Mediterranean Heirlooms in America: The Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art

Detail of a c. 14th Century Altarpiece, one of several at the Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art.
Typical of the Florentine style. Tempera and Gold on Panel, attributed to Spinello Arentino.

Esteban Murillo's 17th Century Madonna in Oil on Canvas.

Raphael's Connestable Madonna. 

Extremely small tempera and oil on wooden panel, the original of which lies in the Hermitage.

(Like Gregory Gerrer, Raphael was commissioned to create art for the Pope of his time.)

While one might not presume that they could find interesting, original works of art from all around the world - including prestigious Renaissance paintings and ancient Egyptian finds - in a small town just outside of Oklahoma City, that is exactly what lies at the Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art at St. Gregory's University, in none other than Shawnee, Oklahoma.

Perhaps it has something to do with the wealth of the Catholic Church - it does - nonetheless it has much more to do with the fact that Gregory Gerrer was a promising young artist who, having immigrated to America from France, eventually found himself at the Benedictine monastery that would later become St. Gregory's. 

Highly-intriguing Canopic Jars from Egypt's Middle Kingdom. Oft depicted the Four Sons of Horus and used to guard organs removed from mummies.

To make a long story short, Gerrer ended up meeting an abbot who was so taken by the young monk's talent that he sent him back to Europe, to Rome exactly, so that he could study painting and travel for a temporary period of time... (Now, myself being a native Oklahoman who has lived in Rome for six years, I cannot deny that I found this little fact terribly exciting when it was revealed to me just after I paid for my museum ticket last November.)

As with many a museum collection, this one began with the personal collection of its founder, who gathered pieces from one journey to another while traveling abroad. Having brought them back with him to the great State of Oklahoma after each trip, Father Gerrer founded the museum - more recently housed in this bordeaux-walled little gem of a museum - in 1919, and it has been accumulating treasures ever since.

Greek terra-cotta deity figurines from 400 B.C. Found in the Boeotia Region, in the famous cemetery of Tanagra.

While I know that the museum, as lovely and fascinating as it may be, will not in itself inspire most travelers to put Oklahoma on their destination list anytime in the near future, be aware that National Geographic Traveler has placed the capital city on its own list for 2015. However, if you do happen to be just one state away, passing through on the old Route 66 or even in town on business, seeing a Thunder game or a regatta on the Oklahoma River, Shawnee is a quick, 45-minute drive from Oklahoma City.

Winged Lion, symbol of St. Mark, Patron Saint of Venice. Shield accompanying a suit of armor constructed by Vincenzo Zenon in 1446. Suit bears as part of its inscription Venezin, which most would assume is Veneto (regional) dialect for Venetian. (Also attests that Zenon built the armor in San Silvestro, which most likely means the Parish of San Silvestro.)

Of course, if you are an art scholar, Mabee-Gerrer most likely is already on your radar, and it is for good reason that you should make the effort to see it in your lifetime. The wealth of this collection is astounding, having surprised me with several Byzantine-style altarpieces, canvases by Guido Reni and Veronese, a Raphael and an Esteban Murillo, among plenty of others.

And if you are a native Oklahoman still in-state, you have no reason not to go. Outside of Mother Nature herself, it is a reflective escape from the quotidian and mundane. The Mabee-Gerrer Museum is quiet's abode; duck in for just a bit to revel in this oasis of stillness, ideally now, when the cold and wind all but come sweeping down the plain.

Complete view of the Arentino Altarpiece. The majority of the works in the Mabee-Gerrer collection are essentially votive creations - standing watch over and protecting those they served (Egyptians, Greeks and Italians alike). Together and individually, they evoke the visitor's awe and reverence for the centuries and millennia of culture, history and memories they keep.

Further Links

The Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art

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Weekend Perspective: In Hadrian's Eyes

Captivating. Colossal marble bust of Hadrian from 1st-2nd Century A.D. Originally displayed in Athens's Agora, it is now the property of the National Archaeological Museum in the same city.

If I'm being honest, it is not everyday you find such a well-curated collection in Italy as that running at the Archaeological Museum of Hadrian's Villa until November 2nd. 

Hadrian and Greece: Villa Adriana in Classicism and Hellenism, small though it may be, comprises caryatids, busts and statues in the Hellenistic style (thus testimony to Hadrian's appreciation for Hellenism), all hailing from various parts of Greece and realized during Hadrian's rule as Emperor, 117 to 138 A.D. 

Originally displayed in the likes of Corinth and the Agora of Athens, among other places, these propaganda pieces are absolutely gorgeous, are very well-illuminated, and come complete with very thorough historic descriptions. A week later, I can't but continue to stare at all the photos I took away and ponder the history during Hadrian's lifetime. 

Female busts in marble, 2nd Century A.D., normally on view in the Archaeological Museums of Corinth and Athens.

If ever you are in the Rome area, make every effort to get to Tivoli to see the Villa Adriana, which is a jewel in itself and only a half-hour away from the Eternal City. 

At 5 Euro, prices are nice, while the first Sunday of the month is always free. (The current exhibit costs an extra 7-11 Euro, but if you go on November 2nd, you can see both without paying a cent!)

These Caryatids, the female shaped columns of ancient Greece, once completely surrounded Hadrian's Canopus, thus mixing the Hellenistic with the Egyptian! (The Canopo was a sort of luxury resort in ancient Egypt, so renowned in the Mediterranean world that Hadrian decided to copy it on his villa grounds.)

For more info, visit CoopCulture

For more of my photos, visit my Instagram feed @Mediterranean_Moves

Weekend Perspective: Faith, Football and...

Basilica di Santa Cecilia, Trastevere, Rome.

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Thinking about #Argentina and

#CAR 

#SouthSudan

#Gaza #Palestine 

#Israel 

#Syria #Iraq 

#Ukraine 

#notjustfootball

Weekend Perspective: Faith and Football

In cultures around the world, soccer (football for everyone else) has long been as much a part of daily life as religion. Often during my travels, I never lack for occasions to observe both remarkable religious structures and young people playing the game. Morocco is no exception, and although the country has not qualified for the World Cup since 1998, the passion for this universal sport is always front and center.

(Click for larger photos and slideshow.)

The former Synagogue in El Jadida, 

whose Jewish community was once so sizable

it boasted 12 Jewish temples.

Whether in a tiny, colorful medina alleyway, or on a desolate street whose modern decay contrasts to what is just inside the old city walls, soccer pitches both improvised and planned are as common here as churches are in Italian cities. Snapshots of the Moroccan urban landscape reveal a continuous hodge-podge of shops, houses and playing "fields," with the mosques, former synagogues, and rare church acting as its hinges. 

See more photos and read about my visit to Morocco in Back to the Maghreb

Casablanca's Grand Mosque Hassan II.

A mother and her children pass below one of the arcades that compose the Hassan II complex.

Weekend Perspective: The Promise of Summer

Summer starts tomorrow... Break up the workday with a five-minute escape to the castles, grottoes and mini faraglioni of Monte Argentario, Tuscany! 

(Click to enlarge and see slideshow.)

An Aragonese castle, one of several on this promontory that was once a Spanish conquest. Today, Americans and other foreign nationals have done a little conquering of their own by making second homes out of the strongholds.

These tiny seastacks remind me of their larger counterparts off the coasts of Sicily and the Campanian island of Capri.

Getting to know Argentario's thousands of unique nooks, crannies and formations is, to me, akin to a hard-core version of cloud-watching.

You can't see it so very well in this photo, but in the upper left is a natural arch that in person resembles a couple mid-kiss!

View Monte Argentario from afar here.

Weekend Perspective: Italy, Rain or Shine

Storm's a-brewin' in soul-stirring Syracuse.

The Island of Ortygia along Porto di Siracusa, Sicily.

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Late morning: Brightly-colored fishing nets 
match the lively pastels of the houses 
and palazzi lining Giglio Harbor. 

(More on the island of Giglio.)

Weekend Perspective: The Last Beach

Sun sets behind Monte Argentario, seen here from L'ultima Spiaggia.

L'ultima Spiaggia is the "Last Beach" in Tuscany before it meets the region of Lazio.

Weekend Perspective: Colors of Venice

Calm before the storm. Seen from the Casa Tre Oci, Giudecca.

Back to the Maghreb

From the Riad 7 Terrace, the Oum Er-Rbia River Delta meets the Atlantic.

A perfect ray illuminates El Jedida's Portuguese Cistern, UNESCO World Heritage from the 1500s.

Arcade frames minaret at Hassan II in Casablanca.

“Bonjour!”

“Bonjour!” I respond in surprise to innocently smiling children (evidently just out of school for the day, given their smart uniforms and bright magenta backpacks).

They notice me, blonde and pale, looking a tiny bit out-of-place as I walk toward an entrance of the medina in Azemmour. Some of them wave - girls with thick, curly hair in braided pigtails, and skinny boys with short cuts and a missing tooth.

I cannot help but smile at how sweet and friendly they are, how innocent, welcoming and, at the same time, mature they seem compared to the average European child their age.

Bonjour indeed! I couldn’t be happier to be welcomed back to the Maghreb in such fashion (this time in Morocco, after almost two years away).

What's Your Vintage? ...A Better Way to Taste Wine in Rome

My "learning station" in the cozy little wine nook that is Rimessa Roscioli.

Recently my friend and fellow southern gal, Liz, aka @lizinrome, writer of romeifyouwantto.com, invited me to a wine tasting.  

Let me start by saying that wine tastings in Rome are a dime a dozen. I have always been curious about trying one, but have just never gotten around to taking one up: a lot of them run for several weeks, which for me always sounded like too much commitment, and others that I had heard about sounded like they needed to be vetted – I mean, how would I know if the sommeliers leading them were really any good? Read: also too much commitment. 

If you think about it, when you live in Rome, everyday leaves ample opportunity for wine tasting; from eating out and eating in Italian friends’ homes to special events and parties, traveling in Italy in general, visiting vineyards and age-old cellars, everyday can literally be a course in wine.

     However, when Liz mentioned it was a food and wine pairing event in Rome’s Historic Center, I could not help but be excited: mostly because I know Liz has good taste, and it’s always fun to do these things with a good friend. Not only: the pairing was to be with an important and highly-reputed restaurateur in Rome, Roscioli, in collaboration with CityWonders, which offers a select list of excellent tours to visitors and locals in Italy and a handful of other countries.

Google Becomes an Artisan with Made in Italy

Google’s Made in Italy page was recently published online and it is spectacular.

It is an enthralling encyclopedia of handmade Italian products that cannot be easily copied anywhere in the world. 

The information is so replete that most Italy buffs will certainly discover a few surprises themselves. Browse by map location, category, or view the entire slide and click for an in-depth look.

In its efforts to clarify and inform, Google shows us what mozzarella really looks like (to taste it, you should look for it in the Regions of Campania, Apulia, Molise and Lazio). Most of what you eat that is labeled mozzarella in the U.S., for instance, just doesn’t cut it once you’ve had the real deal. And how could it? How many water buffalo milking establishments have you seen back home?

Besides Mozzarella di Bufala, some of my personal favorites are Velvet from Nuoro, Umbrian Knitwear, Grosseto Saddles, Mozzarella di Bufala, and Goldsmithery of Crotone.

The Google Made in Italy page is very details-oriented when it comes to history and techniques.

The fact that certified and protected Made in Italy food, fashion, and other artisan products are ruled by intense, longstanding traditions that intertwine with the history and culture, climate and topography of any given spot on the map really hits home once you have been in Italy for a while. Having said that, Google’s new addition is excellent both as a primer and tool for further learning.

You can see it all at Google Made in Italy.

By the way, Italy’s official website for tourism, Italia.it, contains its own articles on Gastronomy and Made in Italy, and they are bursting with information and photos: I particularly like Emilia Romagna, Formula1 and Ferrari; Italy in Fashion; Sorrento and Limoncello and Turin and Its ChocolateTradition. The site is also social, so stay updated and  enjoy a little bit of Italy everyday via Facebook and Twitter.

Enjoy!

Fantasy and Caput Mundi

via Capo d'Africa, 
Watercolor by Andy Devane

In case it were not already obvious, I find no end to my love for the Mediterranean, a reality formed by the rise and fall of civilizations, the movements, migrations and conquests of a thousand cultures and populations. 

The Persians ruled its eastern end 550-330 B.C.E. Outside of modern-day Lebanon, the Phoenicians managed to call parts of Tunisia, Morocco, Spain and Sardinia their own, from the 8^th to 6^th Centuries B.C.E., while at the same time, the Greeks formed colonies in modern-day Egypt, Sicily, southern Italy and southern France.

Of course the Romans conquered all, and Rome and much of Italy itself – traversed as they have been by Arabs, Greeks, Swabians, Normans, Byzantines, Ottomans and Spaniards – are synonymous with the rest of the multi-cultural hotbed that is the great and passionate sea that hosts it. 

Gold Sunset, 
Andy Devane

The fact that the Mediterranean was such a prolific crossroads leaves one in disbelief every time when confronted with the beauty and rich historical detail residing deep inside its languages and dialects, music and architecture, food and spirit, and like it or not, its complex – and sometimes maddening – mentalities.

So far I have created one or two short posts holding a candle up to artists whose work is in the spirit of the blog: those who open to us a window onto the historic passages and conquests of this magnificent and beautiful personage that touches three continents.

I have posted much less than I would have liked to on similarly-inspiring singers/writers/creators. Thus, I actually think it’s high time I did it again!

Statues Underwater, 
Andy Devane

(Click below to read more...)