Since I really don't have anything profound to say I thought I'd write a story to accompany my latest pictures of a day in Philly looking at art and eating (two of my favorite pastimes) with my mother (one of my best friends and favorite people).
Sunday was a beautiful winter day, cold but sunny. When I arrived in town I stumbled on a free parking lot directly behind the museum where I was meeting my mother, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (aka PAFA). Now I'm sure that during the week this lot is not free, but I guess the Sunday attendant took the day off, so I parked gratis- this started the day on the right foot to say the least.
Pictures outside and inside PAFA, including City Hall
I took some pictures before going inside to meet my mom in the original building, and once inside I had to get some shots there too, although you need special permission to shoot pictures from the stairs or any further inside. The original building is a Gothic revival masterpiece of brick, tile, stone, and glass that dazzles the eye both inside and out. It opened in 1876, the year of the big Centennial celebration in Philly, and was designed by the firm of Frank Furness and George Hewitt, but executed mostly by Frank Furness, a famous late 19th century Philadelphia architect.
The exhibit of Cecilia Beaux portraits was located in the new building across the street, so we headed there to take a look at the pictures. Cecilia Beaux was born in Philadelphia, but like many of her contemporaries spent time in Paris.
Here is the exhibit blurb from PAFA's website:
Born in Philadelphia in 1855, Beaux was a trailblazing woman artist who achieved international acclaim and painted many of the leading political, literary, and business figures of her day. An independent career woman, she typified the New Woman that was characterized in contemporary literature by Henry James and Edith Wharton. She studied at the Pennsylania Academy and became its first female faculty member, the first woman to win many of the prestigious art prizes at museums around the country, and the first American woman to be invited to add her likeness to the Hall of Portraits at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
The exhibit turned out to be much bigger than I expected, and spanned her entire career from her first efforts as a young girl to her last painting; it was very well done and not crowded. We really enjoyed it and lingered for a while going back to our favorite pictures and comparing notes. Unfortunately photography was not permitted in the galleries so I have no pictures of my own, but here are a couple of her portraits.
Sita and Serita
Sunday was a beautiful winter day, cold but sunny. When I arrived in town I stumbled on a free parking lot directly behind the museum where I was meeting my mother, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (aka PAFA). Now I'm sure that during the week this lot is not free, but I guess the Sunday attendant took the day off, so I parked gratis- this started the day on the right foot to say the least.
Pictures outside and inside PAFA, including City Hall
I took some pictures before going inside to meet my mom in the original building, and once inside I had to get some shots there too, although you need special permission to shoot pictures from the stairs or any further inside. The original building is a Gothic revival masterpiece of brick, tile, stone, and glass that dazzles the eye both inside and out. It opened in 1876, the year of the big Centennial celebration in Philly, and was designed by the firm of Frank Furness and George Hewitt, but executed mostly by Frank Furness, a famous late 19th century Philadelphia architect.
The exhibit of Cecilia Beaux portraits was located in the new building across the street, so we headed there to take a look at the pictures. Cecilia Beaux was born in Philadelphia, but like many of her contemporaries spent time in Paris.
Here is the exhibit blurb from PAFA's website:
Born in Philadelphia in 1855, Beaux was a trailblazing woman artist who achieved international acclaim and painted many of the leading political, literary, and business figures of her day. An independent career woman, she typified the New Woman that was characterized in contemporary literature by Henry James and Edith Wharton. She studied at the Pennsylania Academy and became its first female faculty member, the first woman to win many of the prestigious art prizes at museums around the country, and the first American woman to be invited to add her likeness to the Hall of Portraits at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
The exhibit turned out to be much bigger than I expected, and spanned her entire career from her first efforts as a young girl to her last painting; it was very well done and not crowded. We really enjoyed it and lingered for a while going back to our favorite pictures and comparing notes. Unfortunately photography was not permitted in the galleries so I have no pictures of my own, but here are a couple of her portraits.
Sita and Serita
Ernesta (Child with Nurse)
After we left the exhibit, we needed a bite to eat; so on my mom's suggestion we headed to the Reading Terminal Market, since it was only a couple blocks away and offered many choices for lunch. This place is a Philly treasure; a farmer's market that provided produce to city dwellers and later, suburbanites as well (the farmers loaded the produce onto trains traveling to stations on the Main Line, where servants picked it up for the final leg of its journey to the mansions of the wealthy). It survives as a piece of living Philadelphia history that thousands of Philadelphians and tourists visit every year. Here's the Wikipedia entry for the Market.
Reading Terminal Market pictures are on page 2 of the album (somehow can't link directly-what's up with that, Myspace?!)
We bought our lunch at the turkey stand, where the choices include all kinds of turkey sandwiches and soup, as well as platters that look just like Thanksgiving. A band was playing in the main seating area, so we made our way to some tables in the back by the Beer Garden restaurant, where we could hear the music and still carry on a conversation. We ate our delicious turkey lunch and then headed back to my free parking space for the ride back to my mom's apartment.
I must say something about this journey; it's one of my favorite drives and I never tire of it. Kelly Drive along the Schuylkill River, then Lincoln Drive along the Wissahickon Creek, both roads full of curves and beautiful scenery-anyone who's been down those roads knows what I'm talking about. I didn't have any luck finding some good pictures-I must keep looking because it's too beautiful not to share-the problem is that I can't drive and shoot at the same time. I just have to recruit someone to drive it one day so I can get some pictures and video-it's really worth the effort and those of us who live in the area take it for granted.
So there's another slice of Philly. Stay tuned if you like this one; as spring arrives I'm sure there will be more. Thanks for giving me an excuse to take pictures of and exult in my city, Philadelphia.
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