The beach is about a half a block from the hotel. It was fairly cloudy all day, but in the mid 60s, so very comfortable.
I am writing the blog tonight from the hotel bar. It looks like it has a nice view of the ocean that I will be sure to take a look at tomorrow during the day.
Since I am traveling alone, I decided to get a guide for my first day. Walter was great--we went to galleries and two art museums. The first gallery we went to was at the end of the block. I loved one artist--losu Aramburu. He happened to working at the back of the gallery on some new plaster pieces. One of the gallery workers took me back to meet him.
The gallery has these pull-out panels so you can see more work than they can hang on the walls. This is losu's work.
And this is the plaster installation he is working on now. The opening is a week from Friday, so I won't be in Lima to see the show.
These are two of the four the ferocious guard dogs :-) behind the gallery. Very yappy, but very cute.
Next we went to the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI). The first thing I saw was a children's art area. The questions reads: What is the face of Peru?
There is a Peruvian artist who is new to me, Jose Sabogal (1888-1956). He was a lefty painter and organizer through one of the many dictatorships here. The two works below were painted in the 30s. He trained in Europe and came back to Peru with many indigenous themes. This first painting is not one of those.
He also worked with Jose Carlos Mariategui on Amauta, a left leaning magazine.
There was a really interesting section of the museum on artistic pedagogies--a movement that was created to counter traditional academic instruction. This work by Gabriel Fernandez Ledesma is a great example. The magazine Amauta supported this movement.
And now we get to the amazing pre-Columbian section. There are so many different groups, tribes, and time periods--I can't keep them straight. I'm hoping as the trip goes on I'll learn more about this history. This guy is from Chancay.
This one from Cupisnique.
This is from the Wari who came before the Incas.
This one is Vicus.
One thing I did learn was my misconception about Inca gold. I just thought it was all gold, but the Incas knew metallurgy. This Inca crown is made of copper and gold. Because of it's softness I don't think there was much straight gold--but if I remember, that seems to be what the Spanish took. I guess I've got more reading to do.
The Mochica lived north of the Incas and were from an earlier period. I took tons of photos of their work. They were great artists.
Walter and I went to a great seaside restaurant--Cala. I had the best ceviche I've ever tasted. Here I am with the national cocktail--the Pisco Sour. Wonderful.
And the ceviche, with Peruvian corn which is really big compared to ours.
There were lots and lots of surfers outside of the restaurant.
This was a great first day.
