Saturday, September 30, 2006

Just A Bit More Art


Find this image vaguely familiar? Of course you do. Especially all you fans of Desperate Housewives out there. This is a picture depicting Adam and Eve by the Renaissance painter Lukas Cranach the Elder, which forms part of the permanent collection at London's Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, which I visited earlier today. And the link to Desperate Housewives? Well, you may recall the opening sequence, which begins with the Adam and Eve imagery, followed by comic depictions of other famous iconic art works featuring a man and a woman.
In fact, I believe Cranach composed a few versions of Adam and Eve, and the one that formed the basis for the Desperate Housewives sequence may have been based more upon this portrait in Florence's Uffizi gallery, rather than the one I saw today. But I'm sure you can see the similarities between both representations. Eve holds in her hand, tantalisingly, the apple, while Adam wears nothing but a perplexed look on his face.
I was glad to have made the trip to the Courtauld Gallery today. I stumbled upon it only in 2003, and visited it twice that year. It's a little gem in the Somerset House complex at the Strand in London. Set just opposite Somerset House is Bush House, home of the BBC World Service, which listeners in Singapore are able to listen on high-quality FM transmission.
You cannot begin to imagine the artistic treasures that the Courtauld contains. Especially this Impressionist masterpiece by Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. It shows a bar lady, for lack of a better term, who gazes enigmatically outwards, her blank, even sad expression a stark contrast with the celebratory mood of the salon. We see her reflection as well, and she's apparently in conversation with a mustachioed gentleman in a top hat.
Now, you can tell in an instant the disconnect between the image which faces us, and the supposed reflection. One doesn't seem linked to the other at all. Their relative positions would be different, if it were a true and accurate reflection. I've not read up much into this, but my own take is that while her reflection shows what she's actually doing, we see instead from her empty veneer that she's hardly engaged at all. Instead, her mind's elsewhere. She's would rather not be there. Something's troubling her, perhaps. Read estrangement, alienation, and detachment.

After my visit to Somerset House, I took a pretty long walk down the Strand towards Trafalgar Square, whereupon I turned into Whitehall, passing by the great buildings of the British state, heading for Westminster Abbey. Alas, it closes early on Saturday. I would need to return some other day. Traversing the lovely St. James's Park, I walked past Malborough Road, before turning into Pall Mall and then up to Leicester Square and nearby Chinatown, where I had dinner at the infamous Wong Kei.
Accompanying me through the day was the Sister, who had been in London this past week. It's been nice having her around. But she left for home in the evening. And for me, it's the beginning of actual lessons next week. I think I may have to take a brief hiatus in my role-playing as tourist, and get down to some serious studying. But of course, it's been more delightful blogging about the pleasures of London. So stay tuned. In the meantime, here's an image of gruff old Winston Churchill looking at Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home