La Alahambra, Granada (1333-53)I've been poring over a book about Mughal decoration, which has a sort of vibrancy and sweetness that must be related to flowers and shells (and reads like proper Toile or Shaker staircases --essentially, Spring and Summer). La Alahambra's Court of the Lions afforded my first school lessons in the genteel (and warm!) genius of Islamic design elements. But this view, which is a good deal more like a film set of Shakespeare's Verona or Mantua than a white and laquered Moorish pleasure garden, puts me in mind of Coney Island's seaside apartment courtyards with their funny, abrupt, Mid-Century modern shrubbery. Forgive my dippy relational aesthetics--I'm just glad for the change of season.
