Echo

Bicycles of course!

Due to its large proportion of Art Nouveau architecture and resulting curvaceous forms, Amsterdam feels like a very feminine city. The level of detail on a regular street in the centre of the town is breathtaking and sustains interest. From the wrought iron balustrades and railings to the tiles set into the front of the houses, there is always something to entertain the eye. Each building manages to be different from its neighbour yet the variants are about detail, proportion and colour, so together the houses, shops and restaurants create a pleasing harmony.

Houses, canalside

A home in the museum district

House on Roemer Visscher Straat

I found the different doorways particularly attractive and inviting.

Poetically curved entrance to the house above

Quite by chance (serendipitously perhaps), I came across an unusual street,

lined with buildings influenced by the building style of various countries such as France, England, Italy and Germany. Below are two of my favourites.

Spain entrance

Russia

Russia entrance

I found some more information about this street on Flickr (and with better pictures than I was able to take with my mobile phone!).

The V&A has a very arresting and beautiful display of Buddhist sculpture.

Many of the figures would have originally been painted in bright colours such as reds and greens and gilded but I found something quite soothing about seeing the serene expression of the statues in their bare stone.

I hadn’t known that the hand gestures (‘mudras’, 6 in total) have symbolic meanings. For example, a raised right hand with palm facing forwards is a gesture of fearlessnesses and granting of protection, hands resting in the lap signal meditation and the right hand pointing to the ground as in the gilded figure below, calls the earth goddess to witness worthiness to attain liberation.

Gilded copper Buddha. 1700-1800, Tibet. Inscription around the base in Tibetan suggests that seeing the image may help viewers to attain spiritual enlightenment.

Bodhisattva, 1680, Japan. From a shrine or small temple.

Limestone Buddha with traces of gesso, paint and gilding and a halo of lotus petals. 550-77, China, possibly from a cave-temple complex.

Marble Buddha with halo of flames. 550-770, China.

Buddha seated in mediation. 200-400, Pakistan.

A couple of homemade Christmas cards.

And a pair of t-light holders/goblets (made from glasses sourced from a charity shop with an application of gold leaf and skeleton leaves).

The ironwork galleries were probably my favourite collection (from those that I managed to see on this particular trip!)

A free standing grille used as a room divider. Klaus Walz, 1980, Germany.

Close up

Try as I might, I couldn’t work out where this magnificent piece (above) began or ended! Beautiful organic form. I’d love it for my home!

Wrought iron gates, 17th Century, Italy. Possibly from a church or chapel

I was thrilled to see the next piece (below). The window grill is by Hector Guimard who had been commissioned to design the entrances to the metro in Paris the previous year.

Window grill, Castle Henriette (now demolished), 1899, France.

There is also a fireplace designed by Guimard in the collection:

Fireplace hood, 1900s, France.

And now to the States:

Elevator Grilles, Chicago Stock Exchange Building, Louis Henry Sullivan, 1893, Chicago.

I learnt that Frank Lloyd Wright worked in Louis Henry Sullivan’s office, 1888 – 1893 and acknowledged his influence. Sullivan studied at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris.

And from the 20th century, I really admired these wrought iron gates.

Gates, James Horrobin, 1981-2, England.

These were commissioned as part of a competition held by the V&A in conjunction with the Department of the Environment. To me, their form seems to be influenced by the Art Deco movement.

James Horrobin

A real treat for the senses.

Sculpture gallery

The Sluggard, Lord Leighton Frederic, 1885

Crouching Youth, Winifred Turner, around 1934

The Man Child, Frank Dobson, 1921

The V&A website is an excellent resource for further information on these sculptures and other exhibits.

A selection of Renaissance works from a recent visit to the V&A.

Above: Plaster consoles from a fort on the Adriatic coast (1483 – 90).

Above: A step end from the Palazzo Condi, Florence (1490 – 1501).  The decoration would have conveyed moral/political implications.

Above: Wall Fountain, Italy (around 1500).  These would have been plumbed with running water and only seen in homes or courtyards of the wealthy. This example is particularly ornate.

Currently working on the design of an academic website for a client along with accompanying branded headed paper and compliment slips.

Norbert Elias Foundation webpage www.norberteliasfoundation.nl

Norbert Elias Foundation - headed paper

Compliment slip - English

Compliment slip - Dutch

Compliment slip - back