BMA: Benjamin West

 One of my favorite paintings at the Baltimore Museum of Art of this self-portrait of Benjamin West.  Long before I visited art museums, I collected stamps...

Baltimore Museum of Art: A Cultural Gem in Charm City

 I've had such a life in so many ways, and certainly ART has been one of them.  I have always had the ability to be creative.  As a child I quickly distinguished myself as one of the class artists.  Without a clue what to do with my life when I entered College I declared Art as my major.  It was not a good fit at all.  I ended up with a minor in Art, and that's fitting.  I confused art with mimicry.

I thought if I could draw something, or paint it to look like what it was, then I was making art.  Of course art is SO MUCH MORE.  Thankfully my inclination combined with so many acts of fate until I developed my understanding.  I've known real artists.  I've seen and enjoyed so much art.  I've learned about art as a continuum from cave paintings hidden beneath fields of lavender in southern France and hand outlines spat upon rock canyons in the outback of Australia to the most contemporary of artists.  

The years after college gave me opportunities few have to experience Exhibition Openings for many years at the National Gallery of Art, The MET in NYC, and even the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  A pair of shelves in my living room are squeezed tightly with dozens and dozens of exhibition catalogs. They represent the shows whose openings I attended (they always give you a free copy) and those I have traveled to see on my own.   I have been to many art museums so many times that I know my way around them as if they were part of my home.  It's always an opportunity for succor when I am exploring, making new connections, visiting old friends and discovering new ones.  

One of my favorite games is to enter a gallery with works from a certain period, but of which I am unfamiliar and then guess the artist!  It always ends in one of two ways.  I'm right!--who an ego boost.  Or, I'm wrong, BUT I have something entirely new to consider.  Let me give a couple examples from my visit to the Baltimore Museum of Art today.  In one gallery of works by American artists 1900 to 1950, I encountered a large oil painting of picnickers enjoying a Sunday afternoon from the vantage of an overlook of a river with steep hills on the opposite side.  The paints were rich, and on the darker side with a very strong presence of ultramarine blue.  I based my guess on the blue, because the subject wasn't anything like I'd seen this artist do before.  It was George Bellows, and I nailed it.  

In another gallery an image of seafood piled on the sand of a beach below cliffs.  Same time frame, and I thought Marsden Hartley--but it was Henri Matisse!!  Holy French Master, Batman!  And then I thought what are the connections between Hartley and Matisse?  Hmmm.  

I went to the BMA hoping to see the exhibition: "Amy Sherald: American Sublime"; however, I discovered at the front desk that it was sold out.  That it is sold out for the next couple of weeks.  How I wish the BMA would post this information on their Goddamned Website, but they don't.  Fortunately, the BMA has more than enough to occupy and justify a visit any day of the week.

So plan B--enjoy what is there.  Look for things you haven't spent time with before.  Make some new friends.  One of the things that the BMA does as well as any museum --they rotate their collections.  There are a couple of notable exceptions like their amazing Antioch mosaics, the heart of the Cone sisters collection, and the works in their sculpture garden, but go back after a year and you'll see new and different works in almost every gallery.

The other thing that they also excel at is featuring artists from neglected demographics.  Woman artists.  Artists of Color.  LGBTQIA+ artists.  They take their mission as a cultural institution for all the people of Baltimore very seriously.

My visit began and ended with this spectacular chandelier by Mexican artist Raul de Nieves that presided over the main entrance.  Titled "Beautiful Nightmare," juxtaposed against the whimsical monumental Stained Glass of the upper foyer, it was a sensory extravaganza.  

Chicken Stir Fry

 

Dinner: Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy, Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes, and Sauteed Curly Leafed Spinach

 

Snowy Hippo!

 

Folgers Shakespeare Library: Cymbeline: A Telenovela Melodramatic Western

As I've mentioned there's a set of lines from Terrance McNally's play "Andre's Mother" that are taken from Shakespeare's tragedy "Cymbeline" that I have loved and remembered whenever some one dear passes into Ancestry.  Unfortunately, I've never seen the play performed on stage.  It's not a commonly acted play.  And after this evening, I'm not certain I could say that my longings have been fulfilled.  What I can say, is that I had a very enjoyable experience!

The production was part of a 4 day event curated by the Folgers Shakespeare Library entitled "The Reading Room Festival".  A reading room refers to what happens when a playwright is working through the (usually) the end stages of a new work.  Actors assume the roles and read through the script infusing their lines with dramatic and/or comedic emphasis.  It can also be a way of presenting a play without having to commit to all the accouterments like sets, costumes, props, staging, lighting... So it's also a lot less expensive.  The festival itself promised Reading Room takes on not just Cymbeline, but also a new King Lear, and "Dark Lady" a musical set in Shakespeare's lifetime.  Other events include a series of symposiums with themes like "Shakespeare and the American Musical" and "Diversifying the Classics".  Additionally, there was a workshop titles "Seven Ages of Music," a Gallery Talk "Making Myths: The Legacies of William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, and American Actors".  Also receptions for treat and libation breaks.  The first two days Thursday (22) and today Friday (23) are limited to evening events, and Saturday and Sunday were scheduled for a full day each.  The total cost for the 4-day package was $120, but tickets were also available at $20 a pop for some of the individual experiences.  It's all such a wonderful idea, and the production this evening was nearly SRO.  

Cymbeline is actually Shakespeare's final tragedy.  Written in 1609, he would complete only 3 (or 4 depending on how you think about his final play "The Two Noble Kinsman") more plays before his death. Scene through the lens of the Telenovela--it very well could be called one of his final comedies!  

The cast of nine actors and one musician charged with bringing the play to life were wonderful.  Camilo Linares as Caballero (The Cowboy) performed a new role as that of narrator to help move the work's plot along.  The principles: Queen Cymbeline (Fran Tapia), Prince Posthumus (James Carlos Lacey) and Imogene (Ixchel Hernandez) all knew exactly how to work a line for comic effect.  James used his physicality--or physique--to grab a laugh; and Fran's facial expressivity was a wonder to watch.  Other shout outs go to Derek Garza as Iachimo whose dexterous hands told the story as much as his excellent presentation.  To Pepin as Pisanio not only for her empathetic facial expressions, but for the clear power of singing.  Finally, Alan Gutierrez-Urista in the lesser roles of Guilderius and Dr. Cornelius was a reliable source of comic genius in both his presentation and his timing.  

Toss in the wonderful musical accompaniment by Seamus Miller, and what transpired was magical.  Yet another confirmation of the unequaled genius of William Shakespeare.  And I would love to see this transferred into an Audio Radio Drama format OR staged.

Camilio Linares played Caballero

Fran Tapia played Queen Cymbeline

James Carlos Lacey played Posthumus

Ixchel Hernandez played Imogene

Pepin played Pisanio, et. al. 

Derek Garza played Iachimo et. al.

Alan Gutierrez-Urista played Guilderius and Dr. Cornelius

Seamus Miller played a range of musical instruments

Greenland

STOP THE MAD MAN!