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Leonardo Da Vinci's Notebooks Give You A Reason To Return To Milan
Need several excuses to visit Milan? A Renaissance-era library has begun exhibiting Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, which due to preservation requirements will go on display 45 pages at a time and rotate every three months. So if you can't get to the Bibliotheca Ambrosiana by December 2 to check out da Vinci's military drawings, you have until 2015 to get there and see some of the polymath's magnificent work.
Founded by a cardinal who thought it would aid the Counter-Reformation, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana hosted the second public library in Europe and, unlike most book collections of the day, displayed its treasures in glass cases instead of chaining them to desks against thievery. These days, you still can't borrow anything from the Bibliotheca, but it offers literature classes and, for now, a chance to check out some da Vinci you won't find in other museums.
Tags: Museum Travel / Comic Book Travel / Literary Travel / Los Angeles / Los Angeles Travel / Museums / → All Tags
Deepak Chopra Does Comics? See The Battle For Good And Evil At LACMA
Spider-Man, Batman, and the X-Men are just a few of the superheroes who've earned a respected place in the comic book canon. Dedicated collectors know about mainstream bionic men and woman, and maybe a few underground characters as well, but a new exhibit at Los Angeles' LACMA introduces the public to the transportive world of Indian comics.
Being generally familiar with stories from Hindu epics such as the Ramayana, our interest in modern renderings of ancient gods and goddesses, and the interpretation of said stories, is what drew us to the exhibit. Heroes and Villains: The Battle for Good in India's Comics runs through February 7th of next year, and is a compact representation of cultural comic book art and well-preserved folios from hundreds of years ago.
Tags: San Francisco Travel / Museum Travel / Museums / San Francisco / → All Tags
San Fran's Next Museum May Feature a Fire-Shooting Tree
Only in San Francisco would a house with a tree that shoots fire be considered a future museum site. That is, if saw player extraordinaire and former hotelier Bob Pritikin has his way. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Pritikin, who often throws lavish fundraisers at his residence—sort of an adult's fun house with kitschy memorabilia strewn throughout—is hoping to "pay the bills, make a nice contribution to the community and have some daytime visitors" by transforming his mansion into a museum. He originally suggested the less-than-humble "Only in San Francisco" name for the prospective museum site, though his hopes were dashed after learning that the city's Convention & Visitors Bureau already owns said URL.
The visiting groups would be relatively small, limited to 20 people per day, six days a week, says the Chronicle. Pritikin's idea, if realized, would place his home in the esteemed, eccentric company of one of the Bay Area's other homes-turned-tourist attractions, the Winchester Mystery House. This isn't Pritikin's first hubris-driven campaign on behalf of his home, having previously lobbied for it to have it turned into San Francisco's mayoral residence in 2004. That plan predictably never took off, and handsome politico Gavin Newsom is dwelling elsewhere these days.
Tags: Museum Travel / Museums / Fashion Travel / Los Angeles / Los Angeles Travel / → All Tags
The Original Street Style Photographer, Irving Penn, Hits LA's Getty Center
The courtyard at The Getty Center, Los Angeles
Today, street style dominates the blogosphere and the foremost fashion websites. We're a culture of voyeurs: If it's being worn by Anna Wintour or a MOD (that's insider-speak for Model Off Duty), or photographed paparazzi-style, then we'll sit, stare, and come back for more. But before The Sartorialist and Bill Cunningham were all the rage, a different kind of street style was of interest: real people, wearing layman's clothing, photographed against a neutral backdrop rather than the hustle and bustle of a big city.
Los Angeles' Getty Center is currently celebrating photography vanguard Irving Penn, who recently passed away after a storied career working for magazines including Harper's Bazaar and Vogue. Irving Penn: Small Trades is an exhibition of Penn's photographs from the early 1950s featuring men and women in their work attire. A milkman with a checked shirt and pants riding high, a steel mill firefighter in full protective regalia, and prim and proper ballroom dancing team are just a few of the highlights from Small Trades.
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Chicago Gets Some Bling with The Field Museum's 'Diamond' Exhibit
This tiara, which Salma Hayek donned for a 1998 White House correspondent's dinner (who knew such dinners had a royalty dress code), will be featured at the Field.
Chicago will see some dazzle when "The Nature of Diamonds" brings more than 800 jewels to the Field Museum on October 23. You'll see bling from top-notch designers such as Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron and Cartier.
The centerpiece of the exhibit will be The Vault, a reproduced vault that will showcase rare pieces that have rarely been on display. See the diamond jewelry owned by Mae West, Catherine the Great, Joan Crawford, Elton John and other celebs. A highlight is the 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond, one of the world's largest and finest yellow diamonds, and the 407.48-carat Incomparable Diamond, the largest flawless diamond graded by the Gemological Institute of America and the third-largest cut diamond ever recorded.
Tags: Museum Travel / Art Travel / Milwaukee Travel / Museums / Andy Warhol / → All Tags
The Milwaukee Art Museum Dares Reveal Warhol's Later Years
You've seen Andy Warhol's classic Campbell's Soup cans and his bold, bright Marilyn Monroe silkscreen works, but you probably haven't seen the Pop master's art from the latter part of his life, which veered away from glamour and beauty. The Milwaukee Art Museum gives you a peek at those works with "Andy Warhol: The Last Decade," the first U.S. museum exhibit to examine the artist's final years through a survey of painted pieces.
Although Warhol received most of his acclaim from his '60s Pop Art, his output during decade before his death in '87 was far more prolific. The Milwaukee museum shows pieces from this period, including collaborations with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente that inspired the artist to return to painting by hand; abstract works, black-and-white ads, works examining death and religion, self-portraits, camouflage patterns and oxidation paintings—also known as "piss paintings" because he peed on them...nasty.
Tags: Vanity Fair / Toronto / Toronto Travel / Museums / Museum Travel / → All Tags
Vanity Fair To Shower Toronto With Celebrity Glitz
Hilary Swank as photographed by Norman Jean Roy
From a nude and pregnant Demi Moore to Tom Ford cozying up next to Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley (also nude, naturally), Vanity Fair is well-known for reflecting what's hot—and, apparently, clothes-free—in pop culture since the early 20th Century. In our celebrity-centric culture, Vanity Fair is bar none when it comes to showcasing the mythological glitz of Hollywood life, consistently attracting the curiosity of readers with photo spreads that are sometimes sexy, but always elegant.
With such a storied past, a retrospective seems like a natural way to commemorate 95 years of the magazine's glamorous perspective. Labeled a "smash" after its European tour (because Annie Leibovitz is the Bono of photographers), Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008 is a collection of iconic images from the magazine's history. The exhibit will make a stop at Toronto's Institute for Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum from September 26th of this year through January 3, 2010, the first North American destination. Amelia Earheart, Charlie Chaplin, and Madonna are just some of the marquee names—and images—being used to draw crowds in Canada's capital city.
Tags: St Petersburg Field Trip / Russia Travel / Museums / Jaunted Field Trips / → All Tags
The Big One: You Can’t Leave Without Visiting the Hermitage
While it's hot here in the States, our special contributor Kate Winick is headed to the cold country of Russia. To St. Petersburg to be more specific, and all this week she'll be sending dispatches from the shadow of many onion domes.
Any reasonably worldly-minded person has probably heard the warning that you can’t see the Louvre or the Hermitage Museum in one day. And well—you can’t. Don’t try. There are several special exhibitions going at any one time, although they’re not always well-advertised, and it’s best to just pick one or two sections of interest so you have time to enjoy the art and the interiors themselves—it’s a combination of grand baroque and spooky decay that just about sums up the indefinable nature of modern Russia.
Tags: Sex Travel / Museums / China Travel / Sex / Museum Travel / → All Tags
China Won't Allow A Sex Theme Park, But a Sex Museum Is Alright
Head a couple of hours out of Shanghai to the smaller Chinese city of Tongli, pull 20 RMB out of your wallet and start your sightseeing: at the China Sex Museum. Not quite the combination you might expect in straight-up-and-down China (and the museum's website is based out of Germany – that'll trick 'em), but it sounds like a worthy afternoon outing.
The main sections in the museum include "Sex in Primitive Society", Marriage and Women (groaningly primitive, we hear), Sex in Daily Life and Unusual Sexual Behavior. Apparently things get pretty explicit so you may not want to take your four-year-old.
There's also a garden out the front which, well, includes some fairly garish statues (and a few sweeter-looking ones too), and a tea pavilion if you need a drink to calm you down. Curiously they also offer meeting and small conference facilities so who knows, you really could end up at the China Sex Museum on a "business trip".
Related Stories:
· China Sex Museum [Official Site]
· Porn Looks Dated at Sex Museum's Explicit Exposition [China Daily]
· Out Top Five Alternatives To China's Dismantled Sex Theme Park [Jaunted]
· Asian Sex Park Craze Continues in China [Jaunted]
[Photo: China Sex Museum]
Tags: OpenThread / Museums / The Louvre / Tourist Tricks / → All Tags
Be Honest, How Long Did You Really Spend Inside The Louvre?
This recent article in the New York Times has us feeling a little sheepish. You see, last fall we went to the Louvre in glorious Paris and we did a predictably touristy trip around the museum.
First stop, of course, was the Mona Lisa. Then we decided to take an audio tour that delved into the history of the museum starting with its beginnings as a fortress in the 13th century. As for the art itself, um, yeah, it was extensive. But do we remember much of it? No, not really. We didn't even snap that many pictures (does the picture of the Mona Lisa condoms on Rue de Rivoli count?) And we were out of the museum in just under two hours, only visiting two wings. And the NY Times knows it.
Tags: Drinking at Museums / Museums / Drinking Travel / Bars / → All Tags
Sip Martinis With a View From On Top of the Met
As we mentioned last week, there's just something about drinking in a museum that feels so wrong but oh, so right. So while there’s still some summer sunshine to go around, we figured we’d take a look at a few of our favorite in-museum watering holes.
Unquestionably near the top of the list is the martini bar at the Museum of Metropolitan Art’s roof garden. To get to this artsy drinkers’ oasis, enter through the main museum entrance, but of course don’t pay the tourist-only “suggested admission” of $20 – they’ll let you in for as little as a penny (OK well, don’t be that much of a cheapskate—a few dollars maybe?) Then head up to the fifth floor, where the martini bar opens everyday at 5:30 p.m.
While this has to be called a “martini bar” for sophistication's sake, they actually serve all types of drinks, including frozen margaritas, piña coladas, and strawberry daiquiris. The real draw, of course, is watching the sunset over Central Park and the Manhattan skyline.
Related Stories:
· Martini Bar at the Met [Official Site]
· New York Museum Adds Pop-Up Wine Bar With Central Park Views [Jaunted]
· Prohibition Comes With A Free Drink At New York's City Museumr [Jaunted]
[Photo: valkyrieh116]
Tags: Museum of Arts and Design / Museums / Wine Bars / → All Tags
New York Museum Adds Pop-Up Wine Bar With Central Park Views
Manhattan’s Museum of Arts and Design most likely doesn't make your list of must-stops for an NYC cultural crawl, despite the allure of their spiffy new Columbus Circle digs.
So the contemporary art spot is following in the lead of MoMa, the Guggenheim and other stuffy art institutions that have realized you can’t attract nearly as many patrons with actual art as you can with a nightclub atmosphere and booze. There's just something about drinking in a museum that feels so wrong but so right.
