Sep 3, 2011
I Learned a Museum Lesson
I took myself to the Art Institute of Chicago the other day. I have a usual path that I take, prints and drawings, then American paintings, then the modern wing. This means that I walk past China, Japan and quickstep through South Asian art in the railroad bridge to get to what I am in a hurry to see. However, finding myself in the place last week and having seen prints, drawings, American, modern several times this summer, I decided that I would go to China and Japan.br /Part of the reason I would seemingly rush past is that the Art Institute puts the older more traditional art at the front of the gallery. Thus I almost missed this amazing bamboo basket. To call this a basket is potentially a serious mistake, it’s a sculpture, it’s an amazing piece of art.
Knot, 2007, by Homma Hideaki
Furthermore, it’s a mistake on my part to assume that if it’s old it’s boring. This is one of my favoritest pieces in the China exhibit. It’s a clay model of a pigsty and latrine from the Han dynasty era. It is about 12″x12″by 8″, in the center is a sow suckling her piglets.
Han Dynasty
Lesson, slow down, look.
Sep 03, 2011 @ 18:18:46
Very important to remember this – especially as we become used to getting everything we think we want immediately delivered to our brains and eyes.br /br /I also love that model farm. The – I think – Shinto room is pretty cool too.