Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for art tourism
Getting to Know Wallace
By Linda Tancs
If you were asked to name London’s best museums, what would be on your list? The British Museum? V&A? Tate? National Gallery? Chances are, you wouldn’t think of The Wallace Collection. Featuring the collections of the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the son of the 4th Marquess, this national museum boasting 25 galleries is a real gem located in Hertford House, a London townhouse. Its most prominent exhibits include paintings by Titian, Rembrandt, Hals and Velázquez and eighteenth-century French paintings, porcelain, furniture and gold boxes. But don’t stop there. Be sure to view the stunning array of Limoges enamels and striking arms and armor. Beat the crowds and visit on New Year’s Day.
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Matisse Returns to Stockholm
By Linda Tancs
Stockholm’s Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art) boasts one of the finest collections of contemporary and modern art in Europe. Its most famous work may be Robert Rauschenberg’s Monogram, but its most celebrated work is arguably Matisse’s Le Jardin following its triumphant return to the museum earlier this year after its notorious heist in 1987. Kudos for the homecoming go to the Art Loss Register, an unassuming London company with one of the most extensive databases of stolen art worldwide.
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Madrid’s Hidden Beauty
By Linda Tancs
Prado is Spain’s national art museum, located in central Madrid and filled with masterpieces by Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Goya and El Greco, to name a few. The museum’s collection ranges from the late second century to the threshold of the 20th century. With that much ground to cover, you’ll be grateful that the museum is offering an exhibition through 10 November to showcase its vast inventory–at least from the 14th to 19th centuries. “Hidden Beauty: Fra Angelico to Fortuny” features artists like Murillo, Rubens, Watteau, Goya, and Fortuny.
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A Traveling Sisterhood
By Linda Tancs
Lunafest is a traveling film festival by, for and about women. This year’s collection of nine films explores topics as diverse as chemotherapy, break-ups, shyness and gymnastics training. Over 150 locations will participate in this event through June. Find one near you.
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68 Miles of Art
By Linda Tancs
Most underground maps serve no other purpose other than to help travelers navigate the labyrinth of tunnels among terminal points. Not so in Stockholm. You’ll be guided not only to the underground system but also to its art. Sweden’s capital city has the largest collection of underground art in the world, gracing more than 90 of its 100 stations along the 68-mile route. Guided tours are available.
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A Swanky Museum in London
By Linda Tancs
In the heart of central London is a neo-gothic mansion once built to order for American financier-turned-British nobleman William Waldorf Astor. Now owned by The Bulldog Trust, the property at 2 Temple Place is an exhibition space, London’s first venue to specifically showcase publicly-owned art from around the UK. The inaugural exhibition explored the artistry of William Morris. Stay tuned for the next show, due to open in January 2013. Until then, why not view the magnificent exterior of this newly renovated mansion on a walking tour of Victoria Embankment. Summer sees a number of lunch-time concerts in the bandstand area of the gardens there.
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The House That Witnessed History
By Linda Tancs
Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991, Bush-Holley House is a saltbox in cozy Cos Cob, a Greenwich, Connecticut suburb on the north side of Long Island Sound. Initially constructed in 1728, the colonial home’s coastal vantage point provided front row views decades later to our nation’s battle for independence. Purchased in the early 1700s by Justus Bush, a wealthy farmer in Greenwich, the family operated a tide mill on the property and later added a storehouse that would become the Cos Cob post office for a time. The house passed into the Holley family, who ran it as a boarding house for artists and writers. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, an art colony for impressionists flourished in Cos Cob. Serving as part of the Connecticut Art Trail, the house museum honors the area’s artistic legacy through temporary and permanent exhibitions.
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Premier Art Collection Comes to Philadelphia
By Linda Tancs
Dr. Albert C. Barnes was a Philadelphia native and co-inventor of an antiseptic silver compound used in the prevention of infant blindness. The product’s commercial success enabled Dr. Barnes to acquire a vast art collection comprising post-impressionist and early modern art. Beginning on 19 May founding members of the Barnes will be the first to experience the collection at its new home in Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Nestled on 4.5 acres of landscaped grounds, the new building features a light-filled indoor court, functional classrooms, and intimate galleries surrounded by a series of external garden spaces. A special exhibition gallery will feature regular temporary exhibitions of past and contemporary art to complement the Barnes Foundation’s collection. Nonmembers won’t feel left out of the action. During the weekend of 26 May, 56 consecutive hours of free access and activities for all ages will feature some of Philadelphia’s finest cultural and performing arts organizations, such as Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, Relâche, Peter Tang’s Chinese Music Ensemble, and AfroTaino Productions.
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Art Fair Celebrates Quarter Century
By Linda Tancs
The world’s leading art and antiques fair is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year at the Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Center in the Netherlands. Taking place from 16-25 March this year, the event features elegantly displayed genuine masterpieces offered by more than 260 of the world’s most prestigious art and antiques dealers from 18 countries. To celebrate its silver anniversary, two unique contributions this year are (1) an exhibition of master drawings by some of the greatest artists in history, including da Vinci, Guercino, Rembrandt and Rubens, and (2) the first-ever BMW Art Car. This is one jubilee you won’t want to miss.
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Fabergé Debuts in Palm Beach
By Linda Tancs
The iconic Fabergé egg is the highlight of this year’s fine arts fair in Palm Beach, Florida. Now in its 16th year, the American International Fine Art Fair is the premier art, antique and jewelry fair in the United States, returning to the Palm Beach County Convention Center from 4 to 12 February. Fabergé will present a special exhibition and lecture series – Faberge: The Rebirth of an Icon-by Geza von Habsburg. Paying homage to the legendary Imperial eggs created by Peter Carl Fabergé for the Romanov family, Fabergé has designed a collection of one-of-a-kind egg pendants, Les Fameux de Fabergé. Each design illustrates a traditional Russian proverb. Now if that doesn’t egg you on to attend, nothing will.
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