Street Sweeper at Chapultepec Park |
The Magic of the Cities.
Zen promotes the rediscovery of the obvious, which is so often lost in its familiarity and simplicity. It sees the miraculous in the common and magic in our everyday surroundings. When we are not rushed, and our minds are unclouded by conceptualizations, a veil will sometimes drop, introducing the viewer to a world unseen since childhood. ~ John Greer
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Shades of Grey
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Heroes
Heroes of the past crying for the present. |
El Ángel de la Independencia ("The Angel of Independence"), most commonly known by the shortened name El Ángel and officially known as Columna de la Independencia, is a victory column located on a roundabout over Paseo de la Reforma in downtownMexico City.
El Ángel was built to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of Mexico's War of Independence, celebrated in 1910. In later years it was made into a mausoleum for the most important heroes of that war. It is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Mexico City, and it has become a focal point for both celebration or protest. It bears a resemblance to the July Column in Paris and the Victory Column in Berlin.
Construction of El Ángel was ordered in 1902 by President Porfirio Díaz. Architect Antonio Rivas Mercado was in charge of the design of the monument, while the actual construction was supervised by Mexican engineers Gonzalo Garita and Manuel Gorozpe. All the sculptures were made byItalian artist Enrique Alciati. The monument was ready for the festivities to commemorate the first hundred years of Mexican Independence in 1910. The opening ceremony was attended by President Díaz and several foreign dignitaries. The main speaker at the event was Mexican poet Salvador Díaz Mirón.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Helix
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Silence Valley
Silence Valley (near Mexico City) |
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in a sprightly dance
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed-and gazed-but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought;
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Farewell Paris
Snack |
Wrong lens |
Gallery |
Art Class (about Les Noces de Cana by Véronèse - 1562-1563) |
Inner patio |
Cinq Maitres de la Renaissance Florentine. 1450. By Paolo Uccello (L to R: Giotto, P. Uccelllo, Donatello, Manetti & Filipo Brunelleschi) |
Leonardo da Vinci. Portrait da Femme, La Belle Ferronniere (1495-99) |
Stoned Lady Thank you Paris and Parisians for your endless Culture, Art, Beauty and Joie de Vivre (Joy of Living). I leave a part of my heart here and forever. |
music+image
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Dreamers
Musée du Louvre |
|
Bacchus Roman, Imperial. 2nd Century AD |
Portrait d'Antinoüs en Osiris 130 ap. .J.-C. |
Potrait of man from the time of Emperor Claude 40-44 ap. J.-C. |
Labels:
Musée du Louvre,
Paris Scenes,
Roman empire,
sculptures
Mexico City
France
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Hermes
Hermès tying his sandal. Roman II Century BC |
The image of Hermes tying his sandal while listening to the orders of his father, Zeus, is characteristic of Lysippus's artistic endeavors. It should be remembered, however, that the head, which comes from another copy of the same work, is too small here, and that the incongruous supporting tree trunk under the thigh was added by the Roman copyist when he transposed the bronze original into marble.
Lysippus reworked Polyclitus's canon by lengthening it. The proportions are freer, the head now an eighth of the total height of the body and the muscle structure more slender - except, of course, in the statue of Heracles to your right. The artist sought in addition to situate the figure in a space that was also that of the observer, with a play of light and shade.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Bacchante
Bacchante shadow (a priestess or female votary of Bacchus) |
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Curiosites Desirables
1969 curiosites desirables - shop window sign: Le Rabbit un ami qui vous veut du bien. (The Rabbit a friend who loves you well) |
Out of the blue - refreshing in one of the Louvre pools- |
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Surrounds of Louvre
The Cellist |
L'Arc du Carrousel The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is at the eastern end of the so-called Axe historique ("grand historic axis") of Paris, a nine-kilometre-long linear route which dominates much of the northwestern quadrant of the city. It is, in effect, the backbone of the Right Bank. Looking west, the arch is perfectly aligned with the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde, the centerline of the grand boulevard Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe at the Place de l'Étoile, and, although it is not directly visible from the Place du Carrousel, the Grande Arche de la Défense. Thus, the axis begins and ends with an arch. When the Arc du Carrousel was built, however, an observer in the Place du Carrousel was impeded from any view westward. The central block of the Palais des Tuileries intervened to block the line of sight to the west. When the Tuileries was burned down during the Paris Commune (1871) and its ruins were swept away, the great axis, as it presently exists, was opened all the way to the Place du Carrousel and the Louvre. |
Monday, August 2, 2010
Pont des Arts
The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the Seine River. It links the Institut de France and the central square (cour carrée) of the palais du Louvre, (which had been termed the "Palais des Arts" under the First Empire). Between 1802 and 1804, a nine-arch metallic bridge for pedestrians was constructed at the location of the present day Pont des Arts: this was the first metal bridge in Paris. This innovation was due to Napoléon I, following a design of English manufacture. The engineers Louis-Alexandre de Cessart and Jacques Dillon initially conceived of a bridge which would resemble a suspended garden, with trees, banks of flowers, and benches. In 1976, the Inspector of Bridges and Causeways (Ponts et Chaussées) reported several deficiencies on the bridge. More specifically, he noted the damage that had been caused by two aerial bombardments sustained during World War I and World War II and the harm done from the multiple collisions caused by boats. The bridge would be closed to circulation in 1977 and, in 1979, suffered a 60 meter collapse after a barge rammed into it. The present bridge was built between 1981 and 1984 "identically" according to the plans of Louis Arretche, who had decided to reduce the number of arches from nine to seven, allowing the look of the old bridge to be preserved while realigning the new structure with the Pont Neuf. On 27 June 1984, the newly reconstructed bridge was inaugurated by Jacques Chirac – then the mayor of Paris. The bridge has sometimes served as a place for art exhibitions, and is today a studio en plein air for painters, artists and photographers who are drawn to its unique point of view. The Pont des Arts is also frequently a spot for picnics during the summer. The argentinian writer, Julio Cortázar, talks about this bridge in his book "Rayuela". When Horacio Oliveira goes with the pythia and this tells him that the bridge for La Maga is the "Ponts des Arts". This is a great allusion of Cortázar for one of his greatest novels, even one of the best novels ever written. |
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