We started our third day with a visit to the Rodin Museum which houses the collection acquired by Jules Mastbaum who made his fortune in movie theaters.





We were greeted at the front steps with the Gates of Hell.  A detail is below.



The museum is full of bronze, marble, and plaster pieces including this life size group, the Burghers of Calais.  The piece was commissioned by the city of Calais in 1880 and is based on an event that took place in 1347 during the Hundred Years' War when England and France were at War.  England had control of the city, but offered to spare it if six local men would volunteer to surrender, presumably to be executed.  Six men stepped up, the city was freed, and eventually so were the men.



To see more of this incredible collection, go to: http://www.rodinmuseum.org/collection.html

We then visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  We did not run up the front steps, but instead were delivered by bus to the back entrance!  We did pass Rocky on the way.



The block buster exhibit at the museum was Cezanne and Beyond which featured over 40 paintings and drawings by Cezanne and the work of 18 later artists who were influenced by him.  Although the work on exhibit was extraordinary, it did not hold my attention because the topic was one that I have taught for over 30 years.  Because it was the last week of the exhibit, the galleries very crowded with hoards of people standing in front of the works that were on the audio tour.



This is one of my favorite Cezanne paintings, one of his many depictions of Mont St. Victoire.



Also in the exhibit was one of my favorite Picasso paintings, The Dream.

Of the 18 artists in the exhibit, only two were women, and then there was only one work by each of them.  Shame on the curators!

The Armory Show of 1913 was mentioned so I would have included Georgia O'Keeffe and John Marin.





I would have also included Sonia Delaunay and David Hockney.





I toured the Modern and Contemporary galleries and paid homage to Marcel Duchamp, and then visited two special textile exhibits.



This exhibit was titled, Shopping in Paris, 1850 - 1925.  These fashions used luxury fabrics, labor intensive detail and ornamentation, and designs with incredibly narrow waists.

Another exhibit featured fashion/costumes by Kansai Yamamoto from 1971 - 1973.  These imaginative and fascinating garments incorporated strong references to Japanese cultural icons.

This garment was inspired by traditional firemen's garb.



Japanese prints and the kabuki inspired this costume.

We had the afternoon free so Madeleine and I headed for the Eastern Penitentiary!  It was built in 1829, closed in 1971, and is now a historic site.  Soon after it was built, it became the model for at least 300 other prisons.  The design was based on the spokes of a wheel with a single guard in the center.  Originally all of the cells contained one prisoner confined in isolation. The theory of this plan was based on the Quaker notion that everyone has a spiritual goodness and the isolation would give prisoners the opportunity to reflect and get in touch with the good part of their soul, and thus reform.  But it didn't work that way and many prisoners went insane due to the lack of social contact.  Then when the prison became crowded, they began to put two prisoners in each cell.  As soon as prisoners had contact with each other, escapes began to occur, so more guards were employed and armed.

We arrived in time to hear a talk about some of the escapes - most escapees were brought back very quickly.  We then visited the cell blocks with an auto tour.  The place is falling apart and is quite a mess, probably due to the lack of funds to restore it.  Some cells were restored enough to give us an idea of what the place was like in the past.  There was also commentary by former prisoners and guards about what life was like.

For more information about Eastern State Penitentiary, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_State_Penitentiary

To view portfolios of photographs of the facility, go to:

http://www.oboylephoto.com/esp/esp2.htm  

http://northstargallery.com/esp/easternstategallery02.htm

I have my friend, Magaly, to thank for mentioning the penitentiary because my motivation for the visit was to see the artist's installations.  Several artists were invited to visit the cell blocks and to create art that is now installed in them.  To see the artwork and hear the artists discuss their installations, go to: http://www.easternstate.org/exhibits/



Recollection Tableaux by Susan Hagen - The artists displays ten miniature sculptural scenes in ten cells.  The scenes are taken from the history of the prision.



I Always Wanted to go to Paris, France by Alexa Hoyer - this installation consists of  televisions placed in three separate cells.  Each television displays segments of prision life as depicted in popular culture from movies and TV programs over the last 70 years.  One television shows shower scenes, another cells, and the another hallways.



Ghost Cats by Linda Brenner - Brenner has placed 39 plaster cats around the facility in reference to the cats that took up residence after it was closed in 1971.  I put green dots below three cats in the photo above so that you can find them.

It was a long day, so we relaxed in the evening after a wonderful Italian meal at Bellini Grill.  I had home made spinach linguine with lobster, scallops, and shrimp smothered in tomato sauce.