The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

I visited this museum Saturday July 7th, it was a beautiful day for a long drive. When I first walked into the museum I was surprised by how Small it was. However, this museum was very different from any of the other museums I had visited. Although there was not a lot on display, I felt that the goal of some of the room set ups were geared toward making the visitor think, and leave the room with a new realization about the pieces of art on display along with feeling calm and relaxed. The museum did not allow pictures inside, as a work around, I took pictures of the pieces on display from the pamphlets that were available.

Here are some pictures of the outside of the museum.

Outside there were some interesting plaques on the grounds.

This one was an eye opener. I hear about medications being unaffordable on the news. This plaque made it feel more real and disturbing.

Global warming is all around us. I often wonder what the effects will really be when the polar ice caps melt at a faster rate. I really felt that this plaque was sad. I hope that this soldier is at least doing well if he is not already home.

This piece got my attention, it is right on the wall. The artist focuses on geometric form.


Mary Judge
Untitled Wall Drawing Ad101, 2007
Powdered pigment on wall
Courtesy of the artist and Metaphor Contemporary Art, Brooklyn

The artist has made three-dimensional works since the late 1990's. The pieces on display are from her Segmented Form Series.

Mary Judge

Segmented Form Series No. 102, 2007

12 Cast concrete sections

Mary Judge

Exotic Hex Series no. 101-107, 2007

Powdered pigment on 100% rag paper

David Abir
Tekrar
2004-2005

"The artist uses sound, light and building materials to create a space that is meant to involve you, the viewer, both physically and emotionally." When I walked into the room there was soothing sound, colored light shifts and a structure in the wall that you would walk up to. As I was walking up to it I couldn't tell if it was going to be a "play on lights" reflection or a cut out in the wall. This type of art is visual. I will not tell just in case anyone is going to be seeing this. The one emotion that I did feel was that reality was far away.












Neil Jenny
Baseball is Drama Constructed, 2000
Shelved silkscreen on primed canvas

I was in touch with this after my son's baseball game today. Way to much drama between the coaches. Lots of bad plays due to poor communication.





Neil Jenny
Idealism is Unavoidable, 2000
Shelved silkscreen on primed canvas

Neil Jenny

North American Aquatica (detail), 2006-07

Oil on wood in artist's frame

With this piece I was surprised when I walked up to it that the parts painted orange were not depicting a fire. They are leaves. Reminded me of fall that is coming all to quickly.

The room with the W(E)AVE's in it was really amazing. The music and lighting was so soothing. It was almost like being in an old large southern house. This room made me look and listen. The music had running water combined with music you would hear in a massage room, it was very light so it made me listen. The two artists collaborated on the W(E)AVE project specifically for the Aldrich Museum. Elana Herzog designed the weaves and Michael Schumacher did the sound compositions.

W(E)AVE

Elana Herzog and Michael Schumacher, 2006
Carpet, bedspread, blankets, staples on drywall

Arturo Herrera

Keep in Touch Set #5, 2004

Mixed media on paper

According to the pamphlet "Herrera uses fragments of well-known imagery in his abstract work." I looked and looked at this and came up with nothing familiar. What do you see?

Michael Somoroff
Illumination I, 2006 - 2007
Sculpture: resin, fiberglass, lime cement, pulverized marble

This sculpture was absolutely bold and beautiful on a bright summer day. The artist began working on Illumination I in 2004 after the Rothko Chapel in Houston asked him to propose a project for the Chapel's grounds. Somoroff is primarily a photographer.

Photo Album - Yale University Art Gallery

My trip to the Yale University Art Gallery sure was an adventure. Of course the day I picked, June 29, to go gallivanting to New Haven, the majority of the streets were blocked off due to filming for the new Indiana Jones movie. This made finding parking and the museum a mess since I don't know the area at all. My daughter kept asking if we could just go home. It turned out to be a beautiful day to park and walk to the museum. As always, the museum staff was friendly, helpful and sent me on my way with a map. (I always get a good laugh, when I travel with my daughter the first thing I'm always told is where the bathroom is :o)



Out of all of the museums I have gone to, this one had great art work, however, the atmosphere of the museum itself had no character or ambiance. There was no feeling of history in the building/set up like I had with my experience at the Wadsworth. There was plenty to see and think about. I hope you enjoy my photo's. I've taken my daughter on the majority of my museum trips and can not remember which pictures each of us took. My daughter has gotten really good at keeping the camera in focus now. Enjoy, I look forward to every one's input.



The following two pictures are of the entrance to the museum.






Joseph Stella
Battle of Lights, Coney Island Mardi Gras
1913 - 1914
Oil on canvas



I felt that this painting could generate many feelings depending on the mood you are in at the moment. When I first looked at it it made me think of the complete chaos in my day. Day's later, when I was going the the pictures to decide which ones to pose this one made me think of a nice summer day at the amusement park. The caption noted that the style for this painting is futurist.




Thomas Eakins
Maud Cook (Mrs. Robert C. Reid)
1895
Oil on canvas
Through this museum experience I have found that I'm not particularly moved by portraits. Many of the ones I had seen didn't have a lot of emotion and seemed stiff. However, I found that this one showed emotion. I wondered if she were day dreaming or exasperated with what she was looking at.


Henry Ossawa Tanner
Spinning By Firelight
(The Boyhood of George Washington Gray)
1894
Oil on canvas

Edwin Austin Abbey

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the Lady Anne

1896

Oil on canvas

Chauncey Bradley Ives

Undine

Between 1880 and 1892

Marble

Through this class I have found that I am attracted to statues. Undine was ther horoine of a popular romantic French novel in the 19th century. The story is that Undine was a water-spirit who gave up her care-free life to gain a soul by marrying the king that she is in love with. When Undine's husband is unfaithful, she is forced by the laws of the water-spirit's to kill him. This statue depicts the moment when Undine rises from the castles well spring to claim her husbands life. She is cloaked in a white veil. This statue was shiny to the point of looking wet. I almost expected it to be made out of wax. I've shown several pictures so you can see the vast detail. Beautiful!

Vincent Van Gough
Corner in Voyer-d'Argenson part at Asnieres
1887
Oil on canvas




Walt Kuhn 1877
Chorus Captain
1935
Oil on canvas


The artist did an excellent job capturing this "off guard" moment of the performer. Her weariness comes through in this portrait.

Pablo Picasso

Monter and Child (First Steps)

1943

Oil on canvas

William Henry Rinehart

Sleeping Children

1869

Marble

I'm finding more and more that statues of children are generally commissioned when the loss of a child has happened. Unfortunately for this era, the loss of a child was far to common. The original sculpture that was executed in 1859, served as a grave site memorial to the children of Hugh Sisson, Rinehart's patron. The artist was commissioned to make at least twenty eight replicas. This version is one of the replicas. Per the caption for this statue, at the time, there was a popular poem by Lydia Sigourney that promised "Not Dead, But Sleepeth". The pose of the children cuddling together is like an assurance that they would wake together in another life.

Pierre-Paul Prud'hon

Une famille dans la desolation (a Grief-Stricken Family)

1821

I'd like to think that this mother is absorbed in the peacefulness that comes with watching your child sleep. The caption for this painting noted that the full scale version is now lost. This painting was the prototype to depicting scenes of suffering among the urban poor.

Claude Monet
Camille on the Beach at Trouville
1870
Oil on canvas

I really liked how pright this painting is. I thought it was interesting that her facial features were not pronounced.

Mask (Kakuungu)

Suku

Congo (Kinshasa), late 19th - early 20th century

Wood, raffia, pigment, animal hair, and tortoiseshell

The African art was really creative. My daughter was fascinated by it and thought they were scary. Having said that it was interesting that the caption noted that these masks were made to instill instant fear, close up or from far away. The "charm specialist" of the initiation camp would call upon the mask to instill fear and respect to initiates and to threaten those who might inflict harm to his charges. The mask could also be called upon to cure impotence and sterility, and control the weather.

Martha's visit to the Florence Griswold Museum, July 1

This past Sunday, July 1st, I took a trip with my daughter to the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme. We specifically went on Sunday because you can get painting supplies, including a canvas, from the education center and go where ever you want on the grounds to paint. Sunday was a perfect day, it was so nice out and the grounds are stunning. I did not expect to see so many flower beds in one place. I did not think to ask if any part of the flower garden was put in by Florence Griswold. We got all of our supplies together and headed down to the Lieutenant River to find a nice spot to sit and paint. It was so nice not to feel rushed, my children are generally not interested in looking at paintings with me. My son was saved by a buddy for some afternoon baseball time, he was thrilled he did not have to go. I’m really hoping they will both have some memory of the museums we have been to when they are in school and want me to take them to a museum. I’m hoping for the “mom, remember that museum with tons of steps, where was that, can we go again?” conversation. I had fun with my daughter trying to remember what colors are made by mixing other colors together. We tried to make brown and ended up with a gray/purple color.


Everyone I encountered at the museum was very helpful. I had explained to the very nice lady in the lobby of the main building that I was there for a class but understood that picture taking was not allowed. She told me to write down anything of interest and she would help me find them in a book so that I could take a picture of the painting form one of the books. I thought that was very helpful. They also gave my daughter a flip book of images to “spy” while we walk around. She actually found a couple of things and had fun with it.
The painting of interest to me was the Bow Bridge, painted by Edmund Greacen. What caught my eye was that he was what appeared to be a “local” artist. This painting reminded me of a perfect, relaxing, summer day. This painting is very soothing and warm as well as cheerful. I felt like I could have stepped into the painting and walked along the dirt road. When I came out and asked about the painting, of course, this patricular painting is one of the ones that is new to the gallery so they did not have any pictures of it. However the helpful lady had explained to her co-worker that I was there for a class and he suggested that he walk in with me so that I could take a picture!

Edmund Greacen (1877 - 1949)

Bow Bridge Lyme Ct. Ca. 1912

Oil on canvas

The Bow Bridge covered the Lieutenat River and was a favorite of the artists visiting Lyme in the early 1900’s. Greacen was different from most painters of the colony’s 2nd decade, in that he moved away from gestural impressionism toward tonalism in his painting of the Bow Bridge. In this painting the colors are blended softly to form colors that harmonize with the colors of the bridge and road. It is noted on the caption for this painting that this is the artists vision of a summer day. Part of the history of the original Griswold House was that an artist would invite another artist to the Inn to paint a picture to add to one of the empty slots in the dining room. Although Greacen was a regular at the Inn in the summer time he did not add a panel to any of the empty slots in the Groswold house dining room.

Here is a little bit of history behind Tonalism. In the early 1900’s, Lyme was known as the Lyme Art Colony. This art colony was formed by Henry Ward Ranger. He believed that they were forming a new school of painting in America. These artists were united by their joint interest in painting “rural life with great sensitivity and personal feeling”. These artists were recognized as Tonalists. This style grew in America from the 1880’s to the early 1900’s. This style is typically noted for the use of harmonious colors and delicate effects of light used to create, unclear, suggestive moods.

I was advised by the nice person who let me take the picture to go to the main house to see more paintings of the Bow Bridge and Edmung Greacen paintings.

When I made my way to the original Inn, looking for more Edmund Greacen paintings, the docent told me that it is often said “did the Bow Bridge make the artist or if the artist made the Bow Bridge famous.”

I hope you have all enjoyed my trip to the Florence Griswold Museum. I could go on and on about the history surrounding it. It really was great! Here are a few more pictures from my visit.

The main Griswold House


The main museum from a different angle.

My favorite artist finished her painting :o)

The river behind my daughter is the Lieutenant River.