspired by Belgian paintings?  Since the Egyptians flowers and plants are our eternal source for happiness and awe for the beauty and power of Mother Nature.

http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/english-439/

Peerless above, unrivaled below

In a model of Stockholm as it was in the 17th century, we can recognize the King's garden and to the left  Saint Jacob's church, both still existing in modern Stockholm.  In front close to the water we find a Castle which was build by general Jakob De la Gardie in 1643.  A palace filled with art from the inside out. Lavishly decorated with sculptures, it was beautiful both from the land and from the sea. The owner called it 'the great house'; the people of Stockholm called it 'Castle Peerless', there was no rival.  Alas - 1825 in a huge fire it was totally destroyed and burned to the ground.  Blackened sculptures and columns could be saved and are now in the City museum.

Copies were made of these few remaining building parts and are now in one of the stations of the subway which is directly under the former location of the castle Makalös (Peerless).  This station and many others which have been decorated by numerous artists make the Stockholm subway system unrivaled in comparison with other subways in the world!  http://www.viralnova.com/subway-art/

Visit to Tallinn

With a ferry boat starting from Stockholm in the evening one arrives in the morning in the harbor of Tallinn in Estonia.  Swedish friends all recommended us to see there 'the old town'.
We would say the same.  A short walk through the modern town with 'Coca Cola Plaza' and McCafe
was enough to appreciate even more the medieval part of Tallinn.

Peeks in side streets lifted the spirit and in the City museum we learned about the numerous occupations this town had to endure. We saw there the documentary about the 'Singing revolution' and our sympathy to the Estonian people grew.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ricksteves/estonias-singing-revolution-4691/?no-ist

'Kloostri Ait' a Tallinn restaurant which has live music in the evenings, we were happy to find for a small lunch, coffee and truffles. The friendly young waitress told us that the first foreign language taught in schools is English.  Good, Estonian is hard to understand.

For large groups of tourists there are of course many - too many - garish souvenir shops.  A nice brake then to find some hand crafted products on the market of Raekoja Plats.  Woolen gloves with patterns demonstrating the inexhaustible creativity of the knitters.  Can Estonian men knit?

Colorful plants

Always interested in botanical gardens, we visited the Bergianska garden which is connected to Stockholm University.  We were puzzled by these unusual 'markers'! Then we got an explanation by Ms. Kaili Maide who is an expert in textile coloring with plant material.

The markers show the different hues which are produced using different parts of the same plant for dyeing. Very proud Ms. Maide told us that she was responsible for the planting and caring of these plants as well as developing the dyes.

There are other areas in the large garden. In the vegetable garden we found impressive specimens which use we are familiar with.   http://www.bergianska.se/english/about-us