at the mfa

So after a few moments confusion--in retrospect, it might have been wiser for us to indicate how to recognize each other--I met up with Franklin of Artblog.net this morning at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  I'm happy to say that he's an engaging, relaxed guy, who I would have guessed to be seven or eight years younger than his actual age.  He seemed very happy with his move north; we'll see how he feels in January.  Anyway, we did stop by the Degas to Picasso--I'm having trouble not calling the show D2P, as much of a tool that would make me--and admired a few things, and laughed at more.  Then it was up to the newly opened Americans in Paris, 1860-1900, about which, more to come.  I will say this: although it covers an area well-known to New England viewers, there are yet some surprises in the show.  Some lesser known artists make strong cases for themselves, while more prominent figures are shown in different lights from what one might expect.  The show was previously seen in London, and reviewed then, favorably though not uncritically, here; the Globe, meanwhile, is now lukewarm.  In some instances perspective is everything, and I think that's part of what's at work here.  While the reception differ in New York?  Now that would be interesting.  But more on the topic soon, I think.

We also took in one of the current exhibitions in the Asian galleries, Tradition and Transformation: Japanese Art, 1860-1940.  I've been getting more interested over the past couple of years in the Japanese response to Western art and modernism, so this show was catnip.  The last gallery, as Franklin has said, is extraordinary.  Yet how can the Museum use as the online image for the show the blurred, utterly inadequate photograph of Tateishi Harumi's Clover--when it has a far superior image ready and waiting in its online database?  And do click to enlarge--you won't regret it.  I wonder if Alex Katz has seen this stuff?

Comments

[mark]

Ink on paper! Pretty amazing.

[Franklin]

Mark, strictly speaking, it's probably a form of distemper, mineral pigments in nikawa glue. No less amazing, though.

[JL]

Also notice that from the provenance listed, it's a deaccessioned piece from a Japanese museum that the MFA was able to quickly aquire. Good for them.