Tips from World Travelers
This new site will have a space for recommendations from our travel and yours as well. We are often asked for hotel and restaurant suggestions in cities like Rome, Paris, New York, Brussels. We plan to provide some of that info and also share tips given to us by others. To send us things, just provide a comment at end of a post, or email me at eldance@ELDInternational.com . You'll find our World Traveler tips in posts at the bottom right of this site. Disclaimer: this section has nothing whatsoever to do with global legal services, except that it causes us to travel a lot, even from our desks.
Our Brussels project manager and research wiz Lana Dippenaar is in her home country of South Africa for the holidays. Right now she's at the beach with family somewhere west of Cape Town, and she says it's spectacular weather (normal weather would be great compared to the last few rainy grey weeks here in Brussels). Lana, if you exercise poor judgment and find yourself on this site reading this message, punishment is that you must come back with a few recommendations on places to go and things to see in Cape Town and environs.
Today here are two recommendations in the arts world to take advantage of during the holidays, depending on where you are. I have seen and really liked both.
Washington DC - Roy Lichtenstein Retrospective, East Wing of the National Gallery of Art - only until January 13. For more info: http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/roylichtensteininfo.shtm . This is a large and happy retrospective, with many works from private collections (lots I had never seen), often placed together so that you get a new perspective on his work. It shows Lichtenstein's development and range, and is lots of fun as well-- having seen it I appreciate Lichtenstein more than ever. After DC, the last stop for this show is the Tate Modern in London, opening February 21.
Brussels - Constant Permeke, BOZAR Expo, Center for Fine Arts, Rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Brussels - only until January 20. For more info: http://www.bozar.be/activity.php?id=12489&lng=en . A tribute to this distinctive expressionist that is a pride of Belgium (when I was there for a tour last week, the King and Queen of Belgium arrived with an entourage, and visited the exhibit ahead of us), Permeke died sixty years ago in Ostend. The curators say "The artist had a unique empathy with the hard lives of fishermen and peasants, working people with an intimate bond with the land and the sea... Permeke created archetypes with a universal character." There are lots of key works - 130 paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Again, this exhibit lets you see in one place paintings made in the same period that are now separated-- brought together for this show from museums around Europe and private collections. It's a remarkable window into Permeke's bold and yet humble work. I liked learning that he received some nasty reviews mid-career and withdrew completely, stopping painting for two years. But after several months he took up sculpture, which were later gloriously received by critics in a show (they are massive and naturally grounded) and he returned to painting again.
Leigh Dance