KOREAN TREASURES AT LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

 Korean Quadruple Gourd Vase, LACMA

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took these photos in March 2024. She writes:

While in L.A. for only two days, I was lucky to spend an hour at LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Viewing “Korean Treasures,” a temporary exhibition until June 30, 2024, filled my short visit with a rich experience.

The 35 items on display were selected from the vast collection of Chester and Cameron Chang, donated to LACMA. The selection offers a broad glimpse at artworks from past millennia to the present, including calligraphies, paintings, scrolls, screens, ceramics and sculptures.

The Poet Lee Baek (LI Bai) Watching a Waterfall by Yi Immun

An ink painting on silk from around 1800, traditionally attributed to Yi Inmun, shows the celebrated Chinese poet Li Bai “Gazing at a Waterfall on Mount Lu” and composing his most famous poem, the one by that title. The image includes a mountain waterfall, a timeless, universal source of awe, and two culturally distinctive and significant products of the creativity sparked by this emotion—a Chinese poem and a Korean painting.

A pair of cranes represents Trust, a Confucian virtue.

On a screen illustrating The Eight Confucian Virtues, which are Filial piety, Brotherly love, Loyalty, Trust, Propriety, Righteousness, Integrity and Sensibility, animals adorn the top of each panel. A pair of cranes represents Trust.

Stone in the shape of the Korean Peninsula.

One of my favorite forms of artistic creativity is what we see at any age in a cloud, a chunk of driftwood, or a rock. This is why I liked the sculpture by Mother Nature, titled “Stone in the Shape of the Korean Peninsula.” I especially liked how the vision inspired the artist who sculpted a wooden base for it, to carve water ripples around the stone.

Ceramics.

I liked the variety represented by seven ceramics in one display, every one of a distinctive shape and color. Vases, a jar, a vessel, a bottle and a seal are faceted in different ways, glazed in different colors, and designed for different functions. My favorite was the “Quadruple gourd vase” (photo at the top of this blog post), in part because it inspired me to make a miniature version of it some day.

Two dozen more diverse art works await viewers with differing sensibilities!

All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold. www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com

 

 

BASQUE SPAIN: Donostia-San Sebastian, Guest Post by Jennifer Arnold

Jennifer in Donostia (San Sebastian) Spain.

My daughter Jennifer, a professor at the University of North Carolina, recently traveled to Spain for a professional meeting and had a little extra time to be a tourist and explore. I thank her for sharing her photos and impressions of the Basque city of Donostia-San Sebastian. She writes:

Basilica of St. Mary of the Angelic Choir.

I travelled to San Sebastian in April 2024 to visit BCBL (The Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language). It was a short trip, but I was pleased to be able to walk around the beautiful city a little, and to visit the museum of San Telmo, which focuses on Basque history.

Hotel on a plaza; the doors have numbers that apparently were used when they used to have bull fights in the plaza and people would rent the rooms to watch the fights.

San Sebastian (“Donostia” in Basque) lies on the north side of Spain in Basque country near the French boarder. I arrived in the San Sebastian airport, which is about 30 minutes from the city. When I asked my taxi driver what I should try to see, he said really the main attraction is food. 

Pastries.

He was right – the culinary experience in San Sebastian was a highlight.

Pinxos.

My host took me out for “pinxos” the first night, which is the local style of tapas. One goes from bar to bar, sampling one or two specialties at a time. The typical pinxos you see everywhere are pieces of bread with spreads and seafood piled on top, often anchovies, sardines, or shrimp. My host also took me to Bar Nestor, a famous place that makes tortilla española (a sort of omelet with potatoes).  They only make one tortilla for lunch, and one for dinner. To get a slice, we had to show up at 7pm on the dot to get our names on the list. They told us to come back 45 minutes later, when we found a lucky group of people clustered outside. They called our names one group at a time to come in and be served. 

Basque cheesecakes.

Another specialty of the area is Basque cheesecake, which is very dense and creamy, and kind of liquidy in the middle. We also enjoyed sit-down meals at local restaurants, both traditional Basque and innovative Japanese-Basque fusion. 

Asparagus--white and green.

I happened to arrive at the brief but celebrated time of the white asparagus, which was featured in many restaurants (it’s delicious).

View from Monte Iqueldo--reached by a funicular.

The city is also beautiful and easy to enjoy on foot. It sits on a bay, with beautiful walks along the sea. The city is very compact, with many apartment buildings instead of houses, and diverse architecture.

Building with arches.

Plaza.

Modern building at the University of the Basque Country.

It seems to be a very family friendly place to live, with countless beautiful refuges nestled between the apartment buildings, including playgrounds, plazas, green areas and ponds. I saw lots of people outside, many with their dogs, who were often wearing collars and little jackets and allowed to roam within sight of their owners.

San Telmo Museum.

On my last day it was rainy so I visited the San Telmo museum, which is a good way to get to know more about Basque history. 

Armor.

Dictionary in Basque, Spanish, and Latin.

Painting by Antonio Ortiz Echague (1883-1942), “Mi mujer y mi hija a la distancia”

They have ancient artifacts and displays about Basque culture from the middle ages, the enlightenment, to modern times. They also have a selection of art by Basque artists. As we left the museum, we saw a quatrilingual “Exit” sign in Basque, Spanish, English, and French.

Exit sign in four languages.