Museum Hopper

i was home for the holidays and knew i had to go see at least one museum in detroit. it was such an obvious choice, the detroit institute of arts , which had been recently renovated. my boyfriend and i headed over there on a chilly sunday afternoon. we decided to just see the museum , not the special exhibits, since we both had not been there in so long. next time we are back in the city, we will probably try the detroit science center . the parking was very convenient and just a short walk to the front of the museum. i liked the museum layout. the rooms were small and i found it easy to move from room to room. i think the best part of the museum, which i have never seen in a museum, were these descriptive signs in almost every room. the signs seemed to unite all the objects in the room (i.e. the paintings, sculptures, sketches). there were throughout the entire museum from the modern to the neoclassical to the egyptian art. a visit to the dia is not complete without mentioning...

i went to the fashion institute of technology (fit) museum on saturday. it was strategically planned to overlap the newly opening night & day exhibit as well as the soon closing american beauty . the night & day is in the exhibition space that the other two exhibits i have seen is in. the american beauty exhibit was downstairs in the basement. i had never been down there for an exhibit before. downstairs was quite open feeling with tall ceilings, but was rather factory, minimal and industrial. the night & day exhibit was well done. it followed the similar pattern their other exhibits working through the periods comparing and contrasting the different style of outfits. it was interesting to see how they progressed. the largest change seemed to occur between 1920-1945. they had some beautiful dresses. i was not quite as impressed with the american beauty exhibit. they seemed to preface the exhibit with stating that they had to expand their vision of what an "...

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i went to the metropolitan museum of art today to see the art of the samurai: japanese arms and armor, 1156-1868 . this exhibit was in the typical special exhibit location....second floor to the left passing through the marble statues. the exhibit was fantastic. as described in the introduction to the exhibit, it is the most comprehensive exhibit ever devoted to samurai art. most of the art were designated as "national treasure" and "important cultural property." i found quite a few of the items on the wikipedia page for japanese national treasures . the exhibit had a number of swords, sword mountings and armor. a number of the items (~60) will be switched out in the next week with new items. most of the items cannot handle light for such long periods. some of the armor was fantastic, in particular one. this particular armor was replicated 100 years later for a child in the same family. this helmet was absolutely fantastic. i cannot believe that i spent ...

i went to the brooklyn museum of art today. the subway posters/ads for the exhibit who shot rock & roll : a photographic history from 1955 to present have been calling out to me. it was fairly quiet as i entered the museum today and got up to get my ticket pretty quickly. after that, i headed up to the 5th floor for the exhibit. i found the exhibit generally well spaced although it was a difficult to navigate the exhibit. i did quite a bit of walking back and forth to take it all in. i am also 100% certain that i did not take in the exhibit in order. i was a little irritated that they let strollers into the exhibit. these were strollers that parents were using to hold all their jackets and bags, not actually their children! it was crowded enough without these extra items! overall, i find that the museum has quite an unusual layout. i thought that the exhibit was quite good. it covered a large era (over 50 years) and all different aspects of "rock and roll." i...

i went to the new york historical society last weekend with my friend, suzi! she just happens to be a history phd candidate which was just perfect for this museum! she is in town doing research for her phd; most of her research has been done in the new york historical society! we went to see the lincoln and new york . the advertising line that has intrigued me was: lincoln, the most beloved president new york ever hated. the exhibit was quite lengthy about 1/3 longer than we expected. it stepped through his history with new york starting with his arrival to give the infamous cooper union speech advocating to not expand slavery to the mourning parades and viewings after his assassination. the exhibit was very well done. i was able to follow the exhibit with my limited history knowledge, but suzi still found it interesting even though she knows a lot more about this subject than the average visitor. we both decided that our favorite part of this exhibit was this on screen game. i...

after suzi and i left the new york historical society, we headed down to the morgan library for a visit to the morgan library . we wanted to see the new exhibit, a woman's wit: jane austen's life and legacy . she also had never been to the morgan and wanted to see it before she heads back to ann arbor. the exhibit was one large room broken into about four different sections. this exhibit did not really require navigating in any particular order. each wall/glass cabinet was somewhat self contained when it came to the material. the morgan library has the largest collection of jane austen manuscripts and letters in the world. it also has the only remaining complete jane austen manuscript, lady susan . i loved seeing the early editions of her novels in particular emma and pride and prejudice . this exhibit (like the ny historical society) also had a number of satirical cartoons mocking the societal customs and dress of the day. placing these cartoons side by side with ...