We have been home for two nights. Each of those nights I have woken up in the middle of the night thinking that I was still in Paris and wondering where the bathroom was. After several moments in a fog of confusion, I finally realize that the very nicely proportioned room I am sleeping in with the attractive curtain is, in fact, my very own bedroom.
Before I get back to life here in New York I wanted to share a few thoughts.
I kept noticing that buildings in Rome and Florence were often embellished with either a bas-relief or painting of sainted figures.
Before I get back to life here in New York I wanted to share a few thoughts.
I kept noticing that buildings in Rome and Florence were often embellished with either a bas-relief or painting of sainted figures.
We saw dozens and dozens of such building decorations. I finally realized that they are the Catholic version of a mezuzah.
Another realization: I was an art history major in college. I spent a fair amount of time studying Christian religious art. Most of that art lives in museums. During this visit, we actually spent relatively little time in museums but we did wander into church after church and saw artwork in the space for which it was designed.
While we were in Paris we went to the Louvre and saw some paintings that I had studied during some of my college classes. I realized that taking the paintings out of their intended settings diminishes them in many ways. They were designed to exist in a context. Taking them out of that context reduces them to just their visual elements.
Someone I spoke to yesterday called museums zoos for art. I don't think she is wrong.
Italians are brilliant at mosaic work at every scale.
Paris is a place of brilliant ironwork.
Hopefully eventually when I wake up in the middle of the night I will realize that I am home in my own bed rather than someplace else.
Thank you for sharing your journey with us. It was lovely to see the sorts of photos I would take - images of bits and pieces of design. But also, knowing you were thinking about the maker of the work, too.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to say I have had you, and others you know, in my mind and in my prayers since the tragedy in the synagogue in Pittsburgh. It feels like family, too, because my grandfather's people were from Pittsburgh.
Hugs for you.
Sandy
I think I learned from our mutual friend Welmoed about being specific in photographs. Also...a postcard type shot isn't necessary these days...it is someone else's vision. There is something freeing about only photographing what catches my particular eye.
ReplyDeletePittsburgh was just hard. In the Jewish world there are just one or two degrees of separation, so although I have never been there.. I have several people close to me with deep connections there.
On the flip side of that...the White supremacists and other anti-Semites who say that the Jews run the universe...I know that if Jews really did run the world I would know at least half of them...
It is interesting that you are discussing the perspective of the photos. That is exactly what I was thinking about as I viewed them. The views you chose to capture are the types of views that attract my eye when I travel. Thank you for bringing me along.
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