Antwerp Kimono Show

Last weekend we travelled to Antwerp to see an exhibition of kimono by the late Japanese master Itchiku Kubota. Kubota is one of my favourite artists and the chance to see some of his pieces that I only knew in reproduction made the trip a must.

The exhibition was small with just eight kimono, six from the “Symphony of Light” series (the “Universe” set) plus two from his “Mount Fuji” series. The works were fabulous, which I knew they would be, but sadly the quality of the display was very poor with untidy hanging and lighting totally unsuitable for this type of work. The main light came from an internal paved courtyard but this caused so much reflection on the glass that you could only really see the piece directly in front of you. Fortunately we were permitted to take photographs, which is normally strictly forbidden in Kubota exhibits.

Reflections on the glass made viewing very difficult!

The “Universe” set of kimono represents a mythical dragon within Mount Fuji breathing out flames and magma. They form one amazing continous image which was impossible to photograph but I have put together a set of individual photos to show the effect.

The Universe set from “The Festival of Light”

The complexity of the shibori work is amazing

The subtle areas are among the most beautiful

One of the Mount Fuji kimono

The hand-stitched shibori textures are breathtaking!

The other Mount Fuji kimono

Kubota would spend as much as a year working on each kimono

The exhibition runs until the 19th June at MOMU – The Antwerp Fashion Museum. Antwerp itself is not a city I had ever considered visiting but proved to be a very pleasant and enjoyable destination.

Metal sculpture in Florence

A few weeks ago I posted some photos of Florentine wrought ironwork. Here is a follow-up featuring Florentine metalwork closer to the fine art end of the spectrum. This is a huge subject with a great tradition but these are just a few pictures that appealed to me.

The main bronze doors of Florence Cathedral by Augusto Passaglia

The casting of relief-decorated bronze doors has been a major art form in Florence since the start of the Renaissance. In fact, many classic texts date the true start of the Italian Renaissance to the sculpting of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s doors for Florence’s Baptistery.

“The Annunciation” – A panel in a side door of Florence Cathedral

Sadly, the two sets of doors that Ghiberti made for the Baptistery have now been replaced by modern copies in order to preserve the originals. The copies are superb, however, and a great testament to an enduring Florentine bronze casting tradition.

One of the North doors of the Baptistery (a modern exact replica)

The second set of doors by Ghiberti were christened “The Gates of Paradise” by Michelangelo

Detail from “The Gates of Paradise” (a modern replica)

Cast sculpture can be found throughout Florence both in the galleries and out in public spaces. A favourite of mine is the fountains in the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata by Pietro Tacca.

Detail from a mannerist fountain by Pietro Tacca

As well as skills with bronze, Florence has long been renowned as a centre for gold-smithing. In the Pitti Palace fine examples are displayed of gold working from many periods.

A gold mounted drinking horn

A large gold snail featuring a real seashell

Finally, though not high art, I noticed a number small metal tortoises scattered around the city, often in hard to spot places and usually carrying heavy loads on their backs.

See also: Florentine Ironwork

 

 

Stokesay Castle

A few weeks ago we spent a weekend in the lovely city of Hereford. As well as spending time visiting the beautiful cathedral and interesting shops we also took a trip by car to see an old favourite of ours.

Stokesay Castle is a medieval fortified manor house situated on the A49 between Hereford and Shrewsbury. It was originally built in the 1280’s and much of that first building phase has somehow survived.

The entrance to Stokesay Castle with its ornate gatehouse

Some additions and alterations were made in the 16th century, most notably the construction of an ornate gatehouse. The only other major change to the layout came during the civil war when the Parliamentarians demolished the curtain wall after the castle was surrendered to them.

The South Tower is the most military looking part of the structure

Stokesay was built as a grand country residence by a powerful wool merchant named Richard of Ludlow, who was one of the richest people in England.

The great hall stands just as originally built

The great hall is the stand out feature of the castle and gives a powerful impression of how basic life in a medieval household must have been. We had last visited Stokesay about fifteen years before on a warm summer’s day. This time we came on a bleak freezing day in February and it really brought home how cold life was in large uninsulated buildings without glazing to keep the wind out.

The impressive roof of the great hall

The main door to the great hall

The carved wooden fireplace surround in the 16th century solar

Things became more civilized in the sixteenth century when a private room adjoining the great hall was converted into a solar, with glazed windows and wood panelled walls.

The elaborate and decorative gatehouse

The building of the decorative gatehouse as part of the sixteenth century updating illustrates how life had become much less dangerous on the Welsh borders by this time. The gatehouse is very beautiful but looks slightly incongruous in the context of the other buildings. The missing outer castle wall adds to its sense of dislocation.

This serpent is one of many carved decorations on the gatehouse walls

Stokesay Castle is situated in a beautiful valley

Sheep grazing by the castle

Today, Stokesay Castle is owned and maintained by English Heritage. In a world where heritage sites too often try to be entertaining, this old building that has survived so miraculously is presented to visitors with the minimum modern embellishment possible and that is very refreshing. If you are ever in that part of the world it is worth a visit.

An Ocean of Foxgloves

I went for a walk in the local forest a few weeks ago and came across this glorious patch of purple. This area had been cleared last year, and the foxgloves seem to have wasted no time in colonising!

Unfortunately, there was no way to get a better view (though I did consider sending Alex up a tree), but hopefully these photos will convey some of the drama.

A lone spire of white amongst the purple. 

Digitalis purpurea (Common Foxglove)

Wilsey Down Forest

Clearing in the conifers

India – Early Morning

I recently made another trip to visit India, the fourth time I have gone there and every visit is unique. This time instead of concentrating on crafts we were visiting some of the great heritage sights in Central India. I hope to produce a number of posts based on the photos I took but for a start here are a few pics of a beautiful morning spent in a beautiful heritage hotel.

The Neemrana Deo Bagh in Gwalior is a fabulous place to stay. Converted from a 17th century aristocrat’s residence, it features two 17th-18th century temples, two cenotaphs and a beautiful arched pavilion all within the grounds. What an amazing place to wake up in!

The grounds of Deo Bagh are renowned for the variety of bird life

Making a new acquaintance

The tranquil light of morning

Icy Photos in Cornwall

Many parts of the UK have had a lot of snow recently. Here in Cornwall we have only had a light dusting but it was enough to get me out of the house with my camera. I ended up having a lot of fun trying to get shots of just one lump of ice. This had frozen inside a bowl in the garden and when I turned it out, it had all sorts of interesting curves and textures. I am not sure that the photographs do it justice but here are a few.

When water turns to solid!

Not much snow here but a lovely crisp winter’s day

This piece of ice formed in a bowl full of water in my garden

Side view

Top view

Frozen ground

Japan 5 – Hida no Sato

Hida no Sato (Hida Folk Village) is a wonderful open air museum situated on the outskirts of Takayama, a delightful town in the mountains of central Honshu, north of Nagoya. The site consists of around 30 old buildings from all over the mountains that were dismantled and then rebuilt here in the 1970’s. The buildings are mainly large farmhouses of various types and most are over 100 years old.

The old buildings have been re-erected as a small village in a rural landscape

The Hida region of Gifu Prefecture is subject to heavy snowfall (often up to two metres) and the different styles of architecture show alternative approaches to dealing with this climate. In the north of the region the farmers built using steeply sloped roofs so that snow would slide off. This is the “gassho-zukuri” (praying hands) style of building used at the nearby Shirakawa-go village that is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other areas built houses with very strong, low-pitched roofs so that people could climb up and shovel off the excess snow.

The “gassho-zukuri” farmhouses were built with steep thatched roofs

Other buildings have shallow-pitched roofs where snow could be easily cleared

Visitors are able to wander around and enter the buildings. Inside are many of the everyday tools and artifacts used by their original inhabitants. Each structure also functions as a museum for one aspect of traditional mountain life, including weaving, house building and repair, cultivation, transport, etc.

The houses are packed with many original artifacts

This building displayed many examples of looms and other fabric processing equipment

Models are also used to show house construction techniques and such things as farm layouts.

A model showing the construction of a “gassho-zukuri” house

The immense size of many buildings is very impressive. Large extended families would have all lived together under one roof.

Many of the farmhouses are very large spaces

Buildings also feature space for the domestic animals alongside the people

Hido no Sato even features an original village well that has been painstakingly reconstructed on the site.

A village well

A view down the well showing the handmade wooden buckets

A fascinating old photo showing one of the buildings before it was moved

Hida no Sato is a very peaceful and picturesque place to visit

Some old thatched roofs have developed into interesting little ecosystems

The village even has a couple of little rice paddies that were developing a nice crop when we visited

Developing rice

This is a wonderful place to visit and certainly proved much more interesting than we had anticipated. In one part of the site visitors can watch traditional craftspeople at work and buy their wares.

The doll is called “Sarubobo” and is a traditional symbol of Takayama

 

Japan 3 – Kanazawa

We included the small city of Kanazawa as a destination on our Japan trip for just one reason, the “Kaga Yuzen” textile dyeing tradition for which the area is famed. We also knew that it had one of Japan’s most famous gardens.

What we found was a delightful city that was full of treasures to explore and had most of its tourist sights within one compact area. From the moment we arrived at Kanazawa’s futuristic train station until we left it provided a succession of “better than expected” experiences and I could happily recommend it to any traveller.

Most visitors first encounter Kanazawa through its futuristic train station

The great sculptural arch outside Kanazawa station

Kimono on display at a Kaga Yuzen artist’s studio

Getting around Kanazawa is very easy, with many of the sights being within walking distance of each other. All the main visitor spots can also be easily reached by the “Kanazawa Loop Bus” that can be used with a convenient day pass.

The quirky tourist loop buses provide easy access to all the sites

The city has for centuries been the centre of one of Japan’s richest and most productive agricultural regions. This, plus the fact that it was not bombed during the second world war means that it is rich with historic architecture and artefacts. There are still largely intact samurai and geisha districts to wander around with many houses open for visitors. The city also boasts many museums devoted to various aspects of its cultural heritage, far more than we could take in on a short visit. Modern culture is also very noticeable with interesting sculpture dotted all around and a spectacular new Museum of Twenty-First Century Art.

A street in the historic Geisha district of Kanazawa

The famous Kutani ware ceramics are just one of many local craft products

The exciting Museum of Twenty-First Century Art

The jewel in Kanazawa’s crown is the beautiful “Kenrokuen”, a large stroll garden developed over centuries by the Maeda lords of Kanazawa. For lovers of Japanese gardens this is a must see, for others it is a very nice addition to the itinerary if you are here anyway, though I think Kyoto is still the place to learn all about the richness and variety in this nations garden art.

Just one of many scenic views in the Kenrokuen

The best and biggest surprise in Kanazawa is just across an old castle moat from Kenrokuen. (The moat is now a main city highway.) Here is the great restoration project of Kanazawa castle. The main castle buildings were destroyed by fire in the nineteenth century but parts are gradually being rebuilt through a remarkably impressive combination of archaeology, craft skills and education project.

The results are both stunning and informative. The ability to compare an original gatehouse with a newly rebuilt one using the exact same techniques is surprisingly rewarding, helped for us by a very enthusiastic guide who expounded at length on traditional Japanese woodworking techniques.

Kanazawa Castle is slowly being rebuilt

A newly rebuilt castle gatehouse

A large and bustling food market is another favourite Kanazawa destination

Kanazawa was full of surprises. We found excellent Sri Lankan food down a little side street

I plan further posts on Kanazawa’s delights including my next one on Kaga Yuzen dyeing. I hope that this introduction has made it clear that Kanazawa is a great place to visit!

See also:
Japan 1 – Nishijin Textile Centre
Japan 2 – Matsumoto Castle

Manila Shawl in the V&A

This is a post about a fabulous “Spanish” or “Manila” shawl on display in the Chinese section of the V&A Museum in London.

The beautiful Spanish shawl in the V&A

One of the things that I love best about revisiting my favourite museums is the possibility of noticing and then focussing on an object that one has previously passed by. I know that I have walked past this shawl many times and I have even stopped to look at it, yet it was only on my last visit that the full beauty and quality of this item fully struck home.

The shawl features exquisitely embroidered flowers, insects and birds

The “Manton de Manila” has a long history in Spain. The shawls were made in South China but the name comes from the port of Manila in the Philippines. The Philippines became a Spanish colony in 1565 and was part of New Spain, administered from Mexico. This meant that Asian goods for the Spanish market were shipped on “Manila Galleons” to the west coast of Mexico, then transported overland to the port of Veracruz for shipment to Spain.

Bird detail

The early shawls were embroidered with native Chinese motifs but the dragons, pagodas, etc., were soon replaced by colourful flowers and other images more suited to the customers taste. The other big addition the Spanish made was the long swaying fringe which provided the movement that made the shawl such a classic piece of flamenco costume.

The shading on the flower petals is meticulously executed

This shawl is striking for the quality of the embroidery. This piece was made purely as a commercial export product, with no pretensions to being art, yet both the workmanship and the design are full of vitality. This design is also notable for the distinctly Chinese elements in the design, such as the “lion dogs”.

Unlike most shawls for the European market, this one features distinctly Chinese motifs

The shawl dates from the second half of the19th century when the “Spanish shawl” became an important fashion accessory throughout Europe and North America. In Britain they were frequently put to another use, commonly being employed as a decorative cover for grand pianos.

One of many quirky insects

One of many finely detailed butterflies

For some wonderful photographs of flamenco dancers and their shawls please see Ottoman Dandy’s post.

The Horniman Museum

I have discovered a new favourite museum! Hidden away in Forest Hill, South London is a late-Victorian gem – The Horniman Museum.

The facade of the original Horiniman Museum building

Founded in 1901 by Victorian tea trader Frederick John Horniman, the museum contains an eclectic mix of displays including natural history, ethnology and musical instruments. The original building was designed in the Arts and Crafts style by Charles Harrison Townsend who also designed an extension opened in 1912. New buildings were again added in the 1990’s, including a grass-roofed Centre for Understanding the Environment.

Townsend’s 1912 extension

The CUE building (Centre for Understanding the Environment)

This is a very traditional museum with many of the natural history exhibits being slightly faded examples of the taxidermist’s art, but they are a major part the place’s charm. Other display cases contain particularly good educational explanations.

Scarlet ibis

Slightly faded and scruffy but still very beautiful!

Beautiful if slightly dusty insects abound

The museum has a vast collection of musical instruments, from ancient to modern, with many beautiful specimens.

A case of musical instruments

One of the Benin bronzes in the Africa gallery

Mask

One of the delights of the Horniman is it’s freedom from the modern “sanitised” display aesthetic. Many of the ethnographic displays are housed in dark old wooden cabinets, often with an eccentric mix of items displayed side by side.

Model of a north-African doorway behind a case of stuffed birds

Fossil Ichthyosaur fore-limb

A beautiful set of teeth!

Lettuce Coral

One of the many fine moths and butterflys

The Ruined City of Jiaohe

I can often find great beauty and inspiration in old, abandoned objects. This blog is about an entire abandoned city, which strikes me as being both very beautiful and rather eerie. The photographs were taken by my husband Alex and daughter Isla during their trip along the silk road in 2010. Alex has provided the information on the city’s history.

Jiaohe ruins

Our daughter Isla feeling the 38C heat

The city of Jiaohe was built on an islet in a river, with the high cliffs around its plateau forming a natural fortress. No one knows when it was first settled but it first became the capital city for the Turpan region in around 180 BC and remained an important centre on the silk road until it was abandoned after being sacked by Genghis Khan in the 13th century. At its peak the city is thought to have housed around 7,000 people during the Tang dynasty.

Buildings were a mix of carved loess soil and mud brick

The city is protected by steep cliffs all around

The Turpan area is a bleak desert that bursts into life where there is water

Jaiohe city walls

Centuries of weathering carves mud bricks into fantastic shapes

A buddhist temple can still be recognized

In the early twentieth century, the archaeologist Aurel Stein complained that local people were carrying away material from the site to make new buildings but today the ruins are protected by the Chinese government. New paths have been laid for tourist access and a lot of conservation work, plus some restoration has taken place.

Natural History Museum

The animal and plant decoration on the museum’s exterior

I have posted before about my love for the Waterhouse Building, home of London’s Natural History Museum (The Sculpture of Nature). This time I thought that I would share a few photographs showing the outside of this beautiful and eccentric building, specifically, a few of the many, many animal and plant sculptures and reliefs that decorate its rich exterior.

A Cathedral to Science – entrance to the museum

The ambition of Alfred Waterhouse’s design is breathtaking in its complexity, with literally hundreds of sculptures and gargoyles adorning a façade that is already a busy excursion into the Gothic fairytale-land of the German Romanesque. Such richness of detail could easily have disintegrated into a jumbled mess, yet through careful control of scale and proportion, together with the cohesive force of the strong lines running through the design, Waterhouse never loses the overall coherence of the building.

Iconic landmark – The towers of the museum seen from South Kensington underground station

Primitive reptiles and a dire-wolf? beneath one of the many windows

This magnificent feline is high up, against one of the building’s central towers

A whole menagerie of beasts and gargoyles look down on visitors

This lion, like all the other beasts, was modelled from Waterhouse’s own drawings

The building also has more subtle decoration, such as this fox and birds over the entrance

Smaller creatures are represented on tiles such as these

Apart from the animal in the roundel, note the birds in the rooftop ironwork

The famous pterodactyl

I fell in love with this building on the day I first saw it and in the decades since I have only grown to appreciate it more. If you have a chance to visit London then please make a trip to the Natural History Museum one of your priorities.

(As always, thanks are due to husband Alex for helping to put my thoughts into words.)

Crackington Haven

The rocky little cove known as Crackington Haven is the nearest spot on the North Cornwall coast to my home. Alex and I paid a visit to this delightful spot a week or so ago to watch the sun go down.

This area of the coast is notable for the dramatic twists and distortions of the rock strata. These rocks are, in fact, known to geologists as the “Crackington Formation” and were originally sediments laid down on an ancient ocean bed before being roasted, folded and overturned in the much later volcanic event that gave Cornwall its granite core. It is the erosion of these rocks that gives this coast its spectacularly rugged look.

Here are a few of our photos.

The little cove of Crackington Haven is much loved by tourists

The cliff with its jumbled strata, lit with the evening sun

The twisted layers of rock are clearly visible in this shot

A sunny but very cold evening in North Cornwall

The eroded rocks of Crackington

There is a narrow area of water suitable for surfing between the bands of rock reaching into the sea

Lichen growing just above the high tide level

After sunset

Winter Walks

There is not too much happening at this time of year but it is nice to take a walk when the weather clears up a bit. The local landscape where I live is not spectacular but I love it right now, the grass is very green, the branches on the bare trees are so intricate and the fine twigs look almost like mist from a distance. Here are a few photographs taken on recent walks near my home:

Megadunes of Dunhuang

My husband Alex and daughter Isla visited the city of Dunhuang, in China, a couple of years ago and brought back some great photographs. This post is mainly Alex’ thoughts on one aspect of that visit.

Apart from the world-famous Buddhist cave art at Mogao, tourists visit Dunhuang to see the fantastic landscape, particularly the great “megadunes” situated at Mingsha Shan just outside the city. Mingsha Shan means Singing-sand Mountain (or Echoing-sand Mountain) and is probably a reference to the whispering sound of the wind blowing the sand over the dunes.

Situated at the south-west corner of the Gobi desert in Gansu Province, Dunhuang was an oasis at an important point on the ancient Silk Road, just before the route split in two to pass north or south of the Taklimakan desert. Today Dunhuang is visited by tens of thousands of (mainly Chinese) tourists each year.

Giant Megadunes at Mingsha Shan, outside Dunhuang, China

Megadunes are found in a number of places around the world but those at Dunhuang are among the most accessible. These huge mounds (near Dunhuang they are said to rise to around 1500 metres), are made where there is very fine sand in combination with predictable winds from a number of different directions. It seems unimaginable that such a fine, free-flowing material could naturally pile up so high but the dunes are very persistent, only creeping slowly one way or another with fluctuations in wind patterns.

The fine sand of the megadunes is sculpted daily by the winds

Climbing the big dunes is very hard work because legs sink deep into the fine sand at every step and every climber quickly learns to follow the ridge-lines as they offer the best footing and gentlest slopes. Each step in the fine material sets off an avalanche, or perhaps something more like a waterfall of flowing sand that often continues for several seconds until each grain finds a new stable position.

Each step sets off cascades of almost liquid sand

A key attraction at Mingsha Shan is the Crescent Moon Lake and its accompanying Leiyin Temple. Despite being surrounded by towering dunes, the spring-fed lake has remained uncovered for at least two thousand years. The temple was once one of around forty Buddhist structures around the lake but these did not survive the Cultural Revolution. The current temple was rebuilt in the 1990s. Sadly, the spring that has fed the little lake for thousands of years has been threatened by ground-water extraction for the modern city and the level has fallen drastically in recent years, so much so that the government has now stepped in to replenish the lake’s water level.

Crescent Moon Lake surrounded on all sides by massive dunes, with Dunhuang in the background

The depth of Crescent Moon Lake has shrunk by several metres in recent decades

Although the lake may be threatened, the great dunes at least seem immune to man’s actions. However many tourists trample over these structures, sending sand tumbling downwards, the wind just away works quietly at its job of piling it all back up again.

Constantly rebuilt – megadune at Dunhuang

The great dunes are only about six km from the centre of Dunhuang