If you ever try to tell me that Christian art is more beautiful than other religious art, I will remind you that in different parts of SLAM, this exists on the same floor as a statue of the baby Jesus that looks like Robin the Frog from the Muppets. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Tag: woodwork
Saturday
This is an amazing piece of cultural Japanese history and we’re lucky that it’s survived, seeing as how floods and earthquakes and fires and wars and things. And that we know who it represents and why he is so important historically – especially in context today – makes it even more important now.
Tuesday
While this platter doesn’t look like much and seems rather plain, it is actually a testament to patience and perseverance on a number of levels. The craftsmanship is flawless, especially when you get close enough to the glass to be able to see that the glue lines are basically invisible (meaning they were sanded away to flush with the wood itself), and the entire effect appears as wood grain or even as age rings, rather than a disjointed affectation. The overall effect is that you are looking at something natural rather than something manufactured.
Sunday
This piece is quintessential art nouveau style, and yet, it speaks in a more traditional style of woodworking, as well. The craftsmanship is incredibly detailed and beautiful, and you can just stare at the screen for the longest time, finding new things in the details of the piece every time you look at it.
Monday
This chair is simply stunning. Though the lines are simple and swooping, they are meant to draw the eye and hold it. The contrast of the gilded coloring against the darkened wood is meant to direct your eyes inward to the exquisite upholstery. And, let’s face it: that cushioning is freaking fabulous.
Friday
This is the art of designing in multidimensional space – each layer clearly had to be meticulously designed on its own before being spliced together, else they wouldn’t work together so harmoniously. So many things could (and probably did) go wrong; I’d like to see the original models to see what changes were made between the conceptual models and the final piece, but they probably no longer exist.
Saturday
I can see how this would have looked 100% different brand new, before urban blight and icon worship set in. It would have been a glorious thing; now it’s just kind of sad, really. I mean, it’s still beautiful and a super high level of craftsmanship, but it just looks like it’s been used and abused for a few hundred years.
Sunday
I’m constantly in awe of people who can just sit down with a piece of wood and pick up a knife or a pick and just whittle away until they have something to show for it at the end. I think it’s a mad wicked skill and they should be applauded and lauded for it.
Saturday
This particular piece of wood sculpture has been one of my favorites in the SLAM collection for a very long time. It has a particular feeling to it that you can’t appreciate until you’re standing in front of it, taking in all of the mana and life essence of the piece. Until then, it’s just a pretty piece of wood.
Tuesday
Every time I go into the Museum, I comment on how so many of the things seem to have come out of the original countries in times of war or just after war. (Aka, many of the Islamic items are from 1919 – collapse of the Ottoman Empire, many of the French items are 1945, post-WWII, etc.) I feel sad that we’re the beneficiaries of, basically, the equivalent of looting a country of its treasures in order to maybe barely feed its people for a few days.
In this case, what a treasure it is. No exaggeration.