This weekend was quite beautiful in SF on Saturday, and quite gloomy on Sunday.
This was our first weekend in SF in 6 weeks and it was a reminder that I truly love this city! The landscape, the museums...
I caught up on my museuming; seeing two wonderful exhibitions of female artists. Both exhibits were amazing, and featured paintings of women crafting! First, I saw Frida Kahlo at the MoMa. Amongst the amazing self portraits and deprecating depictions of US cities was a commissioned portrait of a knitter. I think the snarling cactus background is an unusual and fascinating choice for a portrait background.
On Sunday afternoon I went up to the Legion of Honor to see the Women Impressionists Exhibit. Featuring Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Bracquemond, the exhibit was incredible. I want to go back. And perhaps move in. Lots of paintings of women sewing and knitting. While these 4 women were accepted by their Impressionist peers as intellectual equals, they were still subject to the restrictions placed on upper class women at the time. A great part of their subject matter is inside the "female realm" and features numerous depictions of women knitting and sewing. Not allowed to work, these women no doubt derived creative and intellectual satisfaction from their craft. Like then, women today do not need to knit and sew, but choose to do so for individual reasons. Personally, I love the satisfaction of using things that I make in a largely prefab world, and need a creative outlet to feel satisfied. It was interesting to see two exhibits covering five strong women breaking ground for female artists, and the aspects of a women's life they chose to portray.
Also at the Legion was this AWESOME Chihuly piece:
It is phenomenal.
And the ever elegant Thinker. Very delightful, artsy fartsy weekend.
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