My ongoing tour of South American cemeteries.
Category: Art and beauty
The Hand, Punta del Este, URUGUAY
La Mano (The Hand) is a sculpture in Punta del Este by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal. It depicts five human fingers partially emerging from sand …
It is also known as either Monumento al Ahogado (Monument to the Drowning Man), Los Dedos (The Fingers), or Hombre emergiendo a la vida(Man Emerging into Life). In English, it’s popular name is The Hand. …
While Irarrázabal had the entire summer to complete the project, he managed to finish in the first six days …
He later made near or exact replicas of the sculpture for the city of Madrid (in 1987), the Mano del Desierto (Hand of the Desert) in the Atacama Desert in Chile (1992), and in Venice (1995). …
I was surprised to find it directly across from the bus terminal. Not nearly as romantic a location as you’d guess from the photos.
Crowded most of the day, I went early morning to get the Hand to myself.
It’s deteriorating, as well. One day they’ll need do a restoration.
related – the Mano del Desierto located in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Buenos Aires – Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Free and popular. The National Museum of Fine Arts is well worth a visit.
Generally I use art museums as a chance to get in some speed walk training. But this one slowed me down a number of times.
I like impressionists. Especially this guy.
I like sculpture and there is some impressive work on display. Rodin, for sure.
I thought I liked Miró after a past visit to Barcelona. Turns out I was wrong. His work is random.
One classroom seems to offer children the chance to emulate Miró. Most of their first efforts are superior.
Modern art?
Worse than Miro.
I did like this portrait of Jack Kerouac by Cambre.
Don’t get me started on Canada’s most valuable painting – Voice of Fire.
National Gallery of Art, Washington
I’m not much of an Art Gallery fan, truth be told. I mostly use museums like this for speed walking.
But free of charge I quite enjoyed this one.
The National Gallery of Art … is located on the National Mall, …
The special exhibition was Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting. I’d never before paid any attention to Vermeer. But now agree he was a genius.
Normally the lives of rich, dead white Europeans bores me to tears. But Vermeer and those he inspired were really on to something. Daily life. Quiet scenes unfolding in private household spaces.
I’d definitely visit the National Gallery again in future as I did not nearly see all of the exhibits. Not even by speed walking.
inspired by Lincoln
No President, not even Washington, inspires Americans more than honest Abe.
There are well over 15,000 books written about him.
I visited the Lincoln Memorial twice. It’s very popular at dusk.
His statue could not be more impressive.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention were hosting an Out of the Darkness Walk here when I visited.
In 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his “I have a dream…” speech here.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal’.
Lincoln’s work is far from finished. He needs inspire many more for many generations to come.
Micayla Gatto – artist and cyclist
Parksville sand sculpting 2017
Randy and Val arrived Parksville for a week holiday. First stop was the annual sand sculpting competition.
Theme this year was Canada 150.
Maple leaves, trees and water were recurring themes as 29 competitors devoted their creativity to the theme of Canada 150 in the 2017 Quality Foods Sand Sculpting Competition at Parksville’s Community Park last weekend.
In the end, the winning entries were those that focused on Canada’s people — particularly those of its First Nations. …
Canadian Mosaic, a 360-degree series of pillars featuring five Canadian icons — Neil Young, Buffy St. Marie, Terry Fox, Chief Dan George and David Suzuki won a prize.
Excellent detail impresses me.
My brother liked best another winner, with an indigenous figure on one side and a uniformed Mountie on the other.
I voted for one called Little Iron Horse celebrating a certain breed of Canadian horses.
7 Wonders of the Ancient World – Temple of Artemis
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair
Though hundreds of thousand visit nearby Ephesus, Turkey, I was the only person at the Temple of Artemis when I visited.
Me, turtles and the stork nesting atop the last remaining column.
How fragile are the works of man.
Of the original Seven Wonders, only one—the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest of the ancient wonders—remains relatively intact.
The Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Temple of Artemis and the Statue of Zeus were all destroyed.
The location and ultimate fate of the Hanging Gardens are unknown, and there is speculation that they may not have existed at all.
A Greek temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis, it was completely rebuilt three times before its final destruction in 401 AD.
Click PLAY or watch a BBC documentary on YouTube.
Christ the Redeemer, Rio
Like everybody, I’ve always wanted to visit this most famous statue.
Live everyone, I found it to be no let down. 🙂
Most take the quaint cog railway up and down. (But there is a rough scramble trail which starts close to the Botanical Gardens.)
You arrive at the top to his back facing. Interesting.
I like the face. It’s as tranquil as many Buddha statues.
The views are terrific. Obviously.
There’s Maracanã Stadium. It will host Opening & Closing Olympic ceremonies.
This guy’s certainly going to be cheering Brazil to win the men’s futebol gold medal.
Everybody here is happy, happy.
But the Russian girl – Lena – I arrived with nearly got us kicked out. She climbed the Redeemer for a photo. 🙂
… A symbol of Christianity across the world, the statue has also become a cultural icon of both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil, and is listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone, and was constructed between 1922 and 1931. …
