Going in Style!

Last weekend, while in San Francisco, my daughters and I took in the High Style exhibit, from the Brooklyn Museum of Art, at the Legion of Honor Museum.  What a treat! Historical, fascinating, gorgeous gowns were on display. Come along -- I'll give you a taste of what we savored....

 We began with a gown in the Victorian period, wtih high neck and lots of lace...

 This gown was unique...

 Flappers were also represented....

 Love the detail on the skirt of the pink dress -- scalloping, beads, lace...

 If we thought shoes now days were unique, you should have seen the wild heels on display!

 ...and if someone has lots of shoes, well, they simply need a large traveling case for them!

  From all covered up in the Victorian period, to revealing shoulders and necks --

 it all reminded me a bit of the changes we see in fashion through Downton Abbey.

 These were simply gorgeous gowns, fit for a red carpet.

 Oh-la-la -- pants arrived on the scene in a glamous way.

 So pretty in pink...

 Animal prints may have come into style in recent years, but they were also stylish in the late 40's.  This gown was known as "The Tigress."

 Recognize this period?  The 50's, of course! 

These are the kinds of dresses my mom would have worn.

 More 50's...

 Bathing suits became more flattering and fashionable...  Isn't this darling?

 Extreme run-way styles, the polka dot number on the left is from the 1960's

 and the big flowers are from the 1980's.

  We all fell in love with this little black number -- something that could be worn today.

 We tried to figure out how a person would sit in this gown. Notice there is a layer of brown below the pink and black lace layer. It's all constructed with wires.

 Va-va-voom! This gown was highly structured and quite involved in its "architecture," 

but isn't it to die for, dahling?

 

Hope you enjoyed taking this little museum tour. It was fun seeing it all again! 

~Brenda

Georgia O'Keeffe Exhibit

Lys's birthday was earlier this month so I spent the weekend in San Francisco to celebrate.  We had a wonderful time!  We started with lunch Saturday at a Burmese Restaurant.  It was nothing special on the outside, but the 30 minute wait was an indication of how tasty the food would be inside. From there we went to Golden Gate Park to the de Young Museum to see the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit.  

O'Keeffe is one of Lys's favorite artists and we all embraced her work, from large blooms to haunting trees...

Throughout the exhibit there were quotes painted on the walls and in small displays, many by her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz.  One of my favorite quotes of his is:

"The great geniuses are those who have kept their childlike spirit 

and have added to it breadth of vision and experience.” – Alfred Stieglitz 

Learning about Stieglitz' work piqued my interest in learning more about his work as well.  

It had rained off and on that week, providing a tremendous relief for the California drought, though the warm, dry weather since proved it to only be a drop in the bucket.  The skies were already clearing when we emerged from the museum.  

We made our way across town toward Fisherman's Wharf and Ghiradelli Square for hot fudge sundaes.

The greatest part of the day was reveling in the growth and beauty of my daughters.  Celebrating a birthday makes a parent naturally reflect on all the years since the child came into the world, all the smiles and fun times, all the tough times and disappointments, the trial and error times, the jump for joy successes, the disagreements and the embraces, and most of all the love.  It's all about love!  I'm so proud of the woman my daughter Lys has become.  Happy Birthday, my dear!

Enjoying Art

I love good art. I could wander through the Louvre in Paris for hours. So when I saw a PBS special about a very special exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, I called my daughters and said, "Let's go!" Since we had last Friday off work, I drove up to the City and after lunch we went over to Golden Gate Park's de Young Museum. Here we could see canvases touched by the paint brushes of Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, and others. Prints of the actual masterpieces never do them justice.

The exhibit summary says it all:

"The second of two exhibitions from the Musée d’Orsay’s permanent collection, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay follows on the heels of the first with a selection of the most famous late-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir, as well as works representing the individualist styles of the early modern masters, including Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, and the Nabis Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard.

"It is here where the Orsay’s collection shines brightest with masterpieces such as Van Gogh’s Starry Night over the Rhone, a haunting Portrait of the Artist, and Bedroom at Arles (on the left below).

The exhibition includes a superior collection of paintings from the Pont-Aven school, including Gauguin’s masterpiece Self-Portrait with The Yellow Christ (on the right above). The exhibition concludes with the Orsay’s spectacular collection of pointillist paintings, represented by the masters Georges Seurat and Paul Signac.

"The de Young is the only museum in North America to host the exhibition."

Here are a few of the beautiful paintings we enjoyed.

Van Gogh's Self PortraitStill Life with Onions by CezanneWomen at the Well by Signac

Starry Night Over the Rhone by Van GoghThe Snake Charmer by RousseauJoyousness by Gauguin

A Dance in the Country by Renoir

Of course, learning about the artists lives was fascinating, as well. We learned that the woman in Renoir's Dance in the Country painting became his wife! And, of course, there is the whole debate on whether Van Gogh cut off part of the lobe of his left ear or whether he lost part of the ear in a fight with friend Gauguin.

Photos courtesy of de Young Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.