MFA-Boston Venetian Masters Exhibition Mar-Aug 2009
 

If you are an art aficionado anywhere near Boston in the next 5 months, you should find your way to the MFA and see the Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese exhibit they are hosting now. We attended last night (Wed night) and had a handful of others with us, so plenty of room to wander, view from different angles and freely move about.

The exhibit is laid out interestingly...rather than chronologically or by artist, the curator has found 2 or 3 of the same subject interpreted by each artist. So you may be looking at each of their interpretations of Supper at Emmaus, for example, side by side, even though they were painted years apart. This presentation really sheds light on their differences but more so on how they influenced each other for better or worse. The sub-text of the exhibit is the rivalry between the three and the audio guide for this really explains and substantiates it well. I recommend not trying to wing it just with the exhibition cards posted next to each painting, but to invest in the audio. It took us about 75 minutes to get through leisurely but we enjoyed it immensely and I hope to go again once I have read more on my own as well.

I have never been a big fan of these three artists but they really came alive for me in this way.

We also attended a talk on Impressionists' use of color in Venice (covering Sargent, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Seurat, among others) and it was wonderful. The MFA offers frequent talks like this and if you get the chance to hear George Shackleford, the European department head, it is a delight. He is so passionate about the paintings that you can't help but be blown away but what he chooses to show you.

Thanks for the report amyb. I'll be in and out of Boston a couple of times next week and hope to get to the MFA.

Thanks for posting this, amyb. Not I feel bad that I missed the lecture last night. :(

Here's the link to the exhibition:
http://www.mfa.org/venice/

And in case anyone here is interested in Arts & Crafts Movement, there will be a Greene & Greene show at the MFA beginning mid-July; so you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone if you come between mid-July and mid-August
http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/sub.a...15&subkey=7951

What is interesting is that I have been to Venice and really felt "been there, done that" when I left. But seeing all of the works Mr. Shackleford put together into one hour really made me want to go back! They were just gorgeous. I had no idea how prolific Sargent was there either...but it makes sense with his connection Isabella Stewart Gardner.

amyb, thanks for posting. I'm planning on going at some point, just not sure when. I do like those 3 artists very much.

yk...just booked air to NYC for the Vermeer in three weeks. YAY!!!

china, if you like them a lot, you will love this. I found it very well done, in typical MFA style!

Have fun in NYC; it'll be so beautiful with all the Spring blossoms in Central Park!

yk - thanks for posting this. I am a member but was debating whether to make the trip to see the exhibit. Now I'm definitely going. And thanks for the heads up about Greene and Greene. That is one I would have been very disappointed if I missed it. I never read those membership materials very well.

amyb- I finally saw the Titian/Tintoretto/Veronese show today. It was quite impressive - a huge show with many masterpieces from all over US & Europe (Louvre, Prado, KHM, various Italian institutions, and even one lent by the Queen). I like how they place the paintings by theme so you can compare and contrast the 3 artists' works side-by-side. It took me just over one hour to see the show. I have to say, I'm exhausted after the show!

In any case, I still don't love the italian Renaissance painters, but if I have to choose, I think I like Titian the most.

One interesting aspect of this show, is a gallery dedicated to the X-ray examination of some of the paintings.

So glad you saw it. It definitely gave me an appreciation for a period of painting I didn't have before. Sometime in the last 6 months or so there was an excellent article in the Globe about what they found with that x-ray. We were glad they worked that into the exhibition. Didn't you love the "look up" part of the exhibit? That was amazing that this was one of the first times in ages that that had been displayed as it was meant to be shown!

FYI - Ab and I just got back from NYC last night. We saw the formerly-owned-by-Wynne Vermeer and were kind of unimpressed...I am not thoroughly sold that it IS a Vermeer. It just doesn't look like it is, but I'm not the expert! We're glad we went to see it though. Will be interesting to see where it ends up after June.

Hi amy - Hope you had a good trip to NYC. The Vermeer is very small, and I agree isn't one of his best. Though I have to admit, some of his paintings don't impress me much, but then there are some that are truly amazing... It always makes me wonder if the not-so-good ones are the real deal. What is even more appalling (shown in the Vermeer lecture) is some of the van Meegeren forgeries that were lauded as "masterpiece" are just heinously ugly. We, including the speaker and the MFA curator, were all scratching our heads wondering what the Vemeer experts were thinking back then???

We agree, he did have quite a range and the ones that are good are just awesome. I think what made this hard to believe it was a Vermeer was that it was next to Girl with a Water Pitcher, which I think is just exquisite, it is one of my favorites.

The face on the Wynne just doesn't look believable to me. Essentialvermeer.com says that not much is known about it, so maybe it will eventually go the way of his alleged St. Praxedis too! It is interesting that the museum's information for this said that it had similarities to the two at the National Gallery in London, which I wasn't terribly fond of either!

Heads up -

If you don't mind crowds, it is <u>Open House</u> at the MFA this Monday - Memorial Day. FREE admission to the museum PLUS FREE admission to the Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese special exhibit. Normally the general admission is $17; $25 for gen adm + special exhibit. First-come-first-serve.

http://www.mfa.org/calendar/sub.asp?key=12&subkey=1878

TTT

The Greene & Greene exhibition opens next Tuesday, July 14th. http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/sub.a...15&subkey=7951

Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese closes in mid-August.

Topping again...the curator of the exhibition is giving a members-only talk tomorrow night. We are planning on going again to see it one more time before the talk. It closes in a couple of weeks.

amyb - did you happen to catch Sunday Morning on CBS on July 26 (I think). Had a great 10 minutes on the exhibit. Really interesting.

Show closes this weekend. It is probably the best single show I have seen at the MFA, and I have been going since 1979.
Great art, brilliantly and imaginatively hung, and like the original poster, I didn't think I liked these artists nearly as much as I found out I do!

If you can, go and go again!

The MFA is showing 5 films of Luchino Visconti during this last week of the Venetian show.
http://www.mfa.org/calendar/sub.asp?key=12&subkey=8531

I so glad I saw this! I'm going tomorrow with two other Fodorites, a husband and SO. It's almost a GTG! Then to dinner (restaurant week). I can't wait!

As a f/u on the post about the curator's talk...it was fascinating. He'd lived in Venice for 5 years putting together a list in his head of "minor" works he'd love to show together if he ever got the chance. And then he got the chance. He discussed how he came up with the theory of looking at the relationship between the three artists, what made him pair certain works together, how he'd seen a lot of these in other shows and found them displayed inappropriately (or not to their best potential) and what he had to do to get some of these to Boston (basically pay for the restorations). It was inspiring to hear the story from someone who clearly loves what they do and all about this labor of love (he wrote the catalog, recorded the audioguide as well as designed the layout, wall colors, lighting, etc). I was surprised to hear it was "only" 5 years in the making.

This exhibition is off to the Louvre in September. The Louvre was the co-sponsor of the exhibition. There will be a change to what is displayed there due to some museums in Europe not wanting to send their works across the pond, and vice versa.