We left left Albuquerque and went to Santa Fe Wednesday. Originally, we wanted to travel to Santa Fe on Tuesday. But when I called Santa Fe Skies Sunday they had one back in spot available, it seems everyone left Albuquerque and went to Santa Fe. Since I don't back in unless I really have to, we waited until Wednesday.
Yesterday, Thursday, we decided to do museums. Like in Albuquerque, they are close together and relatively easy to get to. The big problem in Santa Fe is parking. The down town area is old with narrow streets and not enough space to build wide roads or large parking lots. We parked in a public parking area and walked to the museums we wanted to see.
The first museum on or list was the Museum of Fine Arts, which opened at 10:00 AM. We were a bit early so we wandered around the Plaza. The last time we were here, in 2000, it was raining and we didn't stay long. Yesterday, We wandered around looking into store fronts and trying to stay warm until the museums opened. Wednesday night the temp got down to 28 degrees or so and it was breezy and cold most of Thursday, especially in the shady areas.
The first museum on or list was the Museum of Fine Arts, which opened at 10:00 AM. We were a bit early so we wandered around the Plaza. The last time we were here, in 2000, it was raining and we didn't stay long. Yesterday, We wandered around looking into store fronts and trying to stay warm until the museums opened. Wednesday night the temp got down to 28 degrees or so and it was breezy and cold most of Thursday, especially in the shady areas.
At the Fine Arts museum, to save some money we purchased a couple of four day passes to five museums, two downtown , Palace of the Governors and the Museum of fine Arts. The other three are in an area called Museum Hill which we plan to visit Friday.
Fine Arts building
Another view
From the court yard.
In an unusual move, for us, we took the museum tour instead of wandering around on our own. The guide knew enough about the collection so we didn't have to read every plaque. They have a traveling collection of European Modernism from the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institution in Utica, New York.
The covered walkway in front of the Governors Palace is taken over daily by native Indian vendors.
We broke for lunch about 1:30 PM before going over to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
Our tour guide did her best to explain the nuances of meaning, if any, for each piece; I suspect a lot of her spiel was her own opinion anyway. And for the more ambiguous works, she resorted to the same old fall back position art experts take when their gobbledygook isn't making an impression. Art, like beauty, is always in the eye of the beholder.
Anyway, in my humble opinion, there wasn't much to write home about in the collection. The one interesting group, is a collection of Henry Moore etchings based on elephant skulls. We've seen many of his sculptures but not his other art work. And a couple from one of my favorite artist, Salvador Dali; he tickles my fancy. I find something new each time I look at one of his works.
After the Fine Arts museum, we walked a short distance to the Place of the Governors. The palace was constructed in the early 17th century, 1610 -- the oldest public building in the United States -- it served as Spain's seat of government for what is today the American Southwest. The adobe structure is the state's history museum, and, in 1960, was designated a Registered National Historic Landmark and an American Treasure in 1999.
The exhibits are the usual collection of household items, farm and ranch implements, government documents and folk art. We've seen a lot of similar collections so I was hopping for something different. And there are two unusual collections. A working exhibit of 19th and 20th century printing equipment and techniques employed in Santa Fe and New Mexico. Some printing techniques are still used to create unique handcrafted books, and cards, and other art books.
The other interesting exhibit is a collection of pre-European Middle American and Andean objects that are extremely interesting, with some fascinating gold and jade items.
The official web site is :http://www.palaceofthegovernors.org/exhibitions.html
Some of the items for sale.
After the Governors Palace, we moseyed a couple of blocks to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. It's been opened to the public in July, 1997. The 13,000 square-foot building is being renovated by architect Richard Gluckman. The museum houses a permanent collection of O'Keefe's art; not all of her art, much of her work is in New York. But the collection does seem to be representative of her life's work.
Johnna and I like O'Keefe's style. She has a superb eye for composition and color and was a competent sketch artist. The collection has several examples of her sketches that are not usually seen.
The museum also has an exhibition of the photographer Paul Strand's work, entitled Moments in Modernism. Paul Strand is considered a pioneer in modernist photography. In the 1920's he rejected Pictorialism, a technique of manipulating photographs during the printing process to mimic the effects of painting. Strand advocated a new approach to photography; printing the image exactly as the photographer had captured it.
Pictorialism sounds a bit like today's image manipulation achieved with computer software. We broke for lunch about 1:30 PM before going over to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
The Cathedral Basilica of St. francis of Assisi
View toward alter.
View of the ceiling.
One of the stained glass windows.
Sunlight passing through a stained glass window.
St. Francis
This ended our museum tour for the day, about 5 hours worth which, as usual, was too much. Tomorrow, we'll tackle Museum Hill; we've been told that the better collections are in two of the museums.
