1)      Logo

The Victoria and Albert Museum has one of the most unique logos of all the museums in London. Personally, this is my favorite logo because of its simplicity and classic serif type face. The acronym for Victoria and Albert is a perfect way to simplify a long title and to create a memorable logo (short and simple). At first glance I didn’t even notice the removal of the left slant of the “A” because of the ampersands strategic placement, including its serif creating the cross bar of the “A”. 

In relation to the overall architecture and collections, the logo exudes elegance, history, and extravagance. The elegance in the logo is shown by the continuity of thickness in the left slant of the “V” and the right slant of the “A”. The architecture of the entire building inside and out is very elegant, from the brick/stone work to the marble columns and perfectly tiled floors. The simplicity and royal feeling of the logo as representing a historical theme derives from the fact that the whole museum has historical significance in both the collections and the building itself. Lastly, I think the extravagance of the interior (especially the grand chandelier) is represented in the logo by the bold choice to remove a portion of the A and the use of the ampersand.   

Overall, I am very impressed by the logo and I will most likely compare other museum logos to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

2)      Cast Courts

My immediate impression of the Cast Courts gallery was “Oh wow”. The amazing grand entrance and elaborate detail of the cast was very impressive and even left me speechless. I’m glad I went into gallery 46a first because of all the grand plaster work (especially the two pillars) and the amount of artifacts in that gallery. If I had gone into gallery 46b I probably wouldn’t have been as impressed since many of the pieces were missing or covered due to the ongoing reconstruction of this gallery.

This collection of plaster work provides an educational means to visually teach European history through plastered artifacts that cannot be taken from their original location. In addition I think this collection also provides education on the art of plastering. Not necessarily what is plastering or how to plaster, but teaching how the use of plaster is a way to recreate or copy an important piece of history to be shared with the whole world.

3)      Isotypes

The isotype icons/symbols have more personality and excitement in the objects and depictions than in the international system of signs. Isotype symbols are also more elaborate and colorful. For example in the portrayal of the unemployment the man figures are wearing suits and carrying briefcases and in the TB poster and voting poster there are many colors such as red, orange, yellow, black and blue.

 In contrast to the isotype, the international system symbols are generic, simple, and quite honestly boring; although they do serve a purpose that is universal across all languages and cultures. Besides the overall look of the isotype, the graphic depiction of large numbers is very clever, by the use of smaller figures in greater numbers rather than using larger figures. (See picture below).  

I think the method of using both graphics and text communicates to a far larger group of individuals rather than text alone. Isotypes are great teaching materials, especially for those nations in poverty with low literacy rates. My favorite example is the Tuberculosis poster (see picture below).

The poster teaches how one would get TB (transfer), how/where to get treatment, and how TB affects ones lungs. I think this is a great teaching tool for areas affected by TB that have a high population in poverty with low literacy because even without reading the text, the pictures are clear illustrations.

Overall, isotypes are very legible, easy to read, and add excitement to ordinary representations.

4)      Pattern

The pattern I chose from the Islamic section was titled chimneypiece from Istanbul, Turkey dated 1731. (See picture below).

The glazed tile intrigued me because of its intricate pattern and colors. Each larger tile had both natural/organic stokes along with geometric circles imbedded between the natural lines. The tiles as a whole are arranged on a grid to produce a repeating beat of either a circular-ish or cross pattern depending on how you look at it. The smaller tiles on the other hand had mostly natural lines and very few geometric lines. These comprised the boarder of the chimney. I think since the smaller tiles had only organic lines that it was appropriate they create the rectangular boarder around the chimney. I really liked the figure/ground contrast that was used, the white background really made the colorful thick lines and flowers stand out. Looking at the tile work as a whole it looked like there was a face in it. There are eyes, a nose, and the chimney opening is the mouth. I was baffled that someone would want this in their home. I think it was kind of scary.   

The ironwork pattern I chose was piece used at a gate in Northern Italy during the 17^th century. (See picture below).

This piece also used both natural/organic lines along with geometric lines. On the top and bottom there are beautiful, whimsical stokes depicting vines. In the middle, there are vertical lines that seem to create rectangles because of the figure ground nature. In addition, diagonal lines starting at the top converge to the lower center. Unlike the very cheerful and colorful Islamic piece the ironwork was purely black. The black gate against the white wall really allowed the figure/ground contrast to emerge in order to see the detail in the vines and leaves. This particular piece had no repeating pattern or constant beat. In the Islamic tiles I liked the pattern because of the way it came together as a whole, whereas in the iron piece I think the lack of continuity was perfect for its use and displaying of the craftsmanship.

5) The Underground     

The London Tube and its logo is a distinctive feature to London city life. The iconic red circle and the blue bar across with the tube station name establishes an identity for London’s transit. The tube in an elaborate network of underground trains unlike that anywhere in the world, especially Madison. The Madison metro system uses simple, single story buses with a distinct logo of the large M with the word Metro beneath and stripes of dull colors of yellow, red, and blue. The London bus logo is not any more exciting than Madison’s but the red seems to be more vibrant in the iconic circle and cross bar sign. The London bus logo could also be more exciting because the buses themselves are more interesting since they are “double decker”. To me although the logo and buses are more interesting in London, the bus stops are quite similar. In Madison and in London smaller bus stops have just a sign indicating the bus route number and at larger bus stops there are tiny shelters with maps of the routes and even a small bench. The only difference at the bus stops is, in London there are stations to buy bus tickets whereas, in Madison you would pay the bus driver (so I’m told). 

6)      My favorite object at the Victoria and Albert museum is not an object actually. I found the John Madejske Garden in the center to be a wonderful place to sit outside and relax on a nice day. Key word meaning nice day when it’s not raining.

But, if I had to chose my favorite piece from all the collections I would chose the sculpture of “Neptune and Triton” by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, dating about 1622-1623. On a large shell, Neptune is life-size holding his trident in a firm gesture of command, straddling his son the sea-god Triton, who blows on a conch shell. The interlocking curves of the two figures, and their aggressive energy, generate an excitement of them commanding the seas. “The sculpture was originally set surrounded by elaborate fountains and set above waterfalls at the upper end of a large oval pool in the garden of the Villa Montalto in Rome. There, Bernini fully exploited the presence of open air, light, and water” (taken from the description card).

At first I walked right past this piece but upon walking back through this gallery a few more times I found myself stopping to look at it each time. I’m not sure why this speaks to me. It could be my interest in Greek and Roman mythology or that seeing a father son team reminds me of my family’s “team” persona. I would go back for more contemplation to examine the detail of the sculpture further and to look at more mythical figure sculptures.