Greece Before the Greeks!

This post is a long time coming!  It's taken me a few months since our whirlwind trip of Greece to get this completed but it's finally up!  Before the end of year at that.  There will be at least one more post about our trip after this one but sorry, nothing about the Parthenon.  I don't think there is anything I could add to it, although seeing it was quite amazing for a humble art history major like me.  Anyway, we started our tour of Greece with a few days of R&R on Santorini before heading to Crete, which is where we begin... 

Have you heard of the Minoans?  The Palace of Knossos?  This post would be more aptly be titled Crete Before the Greeks" as the Minoans had settled the island long before the beginning of what we would consider, Classical Greece, and Crete was only made a part of Greece officially in 1908 (international recognition of this change didn't occur until 1913).  Well Knossos might not be as popular as the Parthenon, but it's probably Crete's most popular attraction.  When we decided to travel to Greece, Crete was non-negotiable, a definite.  I've always loved the quirky and slightly "off the beaten path," something just outside the mainstream, so the Minoan civilization immediately piqued my interest when I learned of them.  The fluid lines of their sculpture and natural imagery seemed more modern than their c. 2700–1420 BC timeframe.  The Palace of Knossos was one of the highlights in my dreams that led up to our trip.

When I woke up on "Knossos Day" I felt terrible.  I had begun to feel touches of flu symptoms the night before and had chugged water and ate oranges and gone to bed early hoping to beat it back but woke up still sluggish and with a headache...and late.  My husband hadn't set an alarm to make sure I slept as much as possible, but our hotel proprietors intervened; when we didn't show up for breakfast they came looking for us.  I sent my husband ahead as I dragged myself out of bed and forced down a few bites of the overabundant breakfast.  I was not going to be kept from those bull jumping frescoes.  

Knossos is very well-signed, especially compared to how lacking the signage was for almost anything else in Greece.  It's a quick trip from the capital, Iraklion, less than an hour.  We were traveling in the off-season and when we arrived we patted ourselves on the back again for this decision.  We parked in a lot only a few steps from the entrance and gazed out at the other two empty, vast parking lots that are probably filled to capacity during the summer.  To give you an idea of how truly empty it was, I practiced driving our manual transmission rental car in the third lot later in the day, never got out of first.  The entrance is dotted with guides offering group tours in many different languages but found one that was licensed.  We paid our 10 euros and were at first a little wary when our guide repeated the same face about the Minoan culture within five minutes of the last time he had said it and didn't notice.  But he moved on in his script extolling their integration of nature in their daily lives and buildings, the expanse of their trade routes, and just how much olive oil their used. 

Archeologists working at Knossos.

Knossos, as are many archeological sites, is still being dug up.  It's also an archeological battlefield with one side arguing that Arthur Evans, the British amateur archeologist who excavated the site first, should not have re-built some of the walls and columns that jut out of the ruins.  While the other side puts forth how much this helps the casual visitor understand the immense scale of the palace and picture how it would have appeared.  I understand both sides and actually come down somewhere closer to the second camp.  In seeing so many sites, being given a clue in a single column helps me to mentally recreate the five stories that this compound would have attained in it's completed state.  But, on the other hand, Evans might have made up what the column looked like and where it went, so I could see where current archeologists balk at these interventions.

Part of the re-created temple showing a staircase through three stories.

Our guide did say something that intrigued me, that the Minoans were an environmentally friendly society.  This started me researching a bit.  I couldn't find any research to support this claim in a cursory search but I'll keep looking.  I did note an appreciation for the environment and plant and animal forms in the dolphins and flowers that dot the beautiful Queen's chamber.  Very few of the actual frescoes are still in place, most of the well-known ones of the bull jumping and wine bearers have been moved to the archeological museum in Iraklion.  They are just completing a renovation and have begun moving some pieces from the temporary museum trailer behind the museum into their permanent homes so when we visited we only saw the bull jumper but it was beautiful and worth the trip.  The missing areas of the fresco have been filled in to recreate the scene and  presents the vivid colors and fluid lines of the bodies of both the people and the animal suggesting an athletic but easy movement.

Recreated portico and replacement fresco showing bulls

Queen's chamber showing dolphin and flower frescoes

In our growing "green" awareness, environmentalism seems like a very modern concept, only developed after a society has industrialized and felt the affects of their pollution.  Or something practiced by "primitive" peoples, nomads who made their livings "off the land".  The Minoans though, were far from primitive, their construction techniques, shipping trade, art and politics were highly developed and they thrived for centuries.  The Palace of Knossos, although the best known and most researched of their palaces was only one of many. 

We were pleasantly surprised by the snack bar at the site, the orange juice was probably the best we had ever had, grown and produced right on the island, you can see oranges sold at tiny road side stands along the main highway connecting Iraklion and Chania, on the islands western side.  We tried to take in a little more of the "nature" of Crete through a wine tasting at the Stilianou Winery.  Even though we had to wind our way up a dirt road for half an hour we were treated to a private tour of the winery by the owner, some great tasting wines and olive oil and a beautiful view over olive trees to cap off our day!

Gardner's pages 81-85.

Who is this Gardner person?

I was sitting at work, catching up on a few articles when I came across a video Imagining America: Icons of 20th Century American Art.  The video was well done, with compelling interviews and it drew me in.  I watched the entire thing.  There was one part where someone described his visit to the Robert Smithson work Spiral Jetty, 1970.  This environmental work is not easy to reach; it is not located close to a major city, the road there is unpaved and when you arrive at it finally, there is no guarantee that the jetty will even be visible, it could be under water.  Listening to someone else's description of making the trek to see this work made me realize, part of the piece IS the journey to see it.  All I could think of afterward is "How can I get my husband to agree to get in an SUV and drive over a bumpy gravel road for hours to see this?"  It started me thinking about other vacations and travel, within the United States and abroad, where I have seen something that reminded me of the work of an artist, specifically visited a site/house/city because of the tie to an artist, and the long list of "places to go and see" that populates my head and my moleskine.

Art isn't just about a painting on a wall, or a sculpture outside a building, or even a temporary drawing on a wall in an empty lot.  It is more than what the artist physically creates, it is the idea/ideas that sparked their creation, and how that idea formed, from their environment, to their friends, to their entire life.  This ability to delve into almost any topic through art is what drew me to a career in art museums. 

So this Gardner chica....many of my past, present, and future visits are tied to the unknown hours I poured over the book Art Through the Ages, originally by Helen Gardner.  My edition was edited by Fred S. Kleiner, Christian J. Mamiya, and Richard R. Tansey.  Anyone who has taken an introductory art history course, or any of their friends, is familiar with this or a similar art historical survey book.  Think of the textbook you had for any other survey class, they need to provide a lot of data to give an overview of the topic.  This one covers Pre-historical cave paintings through Andy Warhol WITH PICTURES!  Yes, all of my college texts were picture books, part of why I loved my major so much.  But from this massive book, I began and continued delving through the history of a people through its art.  One of the requirements for my Art History MA was a comprehensive exam that covered the entirety of western art history.  The best way to study for an exam like this is to outline!  So I basically read the 1137 page book cover to cover then compared my notes with a classmate who read another art history survey to make sure we didn't miss anything.  That was a lot of art.

Through a constant effort to see and experience new things, and through visits to museums in almost any city I visit, I find myself drawn not only to viewing a work of art in a book, but going to the museum to view it in person, visiting the artist's house or studio, and going to the place where they set up their easel, all to understand in greater detail how the work was created and, through experience, soak in these tiny fragments of art history.  Thankfully, I married an incredibly patient and understanding guy who, loves "doing stuff" and I have a wonderful network of friends and family who are always up for an adventure.  This blog is meant to be a chronicle of my search to go beyond the pages of Art Through the Ages, my "journey" including how we got there and even where we ate on the way.  These are not meant to be a guide of how to visit some of these places, just a description of how I did it and if that inspires someone else to try to go as well, all the better.  Even if my trips aren't yet as strenuous as the one to Spiral Jetty will be, figuring out a foreign subway system or finding a quick meal on the way to a museum is just as much a part of the journey.

Gardner's page 1100 (Smithson)

Land of Burgers & Lily Pads

I was told to go to the Brooklyn Museum by a man I admired, a previous boss who had worked there before.  I fully intended to go every time I went to New York...for 10 years.  Finally a full decade and many, many trips to New York later, I started my visit to the Brooklyn Museum, in the Bronx.  Yes, I realize I was in the wrong borough and there were multiple rivers and Manhattan in the way, but when I told my husband I really wanted to get to the Brooklyn Museum and see the Rachel Kneebone exhibit his first response was "Great, we'll visit my cousin in Spite and Dyvil".  We took the scenic route… literally, the commuter train to Grand Central has a much better view than the 9 subway line, and after stopping for coffee, took the 4/5 out to Brooklyn.  Half-way through our subway trip my husband started to search his pockets for the directions and realizing he didn't have them, we got off at Franklin Avenue and called the friends we were supposed to meet for brunch.  They hurried to collect us off the street corner and ushered us over to Bar Corvo for more coffee and food and a counter-weighted bathroom door.  It was truly worth the mention.  

I found it fitting, since we were going to see an exhibit of art inspired by that of Auguste Rodin, to find "Uovo in Purgatorio" on the menu, one please!  They were overindulgent, in one word, and so filling we had to cancel our "dessert french toast".  After a quick stop for ice cream at Ample Hills that was "on the way" to the museum we finally reached our appointed destination.

I don't know if they are always there, but I immediately noticed the figures from the Burghers of Calais in the huge entrance and attempted to explain what "burghers" were to my husband, finally figuring out that he was thinking "burgers".  Saved by the wall text explaining the story!  We went to the 6th floor directly to visit the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art and entered the exhibit space to be confronted by Kneebone's works interspersed with those of Rodin.  What an opportunity.  They were easily identified from eachother at a glance since Kneebone's stark white porcelain figures (yes porcelain, fragile, smooth and creamy) contrasted the black patina of the Rodin casts.  The National Gallery of Art has a wonderful collection of works by this master of the 19th century but the Brooklyn Museum seemed to have more on view when I was there.  Walking in to the exhibit, my first thought was "altar", the work that confronted me there was pediment like, broken into three, with small figures intertwined on top in offering.  I was not immediately struck by this, but as I walked around I realized there were no heads on Kneebone's figures, they were only torso-down.  My mind zigged to thoughts about how women are valued only for sex and childbirth, the relationship with the headless works of Rodin, and the sheer helplessness of a headless, armless woman.  Judy Chicago's masterpiece, The Dinner Party, is permanently installed in the center of the Center and worth a visit in itself, but it occurred to me after we left that the subject matter was complimentary.  The images of Chicago’s iconic work do it no justice, the intricacy of each place setting was amazing to finally see in person, especially for a x-stitcher like me.  I took a number of pictures of Chicago’s work, the settings for Elizabeth Blackwell and Petronillo de Meath for that beautiful embroidery, and Sappho in honor of our upcoming trip to Greece.  

I managed to talk my husband into doing something art related TWO days in a row while in New York.  The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx created a mini- Monet’s Giverney.  I read about the exhibit on the New York Times website, but I actually heard about it first from Bill Cunningham, I’m a bit obsessed with his “On the Street” videos, so I always get excited when he mentions something art related, I feel like he’s doing it for me.  Having never been to Giverny itself, I had to do this, even at $20, the entrance fee is cheaper than a plane ticket!  It was beautiful, especially the lily pads and although it was hot, the clouds kept moving around, providing some great lighting for pictures.  I think I took fifteen pictures of one lily pad because of the shadows and water droplets that formed on it.  What I thought  was especially interesting was that the point of the project was to create a “Giverny-like” garden.  The whole display will change with time as plants bloom, are cycled out, and are then replaced with other plants, although not necessarily the same types.  After a bite in their cafeteria, that was more filling than we thought it would be we took the commuter train back onto Manhattan and headed back to Washington, D.C. concluding another wonderful weekend! 

 

Just for a little comparison ....

Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1917-1919, oil on canvas. Honolulu Museum of Art. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Gardner's pages 930 (Rodin) and 904-5 (Monet)