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Veneto - Venezia - Museo Correr
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WHAT:
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Art > Contemporary art
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WHEN:
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From Friday November 08, 2002
To Sunday February 09, 2003
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The very pure lines and light colours of the glass of the innovator
Zecchin
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This glass is classical and at the same time modern, with very pure
lines, reminding one of Greek or Apulian vases, and with light colours
that accentuate the transparency, such as pale blue, green and smoke.
And on the other hand its sumptuous decorativeness, evocative of
Byzantine art, in the fixedness of the figures, of the painting and of
the pictorial cycles, such as the one in the Thousand and One Nights,
made in 1914 for the Hotel Terminus in Venice and now shown again for
the first time in its original configuration.
It is around this apparent contrast that the beautiful exhibition
dedicated to Vittorio Zecchin opens at the Museo Correr in Venezia,
some twenty years since the once curated by Guido Perocco at Ca'
Pesaro. The inauguration takes place this evening at 6pm and the
exhibition will be open until 9th February. It has been constructed
this time by Marino Barovier, and the display setting has been
designed by Daniela Ferretti very cleanly, in harmony with the glass
of Zecchin. There are over two hundred works in the show, which
journeys around the personality of the many-faceted Murano artist, who
was working above all in the first decades of the 1900s, with
excursions into other ways of expressing his creativity, such as
tapestries, embroidery and lace, furniture, mosaics and silver. The
exhibition aims at a deeper understanding of Zecchin as an artist
bound to the applied arts and especially to the production of Murano
glass, of which he can be considered the first great designer in the
modern sense, contributing in a decisive manner to its rebirth,
especially in the six years from 1921 to 1926, when he took over the
artistic direction of the Cappellin and Venini firms, reinventing the
idea of glass as an art form. |
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Austrian Winter |
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Attack of the Jelly Donut |
You can't escape them, don't even try.
[ Third Party notes! ] |
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Carnival is finally over. This is a blessing
not because I don't like Carnival, I do. I've enjoyed the
kitchy television variety shows and the sound of parade music
wafting across the Enns valley. Yesterday in the Spar, the
staff were costumed as cats, ears and whiskers and furry vests
or animal print shirts. I'd have been happy to attend the
local Carnival parade, but Aigen, being a smallish locale, has
theirs every two years. Still, I'm glad it's over because I
could not bear to eat one more Faschingskrapfen. I'm sick to
death of jelly donuts.
Faschingskrapfen show up in Austria right around Christmas
time and they hang out until Lent, though they're at their
highest profile the week of Fasching/Carnival. During this
week (which is over today) it seems we could not leave the
house without coming home to a bag of home made Krapfen tied
to the doorknob. It's as though they were stalking us, waiting
around the corner for us to drive away. As soon as the coast
was clear, the Krapfen would invade. Off to the supermarket?
Taking out the trash? They'd pounce as soon as we were out of
sight.
We started eating Faschingskrapfen at the end of December,
though they were not quite as aggressive then, being
overshadowed by Christmas cookies. A baker near the pension we
like in Vienna tossed one or two in with the rest of our
goodies at the end of the day. A fresh batch would sit
politely in the display case of the Eduscho caf in Liezen,
and a friend would order one. A paper bag containing one was
found in my coat pocket while skiing. They were around, but
they weren't on alert. And they never seemed to be in the
apartment.
About a week ago, the first four made their way beyond the
front door. Apricot filled, they were, and very fresh, having
made their way over from just around the corner. They were
followed by another dozen that boldly wandered in with Josefa,
tucked under her arm as though she was their best friend.
Another batch followed two days later. We found them tied to
the front door, wrapped in paper towels.
Of course I sampled them all. I'm not just sucking up to my
mother in law when I say that hers were the best. They had the
edge, though, they arrived still warm, the powdered sugar
melting in to their golden brown fritter like crust. The other
two batches were bready where Josefa's were fluffy, and they
seemed dry in spite of the jam filling, where Josefa's were
moist and steamy. The bakery Faschingskrapfen were exactly
what you'd expect from a jelly donut, only slightly less oily
than a yankee is used to. A day old bakery Krapfen makes a
fine ski snack, it turns out.
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Faschingskrapfen in a Graz bakery case. |
It turns out the Faschingskrapfen makes use of a number of
ingredients that one is not meant eat during Lent. Meat,
butter, cheese, milk , eggs, fats, and bacon are banished
from the Catholic kitchen until Easter. I've not been
confronted with a bacon jelly donut, (my heavens, a less
kosher item I can not think of!) but in other areas where
Carnival is observed there is a sort of bacon fritter that
sounds both horrible and wonderful. In principal, I don't
object to the idea of a bit of apricot with my bacon
either, so I could be missing out. In this part of
Austria, however, it's just the standard jelly donut.
As of today, Ash Wednesday, there will be no more
Faschingskrapfen. They're to be replaced with pretzels.
The humble pretzel, with its little arms crossed in
prayer, makes use of none of the artery hardening
ingredients found in the jelly donut. The thing is, after
you've been stuffed with jelly donuts for days on end, a
pretzel looks surprisingly appealing. Indeed, after months
of feasting on Christmas cookies, elaborate New Year's
desserts, treat after treat after treat getting you
through the blackest part of winter on a never ending
sugar binge, well, Lent makes a shocking amount of sense.
I've been cursed with allergies for as long as I can
remember. During a particularly difficult spring, I
decided to try something different and went to see a
naturopath. In retrospect, the recommended treatment
looked an awful lot like Lent combined with Passover. (The
Passover fast is shorter and eliminates yeast from the
diet, which would put a damper on the beer soup recipe I
found for Lent.) I don't know much about the dietary
restrictions for Ramadan, but I suspect the underpinnings
would have health benefits much like that of Lent or
Passover.
I'm tempted to observe Lent for the rest of the time I'm
here in Austria. Besides, the elimination of a block of
ingredients from the diet does not necessarily mean
deprivation. This afternoon I'm invited to attend a
Herringschmaus, the meal that kicks off Lent. It's a feast
of vegetable salads and fish, foods that I love to eat. I
don't know if there's a dessert afterwards, but if there
is, it is guaranteed not to be a jelly donut. I could not
eat another jelly donut.
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