Hoarding Images

I’m not a hoarder. Really, I’m not. Except for books. Oh, and maybe yarn. But that’s it. I don’t have a lot of shoes, I don’t shop for clothing except maybe once every year and a half, I don’t “collect” anything. I have a very small collection of tea pots (and I don’t even drink tea), but I stopped when I ran out of room. Well, I do have marbles - few jars sitting around the house on my bookcases. But not so that it’s ridiculous. And I have a few rocks in boxes and jars, but still not so much as you would notice it.

I AM, however, a dedicated hoarder of images. I LOVE images. Good art, paintings, photographs, collages, drawings, photos of sculpture (I love Louise Nevelson). These are images I hoard in the form of books and in a small way, actual prints. I can’t visit a museum without buying the guide book and the book of any special exhibit, if applicable. I have a couple of bookcase shelves dedicated to guide books from museums my husband and I have visited around the US and around the world.

And don’t get me started about the bookstore at the Louvre in Paris, or at the Met in New York. I was like a junkie, jonesing for a fix, but of course, in Paris, I only had carry-on luggage, so I got the guide book and I got the guide book from the Orsay. Those I could fit in. Same with New York, we flew there and since we generally only travel with carry-on, there was no room for me to overdose. And let me tell you, the MET has a bookstore that’s actually more comprehensive than the Louvre. I had a sugar high the rest of the day.

That said, I pull these volumes out from time to time and peruse them. There are specific works of art that I will always cherish seeing in person. “Guernica” by Picasso, which is huge, by the way, Rogier Van der Weyden’s “Descent from the Cross” in the Prado, O’keefe’s “Black Cross” and “Sky over Clouds” in Chicago, Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” (he did several versions of sunflowers) at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and many, many more.

Last year we visited the DIA (Detroit Institute of Art), which is about 50 miles south of where I live in Detroit proper, and which has an impressive collection, and saw a photography exhibit called “Detroit  After Dark”. It made me want to go downtown after sunset and photograph empty alleyways and famous buildings lit up, the old architecture and some of the more run-down properties. This exhibit was, however, very uplifting in its presentation. Detroit is a beautiful city and after being gutted and bankrupt, it has been reviving for the past few years. I just hope the current pandemic conditions don’t let her slide back into despair.

The cover photograph for this blog post is from the historic island park Belle Isle in Detroit.

To view more of my photos, please visit:

mary-bedy.pixels.com

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