Tuesday 16 June 2015

A Belated Post About London

There has been a bit of a delay in writing about the rest of the trip to London, what with the house being torn down around my ears leading to (quelle horreur) 2 weeks with no TV or internet access at home. So no blogging.

After the lovely evening with friends and with Neil and Amanda and their friends, I had another 2 days in London, as I had, before hearing about the New Statesman event, booked to see 2 plays, on the Saturday, so I decided to stay up and tke in an exhibition or two in between.

So, on Friday, I went to the British Museum,to visit their 'Defining Beauty - the body in ancient Greek Art' which was fascinating.

The exhibition looks at the evolution of the idea of beauty, from ancient Egyptian figures, through to the Renaissance's rediscovery of ancient Greek Art.

The exhibits include, of course wonderful sculptures. There are also  reproduction figures, reminding us that ancient Greek sculptures were not the classic white we know now, but were brightly, indeed garishly coloured. I have to say, I much prefer them without the colours!

There are also vases (mostly of Herakles, but also a very nice one showing a woman spinning (apparently an unusual example of a well-born woman - mostly women only get a look in as slaves or goddesses)

It's worth seeing.

I then went to the British Library to revisit their Magna Carta exhibition - it was less crowded than when I made my first visit, which was nice, as it meant I could spend time trying to read bits of medieval French manuscripts, and bigger chunks of trial transcripts. 

It's still a really great exhibition.

The following morning I went to look for art of a different kind - I wanted to see the mural in memory of Terry Pratchett and Josh Kirby, just off Brick Lane.

I found it, but before I got there, I also found lots of other wonderful art. 

I loved these steampunk ravens, and the fox, and there were also some wonderful octopi and a mongoose. 

Then the one I'd gone looking for - 
It is very impressive.



So much love on one wall!  I was really glad I got to see it.  And that the Librarian is there.

1 comment:

Martha said...

Lovely report. So glad you finally have your internet back so you could post it.