10-Minute Art Challenge: Hiroshige’s ‘Sudden Rain’
The NY Times has been doing these challenges every Friday where you sit and look at one piece of art for 10 minutes. Last week featured a woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige called Great Bridge: Sudden Rain at Atake, a piece that Vincent van Gogh had in his personal collection and painted a version of himself.
I didn’t expect to last the entire 10 minutes — a slow start to the day (dentist, errands) had me feeling rushed and a computer with an infinite number of apps & websites just a tab or click away is not the ideal medium for this exercise — but once I got going (or, rather, once I slowed down), it was pretty easy. (via laura olin)
Discussion 6 comments
Ooo, going to the Van Gogh museum on Monday, as it happens. Hope I can see his version there!
the Van Goth was in Brooklyn this spring for a rare showing of the Brooklyn Museum's 100 Famous Views, along with his version of the plum tree garden & many of Takashi Murakami's versions of Hiroshige. All breathtaking, enjoy!
Funny, I purchased a reproduction of the Hiroshige print from Dave Bull's shop in Tokyo a few months ago. I didn't know about the van Gogh version!
Kind of like a "slow food" version after art appreciation. I can totally get behind this. Once when visiting Minneapolis, I spent half a day at the MIA museum with Bouguereau’s Temptation.
Some family and friends thought it was weird that I visited a museum for half a day and spent the whole time in front of one painting. I think this is the best way to experience museum art. Pick a few pieces that of are particular interest to you for some personal reason and focus on them. You miss so much more when you try to see everything.
This was a couple decades ago and after having sat there a couple hours, security allowed me to get up close and examine the details. It's really magical to get to experience a piece of artwork you've admired for so long.
Totally agree. On another Kottke post, I relayed one of my favorite art experiences -- spending so long in front of Departure that I fell half-way asleep and started dreaming about the meaning of the piece. More recently, my mom and I spent an hour at the Met in front of another Beckmann piece. Art with a lot of creative surplus encourages this kind of slow attention in a way that I find so rewarding.
Very relaxing and insightful exercise. Highly recommended.
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