A PICASSO EXHIBITION

Yesterday we headed to Beyoğlu, one of oldest neighborhoods of Istanbul, to visit few exhibitions. One of them was Engravings and Ceramics from the House of Birth of Pablo Picasso exhibition at Pera Museum.

We are delighted to visit this exhibition. Not only for having the chance to see one more time this master's brilliant art work, also to see an impressive selection of his engravings and ceramics  to observe his stylistic and artistic transitions, how he combine the styles in his work especially in engravings.

Exhibition is open until 20 of April 2014 at Pera Museum, Istanbul. You can also find the book of this small but impressive exhibition at museum shop.

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Dün birkaç sergi gezmek üzere Beyoğlu’na yollandık. Bunlardan bir tanesi Pera Müzesi’ndeki Pablo Picasso’nun Doğduğu Evden Gravürler ve Seramikler sergisiydi.

Küçücük turşucuk bir sergiydi ama bayıldık. Sadece bu usta ressamın eserlerini bir kez daha görme şansını yakalamış olduğumuz için mutlu olmadık, aynı zamanda sanatçının özellikle gravürlerindeki üslûpsal ve sanatsal geçişleri, çalışmalarında değişik tarzları nasıl harmanladığını gözlemlememize olanak sunan eser seçimi ve sergileme şeklini de çok sevdik.

Sergi 20 Nisan 2014 tarihine kadar İstanbul’da, Pera Müzesi’nde açık. Ayrıca bu küçük ama etkileyici serginin kitabını da müze dükkânında bulabilirsiniz. 

LOWRY AND THE PAINTING OF MODERN LIFE

We met with Lowry and his art last year in Manchester when we visited Lowry Collection in  Salford Quays and we loved his colors, his way to paint the life in industrial towns. We enjoyed the 20 minutes film about his life in the gallery and we bought a Lowry book to bring to our home the fascinating colors of his paintings.

LS Lowry (1887-1976) who painted the modern life, daily life of working class, crowds, industrial landscapes during all his life, now is in Tate Britain in London until 20 October 2013.

It was a big pleasure to see your beautiful paintings again Mr. Lowry.     

VERMEER AND MUSIC EXHIBITION

The last days of summer in our little kingdom and we are trying to catch up the exhibitions we didn’t visit yet in London.

Today we headed to The National Gallery for Vermeer and Music exhibition to enjoy Johannes Vermeer’s and other XVII. century Dutch artists’ music themed paintings. In the exhibition we also had a chance to observe different music instruments of same period between the halls.

The exhibition is open until 8 September in The National Gallery.

SEBASTIÃO SALGADO’S GENESIS EXHIBITION

We met with Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado’s works first time in 1993, in his Trabajadores (Workers) exhibition, in Madrid. It was the most impressive photography exhibition ever with his giant size, black and white, magnificent, breathtaking photos. This morning, after 20 years of Trabajadores exhibition, we went to the London Natural History Museum for the preview of Sebastião Salgado’s Genesis exhibition world premiere. And with one word: breathtaking (again).

For us Sebastião Salgado is one of the best photographers in the world (for one of us, is the best). It was a previlege and bliss to see his photos taken all around the world again, to see and listen him personally today and to bring home artist’s Genesis book signed by himself.

Sebastião Salgado’s Genesis exhibition is a must see for photographers and photography enthusiasts specially and is open from tomorrow until 8 September 2013 at the Natural History Museum.  

DOROTHY BOHM, LIGHT FROM THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORMAN PARKINSON EXHIBITIONS

Today we made a photography exhibition hat-trick with some stops in between. First we visited Dorothy Bohm’s Sixties London exhibition in Proud Chelsea Gallery in King’s Road. Dorothy Bohm, born in 1924 in Konigsberg, came to Britain when she was fifteen and since then she is based in the United Kingdom. The exhibition consist of artist’s black and white photos taken in London in sixties and is open until 28 April 2013.

We don’t like much big chains and since two years we were talking about trying Pizza Express at least once while we live in London but we were choosing always other alternatives. Today, while we were in Chelsea, finally we tried Pizza Express in King’s Road, in a lovely Georgian building where also lived the ballet dancer Princess Seraphine Astafieva between 1916-34. Result: Nice thin pizza but with a poor quantity of topping, the Merlot we drank was good, the service and smiling faces were excellent.

After making happy the belly and stopped in Anthropologie for a quick shopping, we walked to the Victoria & Albert Museum to visit Light from the Middle East: New Photography exhibition. The exhibition consist of various Middle Eastern artist’s work from different countries, with different approaches and diffrent techniques and open until 7 April 2013 (only one more day!).

After visiting the exhibition we stopped for tea time in Victoria & Albert Museum’s lovely cafe with it’s amazing decoration. Then we jumped on a underground and headed to the last exhibition of the day, Lifework: Norman Parkinson’s Century of Style in National Theatre. The exhibition is covering all aspects of British fashion photographer Norman Parkinson's (1913-1990) works since thirties until his death and is open until 12 May 2013. 

MAN RAY EXHIBITION

Today is another freezing day in our little kingdom but at least is super sunny. The sun is always a good reason to get out of the house in London and thats why we headed today, to the National Portrait Gallery for Man Ray exhibition, buying some tea in Covent Garden and coffee in Soho for home and visiting some bookshops in Charing Cross Road.

Man Ray is one the photographers we adore his works. We had a chance to see his photos first time in 1997 in a Man Ray exhibition opened in Madrid. This time came to the city where we live and we didn’t want to miss the chance.

Man Ray Portraits exhibition is the first major museum retrospective of the artist’s portrait works with over 150 vintage prints from the collections all over the world. The exhibition is a retrospective which brings together artist’s works during the period he lived in America and in Paris between 1916-1968.

Man Ray Portraits exhibition is open in London National Portrait Gallery until 27 May 2013. 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN EXHIBITION

Steel freezing outside. But today we have been brave enough for having a walk toward the Tate Modern to visit Roy Lichtenstein exhibition. To avoid crowds and childrens we prefer to visit museums, galleries, etc. week days. But this time didn’t work. Because, the cartoon images were children magnet and the amount of running and shouting primary school groups unfortunately was making very difficult to enjoy the exhibition.

Anyway, the exhibiton was great and it was a great pleasure to see one of the American pop-art icons Lichtenstein’s works and to observe from a very close distance how incredibly he used the lines and dots.

After the exhibition we bought some books and magazines from the Tate Modern’s bookshop. Then we stopped at The Centre Page, a lovely old pub near St. Paul’s Cathedral for cold day energizer bangers and mash accompanied by a pint. Now it’s the time to have a tea at home and to enjoy our new books and magazines.

Lichtenstein Retrospective is open at London Tate Modern until 27 May 2013.   

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON, PAUL WENHAM-CLARKE AND TAYLOR WESSING PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE EXHIBITIONS

There are some photo exhibitions in London which we were thinking to visit since weeks and today was the day. We visited three of them in a row. First we walked to Somerset House to visit Cartier Bresson: A Question of Color photo exhibition. The exhibition is questioning the colour in the photography, with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s ten black & white photos never exhibited before in the UK and  colour photos of 14 international photographers. The photography lovers should not miss this exhibition. Exhibition is free and open until 27 January 2013 in Somerset House.

After Cartier-Bresson exhibition, we went to Soho, to our favorite tea shop to buy some jasmin tea, then we walked to Trafalgar Square and visited Paul Wenham-Clark’s photo exhibition The Westway at The Gallery in the Crypt, in St. Martin in the Fields. It was our first exhibition visit in this gallery, we didn’t know about him before either and we are glad to meet his works now. Paul Wenham-Clark’s documentary photos in this exhibition, show parts of lifes of the people who are living around A40 road. The exhibition is free and open until 28 February 2013 at The Gallery in the Crypt.

The last photo exhibition of the day for us was The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012 at the National Portrait Gallery. We really loved some of them but generally, the photos choosed for the exhibion of the prize (except some frames) little bit dissapointed us. The exhibition’s ticket prize is is £2 and is open until 17 February 2013.

After visited three exhibition we were feeling really hungry and popped-up in Chinatown Gerard Street for a chinese no limit buffet treat to our stomacs. Lofffly friday!

ANSEL ADAMS EXHIBITION

Yesterday we visited Photography from the Mountains to the Sea exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. It was a really good exhibion with black and white landscape photos taken by Ansel Adams, one of the masters of American art of photography, in Yosemite National Park between 1915-1984. 

Most earlier work of him in the exhibition, was a photo captured when he was 13. He worked almost during all his life, until his death in this park with his 4x5 inches camera and took beautiful pictures of  landscapes. He was a naturelover and even he was critisied by other photographers for taking the pictures of rocks and trees instead of taking documental photos during the hard ages of humanity, he just photographed the nature. 

In the exhibition, there are also two documental films of 8min 34’ and 6min 40’ about this big artist and his art. Don’t miss this exhibition which will be open until 28 April 2013.  

A CONSERVATORY VISIT, AN EXHIBITION AND A MOVIE

Today we walked to the Barbican Centre for visiting an exhibition and watching a movie. When we arrived to the Barbican, they told that the conservatory -which is the second largest in London- is open today to the public visit. After buying our exhibition and cinema tickets, we visited first the conservatory which has a collection of tropical plants, a cage with colorful birds and a small pond with huge fishes inside.

Then we visited “Everything Was Moving” , a very nice photo exhibition with 400 documentary photos from 60’s and 70’s from all around the world. After the exhibition we had a lunch in Barbican Food Court, lunch was regular but the dessert was the best we ate untill today in London. Almond and pear tart and pistachio polenta cake were delicious! We were so surprised because in  London they just don’t know what is  “dessert”.

After the lunch we watched in Barbican’s Cinema "On the Road", the movie which is based on the Jack Kerouac’s cult novel On the Road and it was a really successful adaptation.  After the movie we made a short visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral to see Occupy London protestors who were expressing their selfs in the middle of the sunday pray. And for the dinner we tried one of the small Thai restaurants in our neighborhood. What a lovely sunday!