Tag: travel

Savannah || Telfair Academy of Arts & Sciences

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The Telfair Academy, the Jepson Center and the Owens-Thomas House are three distinctly different buildings in close distance with each other, united under the umbrella of Telfair Museums. Each one houses an art collection that corresponds to the period it was built.

Let us start today with a visit to the Telfair Academy. Designed by William Jay in neoclassical Regency style, completed in 1819 as a residence for Alexander Telfair, it houses 19th- and 20th-century American and European art. Athanadoros, Hagesandros and Polydoros of Rhodes
Laocoön and His Sons, early first century A.D.
(cast madxe before 1893)

The original version of this sculpture can be found in the collection of the Vatican Museums, Rome.

Childe Hassam (1859-1935)
Brooklyn Bridge in Winter, 1904
Oil on canvas

Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939)
The Garden Umbrella, by 1910
Oil on canvas

Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939)
The Hammock, by 1915
Oil on canvas

Henri Caro-Delvaille (1875-1928)
La toilette d’Herminie, 1906
Oil on canvas

Józef Brandt (1841-1915)
Ein Gefecht (A Battle), 1888
Oil on canvas

Julian Story (1857-1919)
The Black Prince at Crécy, 1888 (detail)
Oil on canvas

Walter MacEwen (1860-1943)
The Lacemakers, c. 1885-1900
Oil on canvas

Carl Ludwig Brandt (1831-1905)
Mary Telfair, 1896

Carl Brandt was the first director of the Telfair, serving in that capacity from 1883 until his demise in 1905. His portrait of local philanthropist Mary Telfair (1791-1875), whose bequest of her home to the public as an ”academy of arts and sciences” allowed the creation of the Telfair Museum of Art, was commissioned by the museum’s trustees.

Raoul du Gardier (1871-1952)
Calme blanc, 1905-8
Oil on canvas

Gari Melchers (1860-1932)
Madonna of the Fields, c. 1895
Gouache on canvas

Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA

April 3rd, 2018

Walking in Savannah || Reconnaissance

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Savannah is beautiful, discreet and laid-back in an elegant sort of way. If Savannah was a person, she would have been a lady of a certain age and of the Victorian era, sipping her afternoon tea in her lovely garden with friends. As it happens, Savannah is a cool city that attracts millions of tourists every year and yet still manages to keep her composure and good manners, making sure everyone enjoys generous doses of that famous Southern Hospitality and some take away booze* which makes walking in the city all the more interesting. This lady sure has style!

*In Savannah, it is permitted  to carry open drinks as long as they are held in a plastic cup (not in a bottle or mug) and are consumed within the Historic District.

Images from our first day walk –  some interesting places to bookmark:

The Independent Presbyterian Church
The Foley House Inn
First Baptist Church
The Savannah College of Art and Design
The Paris Market
Marshall House
Savannah Taphouse
Colonial Park Cemetery
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
Lucas Theatre for the Arts
Leopold’s Ice cream

April 2nd, 2018

You know you are in Savannah when…

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When her majesty the Queen Georgia of Savannah herself invites you on board for cocktails and old time tales; when the ”sweetheart of seafaring men of the world”, Miss Florence Matus ”the waving girl” is still waving her handkerchief welcoming you to her home, just as she did for every passing ship, every single day for forty-four years; and when the night that falls sweetly over the city’s cobblestone squares brings Savannah’s secret world of spirits to life, old souls walk past you and fade into the mist, like a midsummer night’s breeze.

Walking along the East River Street, Johnson Square & Reynolds Square

Savannah, GA

April 1st, 2018

The sun was setting over the Bahia Honda Rail Bridge

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Once part of the East Coast Railway, it connected the Bahia Honda Key with the Spanish Harbor Key. A road was built on top of the railway, so it became part of the original Overseas Highway. Later, a new bridge was built replacing the old route, and the original one was abandoned. Two if its spans were removed leaving a gap to allow boats to go through and glorious sunsets be framed between them.  A perfect picture to take back to New York: an idyllic sunset looking west and a mini rainbow far away, east.

Bahia Honda Key, Florida

February 3rd, 2018

Life on Key West

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Here we are, on the Southernmost Point of the Continental U.S. How an archipelago sitting between the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico can be considered ”Continental” is beyond me, but that’s what a concrete buoy-marker claims. It also claims that Cuba is just 90 miles away and that’s just about right (although, again, not exactly). And, after a closer look at the map, I doubt the ”southernmost” part too; some parts towards Fort Zachary Taylor at the tip of the island, seem to be more southern. Not that anyone cares for such details – life on Key West is an all day-long party; and that’s all that matters.

February 2nd, 2018

The Seven Mile Bridge

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A lone fisherman. A truck. A bird. A tiny island. A bridge so long one can never see its other end. Frankly, I would drive back and forth on the Seven Mile Bridge, even if it went nowhere, just to grasp its enormity. But only in calm weather. I wouldn’t even think about crossing it during a storm. Now that must be a sight to behold!

February 2nd, 2018