Since Yemen has been in the news so much lately, I thought folks would be interested in seeing one of its most marvelous sights, the Old City of Sana’a, an architectural work of art. It is a walled city, and believed to be one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited sites, although it is hard to say definitively how old it is. According to Yemeni folklore, Sana’a was founded by Noah’s son, Shem. The name Sana’a means fortified city in Arabic. It has been under the control of many rulers over the centuries, including the Sabaeans, the Himyarites, the Ethiopians, the Persians, the Ummayads, the Abbasids, the Mamluks, the Ottomans and the Zaydis, and is now the capital of the Republic of Yemen.
It is believed that the Sabaean king Sha’r Awtar built the first wall, which was around his palace, in the 2nd century A.D. but it has all been rebuilt at various times since then.
Here is a good view of the wall around the Old City and the main entrance, Bab al-Yemen (Gate of Yemen), which is around 1000 years old.

Photo by Barnard Gagnon.

Sana’a once was home to the ancient palace of Ghumdan, and before the advent of Islam, a great cathedral that was a place of pilgrimage for Christians. Yemen was one of the earliest adopters of Islam, being next door to Saudi Arabia, and the Great Mosque of Sana’a was first built around 630 A.D. It has been the scene of many battles, and was destroyed in 803 A.D. by Caliph Harun ar-Rashid when the Yemenis tried to free themselves from Abbasid rule. The Ottoman Turks conquered the city twice, once in the 17th Century and again in the 19th Century. After the last Zaydi Imam was overthrown in a military coup in 1962, a civil war was fought on and off through the 1960’s, culminating in a 70 day siege of Sana’a that ended in a loss for the royalists. Notably, it has never been colonized or under the control of any European power, unlike Cairo, Baghdad and many other Arabic cities. Yemen was largely closed off even to Western visitors until the 2nd half of the 20th century, so the Old City has survived as a Yemeni Arab architectural time capsule. It has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Inside the walls is a labyrinth of narrow streets, mostly navigable only on foot or by donkey, like the Old City of Jerusalem. The characteristic buildings are multi-storied and made of rammed earth or mud brick, and decorated with fanciful designs in white gypsum plaster that zig-zag around each floor and window frame. No two are alike, yet the commonality of the style gives the city its distinct homogeneous look. Because of the colors and the hand crafted look, to me it seems magical, a city of gingerbread houses with the drippy plaster friezes having the appearance of white icing on a cake.
Sana’a is situated on a plateau at an altitude of 2,300 metres (7,500 ft), and surrounded by mountains. Here is another view of the Old City, showing the mountains in the background.

From Kaethe Kollwitz published by H. Bittner & Company 1946 and reproduced under Fair Use  Käthe Kollwitz(1867-1945) was one of the most important German artists of the twentieth century. She created etchings, lithographs, woodcuts and sculpture, but is mainly known for her iconic drawings of women and children, often with

I am a huge fan of the Russian-Jewish artist Marc Chagall(1887-1985), and I always go to see any of his exhibits that appear in the New York area. He is also known for creating many beautiful stained glass windows, which are installed in England, Israel, Germany, the U.S and other countries.

The America Windows were created in honor of the Bicentennial of the United States, and are exhibited at The Art Institute of Chicago where you can see a short video about this work of art. They consist of three large sections, each with multiple panes. Bright blue colors predominate, with a few accents of red and yellow. Pablo Picasso is quoted as having said that “When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is”.

(all photos courtesy of Anna Fox(Harsh Light) via Flickr)
In the panel above you can see a city skyline, as well as an image of the Statue of Liberty in the lower right and a bright yellow sun in the upper left.

This panel contains more city skyline, as well as symbols that Chagall incorporated into many of his paintings; people dancing, people suspended in midair, and religious symbols.

The America Windows were created in honor of the Bicentennial of the United States, and are exhibited at The Art Institute of Chicago where you can see a short video about this work of art. They consist of three large sections, each with multiple panes. Bright blue colors predominate, with a few accents of red and yellow. Pablo Picasso is quoted as having said that “When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is”.

(all photos courtesy of Anna Fox(Harsh Light) via Flickr)
In the panel above you can see a city skyline, as well as an image of the Statue of Liberty in the lower right and a bright yellow sun in the upper left.

This panel contains more city skyline, as well as symbols that Chagall incorporated into many of his paintings; people dancing, people suspended in midair, and religious symbols.

Girl With A Dolphin by David Wynne

Today’s post is not about a particular piece of art or an artist, but a place, the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens (aka Pepsico Sculpture Gardens) in Purchase, New York. Now that spring is on the way, what could be better than viewing some beautiful works of art in a wonderfully landscaped setting? And best of all, it’s absolutely free and open to the public every day. The gardens are located on the grounds of the world headquarters of Pepsico, just a short drive north of New York City. It’s across the road from the campus of SUNY Purchase, so if you follow the signs to SUNY off I-287 in White Plains, you’ll get there.

Donald M. Kendall was a former chairman of Pepsico who was also an avid art collector, and the company acquired this art collection under his aegis. (He was also a good buddy of Richard Nixon, which is the reason that Pepsi, and not Coke, got the exclusive license to sell its beverages in the former Soviet Union, but that’s a story for another day).

Grande Disco by Arnaldo Pomodoro

The collection consists of 45 works of art, in widely varying styles. So many great sculptors are represented that I can’t list them all, but here’s a short list: Alberto Giacometti, Alexander Calder, Louise Nevelson, Max Ernst, Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin, Aristide Maillol, Jacques Lipchitz, Joan Miro, Isamu Noguchi, George Segal & Claes Oldenburg. The grounds themselves would be worth a visit even without the art; there is a beautiful lake, open meadows, formal gardens with reflecting pools and woodland pathways. It’s beautiful at any time of the year, but in April and May you’ll see the best flower display. Here is a photo I took along one of the woodland paths.

The German artist Albrecht Dürer was born on May 21, 1471 and died on April 6, 1528. He worked in many media, including oil and watercolor paintings, drawings, woodcuts and copper engravings. This is an engraving, and Dürer dated it 1514, with the distinctive initials he used to mark all his works, a D inside an A. Dürer’s subjects ranged from landscapes, to portraits, to religious scenes, to botanical and zoological drawings. He was an incredible draftsman and I marvel at the realism of works such as the Young Hare, and this columbine which looks identical to the plants I have in my garden now. He was one of the greatest artists of his era, and is still considered to be one of the greatest printmakers ever.

Most of Dürer’s works have a serious tone, especially the religious and mythological allegories, but this one has a light-hearted feel to it. The details of the bagpipe player are lovely. He is in a relaxed, casual pose, leaning against a tree trunk with one leg crossed over the other and wearing a motley assortment of clothing. The tree trunk is depicted so meticulously that I feel certain it is a birch. We don’t know who the player is or where he came from, but he has a sporran hanging from his waist, which is a distinctly Scottish item, nowadays worn with a kilt, so he may have come from there, either as part of a military force or as an itinerant musician.

I don’t know about you, but I have been hearing a lot of bagpipe music lately, watching the video clips of the Wisconsin firefighter marching bands at the protests in Madison, and the sound never ceases to thrill me. And St. Patrick’s Day is almost upon us, another occasion to hear a lot of bagpipes, if you attend a parade. There is something primal about the sound of bagpipes, something awesome and eerie, and it is no wonder they were used to lead armies for so long. But if I ever thought about it, I would have assumed that they were invented in Scotland or Ireland, and not that many centuries ago. So it is surprising to see something similar to today’s bagpipes in a engraving from the Middle Ages.

In fact, bagpipes are one of the earliest musical intruments known to humans, and derived from the reeds and doublepipes played in ancient Egypt and the Middle East. The bag, originally made from the whole skin of an animal, may have been added in the time of the Roman Empire, or even earlier

I think what I love about Jacob Lawrence’s work is that besides being beautiful to look at, the paintings have a story to tell. He did a lot of historical research before creating these painted narratives. In many of them the bold colors, strong shapes, and repeated parallel figures give the work a rhythmic quality. You can feel the movement.

This past September, 2010, marked the 100th anniversary of the opening of the famous Pennsylvania Station in New York designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White. It was torn down in 1963, in an act of cultural vandalism that in my opinion was equal to the destruction of the giant Buddhas in Bamiyan, Afghanistan.

I really love public art; stuff that you can see without paying for admission to a museum. Here is a great example of late 19th Century sculpture, the equestrian statue of General William Tecumseh Sherman located in Grand Army Plaza at the southern end of Central Park in Manhattan. It is the last major work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens(1848–1907). Saint-Gaudens, born in Dublin to a French father and Irish mother, immigrated to New York with his parents as an infant. He was a leading Beaux-Arts (neo-classical) sculptor during the so called American Renaissance era.

I was all set to feature a different work of art today, until I saw an article about this beautiful portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo by William Hoare in The London Guardian.

Jim Gary remains the only living sculptor to have been invited to exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I hope you find his work as captivating and original as I do.