Chinese Painting

Today I saw an exhibit of a modern Chinese painter at the Asia Society.  His name is Wu Guanzhong. He died recently.   In his later years, he wanted to make abstract paintings, but working within the traditions of Chinese art, using rice paper, ink, etc.   At times the paintings look like Jackson Pollock, with splattered ink, with some of the curvy lines of Brice Marden.  They are never totally abstract, though.  Here are some samples:

Also saw an exhibit at the Neue Galerie of early photographs by Heinrich Kuehn, from the early twentieth century.   These were interesting primarily for the early printing techniques, gum bichromate prints and early attempts at doing color photography.  The textures and colors of the prints are beautiful, and almost impossible to reproduce, on the web or otherwise.

New York City Ballet

We arrived in NY at midnight, dropped off in Cooper Square after sharing a ride with our friend David.   It was full of life, so much so that we had trouble finding a taxi to our apartment.   But we did, and arrived, happy to be at home in NY.

Last night we went to the New York City Ballet.  The first piece Serenade, by Balanchine, was extraordinarily beautiful.  Choreographed in 1935 for 26 dancers, to music by Tchaikovsky, it was a pleasure to watch how Balanchine moves his dancers in relation to the music.  Abstract, mostly, but at times enigmatically programmatic, it was very moving.  The second piece was Balanchine's version of the Firebird, the music for which I know very well!   The choreography and story ballet are not really very interesting for me; the piece is more about color and spectacle, with Stravinsky's extravagant score and costumes and sets designed by Chagall that are even more colorful than Stravinky's music.
The last piece, entitled "Dance a Grande Vitesse"  ("DGV") was choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, with non stop music by Michael Nyman.  It was a mesmerizing spectacle of movement and music, with the full company constantly coming and going in complex patterns.  Vera proclaimed it a masterpiece, and I was happily intrigued.   A great start to our week of culture...