Tag Archives: Balboa Park

Beer and Cannibals

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Museum of Man
Balboa Park
May 30, 2016

We went with our middle daughter and her husband to the Museum of Man in Balboa Park. Meredith had visited that museum recently by herself, but she had not been in to see the special exhibit about cannibals, and the rest of us had not been there for many years.

Museum_man_beer

We first explored the Beerology exhibit. It chronicles the history of beer making around the world. Many different cultures, using a variety of grains, have made beer. Each region has a separate display case and write up. Various ancient artifacts are displayed in the cases. Our son-in-law is a home brewer and was particularly interested in that exhibit.

We also spent considerable time in the special exhibit about cannibals, Cannibals: Myth and Reality, which is located in the separate exhibit space across Laurel Street from the main building. It is not a permanent exhibit, but it will run until 2018. The displays include interesting artifacts, videos, and explanatory displays. We were taken a little aback, though, by the moral relativist undertone to much of the exhibit. It is best summed up by a button Meredith picked up when leaving, which said “Cannibals are people, too.” Extensive space is devoted to survival cannibalism by Europeans and people of European descent, such as the Donner party, shipwrecked English sailors, and the plane crash survivors in the Andes. Little differentiation is made between survival cannibalism and ritual cannibalism. Neither the reasons for ritual cannibalism nor its relation to human sacrifice are explored in any depth. Our guess is that the curators were so leery of giving visitors unfavorable opinions about ethnic groups whose ancestors practiced ritual cannibalism, that they missed an opportunity to educate. The exhibit is entertaining, and at times informative, but it is not enlightening.

Museum_man_cannibals

The adult admission price for the museum and cannibal exhibit combined is $20; for the museum alone it is $12.50. There are discounts for seniors, military, students, and youths. Parking is free in Balboa Park, but visitors may need to park some distance from the museum and walk or ride a shuttle.

SD Museum of Art — Brueghel and Putnam

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San Diego Museum of Art
April 19, 2016
Balboa Park

SDMA_exterior

Meredith took advantage of Resident Free Tuesday in Balboa Park to see two special exhibitions at the Museum of Art: Brueghel to Canaletto, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, featuring paintings from the Low Countries post 1600, and Ferocious Bronze, the Animal Sculptures of Arthur Putnam, featuring dramatic bronze sculptures done in the early 20th century.

There are about 40 paintings on display in the Brueghel to Canaletto exhibition, beautiful still lifes and landscape paintings from the 17th century. These are on loan from a private collection, and most have not been displayed publicly before. There are some really stunning pieces among them. It is hard to single out any one work, but Meredith enjoyed the humorous touches in Peter Binoit’s paintings, which include small mice unobtrusively eating some of the delicious looking food. This exhibition will run only through August 2, 2016 and is well worth a visit.

Sculptor Arthur Putnam lived from 1873 to 1930 and worked mainly on the West Coast. Publisher E. W. Scripps gave Putnam his first major commission, to sculpt five monumental bronze figures for his ranch near San Diego. Putnam won a gold medal at San Francisco’s 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Central to this current exhibition are 28 of Putnam’s animal bronzes, selected from over 100 that the Museum received in 1925 as a gift from the Spreckels family. The exhibition also includes sketches and other material.

The Putnam exhibition will run through October 11, 2016. The Museum of Art is running it as their contribution to Part of the Pride. In honor of the San Diego Zoo’s centennial, five prominent Balboa Park institutions are collaborating to offer animal-themed exhibitions in 2016.

Meredith went on the third Tuesday of the month and so enjoyed free admission; regular admission is $12 for adults, with discounted prices for seniors, military, students, and youths. (She bought a book in the gift shop, so we made a financial contribution to the museum that way.)

San Diego Museum of Man

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San Diego Museum of Man
Balboa Park
April 19, 2016

Meredith played hooky from work and went to Balboa Park on a Tuesday afternoon, to take advantage of a couple of the museums offering free Tuesday admission to San Diego County residents. Most of the park’s museums participate in this program once a month, on a rotating basis. This day was a third Tuesday, which meant the participating museums that day were the Museum of Man, the Museum of Art, the Mingei Museum, and the Japanese Friendship Garden.

Meredith had hoped to see the cannibal exhibit, Cannibals: Myth & Reality, but that is a special exhibition with a separate, paid admission, so she decided to skip it this time and see it later when we can both go. That exhibit is scheduled to run through 2018, so there should be plenty of opportunity.

Meredith found the exhibit on race, Race, Are We So Different?, to be particularly interesting. There was a timeline of race perception and laws with good factual information, and a self portrait section with subjective descriptions. She was struck by the woman whose heritage mixed many ethnic groups, who wrote of herself “I’m what’s on the spoon when you pull it out of the melting pot.” The museum’s website advises this exhibit will be temporarily closed from May 20 through June 5, 2016.

Museum_man_Mayan

She strolled through various other exhibits about the Maya, the Kumeyaay, the history of beer, monsters, and primates. Exhibits are well laid out and accompanied by helpful written information.

As noted above, Meredith’s visit was on a free Tuesday. Regular admission is $12.50 for adults, $20 with the cannibal exhibit included. There are reduced rates for seniors, military, youth, and students. There is a small additional charge for those who want to buy timed tickets and climb the California Tower, with views out over the park. Balboa Park offers free parking, but lots can be crowded, and visitors may need to park at a distance and walk or take a tram.

Timken — Vermeer

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Timken Museum
Balboa Park
San Diego
September 5, 2015

We went back to one of our favorite museums, the Timken Museum in the heart of Balboa Park, near the arboretum and koi pond. We recommend this museum highly, and suggest anyone living in San Diego who has not been there should check it out. It is a totally FREE, small (right sized) art museum with an excellent collection of American and Western European paintings and a large collection of Russian icons. Although admission is free, we made sure to drop some cash in the donation box at the entrance, and we encourage others to do likewise.

Timken_Vermeer

Our most recent visit, back in May, had been to see a special exhibition of a Raphael painting that was on loan at the time. We went this time to catch a visiting Vermeer painting, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, on its final week here in San Diego. We arrived a little before the museum opened at 10:00 a.m. and joined a group of patrons waiting for the doors to open. Among that group was a man who had come all the way from Washington State to see the painting. He told us the painting is the 15th Vermeer he has seen; an impressive life list! We were enthralled by the painting, particularly by the use of light and color, and also the subtle details. It is a momentary glimpse into the life of its subject. She is caught in the drama of the moment, reading the letter, perhaps sent by her husband traveling far away. Other pieces of Dutch art from that era, including some outstanding watercolor paintings of tulips, were displayed in the same room, giving a context to the central piece.

The museum website had this information about the painting, which was on display through September 11, 2015:
The “Woman in Blue Reading a Letter” one of about 36 known paintings by world-class master artist Johannes Vermeer….Luminous and exquisitely rendered, “Woman in Blue Reading a Letter” (about 1663-1664) is one of Vermeer’s most captivating portrayals of a young woman’s private world. This generous loan from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam marks the first appearance of this remarkable painting in San Diego. Praised as one of Vermeer’s most beautiful paintings, “Woman in Blue Reading a Letter” demonstrates the artist’s exceptional command of color, light and perspective.

Meredith put a heads up email out to her rowing team, to let them know that week was the last chance to see the painting. Several of them made a point of going to see it that final week, one for the second time. A teammate commented: “Vermeer is one of my favorites. His use of optics, exaggerated perspective and special pigments are fascinating.” Another was pleased that the exhibit tied into a lecture series she had attended recently, about Dutch art.

While it is no longer possible to see the Vermeer, the Timken’s Rembrandt, St. Bartholomew, is back in its place of honor and well worth a visit.

Timken Museum

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Timken Museum of Art
Balboa Park, San Diego
February 15, 2015

First, let us say this is one of our most favorite museums! Located in the heart of Balboa Park in San Diego, the Timken is a small museum with an excellent art collection which offers free admission.

We have been here many times over the years; we often stop by when doing something else in Balboa Park. On this most recent visit, we hiked 4 miles round trip, from the northwest corner of the park around the Aerospace Museum and back to where we started. We stopped at the Timken partway through the walk.

Timken_Raphael

We made this visit to see a special exhibition: Raphael’s painting The Madonna of the Pinks, on loan from the National Gallery in London. It will be here through April 26, 2015. Later this year the Timken will be exhibiting another piece on loan, Vermeer’s Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, from May 11 through September 11, 2015, on loan from Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. In exchange the Timken is lending its prize possession, Rembrandt’s painting Saint Bartholomew, to the National Gallery and the Rijksmuseum.

The permanent collection spans nearly six centuries, from early Renaissance to late nineteenth century paintings, and includes pieces from Italy, the United States, France, and the Lowlands. The museum also houses an extensive collection of Russian icons. The guards are very pleasant, and they are also knowledgeable about the collection, more so than we have found at most museums.

Bob was particularly taken by an 1880 Eastman Johnson painting in the American gallery, The Cranberry Harvest, Nantucket Island. Meredith enjoyed seeing an old favorite, Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 1557 painting Parable of the Sower. Many years ago our youngest daughter, then in grade school, realized as soon as she saw the painting what parable it illustrated, displaying her Scripture knowledge without prompting from us.

As noted above, admission to the Timken is free. Please do make whatever donation you can afford, though; fine art needs conserving, and like all museums the Timken needs funds to operate. Parking is free in Balboa Park. We did not have Margaret with us this time, but handicapped access seems adequate here. There is no café in the museum; there is a café nearby in the park and several other grab and go snack options.