Post No. 27
(Sun. 8:34 p.m.) Today Debbie, Amanda, Josh, and I went to San Francisco to the Frey Norris Gallery to see the Leonora Carrington exhibit. I have asked Debbie to write in this post her experience at the gallery.
( Debbie )
I’ve been reading The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington, so I was excited to learn that her work was on display at the gallery. I’ve been drawn to the work of the women surrealists for some time. Tanning, Carrington, Varo, Fini and Sage, to name a few, were enormously talented artists and important contributors to the surrealist movement. Seeing Carrington’s work was exciting–I loved seeing Le Bon Roi Dagobert–but the highlight of the day was standing before Remedios Varo’s Celestial Pablum. It was an unexpected surprise. We asked to see the work in the Annex, and were escorted upstairs. As we walked through the door, I was looking straight at Celestial Pablum; it literally took my breath away. I haven’t seen any images of this painting that do it justice. The depth of the greens and golds, glistening of the stars, and the colors in the clouds are lost in photographs of the piece. It feels magical. As I looked at it, I imagined her painting the different elements, carefully detailing the alchemist, while endowing it with her grace and mystery. It was a gift to be able to see this painting – an experience I’ll never forget.
( A LINK to a few of the Carrington pieces we viewed today )
( A Link to two Remedios Varo pieces we viewed today )
(11:36 p.m.) I am always thrilled to take a trip into San Francisco and today it was exciting for me because my daughter Amanda and her future husband Josh were going along with us, also because I knew I would be standing in front of actual artworks by surreal artists I admire greatly. I had never been this deep into the city and found it so interesting and so full of exciting people and places that I wanted to jump from the car and begin walking about the whole city. I was a bit disappointed at the cost of parking in the parking garage, this added a hurried element to our trip. I did however get to stand and look at the artwork as long as I normally would have tho. There were about 30 pieces to view between the gallery show and the pieces in the annex. Just as Debbie has stated, it was a real delight when the annex door was opened and before us was Varo’s Celestial Pablum…WOW!!! There is no image in a book or online that does this piece justice. The detail…the color was fabulous. I also viewed while in the annex, a Max Ernst piece, two Wifredo Lam pieces, three Dorothea Tanning pieces, and three or four Wolfgang Paalen pieces. When we came out of the Frey Norris Gallery we entered the San Francisco Art Exchange which is right beside the gallery. There we saw the photographs of Ethan Russell. The show was entitled “Let it Bleed.” the show consisted of photographs of the Rolling Stones. This show was a nice bonus to our trip.
(PHOTOS) from our day.
