Museum, History: China National Museum

The lobby

Tian’an Men Square is the largest public square on the planet. More than a half a mile long and a quarter mile wide, it is a massive open-space. Three buildings frame the northern expanse. On the north is the gate to the Forbidden City. To the west is the Great Hall of the People, China's parliament. Massive and iconic structures. To the east is a structure built to hold its own in that daunting company, China's National Museum.

The building was built in tandem with the Great Hall to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. It has the feel of 1950s Soviet triumphal architecture - built to exceed the scale of previous Chinese regimes. It is big. They say it houses more than 1 million artifacts - I did not count - it was big. If you needed to see the comprehensive collection of Chinese art, it was there for you.

But it also had the exhibits that are my favorites - their take on national history. Naturally, this also needs to be broken up into manageable pieces. China has had dynasties that last longer than the totality of American history. There are a lot of stories to tell. The 20th century alone would be compelling enough for a great museum. In this museum, it was just a great exhibit. One of many.

Even so, the 20th Century is an exceptional time for China. It starts with the humiliation of invasions and colonial exploitation. The Japanese are cut no slack in their portrayal, not softened at all by the passage of time. Western capitalism fares little better. There is no ambiguity about who the bad guys were, when China was down. But that is not the story.  The theme, in fact the title of the exhibit is the Road to Rejuvenation. It is the story of China, slaying its dragons one by one. First the Emperor, then the Japanese, then capitalism followed by modernization and next? I think the conclusion they want you to reach is that they will accomplish anything they set themselves too. The final display? Equipment that might be used in a Chinese lunar landing. Is China going to the moon? They will if they want to.

Museum, Art: the National Art Museum of China

Described as the largest gallery of art in China, the National Art Museum has no permanent collection, it seems. Instead, what they do is host rotating temporary exhibits. So, if what you are looking for is a comprehensive collection that chronicles the history and breadth of Chinese art, you would be in the wrong place. That's what you will find at the gargantuan China National Museum (next post – History) on Tian’an Men square. No, this museum is content to supply a few slices of Chinese art with no pretension of being complete.

I think that is why I liked it so much. I am not the world's biggest art lover. I think art can be interesting if it has something to say about a people, a time or a place - but for me, a little bit goes a long way. When we were in Shanghai we visited our first museum of Chinese art. Six floors in a building about the size of a football field. There was a lot to see including 6000 year old pottery. Amazing - but they have more pots than I needed to see. This museum was more my speed.

They had galleries on three floors, but the best I could tell just two exhibits (signage was pretty much exclusively Chinese - it was not uncommon anywhere we went - Germany, Turkey, Italy, China - to find temporary exhibits in just the local language)  The ground floor exhibit was a collection of the work of landscape artist Long Rui. A master the genre, the galleries were filled with a style of art already familiar to us - what you might call typical Chinese art. And then the artist travels. It was fun to see this style applied to the Italian village or the American Southwest.

In the upstairs galleries they had

a collection that seemed to focus on country life. It was here that I saw the first examples of something that could even remotely be described as political art. The interesting thing was that the politics were evident in what was NOT in the paintings, as much as what was there.  A painting of a PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) unit. No red flag, no communist iconography, just soldiers ready to go. Another favorite was the peasant farmers with their Nike and their cell phones. Things are changing out in the countryside.

Museum, History: Museum of the Revolution

The museum’s location is nothing short of spectacular. Located just a short distance from the ocean at the foot of Havana's most scenic boulevard (Paseo Del Prado) in what was, for most of its history, the presidential palace. Before the revolution, Cuba was not a poor country. As one would expect, its president would live in a structure that reflects the status of his society, or better. The building does not disappoint.  From the outside. Inside, most of the rooms are pretty nondescript. Emptied of whatever might have been in them when the dictator Batista's government fell, today they are just the shell in which the artifacts and narrative of Cuba's revolution are displayed.

The revolution is arguably the biggest moment in Cuban history. Whether you like its results or not, it is certainly a watershed. The current powers that be are entirely vested in its significance. So you would expect that this would be a pretty impressive museum. That expectation is reinforced by the fee they charge for admission (6 CUC) and the extra charge if you want to take pictures (2 CUC). About $10 to visit a political museum in a communist country? Must be pretty good.

It's not. As I said,  for the Cubans currently running the country, the revolution was a big deal. In the grand scheme of things (global) it wasn't really. A bunch of young revolutionaries confronted and overtook a widely unpopular dictator. Batista did not collapse like Mubarak, in days, but it did not take Fidel's small band (20 in 1957?) long to grow into a force large enough to break the will of Batista's defenders. They went from disaster (the landing of the Granma) to victory, in about two years.

The museum chronicles this struggle, displaying the fatigues they wore, the guitar they played to amuse themselves, the guns they used to seize power. It kind of had the feel of a revolutionary secondhand store. The display cases were worn and dated, much like the building itself. It was not terribly impressive. Kind of like, we have this exhibit because it's expected.  We charge what we charge, because you'll pay it.  But it did not seem like their heart was in it. Nothing seemed like it had been updated for decades.

They were not even keeping up appearances. The elevator was in long-standing disrepair. The bathroom downstairs, though clean, did not even have a place to supply toilet paper. It would seem the museum should be the pride of Cuba - or of it's government. It seems more like a place to suck a few CUCs away from tourists. A big disappointment.

An interesting side note: At its inception there was an affinity between American ideals and the ideals of Fidel.  In the Museum you can find traces of that link.  Sharing the foyer with José Marti is the bust of Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator.  The rallying cry of the revolutionaries?  Libertad o Muerte, Patrick Henry’s Liberty or Death.  Sadly, today that has morphed into ‘Patria o Muerte’. I guess Liberty is not so important anymore.

Museum, History: the Atatürk and War of Independence Museum

Atatürk's car

In the  Anitkabir complex, filling the massive structure built to frame the ceremonial square, is Turkeys museum of its critical moment in history, the War of Independence. Most countries (sometimes governments) have a museum like this, a place that expresses who they are and how they see themselves and the glorious things that they are capable of. It makes sense that in Turkey that museum would focus on Atatürk and the War for Independence.

Atatürk, Turkey and the War for Independence have a symbiotic relationship with each other. It is quite possible that if any one of those three did not exist, the other two might not exist either.

Atatürk leading the people

At the end of the First World War, the Ottoman Empire found itself on the wrong side of victory with the British, French, Greeks and Armenians all looking to grab a piece of an empire that was disappearing fast. And in fact, they all did. In its weakened state, the Sultan was unable to offer affective resistance. Who was looking out for the interests of the Turks? That is where Atatürk stepped up. The Sultan’s government in Istanbul was the prisoner of occupation forces. He could not fight back, so Atatürk would.

Atatürk created government in Ankara and from there conducted the War for Independence. It is part of the legend, the slaying of foreign giants. You can debate how hard it was to expel countries who did not really want to stay (UK and France) but the fact is that Atatürk won that war. He liberated Turkey and when he was done he dismissed the Sultan and created the Turkish Republic. Modern turkey was born.

Involving women in the revolution

The Museum memorializes and animates the crucial moments in making Atatürk who he was (the battle of Gallipoli for example) and chronicles how Atatürk made Turkey what it is (but does not allow pictures, sorry - snuck a few but it is much better than they show). After the creation of the Republic, Atatürk lead a cultural revolution. He sized up the competition (Europe) and concluded that for Turkey to be secure and prosperous, it needed to become more like the West, modern and secular. The museum highlights the principles Atatürk sought to realize - the importance of education, the equality of women, among others.

Some of Atatürk's reforms (there were many - from dress to language to religion) are still controversial to this day. The unabashed devotion on display in the museum and almost everywhere else in Turkey made me wonder why he is not more often used as a stick to beat political opponents. Kind of like the Tea Party uses our Founding Fathers to pillory Obama. That doesn't seem to happen yet with Atatürk. It seems he still belongs to everyone.

Cuba: Museum Art, Museum Nacional de Bellas Artes

Quick, name a Cuban artist.  Yeah, before coming here I could not have named one either. Of course, that does not mean all that much. There are lots of countries whose artists I could not name. It does not necessarily mean anything about the quality of their art.  After visiting the Museum Nacional de Bellas Artes, I think it may say more about the quality of Cuba's artists' promotional talent than of their art.

And it's not just me.  On my way to the museum, I paused to check my map (always a risk, this time it cost me three CUC).  Swiftly, someone came to my aid: "Donde vas?". I told them I was on my way to the art museum - which just happened to be the way they were headed. Only we were not headed to the same museum. In Havana, there are two art museums located just a couple blocks from each other. My 'friend' assumed I was headed to the 'good one' a collection described as 'universal art'.  Basically, it is European stuff confiscated from rich Cubans after the revolution. I had to convince my new friend that I knew what I was doing. I really did want to visit the museum of Cuban art. I'm not sure my friend or any other Cubans have ever visited the Cuban art museum. I suspect they doubt anything Cuban could rival all that stuff by famous foreigners - but it does.

It is an enormous collection (revolutions are great for art museums) laid out on two floors, in four wings.  It spans more than a century of the work of Cuban artists. The vision and technique are excellent. It is apparent that Cuban artists trained seriously and followed the trends of their European counterparts. There is classical, Impressionist, Cubist, abstract - the whole range, yet most of it with a Caribbean or Cuban slant. They have some great stuff and sadly, a no picture policy. One of the guards said I would find copies of a bunch of the work in the store downstairs but alas, it was not so. It seems the only thing that Cuba is good at merchandising is Ché and this was no exception. The shop had more postcards of him than of the art upstairs. (I found some on-line though, somebody was sneakier than I am).

There was one element of particular note: that is the collection of José Marti themed paintings. Marti is, of course, Cuba's national hero and this is a state museum. So, where's the surprise that Fidel would include political art? The surprise was in the date of the work and the painters who created them. They pre-date Fidel by decades and speak to the almost timeless appeal Marti and his values have for Cubans. I expect long after traces of Fidel have disappeared, Fidel's monuments to Marti will remain.

Museum, Art: Turkish and Islamic Art Museum.

They left us alone in this room

Istanbul has no shortage of impressive art museums. An ancient city, it of course boasts its museum of archaeological finds. Home of the Sultans, it's palaces display the many baubles they had made for themselves. All very impressive, yet I was drawn to what seemed to be a less frequently visited museum: The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art.

Once inside, we were almost by ourselves. The officials minding the store seemed almost surprised to see us come in. They hustled back to their posts as ticket sellers and takers. The quiet in the foyer gave little clue to the impressive works within. I'd like to show you but they had a no photo policy and enough guards to make sure you obey the rules. I did sneak a couple, but not the best displays.

The art we saw, like early Italian art is dominated by religious themes. I guess that is a no-brainer in an 'Islamic' art museum except that included in the ‘Islamic’ genre is the art of many different nationalities. The Islamic element, however, is more significant than the national element. It is the theme, which dominates the works we saw, drawn as they were from Turkey, Arabia, Persia and elsewhere.

What is interesting about the Islamic element in the art is the general aversion to representing the human form. The belief is that such representation would be a form of idolatry. They may be right (think Marilyn Monroe). As a result, they put their efforts into the artistry of abstract forms and Arabic script. Some of the most impressive specimens are pages from the Koran.

There was a special exhibit of Korans, which interestingly did allow photography. Like the early Italian artists, religious work was the most suitable outlet for artists’ creativity and it is what produces the most beautiful works. That, and carpets. Don't forget the Turkish carpets! Seriously, except for the exhibit on the Koran, the carpet collection was the museum's largest, most impressive and best guarded exhibit (no photos). Too bad, cause MC found her new rug - if only we could show a picture to a dealer.

Playing Wit?  Another Clue.  In an alphabetic list of World Capitals, his would likely be first...

Museum, Art: German Museum of Film and TV

So one of my elements is to visit an art museum, the idea being that a society's relationship to art is an expression of how they see the world, and how they see themselves in the world.

The challenge in each place is not to find the museum but to decide which of the museums I want to write about. On this trip to Germany, we visited five very different art museums, from ancient to modern, each was impressive in someway. So, it is a surprise to me that I am writing about the film museum. At the outset it was not even on my list. But one day we found ourselves at Potsdamer Platz with a couple of hours to kill. We had gone to see the impressive redevelopment of the ‘platz’ itself (Sony dropped a few billion on it) only to get there and discover it pretty much closed (it was a Sunday and Boxing Day no less) You could wander around outdoors, but it was about -10° C - not very inviting. We needed a place to go and the film museum just happened to be there, open and heated. It turned out to be a lucky happenstance. The Museum is both fascinating and eye-opening. Today, when you think ‘film’, you think Hollywood. That's where the films come from. And that means an American perspective dominates the vision of world cinema.  As true as that is, it was not always so. And maybe did not need to turn out that way.

The museum chronicles the early years of the development of cinema as an art form.  It displays the technology and the finished product. At the beginning there was an exceptionally strong German presence in both. Landmark films like the ‘Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ and ‘Metropolis’ and global stars like Marlene Dietrich are testament to the German product and potential.

And then something happened. The Nazi era destroyed nearly everything that had been built by German film before it. It chased its best technicians and talent, mostly to Hollywood. What it did not chase it completely discredited.  The brilliance of Leni Reifenstahl (Olympia and Triumph of the Will) is impossible to separate from the depravity of the Nazi movement.
The rest as they say, is history. Hollywood became the center of the film universe and German film, though it still exists, toils mostly in obscurity. Germany's favorite films? Not German. One wonders what might have been.

The German National History Museum

A list of things, never to forget...

The capital’s premier Museum of history is located in the Kaiser's Armory on Unter den Linden, Berlin’s dramatic triumphal avenue that spans the center’s most important buildings – cultural, religious and civic. It is an imposing four-story structure that needs every inch of its enormous size to contain a history that stretches back 25 centuries. The National History Museum is meant to be comprehensive and it is.

Stuff left behind in a rush...

As a result, it is a little overwhelming. The Germans are an ancient people and a lot has happened in Germany. One could pick anyone of a dozen eras and devote an entire museum just to that. In fact, Berlin has those museums and because I love history museums I have visited several of them. The DDR museum is dedicated to the life and times of the Eastern zone between 1945 and 1990.  I also went to the Museum at Check Point Charlie, dedicated to the Berlin wall. A brief period (1961 to 1990) in historic terms, but a pretty good look at a very interesting time.

And yet you find both of these subjects treated relatively well in the comprehensive museum. It really is quite extraordinary. Culture, politics, economics and international affairs are all traced through the centuries.

As befits a country that visited upon the world what is its greatest tragedy (WW II), the museum tackles the dark side of German history. And not just of that era but before and after. By chance, our visit occurs during the museum's first large special exhibition of the Hitler era. The exhibit “Hitler and the Germans” attempts to make sense of the 1920s and 30s - a time when Germans had a choice and they either chose Hitler or sat back and allowed that choice to happen.

If anything, I thought they were a bit hard on Germans of that time.  We, of course, all know how the story ended and so it is easy to think that we would have done something different. I'm afraid I am not as optimistic. Would Americans fall for the “Big Lie”?  Well, how many of our countrymen think our president is a Muslim? (Look it up, its scary). And then there's Sarah Palin and her distinction between “real Americans” and people like me. I'm not saying she would have concentration camps, but its not hard to imagine her starting a war with somebody (Iran).  And then there was the Bush era.  How do you know in advance the depths to which a politician will sink?  Voters are not always as careful as they should be.  I think there is an element of luck - good and bad.

 

Russia, Museum: Art. The New Tretyakov & Fallen Monuments

It seemed like I had already done the post on Russian art museums. Frankly, after the Hermitage, any other museum pales in comparison - and that includes not only Russian art museums, but nearly any museum on the planet. Could there be a second museum in Russia worthy of mention?

Maybe.  The thing about the Hermitage is that its collection - as great as it is - is somewhat frozen in time. For some reason, the Czars quit collecting early in the 20th Century - and so the next period of Russian art is not represented. If that's what you wanted to see - you need another museum.

There's better 'SR' art in the Metro

The New Tretyakov in Moscow houses what is called ‘contemporary art’. Located in a large 60’s style Soviet building across the river from Kremlin, the New Tretyakov traces Russian art through the 20th Century. In doing so, it captures what for me was the most interesting of Russian art, Socialist Realism.

I'm guessing Russians are not as impressed.  Maybe they had enough of it. I was hoping for dozens of canvases. There was really just one room, sandwiched between pre-and post-Soviet expressions. It may be too soon for them to appreciate Socialist Realism as an art form.  it is hard to see past the politics.  It seems like unloved art.

Kind of like the collection of now useless statues of Soviet heroes kept in the park adjacent to the museum. Once produced with great pride and at great expense, they are now a curiosity for tourists. How the mighty have fallen. Stalin without his nose says it all.

Russia; Museums of History

St. Petersburg is the cradle of the Bolshevik Revolution and as a result was the political

Czar's Portrait, complete w/ bayonet slashes

center of communism and the beginnings of the Soviet Union. That legacy has not been forgotten. Moscow has a historical museum that showcases the totality of Russian history. St. Petersburg concentrates on the revolutionary aspect.

We visited two museums in St. Petersburg, the Kirov and the Museum of Russian Political History. The Kirov is located in the former apartment of a leading figure of the 1930s USSR, Sergei Kirov. He was a close comrade of Joseph Stalin during Stalin’s rise to power and it was Kirov’s murder that served as the catalyst (excuse?) for the purges of the 1930s.


Kirov was a popular figure within the party and some suspect jealousy led Stalin to order his assassination and then blame Stalin’s own enemies, providing the opportunity to liquidate them. The apartment set up

The Famous Mr. Kirov

the way it would have looked in 1934 when Kirov died.  It is an interesting frozen moment in time and window into the world of an important Soviet leader. The museum dodges the question of who killed him.

The Museum of Russian Political History is more comprehensive. Located in a mansion, commandeered by the Bolsheviks in 1917 it houses Lenin’s office and was the scene of an important moment in the events of that time - a speech Lenin gave from its balcony exhorting the proletariat to revolution.

The museum is pretty neutral about Lenin, but pulls no punches in its largest exhibit on Stalinism. It follows his rise to power and displays pictures and artifacts of his victims. The show trials, the Kulaks digging their own graves as a firing squad watches, the Gulag. It also documents the rapid and impressive development of Soviet industry and agriculture, not hiding the coercive of nature of that process.

The rest of Soviet history is again like the section on Lenin - it happened. Exhibits take no stand on whether it is good or bad, carrying this note all the way to the present, pointing out with some local pride that the current president (Medvedev) and his predecessor and current Prime Minister (Putin) are both from St. Petersburg. It is still the center of Russia's political universe. We'll see what Moscow has to say about that.

Lenin's Office

Moscow: we visited the Museum of Contemporary History. They have a large collection of artifacts spanning the period from the last half of the 19th century to the present.  Interestingly the museum begins with the present and then jumps back. And what does the official State history museum have to say about the present? Actually not much. The only subject that they think merits attention is the process for the selection of the new post Soviet state symbols to replace the hammer and sickle and the red flag. It's often said that history is written by the winners and that is quite apparent in the post Soviet exhibit. In every element of the exhibit is a picture of Putin doing something. No pictures of Yeltsin, who if memory serves proceeded ‘Vlad’ and only one official Post Office style picture of Medvedev who is now President. No ambiguity about who is calling the shots

The rest of the museum all is pretty close to the model observed in St. Petersburg. In this one

Stalin, after the fall...

they spend some time developing the pre-revolutionary circumstances. They recognize
Russia's backwardness made apparent by its defeat by Japan in 1905. Alexander II’s attempts at reform only create chaos, his assassination and then retrenchment. Again after 1905 it seems they try to change without any real understanding of how to accomplish reform or support from the ruling class. No one is happy and the revolution is the result.
The take on Soviet history again singles Stalin out for blame. Lenin and NEP (new economic program) seemed to be improving things but then, Stalin…  WWII and the space program are points of pride for Russians.  Soviet times were not all bad.  One wonders if they think “if only there had been no Stalin.”  It is convenient to have a dead fall guy.