Spring Bloodroot Moon
Vacated, now returned, back in my regular work space. Feels good. 11th and E street, the Hotel Harrington and the Penn Quarter coalescing into memory. I doubt I’ll ever travel for a particular art exhibition again, though I’m glad I went this time.
Why? Crowds. I like quiet time with art, non jostling, personal time. Time to dig in and look, really look and not feel like I need to give someone else their turn. Then, too, I like time in between, away from the art, then going back, looking again. These big shows actively work against close encounters. I know this from my work with the Louvre, Rembrandt, Terracotta Warriors.
(Lady of Shallot, William Holman Hunt)
The trip did accomplish its purpose. Remember my OMG am I doing enough entry a couple of days ago? My purpose was to get a sense of how my life with art might unfold after I leave the MIA for good. I see it now, at least a place to start. It means a study program over several years in the Renaissance, Enlightenment, Romanticism and the whole Modern(-ism)(-ity)(post-) bundle with the occasional excursion into the history of science and perhaps fin de siecle Europe, all with the intention of integrating my interest in the pre-Raphaelites, Aesthetes, Symbolists into the larger movements of cultural forces over the Modern and pre-Modern era. Ambitious? Yes, but what’s life for?
The trip accomplished a second, unintended purpose, too. I gotta go on vacation with no purpose at all. That’s next.
Right now it’s back to revising Missing and reviewing my Latin for Friday.
