first posting.
on Saturday 14 November 2009 I traveled with a great friend of mine to Santa Barbara for the sole purpose of looking at a mural from one of “los tres grandes”. the trip up there was great as my friend and i talked about politics, education, and sports. Siquerios originally produced this mural in a pacific palisades home. it is one of his few murals to survive in California. years ago it was donated to the Santa Barbara museum and now resides outside of the museum intact with all four original walls.
it was kind of sad to see the mural out there, the streets full of pedestrians and no one stopping to look at this great work of art. i was out there for a good 20 minutes and not a soul stopped by. i have to say that for a 30+ year old mural it looked pretty good. the story behind the mural is interesting which portrays j.p. morgan and then president calles of mexico.
i was surprised to see many great works of art there from van gogh, monet to my favorite j.s. sargent. they had a great collection of 19th century art and some interesting modern art as well. one of the highlights of the museum was the current exhibition of the noble tombs of mawangdui: art and life in the changsha kingdom, china. the items uncovered there were amazing and the tour guide was excellent. she showed us a picture of lady dai who was fresh as if she was buried recently, she died in 183 B.C.E. they were able to tell what blood type she was (type A) and that she was diabetic. here is a picture of her encased in a special exhibition case.
one thing about walking in santa barbara was that my friend and i felt out of place. it seemed that we were the only hispanics in the damn area. as we were walking on the east side of the block for 6 blocks we came across one other hispanic man. when we crossed to the other side, we noticed a lot more hispanics on that side. is there a side for hispanics and a side for non-hispanics in santa barbara. just asking?
