One of the nice things about doing a play in Pasadena is I'm spending a LOT of time in a part of town I've never really gotten to know. I went to the Norton Simon Museum I think 10 years ago, and I'm ashamed to say I don't think I've been til last week when I went back. I went because I read about a Hiroshige exhibit. He was one of the masters of Japanese woodblock printing, which I have always loved. This exhibit is so very wonderful. I'm going back this week.
Though I've got a couple images to show you here, they don't do the colors justice. The blues and greens were like drinking a cool glass of water. His series 36 Views of Mt. Fuji---in which he did 36 different scenes that all have Mt. Fuji somewhere in the background but are otherwise completely different--has become one of my new most beloved things on the planet. I think I could look at them for 24 hours straight. Then he has these beautiful images of birds which were intended to go with poems.....Sigh. So beautiful. And so peaceful. Definitely one of those exhibits in which time gets a little slower, breath gets a little deeper, noises don't sound as loud anymore.
If you like what you see here dig around online for more of his stuff, or better yet, you Southern Californians, take a trip to the exhibit itself. It's up through January. If you go while the weather is warm you can ramble through the sculpture garden and see Rodin's Burghers of Calais, which is pretty a rad bonus. And incidentally, I read not too long ago The Women by TC Boyle, which is about Frank Lloyd Wright and the women in his life, and he was a huge collector of these prints. If I could collect them, I would too.
Oh, and on a side note, I was blogged about here for the new show which opens on Saturday! Previews have been going great.
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