Friday, July 01, 2011

The Perils of Affectation



During a whirlwind tour of the Asian Art Museum last night, we ran across a Buddha that looked like one of the famous statues of Gertrude Stein.



Upon hearing that her old acquaintance Isadora Duncan had just died in an accident involving her long scarf getting entangled in a car's wheel, Gertrude's reaction was "affectations can be dangerous."



This is a thank you to my Tibetan Buddhist friend Heidi in Santa Barbara who bought me a membership to the Asian Art Museum this year. It's greatly appreciated.

5 comments:

Patrick J. Vaz said...

I was pondering an entry on Gertrude Stein and was looking through my photos of Buddha heads because I thought I had one that resembled her -- great minds thinking alike, Michael!

Nancy Ewart said...

You have quite the eye - that Buddha does look like Gertrude in one of her more benign moments. Great photos of the Buddha as well.

Civic Center said...

Dear Patrick: Gertrude was something of a weird Buddha, wasn't she. I'd go with your initial instinct and juxtapose a photo of the famous Davidson sculpture along with your Found Buddha if you find it.

And of course you have the mind that most amuses and interests me right now but you refuse to be photographed so how can you be memorialized.

Patrick J. Vaz said...

If only photographs of me looked like me!

Pura Vida said...

Dear Michael,
Lovely photos and a good sense of Buddha presence in both. Gertrude Buddha has a mysterious, content smile that lights up. It's contagious too! I am enjoying, "The Autobiography of Alice B." as part of my summer camp activities. It is a surprisingly good read as you promised. Thanks for my birthday in July.
Heidi