Samurai Exhibit at the Portland Art Museum

The Portland Art Museum has a show of Samurai armor--armor for the horses they rode as well as for the men.

Often, a family crest was repeated in the details on the helmets, the clothing, and the weapons and battle standards.

The helmets sometimes had an animal appearance or even details from plants (like an eggplant stem).

The lines of many of the helmets and masks were graceful and exquisite...

and the craftsmanship was flawless.

I spent a couple hours sketching over two days, and in that time we saw a lot of people and many children. A couple of them joined us in sketching at one exhibit. I was so pleased to see that one little boy's mother always carried his sketchbook for him.

It was a bit disheartening to hear that a little girl, going from exhibit to exhibit asked, "Is this for a girl to wear? Is this for a girl?" I think I only saw one, rather plain item, that belonged to a Samurai woman.

The next show is Venice: the art and music, so I hope there'll be more for her then.