tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66685347037319199422024-02-08T10:25:47.826-08:00The Ciliwung-Thames ExpressJennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-26312954830712667422011-05-04T15:21:00.000-07:002011-08-08T07:52:29.980-07:00Streets of London: Royal processionThe wedding. The dress. The kiss. <br />
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Spectators, fresh-faced choristers, flower-girls, prelates in embroidered copes, family in jewels were supported by highly polished cars, police, soldiers, and carriages. Royal procession in the 21st century.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Clifford Geertz, anthropologist, wrote about 16th century procession. The display of Elizabeth I made her authority visible.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Geertz also wrote about 14th century royal procession. Hayam Wuruk was suspended in the Javanese cosmos between his people and the gods. His authority was apparent in the length of his retinue, the magnificence of his gold and jewellery.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Later, down at the Thames, all was quiet. I watched the tide, surging against a bollard, and made a drawing.</div>Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-75036793488272463972011-04-26T13:19:00.000-07:002011-04-29T08:55:41.373-07:00British Museum: Ornament of OmanMore exquisitely detailed costume...<br />
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Traditionally, for an Oman man, a weapon was part of everyday dress. Fastened in a belt at the front of the tunic was a <i>khanjar</i> - a thick curved dagger sharpened on both edges. It was said to take a month or more to make the blade. The belt and the sheath were decorated with silver.<br />
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Traditionally, a dagger was also carried in Indonesia. Men wore their <i>keris</i> in a belt. Women might also wear a small sheathed <i>keris</i>, as a hair ornament. The blade might be straight, or the edges shaped in almost-parallel wavy lines, gradually converging. The craft to make these blades has been compared with the craft of samurai sword-makers.<br />
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The shape of waves can be elusive. At Blackfriars Bridge, with joggers behind me, I watched water as it lapped against the Embankment. I made a drawing.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-82816579216482329632011-04-12T16:16:00.000-07:002011-04-12T16:16:51.210-07:00British Museum: Parthenon Marbles<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What can survive repeated conquest? On the Acropolis: </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><ul><li>The sanctuary for Athena was destroyed by Persians in 480 BC</li>
<li>The Parthenon was completed in 432 BC, a Doric temple and treasure store</li>
<li>In the 5th century AD the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church</li>
<li>In the early 1460s it was converted into an Islamic mosque, with a minaret </li>
<li>In 1687 a Venetian bomb exploded the Turkish ammunition store inside, causing destruction</li>
<li>In 1806 an Englishman took some of the sculptures to England.</li>
</ul><div>Perhaps Indonesia had more luck - the Portuguese, the Spanish, the English, the Dutch were interested in spices, not terrain. Before them, other sailors and merchants came to trade: Chinese, Arab, Buddhist, Hindu. And if later there were priests and dignitaries, their influence could be absorbed in a more gradual process. That is, until the final period of colonial rule, as enlightened nations were building their empires.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The Thames has been flowing for thousands of years. Today I watched it flow under Waterloo Bridge. Waterloo: one of the last stands of Napoleon the Conqueror. I made a drawing.</div>Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-12468076729465257942011-04-11T05:49:00.000-07:002011-04-11T11:51:04.006-07:00Tate Modern: PicassoThere was a room with several works from the 1930s, and a 1920s work in a separate exhibition. The subjects (objects?) were mostly women. It is astonishing to stand and stare as if this were an everyday occurrence, to be mere inches away, to see the overlaps of lines, to examine the edges and joins of coloured planes, and then walk backwards... and see the larger effect.<br />
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With a Sunday afternoon ice cream, I walked along the edge of the Thames to Southwark Cathedral, where bells were ringing, sounding like an Indonesian gamelan orchestra. One person starts, and everyone joins in, playing each percussive part in cycling patterns. In the breaks, bells could be heard across the water, at St Magnus the Martyr. The tide came in. I made a drawing.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-43583368163447335392011-04-04T00:51:00.000-07:002011-04-04T06:37:40.513-07:00British Museum - bronze bellsOn the way in, there's a row of bronze temple bells, some from the Qing dynasty. They're as tall as a child and they probably weigh ten times as much. But they're not for ringing. They sit on their rims, like statues.<br />
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In the Indonesian National Museuam there are bronze drums from Vietnam, and outside a bronze elephant, a gift from the King of Siam, Chulalongkorn, on a state visit to the Dutch East Indies in 1871. In return, he is said to have received Buddhist statues from the temple at Borobudur. <br />
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My purse runs to less substantial artefacts - less statuary, more implements of daily life - a tartan scarf from Edinburgh, a book at the airport, a new set of pencils. <br />
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At Canary Wharf there was a spectacular sunset. I made a drawing.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-26347611795455582102011-03-28T16:54:00.000-07:002011-03-29T14:32:23.741-07:00The British Museum - Enlightenment GalleryIt was a surprise to see them - in amongst the cases of ancient Greek and Egyptian artefacts - the Indonesian wayang masks and puppets, the bronze gamelan instruments. A gong with the Indonesian central boss.<br />
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And there I was again, in a moment, at the door of the dusty showroom at the Bogor gong factory, 2 hours from Jakarta. The Saturday traffic snarled and roared in the street behind me and, to the fore, the hammers of the workmen in the darkened forge chimed, gradually flattening the metal for another gong. When my luck was in, there would be wayang golek for sale, as well as an assortment of gamelan. <br />
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The wooden golek heads and limbs were carved and painted in traditional elaboration. The clothes were patterned and satin, sequin-studded. It was an endless source of wonder. 'Which character is this?' I would ask. They would tell me the name of the Ramayana character based on their examination of its features. The carver provided no information other than the work itself. Sometimes the staff would talk about it a bit. Sometimes they would call in one of the older men to give a final opinion. <br />
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I stood in the Museum, looking at pieces collected 200 years ago. They could have been collected yesterday.<br />
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I caught the train to the river, where a bird, probably looking much like its antecedents 200 years ago, was catching fish at low tide. I made a drawing.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-7017841889267198952011-03-22T16:15:00.000-07:002011-04-07T00:24:17.400-07:00British Museum again - Balkan textilesThe richness and variety of the wedding dress was unexpected - layered and pleated, embroidered and crocheted, woollen and linen, draped with coin belts, fastened with embossed silver buckles.<br />
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The wedding dress of Indonesia was also unexpected - at least to my western, white-lace-trained eye. I sat one day in a songket workshop in Palembang, south Sumatra, as a young women whirled about her length after length of red brocade - golden threads and silk in elaborate abstracts - patterns glinting in the dim light.<br />
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In the Balkans and Sumatra alike, companions also wore sumptuous clothes, grand gestures for moments of magnificence.<br />
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I took the number 19 bus to the Thames. We passed through Sloane Square - a place of magnificence, with almost more fashion in the streets than in the shops. Beside Battersea Park I made a drawing.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-67021324172906331212011-03-19T05:07:00.000-07:002011-04-07T00:29:18.122-07:00The British Museum - Afghanistan ExhibitionSoft power: changing perception, influence by invoking wonder.<br />
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The civilisations and trade routes of Afghanistan were illustrated by 3,000 years of artefacts - gold, glass, ivory - the statuary and other relics of cities and nomads - princesses, bearded bulls and river gods. <br />
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War was referenced in a shattered statue, delayed excavation, treasures in hiding.<br />
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The long history of Eurasian trade and civilisation was laid out, and the shorter stories of sporadic war.<br />
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As in Afghanistan, so in Indonesia.<br />
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But it was easier in Afghanistan, the investment was relatively small - horses and camels traversed deserts and mountains. For Indonesia, one needed ships.<br />
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Later at Canary Wharf, I watched boats surge against the tide, and made a drawing.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-49243522758294730592011-02-27T05:52:00.000-08:002011-04-07T00:35:35.932-07:00Visit to the British MuseumDashing around... assignments to write...<br />
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I dipped into the British Museum, to an exhibition of Islamic art. In the 1400s, it seems, Islamic tile-makers were influenced by Chinese designs, and emulated the simple blue and white they saw on porcelain, traded from the Far East to the eastern Mediterranean.<br />
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In Cirebon, North Java, where Muslim traders are said to have brought their faith to Indonesia, Islamic palaces are tiled with ceramics from the Netherlands, in simple blue and white, simple maroon and white. The tiles have Christian Biblical motifs - Adam and Eve and other stories.<br />
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Later, at Wood Wharf, I made a drawing.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-24997164552973050472011-02-15T12:11:00.000-08:002011-02-15T12:11:56.763-08:00A walk to Green Park, Buckingham Palace and St James's ParkThe day became colder and colder. Time to warm up with a walk.<br />
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As far as I could see in any direction, the bare trees of Green Park shaded into misty mauve. The tonality refreshed my eyes. This was a park for walkers, joggers and dog walkers. In the grass near the southern fence, bulbs were starting to shoot short green leaves. <br />
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Across the road, the Palace was magnificent. But when did the guards start to wear grey uniforms? I thought they wore red. Perhaps grey is for winter. Preparations for the royal wedding must be well underway. I could see no sign of bustle at the windows, but out in the street the Queen Victoria Memorial was under renovation - some of the statues were boarded up.<br />
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Across the road again, to St James's Park - a little further south, a little warmer perhaps? Bulbs were in bloom: yellow, cream, violet. Swans, ducks and geese paddled obligingly around the viewing area. This was a park for saunterers, but it came on to rain, and I moved on.<br />
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In Jakarta, apart from golf courses, the large green space in the city is Medan Merdeka, with the white marble spire of the National Monument at its centre. Under the spire, in the Hall of Contemplation, you can see the Declaration of Independence, read out by the voice of Sukarno. It's very cool inside, a refuge from the heat for children, who slide down the Hall's sloping walls. Unlike the golf courses, Medan Merdeka is open to all - sportsmen, boys flying kites, family picnickers, couples arm-in-arm, hawkers. It's a venue for demonstrations, and the starting point for protesters marching down Jalan Thamrin, to the fountain at Tugu Selamat Datang (Welcome Statue) at Hotel Indonesia.<br />
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While I walked across London, the rain and cold intensified. I sheltered at Adelphi Terrace, and made this drawing of the sky above the Thames.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-17533183657301938902011-02-06T15:07:00.000-08:002011-02-07T11:19:21.071-08:00A visit to the National GalleryTime with the 1400s Netherlands painters - conventional religious imagery, intense colour.<br />
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The Dutch began trading in Indonesia much later, in 1596. But the Chinese had already been trading in Indonesia for many years.<br />
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Outside the Gallery, in Trafalgar Square, the Chinese Spring Festival was underway. Marking Year of the Rabbit, people in masks swayed to music, looking like massed Easter bunnies. Children darted through the crowd with electronic coloured lanterns. The 'snap' of throw-down fireworks was ubiquitous.<br />
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I went down to the Embankment away from the crowd, and made a drawing. Across the Thames, the south side was a blaze of light.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-50886468993332150142011-02-01T13:46:00.000-08:002011-02-01T13:55:40.962-08:00A visit to the Royal ObservatoryComing through town, I passed the preparations for major demonstrations - stacks of placards, political parties proffering petitions, assemblies of police. Soon they would head to Westminster, to protest decreased budgets and increased student fees.<br />
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Greenwich was quieter. It is a major attraction to stand at the Prime Meridian, at longitude 0. People of all ages and sizes line up, with one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one in the west. <br />
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For visitors with a more technical interest in longitude, sea-going clocks made by John Harrison in the 1700s are on view in the royal astronomer's house. If his clocks could be relied upon during long voyages, sailors could determine east-west position with accuracy, and navigate with confidence.<br />
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Captain James Cook tested Harrison's clocks in the late 1770s, as he sailed around the world. He stopped for ship repairs in bustling Batavia in 1770, but, dismayed by the malaria prevalent at that time, he quickly moved on.<br />
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The malaria has gone, but the bustle remains. Political demonstrations are an everyday part of life in Jakarta. How often have loyal supporters in party-coloured T-shirts stood in the road directing traffic, finding ways for convoys of party-faithful waving party-coloured banners to navigate the choked streets.<br />
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Greenwich is quieter. I stood at the water's edge and made this drawing.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-23396230934718427522011-01-25T02:14:00.000-08:002011-01-25T02:17:19.779-08:00The Rosetta Stone in the British MuseumAs usual, the Museum was busy and the Stone, when I arrived, was obscured by a large crowd. Apparently it's the most popular exhibit. Its early existence was also illustrious, a piece of a stela carved in 196 BC as a part of coronation ceremonies for the boy king Ptolemy V. It records a tax exemption granted by Ptolemy V to priests - written in 3 languages: hieroglyphics, understood by the priests, demotic, the language of the Egyptians at that time, and Greek. <br />
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The broken Stone, in its current form, was found during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt in July 1799 - in Rashid on the west bank of the Nile, where it had been used as material to build a fort. The Stone was taken to Europe where study of the 3 languages enabled translation of hieroglyphics.<br />
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One of the surprising things about Indonesia, to a westerner, is the number of scripts, apparently derived from Sanskrit, Arabic and Malay. In the National Museum in Jakarta, numerous stones record these scripts. Water was poured from the carved serpent heads at the top of one such massive stone, over a curse engraved on its face, and collected in a drinking vessel under its carved spout. The curse, devised by a king, meant that whoever drank the water, if disloyal, would suffer terrible consequences. <br />
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These days, the water of the Thames is less malign. I went down to Canary Wharf to make a drawing.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-78211032242575372642011-01-18T13:03:00.000-08:002011-01-24T15:07:57.468-08:00A visit to the Design MuseumFrom London Bridge Station I passed the business district south of the Thames, then warehouses converted to shops, but still with the feel of 'warehouse': mysterious fragrance, commodities in bales. In the distance I could see the sign for the Design Museum.<br />
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The Jakarta Maritime Museum (Museum Bahari) is housed in warehouses where the Ciliwung enters Sunda Kelapa Harbour. Dating from 1652, these buildings stored pepper, tea, coffee and cloth for the Dutch East India Company. Today they display watercraft - traditional and modern, European and local - that navigated Indonesia. The diversity in designs for ships and boats is surprising. But, no doubt, each vessel was adapted for its circumstances.<br />
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The day I visited Museum Bahari, in the broad alley between the warehouses, a wedding party greeted guests. The warehouses were dim, massive stone and timber constructions. The wedding party was a shimmer of colour, light glanced from tapestry and lace, traditional garments and modern high heels.<br />
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In the Design Museum in London there was an exhibition of fashion drawings. For the ships and boats of Indonesia, the design question was fitness for purpose. For garments in London the issue was perception: sophistication. These are two distinct reasons for design.<br />
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Outside the afternoon was chilly. I made a drawing near Tower Bridge, and went home.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-4326642504012828322011-01-09T13:07:00.000-08:002011-01-09T13:13:16.658-08:00The Tate Modern Gallery again...I went to see Ai Weiwei's 'Sunflower Seeds' sculpture - 100 million hand-made slightly-larger-than-life glazed ceramic seeds spread across an expanse of floor - a field of undifferentiated grey in the distance shading to striped particles, light and dark, up close. <br />
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Conceptual art, the work reflects on propaganda and on small acts of humanity during the Cultural Revolution, as people shared sunflower seeds, and as people themselves were depicted as sunflowers turning to Mao, the sun. <br />
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The work also reflects on the modern-day 'Made in China' tag. The artist worked with craftspeople in Jingdezhen, famous for its porcelain, drawing on their traditional skills.<br />
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Traditional skills are widely-practised in Indonesia: stone-carving, wood-carving, puppet-making, batik-making. In the traditional workshops of Cirebon, women patiently heat wax resist and apply it in canting ('chanting') to silk, sitting in stillness, like Vermeer paintings. Fine work is made to order, from the international market.<br />
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Outside, the days are longer. This was a beautifully sunny day, if icy cold - it must be snowing somewhere. I made this drawing near the Millennium Bridge then hurried home.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-12487145334326976982011-01-04T15:39:00.000-08:002011-01-04T15:39:28.368-08:00It was time to spend time in Greenwich...It was an icy day, and the DLR line was under repair, but the decision had been made and the visit went ahead. The driver of the substitute bus was delightful, if somewhat uncertain about the route.<br />
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When we finally arrived, I wandered around the hospital for veteran sailors (later the Royal Naval College). There were memorials to heros. In 1806, on the upper level of the Painted Hall, the body of Horatio, Lord Nelson lay in state, following the battle of Trafalgar. Closer to the river, a statue marked Sir Walter Raleigh, 200 years earlier.<br />
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In Jakarta are many memorials to heros. One National Hero, Diponegoro, is depicted as strong-willed and flamboyant. A Javan prince from Yogyakarta, he led guerilla warfare against Dutch colonials from 1825 to 1930, until he was captured and exiled to Sulawesi (the Celebes). His name lives on in history books, statues, in the title of a Semarang university and in the current title of the Central Java military region.<br />
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Wanting to head to the National Gallery, behind Nelson's Column and Trafalgar Square, I didn't have time for the vagaries of delightful bus drivers. I took the launch and made a drawing on the way.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-10244747280982564802010-12-30T15:23:00.000-08:002010-12-30T23:11:19.394-08:00The Tate Gallery again...Post-Christmas, it was time for a bit of quiet. The exhibition was 'Modernism in Britain in the 1930s' - when artists including Piet Mondrian and Naum Gabo left the possibility of war in continental Europe, joining artists including Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson in Britain.<br />
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Given the uncertainty of the times, and perhaps from this distance, the works are strangely calm and comforting. In the 1930s, perhaps they were more confronting. Even so, none of these works imagine the horror and destabilisation that was to come, in Europe and in Asia. These works are quiet explorations of space.<br />
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Outside, on the Thames Embankment, the afternoon was black and bleakly cold. I made this drawing quickly, and went home to be warm.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-25774529394949224992010-12-21T07:35:00.000-08:002010-12-21T07:35:46.191-08:00Heathrow is shut: rebooking flights in Cromwell Road, and the V&AWell, I was supposed to fly on Sunday night, but Heathrow was iced-in. Monday morning held a visit to the airline office in Cromwell Road. 'You can try your luck on the wait-list tonight, if you go to the airport.' I was there with about 500 others in a long queue. Tuesday morning: back to the airline office and, success, a flight later tonight. What luck! I'll be home for Christmas.<br />
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In this part of town, and with a few hours to spare, I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum. This is such a treat - curiosity cabinets, western sculptures and tapestries, Asian artefacts and an exhibition of Buddhist sculpture in Asia. There were Buddhas, bodhisattvas and guardians from South Asia - Pakistan, India and Nepal - and from East Asia - China, Tibet and Japan.<br />
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The Indonesian temple of Borobudur, in Central Java, is apparently one of the largest. Every year, with chanting and lanterns, monks celebrate the birth, enlightenment and passing of Gautama the Buddha. The statues and reliefs are elaborately carved, the imagery moving from the mundane to the divine with the ascent of each terraced level.<br />
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Leaving the V&A, I caught the underground to Temple, and stood near the camel benches on the Embankment, apparently a reference to the 1916 Imperial Camel Corps. While I drew this cormorant, lunchtime joggers splashed behind me through the slush.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-45252559342564493512010-12-14T14:26:00.000-08:002010-12-14T14:29:49.382-08:00A visit to the Courtauld GalleryA little late - the weekend was busy with essays and exam prep.<br />
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But by Tuesday it was all over. I went to Somerset House to the exhibition of Cezanne's pipe smoking, card playing peasants. A lovely exhibition, preliminary drawings and character sketches beside final paintings. The artist at work.<br />
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Somerset House is also a treat - numerous exhibitions among the government offices, complex architecture of stairways and light wells, sculptures redolent of the Navy Board (an early tenant) and now, in winter, ice-skating in the courtyard. Apparently there are tombs downstairs, and a Catholic chapel from the 1600s.<br />
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I spent an afternoon once in Taman Prasasti in Jakarta, the park of memorial stones, complete with hearse, which offers a history of Europeans in tombstones from about 1690. There are monuments to military men with elaborate coats of arms and carved stone drums and bugles, governors, officials of the Dutch East India Company, a bishop, Olivia Marianne, the wife of Thomas Stamford Raffles, wealthy landowners, and scholars of theology, the Ramayana and archaeology.<br />
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At this time of year, Somerset House has a less tropical ambience. In search of sunshine again, I wandered down to the Embankment and made a drawing near Waterloo Bridge.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-62597966678361474862010-12-05T08:13:00.000-08:002010-12-10T15:48:42.548-08:00Bridget Riley at the National GalleryThere was new abstract work, painted directly onto the wall. <br />
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There was a film about influences - painters using colour in shape and direction - spoken by Bridget Riley.<br />
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There was a line of thought about perception as, after the Renaissance, painters moved away from belief in the existence of the traditional subjects of painting.<br />
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Abstraction in central Java has other meanings, printed on fabric - geometric patterns for the clothes of various types of court official and servant.<br />
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In batik shops in Jakarta, amongst the modern pieces, you can find metres of fabric with naive figurative patterns - farmers tilling rice fields, foreign armies with cannon, modern armies with tanks, kings hunting with their retinues, and the ultramodern motifs of the ultrarich - moguls playing golf, with their golf buggies.<br />
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Walking down to Jubilee Bridge the midday winter sun was blinding, ferociously hot, after a week of snow and ice. I made a drawing of sun.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-3350884367901801252010-11-28T10:46:00.000-08:002010-11-28T10:50:23.304-08:00A visit to St Paul's CathedralLudgate was not crowded. There had been talk of snow. Perhaps some people stayed home. <br />
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Inside the Cathedral visitors hovered near the western entrance. I stood near the racks of candles and cast my eyes down the nave - past the Duke of Wellington Monument, past the dome, to a person near the high altar making ready for evensong.<br />
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Turning around and looking up, there were electronic trumpets on either side of the walkway that joins the north and south corridors of the triforium, high above the worshippers. I'll have to come back another day to see its hidden treasures.<br />
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Just before leaving Jakarta I visited Gereja Sion (De Nieuwe Portugueesche Buitenkerk), thought to be the oldest remaining church in the city - built from 1693-1695, with a bell cast in Batavia in 1675 and an 18th century pipe organ. The church is still in use, with electric guitars to complement the organ and elaborate floral arrangements from Cikini flower market. Built on marsh, about 10,000 wooden piles support the brick, granite and ebony structure.<br />
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It's dark early these days. I caught the DLR from Bank to Limehouse and booked Christmas lunch at a place on the river. I made this drawing looking across the water to Canary Wharf.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-4400340917934059302010-11-21T11:56:00.000-08:002010-11-28T13:09:37.403-08:00A visit to the Tower of LondonIt was time to visit one of the iconic sights - the Jewel House at the Tower of London - to see the treasures of the kingdom of England.<br />
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The magnificence of the crowns was in the shimmering textures of gems, offset by the softness of velvet and ermine. The coronation and banqueting plate was enlivened by motifs of heraldry and Christianity, wrought in the gold.<br />
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In Jakarta, treasures of the kingdom of Mataram (752-1045) are displayed at the National Museum - jewellery, coins and plate with motifs of the Ramayana, wrought in the gold. These motifs of the Hindu Ramayana are repeated in other larger carved-stone treasures of Mataram, at Prambanan temple in Central Java.<br />
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In the chill afternoon air, outside the walls of the Tower of London, an iceskating rink was lively and noisy. I saw another rink the other day, perhaps more for adults at Canary Wharf, a bit further down the Thames. <br />
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Jakarta also caters for ice-skating enthusiasts, with a year-round rink in Taman Anggrek (orchid garden), a major shopping mall. Half is for free-skating and half for coaching the local talent.<br />
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The air became icy. I walked up the Thames past Customs House and Old Billingsgate Market, towards London Bridge, and made this drawing.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-37425821061042903752010-11-14T11:10:00.000-08:002010-11-14T11:10:16.742-08:00A visit to Kew GardensIt seemed like a good idea to visit Kew before autumn set in. <br />
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We waited in the first explorer bus of the day at 11.00 am, and listened to the minute silence broadcast by the BBC for Remembrance Day. The announcer said the Royal Family was assembled at Whitehall to lay wreaths. The bus set off through Kew Gardens when the gun at Horse Guards marked the end of the silence.<br />
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The sky and the foliage were dripping water. It was fresh and damp. In the shadows, under the shelter of low branches, iridescent blue peacocks gathered, and long-tailed golden pheasants with dusky red feathers. <br />
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There was a lily pond, with a small variety of waterlily. I thought of the giant lily pads in the gardens at Bogor, two hours drive south of Jakarta. It was a place for family photographs, and a magnet for small boys hurling stones. The pond at Kew was a much more restful place. <br />
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I went out of the Gardens to stand on the bank of the Thames, and made this drawing while it rained.Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-80193734436327232252010-11-07T12:51:00.000-08:002010-11-07T12:55:03.579-08:00A visit to the Tate GalleryI went to see the Turner Prize exhibition, and the Joseph Mallord William Turner paintings.<br />
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The Turner Prize is awarded for contemporary art. Visitors moved slowly through the works. It was a thought-provoking exhibition.<br />
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The JMW Turner paintings were much more accessible to my eye - although apparently not in his day. He was criticised as a romantic, following an entirely personal vision in his representations of water, sky and light in London and Venice. In the adjoining room there were eight small etchings by William Blake, hand-coloured and sombre. Again, these were well-known forms but smaller than the familiar book reproductions and intense, pulling one into intricate enclosed space quite different from the sense of immensity in the Turner paintings.<br />
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Outside the Gallery, as darkness fell, I walked across the road to the Thames. The whiz-banging of fireworks started up again, as it had every night this week - an extended bonfire night - a lengthy tribute to Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot. <br />
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In Jakarta, Chinese New Year is a like this - fireworks every night for a week. Drinking tea and sitting in my favourite armchair on the eighteenth floor, I watched coloured sparks hurtle into the sky, explode into shimmering gold, and fade away, in one part of the Chinese quarter after another.<br />
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I stood on the Millbank Millenium Pier to make a drawing of the lights from the Albert Embankment.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668534703731919942.post-3752717060083769942010-10-31T23:54:00.000-07:002010-11-06T14:04:00.606-07:00The National Gallery once more...<div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In the Gallery I stayed with Peter Paul Rubens - classical and Biblical scenes, vigorous movement and voluptuous figures in glowing colour.</span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Outside, daylight saving was gone. The Hindu Festival of Lights - Diwali - was celebrated with electrifying dance in Trafalgar Square. I looked on from the steps of the National Gallery - more vigorous movement and voluptuous figures in glowing colour.</span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Jakarta doesn't have daylight saving, being closer to the Equator. Wet season or dry season, all year round, it's light by about 6.00 am and dark by about 6.00 pm. I waited for the long days of summer, but they never came. But if there are differences, there are similarities. Now, east of Jakarta on the island of Bali, Indonesians also celebrate the Festival of Lights.</span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">As I walked down to Jubilee Bridge the sounds of Diwali faded. On the Bridge I made a drawing, steering clear of Halloween revellers in Edvard Munch 'Scream' masks, while carousel music from South Bank mingled with the tooting and shouting from Thames party cruises.</span></div>Jennifer Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634799781596843849noreply@blogger.com0