Monday 28 July 2014

Rembradt Bugatti exhition in Berlin


I managed to catch the last day of the Rembrandt Bugatti exhibition in the Alt Gallerei last sunday and it was a great exercise in animal anatomy and generally enriching experience. I still find it unbelievable that he sculpted all of these animals "vor ort" so to speak, in the zoos of Paris and Antwerp.

The speed and accuracy at which he must have worked to form these plaster pieces must have been phenominal. Animals I generally find to be very reluctant or ambivalent models, and moving so quick, very difficult to capture in sketch or painting. I read an anecdote about him that he kept Two Antilopes in his Atelier on loan from Paris zoo, for a length of time to get a good look at them, I don`t think that would be  legal today?.

His early death at 31 by suicide was another tragic repercussion of the affects of the first world war.
He died after the demise of nearly all of the animals(through starvation) in Antwerp zoo, which he had so
tenderly and lovingly paid homage to.



We`re travelling to the east sea again. Wir fahren noch mal an die ostsee.






The initial waiting in Friedrich Strasse was made a good bit less tedious with these colorful cake buying characters. 


 Once on the Island of Rügen it`s into the car with us and on to further exotic destinations

  
 To Binz and the "Haus des Gastes" where everyone gets married

 
And again in the car and the open road,

 

 To Sassnitz the fishing port where only the best herring Fish bread rolls are sold  

then onward yet again to god only knows where ...


.... oh home again,  with the idyllic viewof farm yard



(Not finish will scan in finshed version l8r)



Thursday 17 July 2014

Football fever

for the entire duration of the Brazilian World Cup, Union Berlin stadium in Köpenick, gave up it's playing field to couches brought in by fans in order to watch the matches. A gigantic stage was set up in front of one the stadiums stands and given a make over of 70's style wall paper with gigantic bookshelves, photo frames and of course a humungous TV screen in the centre. A real homey feel was given to a venue with capacity for 21,000 people). We got tickets to see the World Cup final here, as Mario Götze scored the winning goal for German 'Uwe' a man I had never met before hugged me and gave me his Union scarf saying "dass schenke Ich dir" Stadion An der Alten Försterei (Stadium by the old forester's house)

Johnny Lang

Johnny Lang playing a blinder here in columbia Halle in Berlin 
(his hands do not actually look like this in real life, they just move very very quickly)

Pulling Trams in Woltersdorf

A few weeks back a friend of ours told us about a Tram festival that was scheduled for the following weekend in Woltersdorf a lovely small  town east of Berlin. The day before the event he rang me and told me I had been signed up by his son in law to pull one of the trams in a race against the clock. I agreed at the time but was glad to be on the bench as reserve, number 11 in a team of 10. It would have taken two of me to fit into the most other members t-shirt, they won a case of strong beer with a time of 9.4 seconds against 4 or five other teams of ten. They hold the title Woltersdorf starke Männer 2014   



There were also vintage trams to be seen, and drawn at the event. This number 218 is a renovated 101 year old Tram now used for weddings and special occasions. While, Linus, opposite, my friends grandchild is soon to turn 1 himself.