Lisbon - Day 2

Hi,

So Day 2 was a bit more lively than Day 1 and tonight is the start of the trip- there was a great dinner and the whole gang got together. First I'll show you a few of the sites near the hotel.

Look at those great trees! This a little cafe in the midst of a small city park

 

Museu Arpad Szenes and Vierira da Silva

This is a museum owned by a foundation in my neighborhood representing 2 artists which it is named after.  She was born in Portugal in 1908 and he was born in Budapest in 1897 and they lived together for 55 years. This building was Vierira's studio/ house where she practiced a kind of School of Paris style. It is now dedicated to the study of their works and has small ongoing show of others as well. 

This is a clerical vestment by Henri Matisse on display as well.

Wow this is quite the combo

On the way to dinner 

we drove past 3 monuments,

   

One fountain

And lots of old buildings. We are now in the old part of town. More consistent in its age. The neighborhood of the hotel is very much more a mixed bag- some more recent and often in disrepair and a few older.

We arrive at Café Lisboa for a lively evening of conversation.

Some of the guests of honor where Susan and Bill Beech (left and right) and Cristina Filipe (center) who won the Susan Beech Grant of $20,000 and is the reason we are here. She wrote a book on Portuguese jewelry that just has been published and put together an exhibition which we will see tomorrow with the funds from the grant.  Amazing how much was done with that small amount of funding.

The co-author of the book on Portuguese jewelry is Barbara Coutinho (left) who is the Director of MUDE, the Design Museum in Lisbon. She was sitting across from me at dinner and it was fascinating to hear about the development of design in Portugal. The museum was established in 2009 based on a private collection of mostly non - Portuguese designers and she is trying to fill in with local talent. 

Thats all folks.

Susan