More from the Birmingham Museum

I love decorative arts. Most of my favorite museums are those in which I can get lost for hours just staring at beautiful things. I've been partial to many of the Smithsonian's collections. Of course, I would be. For six years, we visited Washington, DC quite regularly...to drop Mathias off or pick him up at the Kirov Academy of Ballet. I thought I'd go into "museum withdrawal" without these trips. Fortunately, we've had reason to go to DC since last year and now I've found that the Birmingham Museum is quite blessed with a fine assortment of quality items.



I've already posted some of the many images I took of the gorgeous stained glass windows on display. Yet, there are hundreds of pieces of porcelain (Stoke-on-Trent isn't far away...nor are many of the other factory cities). Arts and Crafts and Pre-Raphelite influences are obvious...and among my favorite styles. There are displays of jewelry and wrought iron. There are some textiles and one very fine antique map on vellum.



I took dozens of pictures and deleted most. It is hard to get a good image through plexi-glass, especially trying to avoid reflections. I sketched too. These are some of the pictures I really liked.





I especially like this museum's changing exhibits in the "Gas Hall". It is generally modern art, even local to the area. It is interesting to see how the British view, display, and market contemporary work.