Dear Blogreader,
Today I went to see two art expositions with a friend.The two were ¨El pan de los Angeles¨ from the Uffizi Gallery collection in Florence(From Botticelli to Luca Giordano) and Alphonse Mucha´s ¨Seducción,Mordenidad y Utopia¨.My friend liked the Uffizi collection more.She is Italian and she had fond memories of seeing some of the works in Florence at the Uffizi Gallery as shown above, when she went there in her school days!
Anyway,it was an afternoon well spent.In both expositions,there were some interesting revolving themes of Spirituality and Christianity.The collection from Uffizi Gallery was strictly works based on the most illustrious stories of the Bible.So there were paintings of Adam & Eve,another with Manna falling from heaven,then there was, of course,The Passion of Christ which is from the main theme of Jesus´s body as the bread of life.I really liked the collection and its diversity,from paintings to tapestry.My favourite pieces were by Lorenzo Monaco,Fransceco Salviati and Fabrizio Boschi.
The second and last part of the exposition was quite exciting as well.Personally,because I went to Prague in December last year,and got introduced to Alphonse Mucha there.His works were quite broad as well,and included sketches that went on to become famous posters,sketched drawings for paintings,jewellery designs(and in particular a bracelet he designed for Sarah Bernhardt),stamps,bank notes,cake tins...all with his famous signature Art Nouveau!All these reminded me of Andy Warhol´s trademark design which was termed pop art because everyone from Paris to when he went back to his native Chech Republic wanted his Art Nouveau on anything that had a surface!
I like Mr. Mucha´s biography as well.In particular,that after attaining fame and fortune he made a point to give back and do some wonderful work for his native Chech Republic through the Slavic Epic.He led an interesting life in his own right,and is said to have been a known freemason.I love his style.In particular a water painting called Song of Bohemia,which has soft touches and is a living,organic depiction of three peasant girls from his Slavic Epic theme.
I now have a new-found appreciation for my Möet & Chandon white-star bookmark which I bought from The Mucha Museum in Prague.The man who shot to stardom after Sarah Bernhardt and the public loved his commissioned work (poster for her play called Gismonda) and although he died after contracting pneumonia in the duration of a Gestapo interrogation,seemed to have achieveda life well-lived.
