Grenoble Museum III

Some 20th century work:

Francois ROUAN 'Flaminia' 1971-1974

My art teacher from high school does a series in layered wallpaper strips that this picture reminds me of. Here's a detail shot of the above work:

Antoon KRUYSEN 'Degel' 1917


Francois MORELLET 'Woven Sphere' 1972

looking into the sphere:

Grenoble Museum II

More pictures from 19th century and earlier:

Adam Frans Van der MEULEN 'Louis XIV passes the Pont-Neuf' c1632-1690

Here are two detail shots of this remarkable picture

A very evocative picture of the alps around Grenoble:

Jean ACHARD 'The Tour-sans-Venin, Grenoble Region' c1807-1884

Jean ACHARD 'Roadway, Saint-Egreve, Grenoble Region' c1807-1884

Grenoble Museum

Giorgio VASARI 'Family of Saints' c1541-47

Yes, I think it's that Vasari - bitchy writer of 'Lives of the artists'. In the collection there are two pieces illustrating the supper Christ ate at Emmaus, a particular focus:



Mathias STOMER 'Supper at Emmaus' c1600-1650

Laurent de LA HYRE 'Supper at Emmaus' 1656

Okay, there's more I snapped at Musee de Grenoble from Renaissance through to 19th century I can post another time. From the past 100 or so years...

If you thought 'Picasso' you were fooled like I was. In fact, it is Karl HOFER 'Portrait of Alfred Flechtheim' 1922. How wonderful! Here is a real work by Picasso:

Pablo PICASSO 'Woman Reading' 1920

and another, later in his career:

Pablo PICASSO 'Musketeer & child' 1972



There are one or two paintings in the museum by several other 'megastar' oil painters of the last century:

Henri MATISSE 'Interior with Aubergines' 1911

And now for some painters I've never heard of - yet remind me of others that I know and admire:

Francois DUFRENE 'Nabis-bis'
( translation: Dark-twice [?] ) 1960

Jean DUBUFFET Passe Flux (L 50) 1984

I can't help but think of Scottish-born, long-term Australian resident artist Ian Fairweather when I see these pictures. The second painting here, by Dubuffet, also evokes work by Australian Indigenous painters like Emily Kame Kngwarreye

Gorgeous Lyon

October 24 2006.

Another day where Slartibartfast experiences incredible good fortune with the weather. One of France's largest cities. It was known as Lugdunum when Romans settled here on a perfect inland trade hub, as the city is intersected by two rivers.

Slartibartfast's isolated people theory

During and after climbing Mt Etna, I pieced together some thoughts and musings about the cultures of people that spring from islands. Typically they are homogeneous, tough, tending towards warlike (or having long periods of brutality in their historic past).

The island-nations I thought of most when formulating this theory are:
Japan
Sicily
Iceland
indigenous New Zealand

some other island nations that may or may not fit the theory:
Formosa / Taiwan
Hawaii
Jamaica
Greece

I know Iceland well as my father comes from there & I have visited and lived in the country a few times.

Japan's culture is well-documented but not always well understood. Thanks to U.S. prohibition in the 1930's and the efforts of film directors from Hollywood, the most infamous Sicilian export, organised crime, is known worldwide. Iceland is the most obscure of the four islands singled out by Slartibartfast. It is almost a neutral country nowadays, supporting more chess grand masters per capita than any other nation, and also publishing more books per capita than any country. That is now. In earlier centuries, slavery was a path arrived at when a person got into debt; blood feuds were common between families and villages, and in the earliest days, Christians were hounded from the island, while neighbouring nations friendly to the Church were looted, pillaged and had their women stolen by Vikings from this island and mainland Scandanavia. New Zealand's first inhabitants were proud and fearsome warriors who succumbed less to weapons explosively charged by gunpowder than to European influenza and other illnesses. Their fearsome ways live on at sporting events where Kiwi teams perform the Haka.

These places are all unique by being relatively small, surrounded by water, prone to hardship due to the occasional famine, and having geological activity which leads to earthquakes & the odd volcanic eruption.

To a greater or lesser extent they have all struggled to maintain autonomy and independence at different stages in their history. Though they may be or (have been) part of another larger sovereign nation or empire, their own identity stands out distinctively.

What do these nations all have in common according to Slartibartfast? Aside from the obvious - fjords? (Well Norway has those too).

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, I believe it is the influence that these nations have in trade and world affairs that is remarkable and unites them as having similar qualities springing from their culture.

Each of these nations punches above its weight in one or more economic and/or cultural spheres.
Their inhabitants are all different yet their influence is remarkable. I believe their presence when living and working abroad (or exporting their goods or services) has a multiplier effect within their adopted community. This can be good or bad - such as hard working Maoris making a name for themselves in Australia, or Sicilians striking fear into law abiding Americans as well as fellow criminals as part of the Mafia network in the USA (and many other places).

Is the multiplier effect greater than that created by a migrant from another country setting out to carve their niche in a new society? After all, every nation that has substantial migrant populations almost always has strong economic growth and development along with it. I think that the answer is, yes, these island people are different and their influence can often create exponential growth and change.

The examples Slartibartfast wishes to cite to support his isolated people theory of exponential influence are:

Japan: Manufacturing processes with quality focus (total quality management and continuous improvement - didn't start in Japan - but by golly, they perfected these approaches)
Yakuza - organised crime that is fearsome and powerful domestically, and has some power abroad also

Sicily: hard-working emigrants who have made a strong impact in farming and construction in other countries - Australia is one of these.
Mafia - the most infamous Sicilian export and the strongest & most feared organised crime group in the world

Iceland: with a tiny population (still under 300,000), it has spawned several contemporary bands and solo performers who have not always become household names, but have influenced and inspired many artists in other countries - Björk, Múm, Sigur Ros, the Sugarcubes, Emiliana Torrini, Kukl and others.

New Zealand: though settled by Europeans, the culture and values of Maori and the Pacific Island nations has seen a strong fusion with European ones. New Zealand-owned companies present in Australia and elsewhere are nimble and innovative.
In sport, especially Rugby Union, they present formidable teams.
The first person to climb Mt Everest was a Kiwi.
Examples of influential cultural exports abound - Russell Crowe, the Finn brothers, Peter Jackson etc.

So, is this a good theory or did Slartibartfast deprive his brain of oxygen when he ascended above the 3000m mark on foot? The next night after the climb, I went to a lovely restaurant in Nicolosi that specialised in fungi. Yes, mushrooms.

Yum!!

Marc stayed back at the hostel, tired and unwilling to spend more than 10 euro on a meal. I was dining alone, but Sebastian, a local doctor and part-time tour guide eager to practice his English with me, became my companion at the table. He helped me choose a scrumptious 3-course meal comprised mainly of varieties of local mushrooms. I couldn't wait to explain my theory and gushed it out to Sebastian. I needed to scribble on his notepad a lot to explain myself fully.

Sebastian got it. He didn't agree though - thinking one of my central ideas was not really plausible. This was my notion about volatility in the environment, caused by earthquakes and volcanoes creating a sense of insecurity and greater need to innovate in a climate of greater-than-average risk. Sebastian pointed out that, different parts of each island were exposed to different levels of that risk - some areas none at all.

Sebastian and I talked about young people being bored in their homogeneous island cultures - how Japanese, Icelandic and Sicilian youths were voracious, zealous, almost obssessive pop culture freaks, devouring new ideas from abroad, especially in music and fashion. About the phenomenon in Japan and Sicily where people don't really grow up until their mid or late thirties since they live at home with their parents so much longer (this happens in Iceland too).

Sebastian further suggested that, in all of these nations, purchase of a home or renting from an early age is delayed. The earnings from a first job are instead diverted into getting a shiny new or near-new car. The important feature of these is a back seat for making love away from your folk's house. Not sure about the relationship between these phenomena, in terms of cause and effect. Buying a car must be more attractive than the commitment and discipline needed to run your own household and pay for it.

Many of these zealous consumers seem to mellow when they travel - Japanese who discover surfing in Australia become much more relaxed and less obsessive about career and material gain. Sebastian thanks his time spent living abroad while growing up for giving him insight into not getting on the 'consume, consume, consume!' treadmill.

I explained to Sebastian how the word for 'stupid' in Icelandic, 'heimskúr', literally means 'boxed in' or 'confined to home'. In other words, unless you travel away from the place where you grow up, you'll never have wisdom and will remain dumb.

Sebastian loved this word and its explanation. He wrote it down in his notebook.

Without being insulting (I hoped!) I explained how much I admired the fearlessness and cunning of the Sicilian Mafia, and how it was more powerful and more feared in certain countries abroad than it was within Sicily / Italy.

Sebastian taught Slartibartfast a word too. It was 'volpe', which means 'wolf' and is also an adjective meaning 'cunning'. He explained that, in Sicily it was understood you could plod along at home and eventually inherit some wealth, find a partner and make a living - through noble or not-so-noble means. To go abroad and achieve these things, and achieve them earlier in life, takes some 'volpe' cunning.

So maybe another earth experiment with different shaped islands in different parts of a planet with fewer or more volcanoes and lots of mushrooms or no mushrooms could provide some insight into whether or not there is any substance to Slartibartfast's theory. I must discuss this with the designers back on Magrathea.

The Cathedral of Monreale: the other great wonder of Sicily made by human hands

Okay, if you've been to see my pictures on Flickr lately you'll see that I was very impressed by the Villa Romana del Casale in the southern inland town of Piazza Amerina. This cathedral was also really astonishing.

Looking up at the ceiling rather than down at the floor of course leads to different comparisons... the inspiration and motive for creating the mosaics for each is also substantially different.

In this case, the patrons are Norman royalty from 1100 AD rather than Greek nobles from 350 AD.. however the labour pool is substantially the same, with artisans drawn from around the Mediterranean, north Africa and the middle east to create a strikingly Byzantine view of Christianity.

Like Icons, the mosaics in this cathedral are surrounded by glittering bling bling in the background - copper tiles with gold leaf.

In the picture above (blurry, hard to capture this place without a tripod and bigger lens), you can see the scenes from the Old Testament book of Genesis -

top row - creation scenes (L-R):
- 'Let there be lights in the vault of heaven'
- 'Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth within the vault of heaven'
- 'Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves'
- 'God rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing'

lower row - Noah and his offspring (L-R):
- 'As flood subsides, Noah disembarks all the animals from the ark'
- Noah and his family make a sacrificial offering to God
- Noah's sons embarrassed by his drunkeness
- The confusing of languages at the tower of Babel (partly obscured)

A team of craftsmen realised the glorious designs on the walls and ceiling of this cathedral. A Byzantine arrangement incorporating elements from a wide range of Mediterranean cultures was achieved with artisans of Greek, Provencal, Roman, Pisan, Arab, Apulian and Venetian origin or training. The name and identity of the chief designer is no longer known, however features of the design point to a person of a Latin background who understood the vision and desires of the Norman patron, King Roger I, as well as fundamentals of Christian theology. The person deserves to be regarded as a 12th-century master of composition and decoration for churches, the way Giotto and Michelangelo were later acknowledged for their respective advances in technique and composition in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Other, smaller churches (Cefalu & Palermo) in Sicily are thought to have superior artistic merit in the composition of their mosaic walls and ceilings. The Monreale Cathedral however remains the largest complete example of mosaic design of this type from the era.

In the central cloister above the altar, a huge likeness of Jesus looms. He has weary, sad eyes, a down-turned mouth and wavy, whorly hair and beard. It could be Evard Munch or Alfons Mucha from the post-impressionist years at the turn of the 20th century. Representations of robes and drapery are detailed; they frequently show plausible folds and weight giving a realistic representation of the arms or legs of the figures under them. This is something Giotto was beginning to master close to 200 years later.

Remarkable too are the sequences where the biblical figures age over time: such as the scene where Eve is molded by God from one of Adam's ribs. The pair are suitably young, plump and fit-looking. Eve could be Kate Winslet, while Adam could be Matthew McConaughey

In a scene that follows, Adam & Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden, looking decidedly scrawnier. Adam is withered and sinewy like a pale Kalahari bushman. Eve is thin and her breasts sag - both have lost their movie star looks and healthy glow. Natural aging in the times before strand-by-strand hair replacement treatment, brassieres and botox. No bongos either!

Waiting for good weather in Sicily

Last night in Brisbane it bucketed down with rain. It felt good - almost unfamiliar. At a singing rehearsal in East Brisbane with Tongues of Fire, most of us went on to the balcony of the hall to feel the water as it gushed and overflowed from the gutters of the roof. We thought a stray cricket ball might fall out too ( the school hall is right next to the Gabba cricket ground ) but nothing plonked down - save for a few leaves and twigs from the fig trees around the hall.

The best recorded rainfall from yesterday was 81 millimetres. Sadly, around the catchments for our water supply, the best recorded was just 3 millimetres.

Right: dry crotch - no pants-wetting anxiety here; this is merely the aftermath of another heavy downpour. Umbrellas did not protect much, moreover the wind was often strong enough to blow them inside out. The daggy but practical poncho kept me (mostly!) dry

The last time it rained like this while I was around was in Catania, Sicily. It drummed down heavily for three days. Needless to say, dams would collect more than 3 mm from the heavens over this time! In fact parts of Catania flooded, especially where storm water drainage or plumbing is medieval or earlier.

Those funny looking 'Croc' shoes were indispensable as some streets backed up to ankle depth with water. Sometimes this did not smell pleasant - medieval plumbing sometimes means wading through effluent in this once affluent town.

The unearthed ruins of a Roman forum near via Garibaldi beginning to fill up with water and mud

So what do you do when you put aside two days to visit Mt Etna and the wet and poor visibility scratches those plans? Well, after you've visited the Duomo - and walked past all the museums to find they are closed for the season or opening later in the week after you leave - there's not a lot to do.. umm, visit the Bellini Gardens and look at the floral clock and calendar:

The composer Bellini lived a short life, like W A Mozart. He is not well known, but was responsible for some of the repertoire that made Maria Callas famous. Catania reveres Bellini as one of its most favoured sons.






Catania's markets were colourful and exciting. Spruiking and haggling were good spectacles to pass the time, as was watching pigeons, stray dogs and cats trying to steal scraps from the vendors. Fresh seafood was a big component of the produce on offer, along with chestnuts (of course), citrus, fresh and dried tomatoes, and artichokes. Yes, fruit from the prickly pear was sold by the tray-full as well!