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.