LONDON SCENES

As a final post on my tour of Great Britain, following are some photos of London that didn't fit into any of the other posts.

Sculpture outside the National Gallery. 

Building informally named the Kim Kardashian supposedly because of its shape.

The Shard, the tallest building in Europe.

Big Ben (no longer under wraps).

Street demonstration.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (modern reconstruction).

Tower Bridge.

John.

TOWER OF LONDON

The Tower of London is located on the north banks of the Thames and was built by William the Conquerer following his conquest of England in 1066.  The complex has served as symbol of conquest, a prison, a place of execution, an arsenal, and a repository for the British crown jewels. Now it is a major tourist attraction that I, along with my daughter-in-law, Bei, visited on my last day in London. Here are some photos that I took.

The White Tower, built by William the Conquerer.

Suit of armor.  There were plenty of these.

Canon, including one cast in the shape of a lion.

A performer and a guard.

A couple of passageways.  (I have a thing for these.)

Lavender with the Tower of London as a backdrop.

John.

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

I have to admit that I was just a bit disappointed with St. Paul's Cathedral.  Perhaps it was just because I had visited Westminster Abbey a couple of days before.  But, while St. Paul's was opulent, ornate, and huge, it somehow didn't appeal to my sensibilities to the same extent as Westminster Abbey.

St. Paul's, designed and built under the guidance of Christopher Wren, is beautiful.  Here are a few photos of the exterior of the dome taken from a shopping center to the east.

I liked how the glass structure of the shopping center provided a double reflection of the dome.  I'm confident that the shopping structure was built specifically with this effect in mind.

As stated, I thought the interior was a bit dark. Here are a couple of wide-angled shots.

A huge amount of artistic work went into the ceiling above the cathedral's main space.

Here are some detail photos of the art work.

And of course there was an abundance of stained glass.

I can't recall now where I took the following photo, but I liked it for its relatively simplicity and light.

My daughter-in-law Bei accompanied me on our visit to St. Paul's, and we both agreed that our favorite sculpture was the following abstract by Henry Moore, entitled "Mother & Child." Note the "halo" above the child.

John.

BRITISH MUSEUM

The British Museum has an astounding collection of antiquities. I spent 2 to 3 hours there but could have spent 2 to 3 days. Large portions of its collections, particularly of Egyptian and Mesopotamian artifacts, are controversial, not as to their authenticity but as to how the museum acquired them.  I was just interested in seeing some of them.

The venue's design is interesting in that it includes a large central open space that includes a circular structure surrounded by gallery after gallery of exhibits.  The open space has a glass ceiling that made for an interesting abstract.

Of course, by far the most popular exhibit, and the one that I most wanted to see, was the Rosetta Stone, which is in the gallery just off the central open space.  It is always surrounded by visitors and one must wait his turn to get in front of it.

Following are pics of other artifacts that I saw.

Head of statue of Amenhotep III.

Bust of Perikles.

I found some of the bas relief sculptures particularly interesting in terms of the action they portrayed.

As I have seen at many museums, there were some individual artists practicing their skills by copying works of art.  The following artist, copying the marble sculpture of young woman, was particularly talented. 

Mummies and sarcophagi of same were plentiful.

Mesopotamian vessel from c. 650 BCE. I was impressed by the artistry and sophistication that this represents.

Glazed dragon tiles, China 19th century.

As stated, one could go on and on.

John.

 

TATE MODERN

The Tate Modern is an art museum located in a repurposed power plant located on the south side of the Thames.  In a sense it complements the collection in the National Gallery in that it specializes in contemporary art, much of it abstract, avant-garde, and experimental.  Most of the art didn't particularly appeal to me, but the museum was featuring a special exhibit of surrealists that included some interesting pieces.  Here are some of the photos I took while there.

Magritte.

Intricate wire art.

One of the artists featured in the special exhibit was Remedios Varo, whose three pieces did appeal to me.

My daughter-in-law, Bei, had come to London on business and was able to join me during my visit to the Tate Modern, as well as for the activities of the next day.  As we were leaving the Tate, I took a photo of her peering out at the city through one of the museum's massive windows.

John.

NATIONAL GALLERY

After the regular tour of Great Britain ended, I (along with some of the other members of the tour) spent a couple of extra days in London to take in more of what the city has to offer.  Originally, I had not planned to visit the National Gallery, but when I realized it was only a five-minute walk from my hotel, I decided to visit it before heading to the British Museum.

The National Gallery was built in the 1820s and houses over 2300 works of art, extending from the 13th century through the end of the 19th.  The building itself is typically ornate and very photogenic. 

Here are some of the art work that I took photos of.

Monet.

Cezanne, self-portrait.

Van Gogh.

Rousseau.

The museum was featuring an interesting two-painting exhibit--paintings by Ingres and Picasso--that nicely illustrated the influence that the former artist may have had on the latter.  In effect, the two works are of the same subject (note the similarity of posture) but were rendered in an entirely different way.

John.