Monday, January 30, 2012

King Tut at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH)

Durante esto meses se esta exhibiendo en el MFAH,  la exposición Tutankhamun The Golden King and the great pharaons.

http://www.mfah.org/exhibitions/tutankhamun-golden-king-and-great-pharaohs/



Parece que va a ser la ultima que se realice fuera de Egypto, y en la que se echa en falta alguna de las capas del famoso sarcófago, o la mascara de oro, pero el coste del seguro era elevadisimo y decidieron no traerlo, ya que igual no lo rentabilizaban.
Como no podía ser de otra forma,  aproveche la visita para hacer unos dibujillos, que aquí dejo.




Friday, January 27, 2012

The Menil Collection. Part III. The Byzantine Fresco Chapel.


 In june 1983 The Menil Foundation was shown photographs of thirteent-century frescoes that had been cut into 38 pieces and removes from their original site near Lysi, in Turkish-occupied section of Cyprus. They were going to be sold individually for profit and dispersed.

The Foundation contacted both the Republic and the Church of Cyprus. With their knowlledge and encouragement the Foundation paid the ransom to the thieves and received posseion of all 38 fragments.


 The frescoes are forever owned by the Church of Cyprus. This Official and emphatic recognition made it possible to build teh Byzantine Fresco Chapel.
The design of the building, by architect Francois de Menil, embodies two important concepts. First that the architecture restore to the frescoes the spiritual significance an dfunction that had been obscured by the removal from  a religious context.Second, that the chapel invoke the frescoes'history but also bring that past to a new context with new meaning.
The material solidity of the original chapel building is shattered and made ephemeral by means of the framented free-standing glass structure.

UPDATE  Feb,8.2012

Sunday, January 22, 2012

34th Worldwide SketchCrawl Marathon - Houston.

Yesterday, Jan,21,  here in Houston I went for the first time to a meeting with Sketchers. On the occasion of the 34th WorldwideSketchCrawl Marathon, which I had news through Urban Sketchers Texas page, and I immediately registered in SketchCrawl forum and his page in Flick.

At the Houston Museum of natural history, at 9:00 am. the day was quite cloudy, and was raining. In this first meeting which I attend, we were 4 sketchers.
After doing presentations and chatting for a while, we did the first time to sketching.
Firsts sketches made in the gift shop



The second time, took place inside the Museum, where I  try again sKetch the  skeletons of these large mammals disappeared  million years ago.
I sketch with my new Pilot Parallel Pen, is more difficult to use than a pen,but I think the results are no very bad




New reunion, photos of the sketchbooks, us, and time out to eat.







Then we went to The Menil Collection, where we spend another hour and a half, here already use also my other tools, the Pentel brush Pen, also of recent acquisition ,  watercolors, pencils and pans.






Photos of  ours sketchbooks again and one of us leaving  the Museum.
.





And a firm purpose of repeating these meetings in the near future.
Thank you Mary, Chris and Judith, by the fantastic day we spend together

Friday, January 20, 2012

The Menil Collection. Part II. The Rothko Chapel.

The Rothko Chapel was conceived and founded by Dominique and John Menil, whose vision brought together art, architecture, and the sacred.

 For the Chapel, Rothko worked closely with architect Philip Johnson and then with Houston architects Howard Barnstone and Eugene Aubry to design an octagonal, sunlit space to encompass a group of fourteen paintings.










Fourteen majestic paintings created fro nthe space by Mark Rothko
"It is a place where a great artist, turned towards the Absolute, had the courage to paint almost nothing, and did it masterfully.It is a place blessed by the many people who gather there to meditate, to find themselves, and to go beyond themselves" 




American artist Barnett Newman´s colossal Broken Obelisk sculpure, a gift from the de Menils in honor of the Reverend Dr. Martín Luther King,Jr.

Neither Mark Rothko nor Barnett Newman lived to see their art installed at the Chapel.



Over the years, the Chapell has hosted some of the globe´s most profound artist, intellectuals, religious leaders, and human rights activists. Amiri Baraka. the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Brice Marden, Rigoberta Menchú, Pandir Pra Nath, Tariq Ramadan, Steve Reich, Susan Sontag, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the Reverend James A. Forbes have been among the guest.







The Menil Collection is fully accessible and open to the public free  of charge every day of the year.

Monday, January 16, 2012

The Menil Collection. Part I

Opened to he public in June 1987, exhibit and preserve the private art collection of John and Dominique de Menil, Houston philanthropist.
The Menil collection contains diverse holdings representing many world cultures and thousands of years of human creativity, from prehistoric time to de present.
More than 17.000 paintings, sculptures,decorative objects,prints,drawings,photographs, and rare books.
Located in a quiet residential neighborhood within Houston's Museum District, The Menil Collection anchors a cultural enclave of shaded streets where bungalows,stand side by side with with art-filled chapels,artist pavilions, and outdoor sculpture-the whole shaped by the vision and generous spirit of the Menil family.

Exterior Edificio Principal


Tallas de madera, Pinturas en madera, y grabados en piedra.

Colección de arte africano e Iconografía rusa

Una de las salas de la colección donde destaca la lata de tomate de Andy Warhol.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Cronica de un viaje, largo, muy largo.

Me esta pareciendo que resulta mas fácil contar historias con dibujos,que con palabras. Y como sigo seco de Acuarelas que mostrar, pues la ocasión la pintan calva, y hago esta entrada con lo sucedido el 3 de Enero, en el viaje de vuelta a Houston.
Breve sketch realizado en dos minutos, lo que tardo en llegar el Tren que lleva de la T4 a la T4 Satélite en Barajas.

Aquí ya nos habían indicado que el vuelo salía con una hora de retraso por motivos atmosféricos, (teníamos dos horas en Londres para poder coger la conexión a Houston) todavía tranquilo y haciendo un dibujito.

Intentamos sin éxito ver la posibilidad de coger otras conexiones, ya que vuelven a retrasar el vuelo, ya la esperanza de coger el de Houston cada vez es mas lejana.
Por fin salimos de Madrid,esperando que en Londres nos busquen una solución, porque la conexión va en hora, y en el avión ya nos dicen que no llegamos.
LLegada a Londres, el caos, muchísimos vuelos retrasados y muchas conexiones perdidas.
Filas interminables y súper mal organizadas, con gente intentando colarse constantemente. Despues de 3 horas, nos dicen que han abierto otros mostradores, pero para ello hay que pasar el control,de inmigración e ir a la zona de CheckIn, actualmente estamos en la zona de Transito. Para allá nos dirigimos,ya que donde estamos la espera parece eternizarse, de nuevo colas para pasar el control de inmigración, y búsqueda de los mostradores.


Filas mas pequeña por el momento, que minuto a minuto se van llenando de gente.
Despues de otras 2 horas, nos solucionan el problema : Vuelo directo a Houston al día siguiente por la mañana, noche en el Sofitel, conectado con en el mismo Terminal 5 de Heathrow, a escasos 10 minutos andando sin salir al aire libre (y pensamos que la T4 de Barajas es grande!! Cena y Desayuno.

Ya mas relajados algunos dibujitos mas para descargar la tensión acumulada, eso si con una buena Guiness.


Día 4, todo según lo previsto, Desayuno, corta espera, y bueno de 10:30 horas a Houston.


 Llegada en hora, y por arte de magia (para mi eso es magia), llegan las maletas, que habíamos facturado en Madrid casi un día y medio antes.
Y colorín colorado este cuento con final feliz se ha acabado.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Vuelta al Museo del Prado.

Hace unas semana, con motivo de la primera quedada con Urbansketchers españoles realizada en la exposición del el Hermitage, que en estos meses esta en el Museo del Prado, hice una entrada en este blog.
He vuelto de nuevo, pero esta vez mientras mi mujer y mi hermana  disfrutaba de la exposición, yo me dirigí al claustro, y estuve dibujando un par de estatuas, solo con tinta. Estoy utilizando mucho color, y quería hacer la prueba a ver como era dibujar solo con tinta negra.  Aquí están los resultados.


Doña MAria de Hungria por Leone Pompei


Carlos V por Leone Pompei