Shakespeare wrote a speech in As You Like it about the 7 Ages of Man, and it's funny as kid I was dragged through many museums and did not take much interest unless there were aircraft involved. However during my adventure in Sharjah, I have been "doing" the Museums and for the first time in a very long time I can say I was really enthused and emotionally moved by a set of paintings.
The exhibition The Lure of the East had been cleverly marketed – about 6 weeks ago – Taxis and Billboard started running strap line "Feed your Curiosity" – The exhibition has been put together Tate Britain and featured paints from Collections mainly in the UK, but also the US and New Zealand.
The Sharjah Art Museum is not the most stunning of building, but with calls to prayer sounding from a nearby mosque and some great lighting the ambience for viewing was great. There was heavy security in terms of people, armed police + contract security, but you could get close to the painting unlike normal museums in the UK.
The paintings were wonderful, a mixture of great portraits, landscapes and City scenes. Truly breathtaking unfortunately No Piccies as cameras were banned. I guess being a lover of the mixed cultures in the Middle East I have great affinity with the British, who travelled around the MENA in the 1700 and 1800s, recording what they saw in these great paintings. I guess now I have my digital camera.
The only disappointment is there seems very little local interest in the Exhibition despite the best efforts of the Sharjah Museums department and H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi for bringing the exhibition here.
