Boulder to London

Ahoy!  I have commandeered the blog!  Tom is out of town working on a project in NYC, and while he is away I have spent just a little time out and about in town on my own.  I thought I might share some of what I saw and did, though faithful to the threequel legacy, most of the original players are absent and there’s definitely little to no plot at this point.  That should put you on the edge of your seat…

I started out my meandering by not really meandering, but by heading directly over to the Royal Academy of Arts which is an historic institution whose purpose is to promote the arts through education and as a venue for exhibitions.  I was headed there to check out the J.W. Waterhouse exhibit… one of the largest in many years.

In the event you are not familiar with J.W. Waterhouse, he was a British artist and member of the Royal Academy who lived and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Though he was part of the Pre-Raphaelite movement he was never part of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of young painters who rebelled against the Royal Academy at about the time of J.W. Waterhouse’s birth.  From today’s perspective, the Pre-Raphaelite paintings do not seem very rebellious… In fact, their works have relatively recently  re-emerged from a period of disregard by the art community and the public alike not for being radical, but because beauty and art for art’s sake, or the Aestheticism that characterizes Pre-Raphaelite paintings, was superseded by a preference for works that express deeper significance.  But let’s get back to the question, what were these young men rebelling against?  It was rigid and formulaic approach of academic teaching adopted around the time of Raphael and passed on through the centuries.  They wanted to move away from idealized forms and rote methods, and return to the naturalism that pre-dated Raphael.  In fact, the heightened realism in their work provoked controversy, and some of their paintings which treated religious themes were viewed as blasphemous!

Above is one of J.W. Waterhouse’s most easily recognizable works: Hylas and the Nymphs.  I have always loved it… When I was sixteen I bought a porcelain coffee mug with this print on it as a souvenir from a family trip to Scotland.  Like his Pre-Raphaelite counterparts, the theatrical narratives of his paintings were often taken from classical antiquity and poetry.  The Pre-Raphaelites were also intrigued by mystical, religious and medieval themes.

Another famous image - The Lady of Shalott, based on a poem by Alfred Tennyson.  The story-line is that the Lady of Shalott is cursed to forever live her life in a tower where she can only view the outside world through the reflection in her mirror.  Should she ever look outside into the world towards the city of Camelot, she will die.  She spends her life weaving a tapestry of all the things she sees reflected in her mirror, until one day she sees Sir Lancelot riding by on his steed.  She is stricken with such intense love and desire that she turns to the window and looks out.  The mirror behind her cracks, and the curse is unleashed.  This painting depicts her after she has climbed into her boat with her tapestry and has unchained it to set off to Camelot… where she is doomed to die.  So basically the poem is about nascent sexual desire in a young woman which is prohibited and for which she is punished.  Waterhouse painted during the Victorian era when this outlook prevailed and he painted a few variations on this theme.  The trademark Waterhouse woman is beautiful, introspective (or self-absorbed),  and melancholic…

…And sometimes scarily powerful… one last image… (though there are so many that I cannot help but to admire!)  This one is of Circe, the Greek sorceress who was not to be trusted, though in Homer’s Odyssey she advised Odysseus on how to survive a number of obstacles.  Here she is pouring poison into the stream where her rival, the nymph Scylla was known to bathe.  In Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Glaucus, a sea deity, comes to Circe to seek her aid in capturing Scylla’s heart.  Instead, Circe falls in love with Glaucus and seeks to eliminate Scylla.  As a result of bathing in the poisoned waters Scylla is transformed into a hideous monster…  hmmmm…  I’m feeling inspired to delve into some Greek mythology…  Anyway, I love the intensity and the colors in this painting!

So that was the exhibit.  It was packed full of a milling crowed knocking into one another with bags and elbows… so I was happy to slip out and then zip quickly into another area of the academy to have a quick look at the Ken Howard works on display.  Ken Howard is another British artist and member of the Royal Academy.

He is also a realist, though with a clearly modern touch.  He manages to be exact and yet painterly at the same time.  J.W. Waterhouse was influenced by the French Impressionists who were his contemporaries, and their very pervasive influence can be seen here, as well, though morphed into a Ken Howard version.  I enjoy Ken Howard and actually own a book of his work, though he doesn’t quite move me the same way that the Waterhouse exhibit did!

At this point, as usual after visiting an art gallery, I was thirsty, famished and exhausted…  It does not seem like strenuous effort and yet this is always the state I find myself in.  Off in search of refreshment… So many options for food abound in London and yet so many lack appeal.  What to do?  I wandered up the road in search of an appetizing spot to stop and retreat from the streets for a bit before carrying on…  and soon found myself wavering in the doorway of a fast sushi chain - Wasabi.  Hmmmm…never tried it… looks intriguing, though kind of sterile and futuristic… eh well why not?

Looks like candy!  Little individually wrapped sushi bites… While not absolutely fantabulous, it was fresh and tasty enough and did the trick.  Not to mention it was oddly amusing.

Okay, so now it’s time to see just a little bit more of London before I end this afternoon trek.  I meandered over to Piccadilly Circus, which is essentially a big circular junction where a number of major avenues and districts meet… it joins the major shopping area with the major entertainment area in the heart of the West End, and is therefore highly touristic and full of vibrant energy - which is very difficult to capture in a photograph!

I continued my stroll over to Leicester (pronounced “Lester” just for the hell of it) Square, which is well known for the many theaters in the area… This is where alot of movie premiers take place and where glitzy Penelope Cruz types appear for the occasion.

… and then over to the Strand, a road that runs along by Covent Garden and then eventually turns into Fleet Street.  In London, any bend in the road can be called by a different name it seems, which can make winding your way through the streets even more confusing than it already is just by virtue of being a convoluted tangle!  But the beauty of it is that tucked away in every nook and cranny is something of historical significance… Ah the many layers.  Now I’m back to being inspired to learn more about the history of England and London, which I was feeling when we were touring around with Angie and Jenny…  Ok, enough of that, on with the journey.  Below is a view up the Strand towards a little church called St. Mary le Strand which is perched on an island in the middle of the road.  I happened upon it too late to enter, unfortunately.

On to the Royal Courts of Justice which is the home of the Supreme Court of England and Wales.  This is where civil disputes such as divorce and common law cases and whatnot are handled.  I don’t really know for sure, but it seems there is not a separation between the judiciary and legislative branches of government?  Eh well, who knows… marching on!

Oh but wait!  It’s one of the retro buses I’ve been seeing all over town lately.  I had not noticed them before, but now I’m seeing them everywhere it seems…  Maybe this just shows that I should get out more, or maybe they just run in the heart of town?

Strolling up Fleet Street you will eventually come to this marker… This marks westernmost boundary of the Medieval city of London, which was the original extent of London but which has now been engulfed by the ever extending surrounding boroughs.   This part of town is called “the City” or the “Square Mile” and is, incidentally, where Tom spends his days!  It has historically been a major commercial center for England, and continues today as the major business and financial center of London.  Evidently, other major entrances into the City of London are marked by a stone monument in the middle of the roadway, topped with a griffin.

Something else of note along Fleet Street (and there are more as it is one of the original thoroughfares) - This old building here is a vestige of a long period in time when this street was the home of the publishing and news trades.  Because of its history, the phrase “Fleet Street” is used to refer to the national press at large, though the newspaper media headquarters relocated to a different area in the 1980’s.

And Voila!  This at last concludes your snapshot tour of one woman’s ramblings through the heart of London!  I hope you’ve enjoyed it, and thanks for joining me…