Who is Jeanne Samary?

Pushkin Museum

The Collaboration between State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and Yokohama Museum

The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia came to Japan in July 2013, holding their exhibition at Yokohama Museum. I got to know of this exhibition through a TV commercial. The TV commercial publicized the exhibition by asking the TV viewers, "Who Jeanne Samary is" by showing her portrait and invited viewers to come visit the exhibition.

Yokohama Museum Flyer

The exhibition presented a grand total of 66 outstanding French paintings ranging from the 17th century works by Nicolas Poussin, Money, Cezanne and Vincent Van Gogh, to the 20th-century French artists such as Picasso and Matiese. I did wonder why a Russian museum would possessed so many French work arts at first. Russia and France, just did not make any sense to me. The exhibition only showed 66 paintings. The State Pushkin museum itself, posses more than five hundred thousand art works, dating back from ancient times and up to the mid-20th century of Dutch, Flemish, Italian, and especially French paintings.Wow!!! Five hundred thousand art works. Just impressive!!!

Catherine the Greatand Golden Age

Catherine the Great(Russia)
 

The key person to why the museum holds so many European paintings was Catherine the Great, a German princess from one of the tinry German states, who turned out to be a powerful and enlightened ruler of the vast Russian empire from 1762 to 1796. She was particularly fond of French culture. Her wish is to transform the city into a major intellectual and cultural center was one of the motivation that drove her to acquire entire collections of French art. French artists and writers were regularly invited to the St.Petersburg court. Before time can tell, the actions of one powerful woman with one modern dream enabled Russia to possess the greatest collections of French painting anywhere in the world outside of France.

Jeanne Samary,  a French dreamstress in one of the paitings by Renoir

Jeanne Samary in the dress in Renoir's Portrait of the actress Jeanne Samary, 1878

Among one of the 66 paintings, I will cover "Jeanne Samary". I did not know much about her before researching about her. Her painting done by Renoir. The title of the painting is Potrait of Jeanne Samary (La Reverie). It is a  wonderful, dreamy and sweet potrait of Samary. Yokohama museum used the 'La Reverie' for the TV commercial.

Coming from a strong musical and theatrical background, Samary strived to become successful in the acting world. Her father was a cellists and her relatives were actresses too. With her family background, that explains why she became an ambitious woman. However, lady luck was not on her side. Even though she won first prize for her comedic acting at 18 for her debut as a servant actress in the Tartuffe performance, her acting career did not expand from there. She was cast yet again as a servant character. The reviews potrayed Samary as "stout, pink and merry" in her maid's costume.   Not wanting to be characterized by that forever, she seeked other ways to advance her career by working as a model for Renoir. Since she was a public figure, she thought maybe her modelling work would do her some good by gain some prestigious acting roles.



Portrait of Jeanne Samary (also known as Reverie) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1878

Coincidentally, Renoir, a young yet unowned impressionist painter came into the picture. He often came to see Samary. He was probably mesmerized by Samary's physical appearance and her pale skin complexion. One thing lead to another, before we know it, Renoir was painting Samary's potrait. After several paintings, Samary complained that her potrait lacks of impression of freshness and pure radiant colours. Taking this critical comment to heart, Renoir painted Samary again, this time with great dedication, expressing emotion and excitement.

According to many analysis, in this portrait, Renoir painted with so much passion that dramatic contrasts and freedom can be felt from it. In the modern times, we could just sit and be mesmerized by the pretty pink background and and Samary's lighthearted smile with her bluish  dress colour. However, in the oldern times, where impressionist painting was still not yet acknowledged by the public, the portrait angered the public, critics and artists. It is hard to image someone dared to paint a portrait using pink and green paint as main colours for picture. Although the portrait sparked public outrage, Samary loved it and kept it in her apartment. Her husband Paul Lagarde treasured it fully after Samary's death.

Unfortunately for Jeanne’s ambitions, neither portrait was a success with the critics and the general public.  Part of this was bad luck and bad placement.  Renoir’s friends who saw the full length portrait of Jeanne in his studio were enthralled. Nonetheless, the painting was placed on a very high place on a wall at the Exhibition of 1878 that was surrounded by many other workds. The high placement of the portrait caused the viewers to unable to see it properly. The best review it got as a description as “an entertaining portrait." Nevertheless, although Renoir and Samary parted their ways. Both married their partners they loved and had a happy life.

Summary

So what is with all the explanation of the Catherine the Great and Samary? I find both of  them very inspiring in their times. Both were ambitious women that knows what they wanted and strived to achieve their ambitions. Although Samary did not became a successful actress with prestigious roles she met someone (Paul Lagarde) who loved her dearly. She found her happiness asa wife and mother. On the other hand, Catherine did achieved her dreams but did she found happiness in her heart? However, I personally do not think she gained much love from her husband, Emperor Peter III. In June 1762, Catherine actually took an active part in a coup against her husband. He was killed "in an accident" allowing Catherine to become Russia's autocratic ruler.

Both of the women probably have not meet each other in life. But, they have so much in common  with the modern women nowadays. This thought sort of  fascinates and saddens me as both ideals only crossed path through the Puskin Museum. They were ambitious. They wanted to be successful. They wanted to be loved. In short, human beings from all over the world are all more alike, than are unalike. We vary physically from skin tones, languages, and maybe status. But, in the end, we are all the same. We are all the same.



 

Know Your Spice: Healing Powers of Ginger

Ginger-fried pork with cabbage

My first encounter with Ginger aka 生姜(Shouga in Japanese) was through a cookbook for beginner cooks. The dish was 生姜焼き（Ginger-fried pork). It was a success because it is a simple dish. My second engagement with 生姜 was during the second winter when I was in Japan. My mother-in-law told me that during winter 生姜湯 (Ginger hot water/tea) is a popular drink because it is good for blood-circulation, thus preventing one from being cold. The more people I meet the more I learned that 生姜is a really popular herb root for culinary and medical importances after interacting with them. 4 years in America, and I didn't know the humble mighty herb until I came back to Asia. I guess Ginger is a staple in Asian cooking.

Briefly, let me explain about what Ginger really is. Ginger is the world's most widely cultivated herb. There are economic and medicinal testimonals about how important ginger was, dated as far back as five thousand-year-old Greek literature to 200 B.C. Ancient literature from the Middle East, Asia and Europe write of its impact. Without much said, trade in Ginger could easily be associated with one's wealth and power. It is believe that just one pound of Ginger was worth 1 shilling and 7 pence, approximately equivalent to the price of a sheep.

Ginger Hot Water/ Tea

The historical reverence for and usage of ginger is simply astounding. Traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic Indiansystems viewed Ginger as a healing gift from God. Chinese pharmacopeias claim long term use of fresh Ginger as putting a person in contact with the spiritual advantages. Writings of the Koran describe Giner as a beverage of the holiest heavenly spirits. Its healing heritage is unmatched in the history of medicine.

Diving deeper into its heritage, Ginger is used for anti-inflammatory, carminative, anti-flatulent, and anti-microbial properties. Zingerone, a chemical compound which gives pungent character to the Ginger root, is effective against E.coli induced diarrhea, especially in children. What more, this root only has 80 calories per 100g and contains no cholesterol!!! Furthermore, it composes many essential nutrients and vitamins such as pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), pantothenic acid (vitamin B-5) which commends optimum health. On top of all these goodness, Ginger also contains a good amount of minerals like potassium, manganese, copper, and magnesium. Abruptly, potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure.

With all said, let's explore how to slice Ginger for maximum flavor. (My small scanner just won't let me scan my magazine page explaining ways of cutting Ginger) I will just illustrate in words as detailed as possible. If one already has basic culinary skills, it won't be hard.

1. すりおろし(Surioroshi) aka Grate : This is the basic way to use Ginger. After grating, one could easily put it in drinks, such as lemon tea. Scrub or pat the grated ginger on meat and fish to reduce the smell of meat and fish.
2. せん切り(Sengiri) aka Shredding in Long Thin Slices : Use for stir-fry vegetables, soup and stew.
3. みじん切り(Mijingiri) aka Chopped in Tiny Pieces : Best use when frying with oil. This method is used commonly in Chinese cooking.
4. 薄切り　(Usugiri) aka Slicing Thinly : Use for making Ginger syrup because of the width, the Ginger is able to absorbed the syrup easily. One way to extract the pungency of Ginger.
5. 干す　(Hosu) aka To Dry. Dried and powdered, it's used as herbal remedy.

I am going to make an effort to cook Ginger recipes once a week from now on. I hope you will you!

 

 

 

 

Zinc - Does It Really Help Prevent Colds?

Zinc - Does it really help?

Currently I have many friends and relatives who are fighting the common cold or maybe even a slight touch of the flu (influenza).  Luckily no one I know is seriously ill, but still colds and flus are never pleasant experiences.  A common procedure a friend of mine takes when she feels like she may be coming down with a cold is to take Zinc supplements.  This is to either prevent the cold from settling in her body or to at least lessen the severity of symptoms. 

I have read here and there that taking zinc supplements when you first feel like you're coming down with something can help at the very least by shortening the duration of the cold or lessening the symptoms.  Therefore before I travel by plane or when others around me are sick, I take a supplement pill in the morning with breakfast and then with my daily vitamin B-12 supplement (suggested by my doctor who looked at blood work done about a year ago and suggested I take this supplement).  Both supplements are readily available at local drug stores or supermarkets.

But does zinc really help prevent colds, or is it more of a self-fulfilling prophecy that one does not get sick when taking zinc as a preventative measure when others are sick?  Since I'm trying really hard to not get sick before an October 15th performance at my old church growing up, I'd like to investigate the matter more.

First I wanted learn about zinc itself.

According to nih.gov, zinc is a mineral vital for multiple areas of the body, including enzyme functions, immune system maintenance and protein function.  It is recommended that zinc be part of our daily nutrient intake and there are many foods that are good sources of zinc if you would not like to take supplements in pill or lozenge (cough drop) form.

Oysters were the #1 source of zinc.  (I've never had oysters but like oyster sauce - I'll check the nutrition label to see if zinc is retained in the processing of sauce.  If you have any recipes that might help someone whose never tried oysters to like oysters, I am willing to try!).  Other meat sources include beef, crab, lobster, pork and chicken.  Non-meat sources include nutrient-fortified cereals, baked beans, yogurt (yay, I'm eating yogurt for lunch right now!) and oatmeal. 

It is difficult to determine zinc deficiency by symptoms alone (loss of appetite, impaired immune system weight loss, etc.) because these symptoms are found in other health issues.  It can be hard to diagnose because a deficiency is difficult to detect in most lab tests.  You can also have too much zinc.  Too much zinc can cause symptoms like nausea, vomiting, etc.  So there needs to be a careful balance of having too little or too much zinc.  It can also interfere with absorption of antibiotics, so supplements of zinc should be taken far enough away from antibiotics so as not to interfere.

So that is zinc in a nutshell (speaking of nuts, almonds also contain zinc).

The information regarding whether zinc really helps prevent colds is not very cut-and-dry, with some experts saying that zinc is helpful and others say it is not.  I was looking at Web MD on the matter, and one test had some participants take a low-dose zinc lozenge (13.3 milligrams) every few hours and their colds lasted only 4 days instead of 7 (normal cold with no zinc).

According to one researcher, zinc helps prevent rhinoviruses (culprit for the cold) from reproducing in our bodies and also prevents them from sticking to healthy cells to turn them into sick cells.

According to the Mayo Clinic, studies conducted to test the effectiveness of zinc are flawed (but they don't say how they're flawed).  They do concede by saying that in reports where zinc effectiveness are favorable, one would have to take zinc within 24 hours of symptoms to be most effective.   So to me, that means that if I only start taking zinc at the onset of cold symptoms, then I probably already have a cold but the zinc may help me overcome it faster.

Whether a scientist believes zinc is helpful or not, they all caution against taking too much zinc, as we've learned before that too much can cause severe health problems.  The zinc nasal sprays that you see at the store can also cause permanent damage to your sense of smell (so I will therefore stay away from it).

So when I get home tonight I am going to look at my zinc supplement and make sure that taking two pills in the course of a day is not overdoing it.  When I take the supplement I experience some nausea so I try not to take on an empty stomach, so it helps if I take during a meal.  And I do not want to take zinc every single day because if I do get a cold and want to boost my zinc levels to overcome it, I don't want to accidentally take too much zinc.

According to nih.gov, 40 mg per day is upper limit, so since each of my pills is 50 mg, maybe I should stick to one a day when I'm trying to overcome a cold vs. two.  I also just read that zinc gluconate lozenges were more effective than zinc acetate lozenges (apparently there are two different forms of zinc) in shortening duration of the cold, but only in subjects who were induced with a cold (not a naturally occurring cold).

So this research has left me about as confused as I was when I started!  I guess my summary is that zinc gluconate lozenges are most effective in reducing the # of days I'd have a cold (probably more so than pill because the lozenge deposits zinc directly in nose/throat area) but some research does not believe it to be true.

So maybe me taking a little extra zinc when others around me are sick will simply create some positive thinking and help me try harder to not get sick (i.e. washing hands more often, drinking more non-caffeinated fluids, etc.) because I won't be thinking, "Oh no - I'm the next to get sick!" and be lazy in my efforts to be healthy.