Saturday, December 18, 2004
British Modern
Sales conference is over and I head home tomorrow (Sunday). I had a free Saturday today. I took the tube from King's Cross to the London Bridge stop to visit Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern.
Here's a short history of the Globe reproduction:
I'm really happy I was able to see this. Any time I'm here in the summer I'll be sure to get tickets for a performance. The tour is worth it if you're here other months.
After the Globe, I walked along the river to the Tate Modern, one of the best modern art collections in the world. Some of my favorite artists I saw: Thomas Hirschhorn, Joseph Beuys, Gilbert and George, Gerhard Richter, Rothko, Rodin, Dali's Lobster telephone.
I want to learn more about Beuys's coyote work. He created a fenced area inside a New York gallery and spent a few days living with a live coyote. The coyote established dominance of the territory, but gradually they grew to accept each other's space. Beuys did it to talk about the need for healing among groups. One mentioned was the clash between white culture and Native Americans. It's a little simplistic to say the coyote is a metaphor for Native Americans, but Beuys did make this point.
I have a growing love affair with Gilbert and George. They have two pieces currently displayed, one is a video of them making their "living sculptures" by posing in traditional English pastoral scenes to poke fun at stodgy British-ness. The other is a large-scale photo of them in their immaculate English suits (they always wear English suits) but their poses have a swagger and bravado not typically seen in England
(wow, the Tate website has a fantastic search feature for finding works.)
So one week, British Library, British Museum, Bloomsbury Square, National Gallery, Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant, Shakespeare's Globe, and the Tate Modern.
The only thing I didn't get to on my list for this trip was Hatchard's bookstore. Save something for next time.
I'll be back in America next week, but gone again after Thursday for a Christmas/New Year's break. I'm enjoying the first non-retail Christmas in a few years. Making the most of it.
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Here's a short history of the Globe reproduction:
In 1949, when Sam Wanamaker came to London for the first time, he looked for the site of the original Globe and was disappointed not to find a more lasting memorial to one of the greatest playwrights in the world.
In 1970 he founded the Shakespeare Globe Trust, dedicated to the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance. It's work celebrates the fact that the greatest dramatic poet in the English language lived and worked in London and that the cradle of English theatre was on Bankside by the River Thames.
In 1987, building work began on site when the six-metre deep foundations were laid. In 1993, the construction of the Globe Theatre itself began.
Sadly, Sam Wanamaker died on 18th December 1993. At that time, twelve of the fifteen bays had been erected. The plasterwork and thatching began the following year and were completed in 1997.
I'm really happy I was able to see this. Any time I'm here in the summer I'll be sure to get tickets for a performance. The tour is worth it if you're here other months.
After the Globe, I walked along the river to the Tate Modern, one of the best modern art collections in the world. Some of my favorite artists I saw: Thomas Hirschhorn, Joseph Beuys, Gilbert and George, Gerhard Richter, Rothko, Rodin, Dali's Lobster telephone.
I want to learn more about Beuys's coyote work. He created a fenced area inside a New York gallery and spent a few days living with a live coyote. The coyote established dominance of the territory, but gradually they grew to accept each other's space. Beuys did it to talk about the need for healing among groups. One mentioned was the clash between white culture and Native Americans. It's a little simplistic to say the coyote is a metaphor for Native Americans, but Beuys did make this point.
I have a growing love affair with Gilbert and George. They have two pieces currently displayed, one is a video of them making their "living sculptures" by posing in traditional English pastoral scenes to poke fun at stodgy British-ness. The other is a large-scale photo of them in their immaculate English suits (they always wear English suits) but their poses have a swagger and bravado not typically seen in England
(wow, the Tate website has a fantastic search feature for finding works.)
So one week, British Library, British Museum, Bloomsbury Square, National Gallery, Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant, Shakespeare's Globe, and the Tate Modern.
The only thing I didn't get to on my list for this trip was Hatchard's bookstore. Save something for next time.
I'll be back in America next week, but gone again after Thursday for a Christmas/New Year's break. I'm enjoying the first non-retail Christmas in a few years. Making the most of it.
