The Voice Box

THE ROAD TO BRAZIL First Stop:  Rio de Janeiro The Flight:  American Airlines The Hotel:  Novotel Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont RIO SAMBA CARNIVAL PARADE This time on what was my third visit to Brazil, I decided to brave the elements, ignore the cost, and attend my first official Samba Carnival Parade. This was the last of the grand parades, held on Saturday days after the official celebrations.. It started at just after nine pm, and ended not far away from five in the morning.  I arrived back at my hotel just in time for breakfast.  The pictures say it all. Rio Samba Schools THE HISTORY OF BRAZIL With a population of  over 200 million,  Brazil is a must see.   Whatever you hear, please suspend your judgement.   With a country so large, the fifth largest country in the world both in size and numbers, you are spoilt for choice. ...

Country:  USA     State:  New York Place: Museum of Modern Art As far as collections go, this museum must rank as having one of the best in the world. Any time I am in New York, it is first on my list. For me it gives an opportunity to observe the best examples of the Fine Art experience in the last two centuries. There is always so much to see and enjoy, and so much to learn. Of course, there are other museums that you can visit.  This, to me, is the best place to start. http://www.moma.org/ Below close up images of some masterpieces, and general views of people visiting. Below some of my favourite artworks: Henri Rousseau   The Sleeping Gypsy Henri Matisse  The Dance David Alfaro Siquieros   The Echo of a Scream Donald Judd   Stack Pablo Picasso  Les Demoiselles D'Avignon Jackson Pollack   One A close-up of Jackson Pollack's famous drip painting entitled  One More Museums W...

Museum of Modern Art in New York In midtown Manhattan At 11 West 53rd Street Between 5th and 6th Avenue MOMA - Just Another Visit Once a year when I am in New York, I visit the Museum of Modern Art. This last year was no different. The only thing that was very different, was the time of the year. This visit was planned for the middle of June in order to catch the sunny weather. Quite obviously, I had pictured sweltering temperatures, and I becoming overwhelmed by the obvious humidity. But that was the script I prepared , but in practice it was very different. Did I get the sunny weather? Of course not. It rained most of the time, and even for the locals, the weather was appallingly bad . Still, I enjoyed the visit, and did most of the things I planned to do. The following posts will illustrate my visit to MOMA, and show some of my favourites at the museum. You may say the Museum of Modern Art is one of many museums in New York city, and you are right. But it has always held an importan...

Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California Sculptures by Edgar Degas Norton Simon Museum is a very interesting space. Situated in Pasadena, in California, it combines a very exceptional studio museum with a superb sculpture garden. The museum masterpieces include European works from the 14th to the 20th century, and a South Asian collection which highlights the best examples of work of that region. I was very lucky when I visited some weeks ago to see comprehensive works by the French artist, Degas. Degas is the subject of this post, and in a later post I will present some of the Asian deities.