Category: july 2017

San Francisco is… the eclectic Legion of Honor

The Humble Fabulist1 Comment

A haven for European Art spanning 4000 years; paintings, sculptures, decorative objects, frames as precious as the works they adorn, ancient art from the Mediterranean basin and  mummies from Egypt, all under this beautiful French neoclassical structure, a replica of the French Pavilion at San Francisco’s Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, itself a replica of the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris, an 18th-century landmark on the left bank of the Seine. Michael Sweerts (Flemish, Brussels 1618-1664 Goa)
Portrait of a Youth, ca. 1655-1661
Oil on canvas

Louis Léopold Boilly (French, 1761-1845)
After Clodion (Claude Michel)
Triumph of Amphitrite, ca. 1785-1799 (details)
Oil on paper mounted on canvas

Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879)
Third-Class Carriage, 1856-1858
Oil on panel

Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, 1824-1904)
The Bath, ca. 1880-1885 (detail)
Oil on canvas

Konstantin Makovsky (Russia, 1839-1915)
The Russian Bride’s Attire, 1889
Oil on canvas

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825-1905)
The Broken Pitcher, 1891
Oil on canvas

Jules Bastien-Lepage (French, 1848-1884)
Sarah Bernhardt, 1879
Oil on canvas

John Anster Fitzgerald (British, 1823-1906)
Fairies in a Bird’s Nest, ca. 1860
Oil on canvas

Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (French, 1824-1887)
Mary Queen of Scots, ca. 1860-1869
Terracota

Celestial and terrestrial globes, Dutch, ca. 1600
Jodocus Hondius, the elder (Joos de Hondt, 1563-1612), cartographer
Metal, walnut and paper

Table from Italy, Bologna, 17th century
Walnut

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917)
The Three Shades, 1898
Bronze

Paneled room
France, ca. 1680 and later
Painted and gilt wood and mirror

William Blake
”Time in advance… ”and ”Time, having passed on…,” from The Complaint, and the Consolation; or, Night Thoughts, by Edward Young

[Night Thoughts was first published in 1742 and its continuing popularity more than fifty years later inspired publisher Richard Edwards to bring out a new, deluxe edition, for which he commissioned William Blake to provide illustrations.]

Legion of Honor

July 7th, 2017

San Francisco is… keeping its hats on

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[In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, hats were a social obsession, subjects of acclaim and critique. The Paris millinery industry was at its financial and creative peak between the mid-1870s and 1914, the period between the Franco-Prussian War and the outbreak of the World War I, decades that coincided with the ear of French Impressionism. The women who made and sold hats – milliners, or modistes in French – as well as those who purchased them, fascinated Edgar Degas and other artists in his circle.] Bonnets of the 1880s by Mangin Maurice (left) & Cordeau et Laugaudin (right)

Bonnet, ca. 1894 by an unknown designer, France

Jean Béraud, 1849-1935
Fashionable Woman on the Champs-Élysées, n.d.
Oil on canvas

Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
Woman Adjusting Her Hair, ca. 1884
Oil on canvas

Hat by Maison Virot, ca. 1900 (with alterations)

Hat by Camille Marchais, ca. 1895

Bonnet by Mesdemoiselles Cotel, ca. 1885 (left) & Capote by E. Gauthier, ca. 1890

Hat by Caroline Reboux, ca. 1904-1905 (left) & by Au Bon Marché, retailer, ca. 1884

Capote by Auguste Poussineau, known as A. Félix, ca. 1880-1885 (front) & Hat by Monsieur Heitz-Boyer, 1898 (back)

Hat by an unknown designer, ca. 1890

Édouard Manet (1832-1883)
Berthe Morisot, ca. 1869-1873
Oil on canvas

Louise Catherine Breslau (1856-1927)
The Milliners, 1899
Pastel on paper mounted on board

Paul-César Helleu (1859-1927)
The Final Touch, ca 1885
Pastel on paper

Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade exhibition ran until September 2017 @ the Legion of Honor*

July 07th, 2017

*If, by any chance, September 2018 finds you in San Francisco, please do make me jealous and go see the current exhibition, Truth and Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelites and the Old Masters!

San Francisco is… a little crooked

The Humble Fabulist5 Comments

Not only it is host to some of the steepest streets on this side of the Atlantic, but also to some of the crookedest. Lombard Street on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, is so steep that it was deemed too dangerous for vehicles to just drive through. Thus its transformation into a switchback with eight sharp turns – so sharp and steep, I thought every household in San Francisco should, by default, include a shrine devoted to the genius who invented automatic transmission.

Lombard Street

July 6th, 2017

San Francisco is… going boating

The Humble Fabulist4 Comments

Around Alcatraz…, where else?

One is spoiled for choice as far as cruises are concerned: Alcatraz tours by day or night, bridge-to-bridge ones, cruises for watching the sunset or whale-watching ones, you name it, chances are you can have it. We took the lazy one, that circles around Alcatraz and under the Golden Bridge. It was windy and brisk and the views were amazing.

San Francisco Bay Cruises

July 6th, 2017

San Francisco is… on a Mission

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The Dolores Mission, to be precise.

[The Misión San Francisco de Asís was founded October 9, 1776. The settlement was named for St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order, but was also commonly known as “Mission Dolores” owing to the presence of a nearby creek named Arroyo de los Dolores, or “Creek of Sorrows.”

Mission Dolores is the oldest intact building in the City of San Francisco and the only intact Mission Chapel in the chain of 21 established under the direction of Father Serra. The Mission has been a steadfast witness to the span of San Francisco’s history including the California Gold Rush and the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. The Mission Cemetery is the only cemetery that remains within the City limits. The Cemetery is the final resting place for numerous Ohlone, Miwok, and other First Californians as well as notable California pioneers.]

Junípero Serra y Ferrer, O.F.M., Founder and First President of the California Missions
Born Nov. 24, 1713 – Died Aug. 28, 1784

Mission Dolores

July 6th, 2017

San Francisco is… taking the best wedding photos

The Humble Fabulist3 Comments

The three most renowned photographer assistants in the whole of Fisherman’s Wharf, Glaukus, Icarus & Rufus, working as a team. Today, they help with a wedding photo session.

Okay guys, are you ready…?
Glaukus: ”Hold her hand… Perfect…” *click*
Icarus: “Now, look at each other…” *click-click*
Rufus: “Pose… Great…!” *click*

Glaukus: ”Hey, mate… MATE!” “Where d’ya think you’re goin? Come back ‘ere, you’re not done yet…!

How to take great wedding photos @ The Embarcadero, Pier 39

July 5th, 2017

San Francisco is… a walk at Pier 39

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Starting with a fair warning!

Meeting Glaukus, Le Poseur →↓

Paparazzi are not welcome →↓ If warnings and crowds do not scare you off, chances are you’ll make it to the other end of the pier where, depending on the season, you may be able to observe sea lions relaxing on their floats. Usually, there are hundreds of them, but in June and July most head south to breeding grounds on the Channel Islands, although a handful of lazybones, do remain. 

Walking along the Embarcadero, from Pier 39 to Fisherman’s Wharf and the Maritime Museum, then back to where we started, at the City Hall. Across the street, the Davies Symphony Hall was beginning to glow.

July 5th, 2017

San Francisco is… taking (the) steps

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There are many ways to reach Coit Tower on top of Telegraph Hill. You can take the bus, your car or get on your feet for some excellent aerobic exercise – whatever works best. But the most scenic of all, must be ”The Steps”. There are numerous steps on different sides and levels of the hill, leading to the tower; the views here, are from The Greenwich Steps.

Another perspective of Coit Tower and the neighbourhood surrounding the hill. How amazing would it be to live there, don’t you find? Although, a bit of an ordeal when it’s your turn for that last-minute shopping… Greenwich Steps

July 5th, 2017