Description: With so many museums in Balboa Park, it was a daunting task to choose. However, when I saw a beautiful pamphlet for the Mingei Museum in the lobby of our hotel, it leapt to the top of the list. Plus, the Mingei was "just enough" museum to enjoy on a sunny day.
The museum is something of a focal point in Plaza de Panama by virtue of two extravagant sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle near its entrance. The "Nikigator" was thronged by children, perching on its head, climbing through its chambered limbs, and scaling its long spine. This piece, some fifteen or twenty feet in length, is a tactile treat, with mirrors, beads, tiles, and smooth stones making up the "hide" of the whimsical alligator-like beast.
The Mingei usually stages several exhibits, selecting items from its vast collection to explore various themes and cultures. On our visit, the first floor was devoted to "The Elemental Art of the Indonesian Archipelago." Highlights included intricate shadow puppets from Java, colorful dance masks from Bali, craggy wooden Dayak carvings, visually rhythmic batik fabrics, and elaborately beaded hats.
FACTOID: It is said that the Mingei holds the world’s largest collection of monumental ancestor shrines from Borneo. All you Borneo fans out there, take note.Since the Indonesian archipelago is an extremely rich area, spanning some 17,000 islands and 300 ethnic groups, this was a very diverse exhibit. Especially impressive were three giant bark cloth Baining dance masks from New Guinea, one representing a giant 14-foot mosquito. These huge masks looked more like modern art than ritual items and were displayed to great effect in the rotunda.
OBSERVATION: Come to think of it, quite a lot of modern art has been inspired by rituals and ‘primitive’ cultures.The second floor housed several more exhibits. One featured Norwegian arts & crafts: painted chests, furniture, household items, and ceramics. There was also an extensive exhibit on Japanese dolls, mostly from the Edo period. Detailed samurai and geisha figures were posed with great verve; other dolls were entirely cutesy for my taste, including a series of baby sumo wrestlers. It was interesting to note, however, that the Japanese fetish for "cute" has not been confined to modern times.
There was also a large exhibit of two potters, Otto and Vivika Heino, with some 90 items. These interested me less than two small cases featuring the pottery of Laura Andreson, who taught at UCLA for many years. Her delicate work glowed with luminous colors and had a fragility that I found very appealing.
The last small room, apropos of nothing else, really, featured three doll houses from different eras, including one I found vaguely disturbing, "Wednesday’s Palace" made entirely from leaves, twigs and other natural materials. ‘Wednesday’ is the fairy dancing on the doorstep of the gossamer structure, which features some sixty other sprites within its open-work chambers.
Lord, if there’s one thing I hate, it’s fairies. Lady Cottington had it right, I think. Close