August 05, London: Bridge and museums

 Off to the Tower....Bridge that is. In yesterday's post there was a picture of the bridge taken from the boat going under it.  This is the view through the glass floor in that span that runs way above:

What did I learn about the bridge? Inter alia that it took six years to build, that the men who did the digging worked very hard, that Queen Victoria did not like the design, the bridge has been painted seven times since in completion in 1894, that we have to put some women into the project so they trotted out the maid and later the cook, the daughter of a single mother who grew up in a work house, the daughter that is, about the mother we don't know except for her marital status, but likely she was in the workhouse, too.  Yes, it is a good thing that women can cook and clean to further the aims of the Tower Bridge Project. BTW, do not confuse the Tower Bridge with London Bridge.  London Bridge is the one that is falling down,

The engine room is full of big machines:

And, of course, there is DANGER.  But before going to the Tower, I strolled over to Buckingham Palace:

where there is a park:

That would be Saint James park.

And on my way to the Bridge, I passed THE Tower and also St Tomas's Tower, which, today, is part of THE Tower:

Remember to click on a photo to enlarge.  But in case you cannot read the blurb below, what it says, in essence, is that Edward got the money to build the tower from taxing the Jews heavily, after which he expelled the entire Jewish community from England in 1290.

For a change of pace, I went to the Tate Modern with a stop at Borough Markets where I bought three kinds of nuts and three apples.  I did not linger at the Tate because not only was it beyond crowded but the art I saw was whacky and way too political for my taste, and the one exhibit that required a ticket was sold out.  

Here is one piece (it is one of six in a series) I found visually and conceptually interesting:

                                                                    GERHARD RICHTER

The six paintings in this room were conceived by Gerhard Richter as a coherent group, named after the American experimental composer John Cage.

Since the early 1980s, Richter has frequently made abstract works by applying layers of paint, and then wiping a squeegee across the surface. As the upper layers of paint are dragged across the canvas, earlier moments from the painting's creation are allowed to resurface.

The Cage paintings are the outcome of several layers of painting and erasure. Their surfaces are animated by lines where the squeegee has paused, by brushstrokes, other scrapings, and areas where the skin of oil paint has dried and rippled. The paint seems delicate and fluid in some areas, coarser and more solid in others.

Richter was listening to the music of John Cage while he worked on these paintings and titled them after the composer. There are no direct links between any particular work in this series and any piece of music by Cage. However, Richter has long been interested in Cage's ideas about ambient sound and silence, as well as his controlled use f chance procedures in musical composition.

After the Tate, I walked to the Sir John Soane Museum, which is actually a house. When dozens and dozens of people queue in the pouring rain, waiting a good half hour to get in, you know it has to be good and it was! 

Here is a sample:

How I felt about the place:

The feature that impressed me most was, as the wikipedia article refers to it, top lighting.  The skylights were stunning and architecturally so creative.  They reminded me a little of Gaudí's windows in the Bishop's Palace in Astorga. Both make use of lightly tinted glass, though to somewhat different effect. Here it is used to cast a warm light into the rooms below, whereas Gaudí's glass seems more essentially decorative.

The people who work/volunteer as, you know, those people who sit in a corner in museums to make sure you don't transgress, were delightfully knowledgable and engaging.  5***** all around.

As a finale, a stop at the National Gallery, where you also had to queue in the pouring rain but for not as long.  The NG is free except for rooms 1-8, which was all I wanted to see.  Exorbitant fee, but other than absolutely terrible, over-interpretive curation, the collection, had some exciting pieces.  All the big names were there!

Here are just a few:

Van Gogh, Woman from Arles:

Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer ii, but not the one stolen by the Nazis and, after a protracted court case, and a movie made about it, eventually returned to her heirs.

Are you thinking Matisse?  

Well, you would be correct and not correct. It is Madame Matisse in a kimono painted by Andre Derain.

So, if you ever visit the National Gallery in London, hand over the pounds and go visit rooms 1-8.