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Alligators All Around!
8/1/10 08:15Went off with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wild_irises and klages to see the Sendak exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum downtown. I have walked past the museum dunnamany times; this was the first time I'd been in it. The architecture, particularly in the new upended-cube wing, is amazing. And the exhibit, which featured material on Sendak's influences, and preliminary and final drawings for all sorts of things. Sendak's style is unique--but he also has a lot of different styles that are, I guess, subsets of his overall vision and style. And my God he's wonderful with children; I don't know of another artist who is as observant--without being gooey and sentimental--about kids. Which is why kids like him. My favorite Sendak text is Pierre, about a little boy who will only say "I don't care," until he gets eaten by a lion--which proves a transformative experience. The Spouse adores No Fighting, No Biting (and does a really splendid, oleaginous Big Hungry Alligator voice). Probably the biggest surprise for me is how tiny much of his work--even the paintings--is. The Nutshell Library drawings (for Chicken Soup with Rice, Pierre, One was Johnny, and Alligators All Around are rendered in more or less the same size as the books themselves. Of course, his work is usually so meticulously rendered that anything much bigger would take him years. Great exhibit.
Then, since we were there, we went upstairs to see "Jews on Vinyl"--a celebration of Jewish singers and recordings from mid-century America. Huge, vaulted room with two Danish-moderne livingroom set ups in the middle, and music from their set list playing on the PA. This included some Topol and Streisand ("White Christmas"? really); klezmer music, cantorial music, Catskills performances ("Chassidim in Rhythym"--really)--it was fascinating and just a little weird. And the album covers! A whole wall of them, each more 50s-60s design-y than the others.
Finally, we went down the hall to the Torah exhibit. For some number of hours a day a woman who is calligraphing a Torah scroll sits behind a velvet rope and works on the scroll. She wasn't there, but there was more than enough material about the rules of Torah calligraphy (there can be no mistakes or omissions; when you write one of the ten names of God you have to say aloud, before hand, that what you are doing is for the sanctification of God; the parchment, ink, quill pens--even the thread used to sew the scroll together--must be kosher) to fascinate me. I have a weird relationship to my Jewish background: I'm not Jewish (mom was Episcopalian, which means I'd have to convert) although many people assume I am. My father cut his ties with religion pretty thoroughly when he was a young man. Many of the adults I knew when I was a kid were almost parodies of a certain kind of New York secularized Jew, and I had no wish to grow up to be like them, so I find myself a little detached from that part of my heritage. Whatever my religious views are (and I do have them), I am fascinated by the trappings of religion: the rules and habits and paraphernalia. This exhibit totally fed my fascination. Very cool.
Then we went off and had dinner at the Metreon, and talked and talked. Laughed, too, as I recall. All in all a splendid adventure. Must do this more often.
wild_irises and klages to see the Sendak exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum downtown. I have walked past the museum dunnamany times; this was the first time I'd been in it. The architecture, particularly in the new upended-cube wing, is amazing. And the exhibit, which featured material on Sendak's influences, and preliminary and final drawings for all sorts of things. Sendak's style is unique--but he also has a lot of different styles that are, I guess, subsets of his overall vision and style. And my God he's wonderful with children; I don't know of another artist who is as observant--without being gooey and sentimental--about kids. Which is why kids like him. My favorite Sendak text is Pierre, about a little boy who will only say "I don't care," until he gets eaten by a lion--which proves a transformative experience. The Spouse adores No Fighting, No Biting (and does a really splendid, oleaginous Big Hungry Alligator voice). Probably the biggest surprise for me is how tiny much of his work--even the paintings--is. The Nutshell Library drawings (for Chicken Soup with Rice, Pierre, One was Johnny, and Alligators All Around are rendered in more or less the same size as the books themselves. Of course, his work is usually so meticulously rendered that anything much bigger would take him years. Great exhibit.Then, since we were there, we went upstairs to see "Jews on Vinyl"--a celebration of Jewish singers and recordings from mid-century America. Huge, vaulted room with two Danish-moderne livingroom set ups in the middle, and music from their set list playing on the PA. This included some Topol and Streisand ("White Christmas"? really); klezmer music, cantorial music, Catskills performances ("Chassidim in Rhythym"--really)--it was fascinating and just a little weird. And the album covers! A whole wall of them, each more 50s-60s design-y than the others.
Finally, we went down the hall to the Torah exhibit. For some number of hours a day a woman who is calligraphing a Torah scroll sits behind a velvet rope and works on the scroll. She wasn't there, but there was more than enough material about the rules of Torah calligraphy (there can be no mistakes or omissions; when you write one of the ten names of God you have to say aloud, before hand, that what you are doing is for the sanctification of God; the parchment, ink, quill pens--even the thread used to sew the scroll together--must be kosher) to fascinate me. I have a weird relationship to my Jewish background: I'm not Jewish (mom was Episcopalian, which means I'd have to convert) although many people assume I am. My father cut his ties with religion pretty thoroughly when he was a young man. Many of the adults I knew when I was a kid were almost parodies of a certain kind of New York secularized Jew, and I had no wish to grow up to be like them, so I find myself a little detached from that part of my heritage. Whatever my religious views are (and I do have them), I am fascinated by the trappings of religion: the rules and habits and paraphernalia. This exhibit totally fed my fascination. Very cool.
Then we went off and had dinner at the Metreon, and talked and talked. Laughed, too, as I recall. All in all a splendid adventure. Must do this more often.
