Introduction
Humanities involve the study of intellectual as well as artistic creations. It also involves the determination of how such artifacts influence their thinking. In this regard, we decided to visit one of the three chosen museums. These were the San Jose Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. Amongst these, I chose to visit the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University to explore the exhibitions. This is therefore a response paper to the visit to Cantor museum (Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University 1).
Visit Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University
My visit to Cantor Arts Center, also known as Iris & B. Gerald Cantor was exciting. Its location, which is adjacent to the university made it even more exhilarating as the scenes were exemplary. According to the brief history given by the administrator, this center underwent several turmoil and transformations. These events ranged from negligence to natural calamities in earthquakes, which led to its new name Iris & B. Gerald Cantor in 1999.
The administrator concurred that Cantor Center’s strong but vulnerable history gave it unique viability to establish itself as a classic Arts center. According to him, The Stanford family, Leland, and Jane established this center and Stanford University in 1891. This was done in remembrance of their late son Leland Jr. The history was quite emotional, given the intensity of calamities that had faced this center, for instance, the two earthquakes.
In his concluding remarks, the administrator informed me that the center’s new name was in remembrance of Iris and Cantor who worked to revive it in 1999. I then made my way to the gardens, Rodin and Papua New Guinea sculpture gardens. I also had the opportunity to view other sculptures such as Asian and Oceania artistic. These were made between the 19th to 20th centuries (Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University 1).
Exhibitions
Since admission to Iris & B. Gerald Cantor center is free, it was quite easy finding the sceneries. I viewed its antiquity to contemporary times. This started with its two elegant sculpture gardens namely Rodin and Papua New Guinea sculpture gardens. It was electrifying to see the 20 bronzes in Rodin garden, which included Adam, Eve, The thinker, The Three Shades, Gates of hell, among others. In addition, I saw the elegant salient traditional artifacts, which include Visual arts from Papua New Guinea in the second garden. Another striking artifact in Cantor Center included outdoor collections such as Stone River, ceramics, textiles as well as sculptures from Asia, Africa along with Oceania, among others.
Of great interest was Rodin’s monument, also known as the Thinker. It was strategically placed on top of The Gates of Hell. The thrilling visit was culminated by views on Greco-Roman marble sculpture and other exhibitions, which conveyed its varied sensibilities. These included tribal arts, computer arts, painting, glass arts as well as photography (Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University 1).
Conclusion
My experience in the Cantor museum was exciting as I had the opportunity to view the striking artifacts. These included Rodin Sculpture Garden and Papua New Guinea sculpture garden, among others. The view included 20 bronzes, 50 Rodin works as well as provision of varied viewing positions during the night. In addition, I visited its cool cafe, which overlooks the sculpture garden as well as the grounds. The sitting arrangement in that cafe allows for both open and indoor viewing of the sculpture Garden. In essence, the visit was exciting, luxurious, and overwhelming (Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University 1).
Work Cited
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University. “Exhibitions”. Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. 2011. Web.