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Yesterday was filled with art (and snow)
Jan. 11th, 2009 07:26 pmI had two events scheduled for yesterday afternoon, a performance by the Damine Kabuki Troupe at the Art Institute, and the first of four workshops in the Hyde Park Art Center's Collecting 2.0 series. It was snowing, a lot, so I left myself plenty of time to get downtown, and got to the Art Institute early enough to do some serious viewing. I spent a lot of time in the Drawn to Drawings show, Italian drawings from the Renaissance and Baroque, and saw a cute little exhibit at the Ryerson Library, The Beauty of the Beasts: Artists and their Pets in 20th-Century Art.
The kabuki performance was very interesting. The troupe is from a small village in Japan, and the show was called "Honorable Pledge Fulfilled", because this tour marks the end of a 350-year old promise made by the villagers to keep kabuki alive, in gratitude to a protecting deity. The show was narrated by Shozo Sato, a Zen master who is very well-known figure here. Photography was not allowed during the performance, but I was able to get a shot of the set before it started:
It was announced that there would be an opportunity to photograph the performers after the show, but I actually had to leave a few minutes early to catch a cab back to the south side for the workshop. That's a bit of a misnomer, though. The session, titled "What is Collectible?", was at the Kenwood home of noted collector Ruth Horwich. It's pretty unbelievable. I don't think there's a horizontal or vertical surface in her home that doesn't have art on it. And art hanging in the stairwell. She had a set of Kara Walker canisters blithely sitting on ledge in her kitchen! She and her husband collected for years (their Calders are currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art), and her home is really a lesson in "collect what speaks to your heart". Her collection is incredibly varied, from ethnographic pieces and outsider art, to Warhol and Magritte and a George Segal in the foyer, to bibelots and hair combs and vintage beaded purses in the bedrooms. (There's a good article about her here.)
Afterwards, I trudged a few blocks through the snow to catch a bus home, stopping to take a couple of pictures of some of the lovely Kenwood houses. I'm rather fond of these rowhouses, which were built in 1992, but fit right into the neighborhood, deliberately echoing the Queen Anne lines of some near neighbors:
This morning, I dug my car out.
The kabuki performance was very interesting. The troupe is from a small village in Japan, and the show was called "Honorable Pledge Fulfilled", because this tour marks the end of a 350-year old promise made by the villagers to keep kabuki alive, in gratitude to a protecting deity. The show was narrated by Shozo Sato, a Zen master who is very well-known figure here. Photography was not allowed during the performance, but I was able to get a shot of the set before it started:
It was announced that there would be an opportunity to photograph the performers after the show, but I actually had to leave a few minutes early to catch a cab back to the south side for the workshop. That's a bit of a misnomer, though. The session, titled "What is Collectible?", was at the Kenwood home of noted collector Ruth Horwich. It's pretty unbelievable. I don't think there's a horizontal or vertical surface in her home that doesn't have art on it. And art hanging in the stairwell. She had a set of Kara Walker canisters blithely sitting on ledge in her kitchen! She and her husband collected for years (their Calders are currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art), and her home is really a lesson in "collect what speaks to your heart". Her collection is incredibly varied, from ethnographic pieces and outsider art, to Warhol and Magritte and a George Segal in the foyer, to bibelots and hair combs and vintage beaded purses in the bedrooms. (There's a good article about her here.)
Afterwards, I trudged a few blocks through the snow to catch a bus home, stopping to take a couple of pictures of some of the lovely Kenwood houses. I'm rather fond of these rowhouses, which were built in 1992, but fit right into the neighborhood, deliberately echoing the Queen Anne lines of some near neighbors:
This morning, I dug my car out.
