A big drawback to this experience was the lack of keeping to the schedule. Tours generally give no more than a few minutes grace time and then continue without any participants that have neglected to adhere to the posted schedule. My tour had the majority of the group waiting for over 30 minutes for two last minute stragglers…tour started when one appeared and then halted again for another 15 minutes for that person to go search for the other straggler. Once the tour commenced, we were 45 minutes behind which was never made up and to boot the guide terminated our tour 10 minutes AHEAD of the original intended end time. What things did we miss in the 55 minutes lost? As good and informative as Andrew was, his disrespect for the majority of the attendees was an...
Read moreHave you ever wondered who the ladies that ornate the Met's wall are? What the story is behind the provocative, defiant, and coquettish gaze? The innocent and eternally young face of Madame de Pompadour? What about the ladies whose's gaze you can never catch? What about Edgar Degas and his Dancers? Do you see what you are seeing? Who is this sexy dude?! Well, The shady ladies of the Met is a must do! Professor Lear is so knowledgeable, and the story of those women so captivating that you will have no time to take your phone out from wherever you keep it. Plus, you might even learn a thing or two about...
Read moreWe joined the inaugural run of the new Shady Ladies of the MFA tour in Boston, and it was excellent. The tour leader was very knowledgeable and very entertaining. His presentation was refreshingly personal, compared to the slick and/or pedantic approach you typically encounter, and he was very engaged with the group. The facts and insights about the individual pieces were always interesting and often highly amusing, but taken together they made up an intriguing exploration of the meaning of art in culture, and the rewards of viewing art as part and parcel of human life, rather than an...
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