Victoria and Albert Museum is really quite impressive. The V&A was originally called the Museum of Design in 1852, and since then it has had several names changes (Museum of Manufacture then South Kensington) until it finally settle upon the name of The Victoria and Albert in 1899.
A brief history:
“A grand design reveals the way in which a great museum came into being and has grown over almost one hundred and fifty years. It is a fascinating story, full of extraordinary characters, great works of art, many triumphs, and some disasters. No institution stands still, and the history of the Victoria and Albert Museum reflects the ways in which society, taste, perception, and scholarship have changed over the years.
This microsite has been adapted from the book 'A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum' which was published to support the exhibition of the same name. To reflect the structure of the book the site is divided into essays, listed in the navigation to the left of the screen. Each essay contains the relevant illustrations and is followed by the images of objects and their catalogue entries from the book. Footnotes follow at the end of each essay. Authors of essays and catalogue entries are credited with each piece.”
from: http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1159_grand_design/
You can also visit the V&A’s website at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/
The purpose of the Victoria and Albert Museum has been “to enable everyone to enjoy its collections and explore the cultures that created them; and to inspire those who shape contemporary design.”
And they have succeeded. The place is dripping in so much art it would take more than a day to get through just one wing. The class started out in the inter-courtyard (1st and 2nd picture), the foundation had just recently renovated the whole courtyard. they opened it up and placed the giant wheel in the pool. they also added an outdoor cafe. the place is very serene and inviting, a perfect place to just sit and enjoy the summer day.
We stopped by to appreciate a wonderful sculpture by Giambologna, “Samson and the Philistine” (3rd picture), isn’t it amazing? It’s a nekkid behind!!! It’s even wilder from different the different angels.. lol. Maybe I should have tried taking a more PG pic from a different angle... :) Imagine is you were really seeing it in person, it’s a very powerful piece of sculpture. In fact the V&A has a whole room full of greek sculpture along with others, like I said very impressive.
Next we stop to admire a low reliefs of one of my favorite artist, Donatello. His piece “The Ascension with Christ Giving the Keys to Saint Peter”, it circa 1428-30 (4th picture), it’s hard to tell from the picture but trust me it’s a beautiful piece of marble.
Besides housing all these works of art V&A also has things like fashion, furniture and decretive art. They also have an entire room of piece of art that have been replicated (5th picture). This is a picture of The David. The reason why is to make the many wonders of the world accessible to the many right here in London.
They also had some beautiful paintings from Raphael that we couldn’t take pictures of because of the flash, they would have damaged the pieces. I guess they had originally been placed in bathrooms and some the color had faded so they needed to be preserve in low lighted room.
But not only does the museum have pieces of art hundreds of years old they also have some modern (picture 6 and 7 above) pieces too.
“The Rotunda, or main entrance, of the Victoria and Albert Museum now sports a magnificent, 30ft high, blown glass chandelier by Dale Chihuly. After the original dome of the rotunda had been reinforced, the chandelier was installed in 2000 as the first stage of the V&A's modernisation and redevelopment. In part it is intended as a statement of the V&A's commitment to modern design.
The chandelier was originally going to be titled Ice Blue and Spring Green Chandelier, but is now known as the V&A Chandelier.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:VandA_Rotunda.jpg
My pictures don’t do it justice, and one spectacular site! And here is where class ended. I stayed for a bit more, i wanted to go see the Degas they had on display and also discovered one of my all time favorite, Dante Gabriel Rosetti’s “The Day -Dream” (8th picture). The picture again is not the greatest, much better seeing it in person. And I’ll probably go back for another look. I love his work.
From there I take another bus ( I am loving the busses, you can see so much more of the city) This time I pass places like Harrods (which by the way they are having their massive sale right now lol), Hyde Park and Apsley House on the corner of Hyde Park, on to Piccadilly past Green Park and the Royal Academy. I finally get off at Picadilly Circle and just make my way to Leicester Square. My purpose for going is I wanted to see if I could find a theater that didn’t have Harry Potter sold out.. but no such luck, everything is sold out.
Now leicester Square is pretty cool, it’s the theater district and there are billboards upon billboards for the different plays going on. There are adverts for “The Lion King”, “Wicked” (which I already have a ticket for), “Mary Poppins”, “Evita”, “Sound of Music”... etc, etc, etc. And it’s jammed pack with people. In my walking around I discover where Chinatown is and I’m just a street above the National Gallery and Trafalga square and a street to the east of me is Covent Gardens. It quite an exciting place to be. But after the long bus ride I decide to go home, tomorrow is the day trip to Greenwich and I need some sleep. Harry Potter will have to wait another day.
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