Curved

Now I wonder what this mad alien structure might be, peeping round the corner of this Victorian street?


Inside, its just as curved. A truly mad, brave and iconic building.. Shame about the acoustics though.



Yes. You knew it was the Guggenheim all the time didn't you.. Buildings as startling as this take on a life of their own and enter the public consciousness just by force of their character.






The Guggenheim is a modern art gallery. I admit I have a problem understanding modern art and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. If your work of art needs an A4 poster next to it explaining to the viewer what they should be feeling when they look at it, surely you missed your target. Turner didn't hand out explanations with his sunsets...

I have a theory.  It seems to me that the quality of the art inside a gallery is inversely proportional to the quality of the building. Take the Guggenheim, the Tate at St Ives, and the Tate Modern as examples. All are pleasing architecture, largely spoiled by their contents :-)

By comparison, just a bit further down 5th Avenue you find the Frick Collection. This humble and conventional building houses some truly sublime works.

Comments

  1. Peter Davidson8 January 2011 at 12:07

    Modern tart, wonderful ain't it? Keep taking these shots of places, especially as time goes by when they sometimes assume an importance undreamed of when first taken. This knowledge however doesn't stop me from NOT taking boring pictures of everyday things we don't realise or know may be important in the future. It's a common failing and I have no answer to it. Well done for keeping those 'boring' but now fascinating shots from the past.

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