Saturday, November 20, 2010

The Art of the Americas Wing

We were privileged to attend the Member Preview Days yesterday for the Art of the Americas Wing of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. The display of the art, and so much of it I've never seen, was wonderful.  The breadth of the exhibit with the lovely silver and mind-boggling furniture to the paintings is superb. 


I so love the portrait of Samuel Adams, Brewer and Patriot.  His eyes gleam with fervor and who knows whether its brewmeister fervor or patriotic fervor (surely that) or both!  The Copleys, the Sargents, the Revere silver, the Bierstadt's--I loved them all. 


I also loved the beef short ribs with mushrooms and noodles in the new cafe.  Zowie was it ever good and just the right sized portion.   The onion strings were also very fine.  The ceiling looked like the Cirque du Soleil was coming for a performance and the waiter said that acrobats were expected for the big event last night, for all those rich Bostonians who gave so generously for this wonderful addition to the MFA. 


The parking garage (which is inadequate in size) was a horror show with everyone trying to figure out the self-pay meters, and a big line for the elevators and the self-pay, and the line stretched outside in the cold and eeek,  I would not want to be standing there for long minutes in January. 
Everything else satisfactory.  A couples membership pays for itself in 3 visits, sooner if you take guests.  It's a great museum, and we are lucky to have it and the Isabella Stewart Gardner, the Peabody Essex, the Contemporary Art and the Harvard Museums as well as gems like Worcester and the one in Andover. 


There were many school buses parked in the new bus lot, and I hope the kids were having a good time looking at the art as well as being out of school. As a kid who grew up in a tiny town in an area with little culture or privilege, I always appreciated a chance for any kind of culture.  Saul Caston and the Denver Symphony came to our grade school once a year, and as a (so-so) piano student, I always enjoyed it immensely.  


So hie thee to the MFA, but you might want to wait a few weeks until some of the hoo-ha has died down. 


Grapeshot

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