Something significantly less important, but
celebration-worthy nonetheless: today was pay-what-you-wish day at the Philadelphia
Art Museum. Pay-what-you-wish day also happens on the first Sunday of each month
at the PMA.
I braced myself for the cold outside and navigated a new bus
route to the museum – public transportation is an adventure in itself, and
something I mean to make a day-long activity out of someday. Arriving at the
museum, I offered a dollar for my admission. I probably could have gotten in
for free, but I had guilt.
I’m a sucker for photography, so I started out in the Honickman
and Bergman Galleries on the ground floor, which has changing collections of
prints, drawings, and photographs. It’s hit-and-miss; sometimes they have
really cool stuff, and sometimes not so much (in my opinion). I was in luck
this time; the latest exhibit is a collection of photographs by different artists at different
periods, without any apparent uniting theme. It included photographs by Alfred
Stieglitz, Dorothy Norman (who is a fascinating person: http://www.philamuseum.org/pma_archives/ead.php?c=NOR&p=hn),
and Felice Beato (the first person to photograph a military operation in
action, when he accompanied Anglo-French forces in the Second Opium War in the
mid-1800s in China). There was also this photograph on display, depicting
southern segregation in the 1950’s – a reminder of the reason we celebrate
Martin Luther King, Jr., Day:
Robert Frank. Trolley,
New Orleans, 1955.
I was also struck by this image, depicting one aspect of
civil strife in El Salvador in the ‘80s:
Susan Meiselas. Soldiers
Searching Bus Passengers, Northern Highway, El Salvador, 1980.
Having watched the inauguration ceremony earlier in the day,
I was feeling very American; so I went next to the American Art galleries on
the first floor, which emphasizes artists from Philadelphia. Thomas
Eakins was heavily featured; The Gross
Clinic was out, but this similar, later painting was prominently on
display:
Thomas Eakins. The
Agnew Clinic, 1889.
There was also a large section dedicated to American
impressionists like Edmund Tarbell and Edward Redfield, who painted beautiful winter landscapes.
The rest of the museum I sort of buzzed through. I bypassed
all the furniture, dishes, period rooms, and armor, as well as the “modern and
contemporary art” section of the museum, since those are generally things that
fail to capture my attention. I walked briskly through the “European Art”
galleries, of which there are many, and paused only occasionally to note
paintings that really struck me. This one amused me:
William Blake. The
Nativity, 1799 or 1800.
…because that’s totally how the birth of Jesus happened. I
briefly checked out the special exhibition, exploring “the interwoven lives,
works, and experimental spirit of Marcel Duchamp and four of the most important
American postwar artists: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, and Robert
Rauschenberg.” I quote from the museum pamphlet because I couldn’t tell you
myself what it was about. I spent about 2 minutes in the gallery, during which time I took this
photo, causing a security guard to magically appear at my side and sternly remind me that photographs were not permitted:
I was overwhelmed. There were a lot of people, and they were
all talking in the most sophisticated terms about Art, and there was an intermittent recorded
voice that uttered incomprehensible yet terrifying (loud) sounds. I left promptly, and immediately sought the outside sculpture gardens,
which I had never seen:
I was rewarded. As I explored the gardens, I discovered
the Fairmount Water Works, which I didn’t know you could walk around in, and
some of the most beautiful views of Philadelphia and the Schuylkill River I’ve
ever seen.
The Fairmount Water Works was apparently one of the nation’s
first municipal water delivery systems. Aesthetically, it’s beautiful,
especially at sunset. Pictures would explain best here:
After wandering around for about an hour and feeling like I
had had quite an adventure, I walked back to Center City along the Benjamin Franklin
Parkway despite the cold, and getting to see these sights:
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