Museum musings

I just realized it's been over a month since I posted anything about my cultural adventures and explorations. There's no way to catch up or itemize the exhibits I've viewed. I'll have to go back and write about earlier visits another day. Today I want to write about the Brooklyn Museum http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/  It's the first time I've ever been there as far as I know and what a building Building image In a few hours I toured most of the collection including one of the finest collections of Egyptian art and artifacts I've ever seen. They have papyri from the Book of the Dead, from Elephantine, and even writings on mummy wrappings on display.  They do have 12 panels from the palace of Ashur-nasir-pal II which shocked me. I thought the only ones in NYC were at MMA. It turns out they were a gift in the 1955. The panels are displayed with photographs of the great 5 legged bulls, which they don't have. Still magnificent no matter what they own.

While I managed to see most of the museum, I also took two tours. The first showcased a contemporary  African American Artists Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/mickalene_thomas/ Thomas uses a variety of media and crystals to make her art glitter. The docent explained that many of her pieces used paintings from the 1860s as models for her work. After pointing that out and seeing the impressionist paintings, I was less impressed by Thomas' work. 

As I was leaving I hooked up with an architectural tour of the McKim, Mead & White building. I must say that the building was much more impressive than the docent who seemed to say the same thing over and over again. There also seems to be no official published history of the museum, at least not in their gift shop, so I was doubly disappointed. 

On the whole, I liked the museum and could see myself returning for a special exhibit and maybe another look at the American Wing (also very impressive). But when compared with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this museum wasn't nearly as interesting.