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wendyzskiLast weekend ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ashtalet, pensnuggles and I went to see the Japanese Screens exhibit at the Art Institute. It should surprise no one that my favorite screens were those from the 16th century and/or the ones showing women in Heian kimono. I think my favorite was the one showing scenes from The Tale of Genji (basically the world's first novel). There was also a shorter one showing famous poets (male and female) under bits from their poems that had some beautiful kimono in them. They even had a screen showing "Southern Barbarians" - which is hilarious because you get to see what Japanese people thought the Portuguese looked like - truly enormous trousers for one thing! We were talking about some of the images on one screen and another visitor actually asked me if I had been to Japan! (I said "no but it might be nice because there 'd be tall!"). Yet another tribute to my ability to collect and remember otherwise utterly useless information.
In the Ukiyo-e gallery the showcase this month was on images of Murasaki and Komachi (famous Japanese female writers/poets). There were several images of Murasaki in the same pose which I though was interesting because I think it showed differences in the ideal of beauty over time - she was much more "moon-faced" in the earlier paintings. And I'd forgotten what a total bitch Komachi was! She's the court beauty who told a soldier who loved her that she'd sleep with him if he spent 100 nights waiting outside her pavillion. Of course, just before he got to 100 he died of exposure, and she ended up old and ugly and eventually became a nun. This is a terrible fate if your primary purpose in life is, as I said while talking about The Tale of Genji over in the screens exhibit, to sit around being pretty and rich all day.
This weekend should have a visit to the Aquarium (to see the newly redone Oceanarium) and we were pondering the Ginza Festival on the way home but it's sposed to be in the 90s so who knows if I'll wimp out.
ashtalet, pensnuggles and I went to see the Japanese Screens exhibit at the Art Institute. It should surprise no one that my favorite screens were those from the 16th century and/or the ones showing women in Heian kimono. I think my favorite was the one showing scenes from The Tale of Genji (basically the world's first novel). There was also a shorter one showing famous poets (male and female) under bits from their poems that had some beautiful kimono in them. They even had a screen showing "Southern Barbarians" - which is hilarious because you get to see what Japanese people thought the Portuguese looked like - truly enormous trousers for one thing! We were talking about some of the images on one screen and another visitor actually asked me if I had been to Japan! (I said "no but it might be nice because there 'd be tall!"). Yet another tribute to my ability to collect and remember otherwise utterly useless information. In the Ukiyo-e gallery the showcase this month was on images of Murasaki and Komachi (famous Japanese female writers/poets). There were several images of Murasaki in the same pose which I though was interesting because I think it showed differences in the ideal of beauty over time - she was much more "moon-faced" in the earlier paintings. And I'd forgotten what a total bitch Komachi was! She's the court beauty who told a soldier who loved her that she'd sleep with him if he spent 100 nights waiting outside her pavillion. Of course, just before he got to 100 he died of exposure, and she ended up old and ugly and eventually became a nun. This is a terrible fate if your primary purpose in life is, as I said while talking about The Tale of Genji over in the screens exhibit, to sit around being pretty and rich all day.
This weekend should have a visit to the Aquarium (to see the newly redone Oceanarium) and we were pondering the Ginza Festival on the way home but it's sposed to be in the 90s so who knows if I'll wimp out.