City Vue In Holland

Ventura County Star, Calif., Brett Johnson column

Ventura County Star, Calif., Brett Johnson column

Aug 12, 2011 (Ventura County Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The "Van Gogh to Munch" painting showcase at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art is an artistic feast for the eyes, and it left chief curator Eik Kahng sounding hungry following a walk-through shortly after the exhibit opened.

"You can't ask for more," she told a small throng at tour's end. "It's like dessert. It's all desserts. It's as addictive as fine wine or a gourmet meal."

You can forgive Kahng for her food analogy -- the 29 European masterworks she'd just covered on the tour date from the 1860s to 1947, a period that saw the rise of the famed impressionists and those who followed. It's familiar territory to her; she's also the museum's curator of 19th century and early 20th century art.

"It's delicious," she said of this sampling, "and I think that's the way most people respond to impressionism and postimpressionism."

The exhibit runs through Aug. 28 and features works from some of painting's biggest names, artists who remain on a last-name-only basis -- van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Chagall, Degas and Munch among them.

It's a three-course combination, with 12 works from the museum's permanent collection and 17 on loan from two repositories, the Armand Hammer and Sarah Campbell Blaffer foundations.

It can be said many of the displayed oils (accounting for 27 of the 29 works) here came via oil. Hammer was the business tycoon perhaps best known for running Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum for years; Blaffer was the daughter of one of the founders of what later became Texaco and married an executive from another oil company. Hammer and Blaffer both were art patrons and collectors who later passed on their treasures to UCLA and Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, respectively.

Manchester City cool rumours over Christian Eriksen, Wesley ...

Fading fading reaching the final of the chapions league winning a record 20 leg. is thats fading away. is easy to be a city leg as the standard is low. if he wants a challenge and is intresteded in making a footballing move he will come to champions leag. personally i hope he does not cum he sounds like another tevez money grabber. i would rather see cleverley given the time to make the cm role his. If a deal was to done involving Tevez then Sneijder would seem a better option than Maicon or Eto'o if Mancini wants him at City.The fact that some tabloids are saying City have paid £36 ml is really silly as City are trying to sell Tevez but we all know how many tabloids are anti City and will print whatever lies they need to in order to undermine City and try to turn the world against City.It's not going to work.Not much press regarding the major development City are undertaking around The Etihad stadium and it's surroundings and how much employment will be generated for the local community.We're used to that but hope most neutrals can see the wood from the trees and the truth from the lies.City for ever.Let the good times roll. Maybe when the Belle Vue Aces have a new stadium thanks to Sheik Mansour and redevelopment of the scrubland for new training facilities along with all the other exciting projects have taken place then, maybe just maybe the tabloids and all the doubters will realise that Manchester City are for real. Trying to upstage SAF and his immature squad will not be significant any longer!! Not that it is at the moment. Perhaps City should re-develop Belle Vue Zoo as a training ground for you know who!

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