Rodin: In His Own Words

exhibit at the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art.

I don't know if you knew this, but Rodin was a total badass. Everything he pretty much ever said was totally on point.

My favorite piece at the exhibit was the Sphinx on a Column, but I'd be hard pressed to tell you why. I loved it all, really. The Spirit of War is terrifying. Those slick, shiny nudes made me appreciate bronze more than I ever have.

On the Annie Leibowitz exhibition at the High

I wish I could find a copy of the Cash family portrait on display. Johnny, his grandson, Roseanne, and June, all on the porch together, in maybe 2001. I wish I could find a copy of it so I could always remember how it looks. But what I will remember is how I stood in front of it, in a gallery teeming with people, and was still, and cried.

Exhibit: Louvre Atlanta, Year One.

I bought my membership to the High Museum based solely on the fact of this exhibit. Raphael, Velázquez, Poussin (who isn't here just yet)--there was no way I could miss this.

The exhibit for Year One is broken up into two parts: Kings as Collectors and The Kings' Drawings. Both sections were fairly small--it only took about an hour and a half to view everything. Of course, the crowded museum on a Saturday had a lot to do with how quickly we looked and then moved on.

Jenny liked the drawings best, as they clearly represent the movements of the artist's hand. I enjoyed the marble busts, but the paintings were really my favorite. Velázquez's Infanta was small but worth looking at (I'd rather see Las Meninas, personally). Raphael's Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, the centerpiece of the exhibit, drew me in with the eyes, made me understand why this person and this painting are so well known. The portrait goes home at the end of January, and Poussin's Arcadian Shepherds will replace it. There is no end to my excitement about seeing this painting in person--I have a tattoo based on it, and consider it one of the most philosophically interesting works of art I've ever been exposed to. I'm crossing my fingers for a lecture on it.

There were several other pieces I enjoyed contemplating, though I don't remember their names or artists now. Jenny and I forewent the audio tour, as we wanted to talk to each other about what we saw. But I'd very much like to go back by myself and listen to it.