Friday, July 1, 2011

I'll never buy retail again


On Tuesday I went down to the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park to see two marvelous exhibits. The first was "Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris. The painting above is of Dora Marr, one of Picasso's lovers and muses. The Picasso collection is from "his" museum in Paris which is currently closed for renovations. Paintings, drawings, sculpture ~ more than 100 pieces. That's a lot of Picasso to digest in one viewing. It was a bit of a disappointment that there were no ceramics. His playful, imaginative plates and pitchers are a real delight.

I saw a large collection of them at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman during one of our visits with Cait.

The second (and main attraction for me) was "Balenciaga and Spain." His clothes defy description and any superlative I can think of doesn't do them justice. What's so stunning, though, is the idea that not only did he design and make these dresses, women actually wore them. Of course such women were countesses and duchesses and queens and all, but still. I tried to imagine myself stepping out in this brilliant red evening coat . . .

. . . but my imagination failed me. There were only one or two things among the 60 or so pieces that I decided would just not do. One was a mustard color suit, the other a pea-green evening gown. Not my colors. Otherwise, perfect. I am forever wrecked for Gap.

2 comments:

mary ann said...

There are 3 Picasso pottery pieces out at the Legion of Honor. Even Balenciaga knock-offs were gorgeous. It's fun talking to customers who knew someone who had a Bal gown. It closes Monday, so glad you saw this.

Anonymous said...

Liz says:

I have one of the Picasso pottery pieces! Dave S bought it for me for Christmas one year (in the mid-60s) when we were married. I think he bought it at a gallery in Berkeley. (Signed on the bottom.)