Culturalactivity report
Students
TheMuseum of Fine Art (MFA)
Itwas on 11thJune 2016, when I decided to visit The Museum of Fine Art (MFA) whichis located in Boston at 465 Huntington Avenue (Cavallo, 1969).Motivated by what I had heard about the museum’s exhibitions duringone of my classes, I was determined to visit this place to confirmthat everything was a reality. I arrived early enough but to mysurprise, it was not as crowded as I had imagined all through.However, there were all kinds of people roaming from one stand toanother. People from different races, backgrounds and culturalsettings were present to demonstrate their talents and abilities infine arts. The exhibitions at the gateway were thrilling and urgingone to move on. They were appealing to the eye. Indeed, MFA is aplace that ‘fuels creativity, ignites minds, and providesinspiration with extraordinary exhibitions and the world’s finestcollection of modern and contemporary art’ (Shallcross, 1999).
Therewas a display of all kinds of collections starting from photography,prints and drawings, musical instruments, textile, fashion arts andjewellery among others, ranging from ancient times to the modernworld. They were organized in a way to portray the evolution of manand his development in brain and intellect. Being a modern girl, Itook most of my time viewing the photography, prints and drawings andjewellery.
Thephotos were organized into various homogenous categories showing someunique kind of creativity, inspiration and meaning. Among thesepictures, the most interesting one was a picture of the ‘town whereeveryone wears a gas mask’. It showed how life in Miyakenjina,Japan, where an active volcano had spoiled poisonous gas for the lasttwo decades was. This photo looked scaring mainly to those who hadnever been involved in a Halloween ceremony. The villagers lookedlike ghosts and scared viewers all through. But to me, being a loverof Halloween celebrations, I kept glued to this picture and admiringit.
Displayedprints and drawings were another set of collections that took most ofmy time admiring. MFA Museum is the riches in the world housing about200,000 works all from time immemorial to the modern world. Most ofMFA’s drawings are on paper, but since paperwork is sensitive tolight’s destroying effect they are redrawn from time to time. Amongthose artworks, there was the famous painting Caravaggio’s thetooth pullerfrom early 17thcentury.It was an amazing grotesque picture of a simpering dentist performinga tooth extraction. Besides him were onlookers who showed bothanxiety and curiosity. Among them was a woman with her sunken–inprofile pointing out that she had no teeth herself and seemed tocompare her experiences while having her teeth removed to this one. The ‘patient’ was continuously grabbing his chair and had a sternlook on his face indicating that he was in obvious pain from thetooth extraction.
Itwas interesting to find a section of bands and musicians from variouscultures at the exit of the museum. It was a great way of sending usoff and reminding us to come back another time. Most dances and songssignalled the drawings within the museum and had a similar theme.They reminded us of what we had learned while within the museum.Indeed, it was an exciting tour and given another chance I wouldvisit Museum of Fine Art.
REFERENCES
Cavallo,A. (1969). Museumof Fine Arts, Boston.New York: Newsweek.
Shallcross,G. (1999). MFA,Boston. Museumof Fine Arts: Boston.