June 16th - Wadsworth Atheneum

My trip to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art was really terrific. Considering the Wadsworth is no where near the size of the Met, it was just as fantastic with the art work that it had on display. I was greeted by very cheerful people that gave me a map, were happy to hear I was there because of a class, and told me which exhibits I should focus on. After going through the lower levels I made my way up to the Faith and Fortune Exhibit. This exhibit consists of five centuries of European master works from the Renaissance to the Roman era. Many of the works of art in this exhibit were made to aid personal or public devotion, or as objects in the service of the church. Other works were made for secular purposes, (interesting for the time period), symbols of wealth, status and authority as sources of sensual and intellectual delight or as objects of everyday use. In these types of pieces you can see attitudes towards wealth, luxury and learning.

The exhibit that I found very captivating was the Baroque Art in Catholic Europe. Very interesting title, this was during the Roman Era and Christianity was not widely supported. Here again I was able to link my past religion class to my art experience. The 17th century is known as the age of the Baroque. Baroque, at the time, usually meant anything bizarre or exaggerated but then took on a flattering sense of splendor and liveliness. This style of painting took away the restraint that came with the earlier Renaissance period. These works of art are on a larger scale and were devoted principally to religion and have a symbolic representation that directly promoted the principles of the Catholic Church. In Italy Michelangelo was the first painter to make this new style popular.

When I walked into this exhibit the first thing that stood out to me was how the dark purple walls were a stunning accent to the paintings. The painting that I focused on is St. Catherine of Alexandria. I was really taken in by how young, almost child like, her facial features are, she is sensual and saintly. I kept looking at her face, her facial expression is brief/fleeting, I felt like I saw a different expression every time. The brushwork is very fluid. It truly was hard to believe that I was looking at the original painting and not a picture of it, the canvas was so smooth I wanted to touch it. The artists choice of colors could not have been more perfect. It really took me a while to realize that there are not many colors in this painting but the way they were brought together made this painting life like.

Bernardo Strozzi
Italian, Genoese, 1581- 1644
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, C. 1515
Oil on canvas

The caption for the painting said that Strozzi more than likely painted it for the home of a Genoese nobleman and not for a church. The Baroque style of the time really came through with the “flattering sense of splendor and liveliness”. Her bare toes, fabric on the floor, the pink in her dress, and the way the fabric looked as though it was blowing in the wind, gave the feeling that this was meant to be an uplifting playful painting. Maybe almost a pat on the back to Christianity since it was frowned upon at the time. As all of these thoughts were going through my head, the rest of the museum was active, sound seemed to travel slow and echo through the museum. I felt like I was in the middle of a service at the Vatican.


The artist, Strozzi, was a monk, born and trained in Genoa, then later moved to Venice.
Here is a little bit of history about St. Catherine that conveys the religious aspect of the time. Keep in mind that this is the Roman era where citizens were more likely to survive if they were a Pagan rather than a Christian. St. Catherine of Alexandria was an Egyptian Princess in the 4th century who had converted to Christianity. She was so knowledgeable about her new faith that she could debate and defend it to anyone. Catherine visited the Roman Emperor Maximum, and conveyed to him his errors in persecuting Christians. He tried, to no avail to have her renounce her faith, became frustrated that should would not and had her jailed. While she was jailed, anyone who visited her converted to Christianity. As a result, Maximum ordered St. Catherine to be executed upon a spiked wheel. Somehow the wheel was destroyed, therefore she was beheaded.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog about my experience at the Wadsworth Atheneum. Please let me know what you think. Here are some more paintings I was captivated by.

Salvator Rosa

Italian, Nepolitan, 1615 - 1673

Lucrezia as Poetry

This is also from the Baroque in Catholic Europe. The model is actually the artists mistress. Look at her facial expression, what is she thinking or did something funny/irritating happen.

1756 - Colonel John Trumbull - 1843

Battle of Bunker Hill June 17, 1775

Death of General Joseph Warren

American Revolution

Oil on Canvas

The caption noted that this painting does not focus on the outcome of the battle but about the many events taking place at that time. He even included an individual that is trying to decide weather to stay or flee. It was fantastic that the captioned was so detailed. My dad has an art book with this painting. I've looked at this painting with fascination for years.

and of course :o)

Norman Rockwell

American, 1894 - 1978

The Young Lady with the Shiner, 1953

Oil on canvas

New Britian Museum of Modern Art

The weekend of June 9th I went to the New Britain Museum of American Art. My kids were in tow and needless to say, not happy about going. It was raining out, and was the perfect day for them, and myself, to get an education on modern art. When we arrived I was not sure which building was the actual museum, the large art deco building or the quaint attached house. I meant to ask if the house like section had at one point been the “original” museum, the name of the museum is on it also. I was greeted by a very lovely person who gave me a map and stickers for my kids. Just a side note for everyone, if you get there between 10 am and noon, admission is free. Here is a picture of the beautiful house like section.

The piece that caught my attention right away was the first piece of art that I saw. The bronze Peter Pan by Harriet W. Frishmuth (1880-1980), was completed in 1936. As you may remember from childhood stories, Peter Pan is the boy who lived in Never Never Land, vowing never to grow up. This piece is absolutely stunning. It is a bronze with reddish brown patina. The story behind the pose of this statue is full of childhood wonderment. Frishmuth was commissioned for a Peter Pan to be placed near the grave of a cousin who had passed on. Frishmuth’s tradition was to ask her model what he or she would do in a particular situation. She told the Peter Pan story to her child model, then asked “if you were in the dark, in the woods, and you looked up at the starts for the first time what position would you take?” The child looked at Frishmuth looked at her with bright eyes and said “I’d take this pose”, and sat down on the model table in the pose of her Peter Pan. I thought that was a fantastic and touching story.

There is no detail left out in this sculpture. I had to keep walking around it to take in all of the detail. I really felt like I was brought to the magical place of Never Never Land where the simple pleasure of gazing up at the starts in the dark is new and exciting. The fascination and curiosity on the child’s face is clear, almost like he’s making shapes out of the stars he sees. One element that really stood out to me was how Peter Pan’s hands and feet on not on a flat surface, they are dipping over the edge of the base. I felt that this truly gave the statue a life like and innocent appearance.

I had to keep walking around it to take in all of the detail. I really felt like I was brought to the magical place of Never Never Land where the simple pleasure of gazing up at the starts in the dark is new and exciting. The fascination and curiosity on the child’s face is clear. It is almost as if he is using his imagination to make shapes out of the stars he sees, or is he possibly trying to figure out a constellation, or did he see a shooting star. One facet that stood out to me was how Peter Pan’s hands and feet on not on a flat surface, they are dipping over the edge of the base. I felt that this truly gave the statue a life like and innocent appearance. As you look at the pictures I have attached you can see the amazing features in the waves in the child’s hair, leg muscles, placement of his sleeves, the way his left ear rests on his clothes, all of the aspects are incredibly life like. It was almost as if the statue could have gotten up and walked away.

Again, Frishmuth left nothing out, right down to Peter Pan’s panpipe down by his feet. The panpipe is part of Peter Pan’s signature in the story, he always has it with him and plays it when he want to relax or ignore the grown up world. You can see all of the elements of the panpipe including the twine or straw that holds the instrument together.

The wonderment and imagination that Peter Pan has instilled in children over the years has come through in this statue. Frishmuth pride and love of her work truly came through in this piece of art work. I hope you have enjoyed my blog about Peter Pan and will put it on your list of pieces to see when you go to this museum.

Here is some history about the artist. Harriet Whitney Frishmuth was an American sculptor best know for your bronze works. She studied in Paris, Berlin and New York. While she was in New York Frishmuth worked as an assistant to Karl Bitter, a sculptor, and performed dissections at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Frishmuth’s first commissioned piece came from the New York County Medical society in 1910 for a bas-relief (sculpture portrayed as a picture). As her career grew she became well know for her portrayal of females in bronze, most notably dancers. One of her finest pieces of work is the larger-than-life-size bronze that I believe is on display at the Met. You might want to add this to a list of pieces to possibly see when you visit the met.
The Great Depression affected her livelihood, as a result, she closed her studio in New York in the 1930’s and moved to Philadelphia. Frishmuth stayed active in the art world after closing her studio and was outspoken on her views of modern art calling it “spiritless”. She also spoke out about how she disliked the word “sculptress”.
Frishmuth received several recognitions and honors through out her career such as: the St. Gaudens prize, many awards from the National Academy of Design, a prize from the Grand Centeral Art Galleries, an honorable mention from the Golden Gate Internatioal Exposition and the Joan of Arc Silver Medal from the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.

Here are more pictures of pieces that caught my attention.
Dean Cornwell (1892 - 1960)
[Parisian Scene], for Philip Gibbs "Seargeant of Chasseurs
Oil on canvas

This painting reminded me of two broken hearts caused by war. I wondered if the Seargeant had just arrived and the lady had not see him yet.



Norman Rockwell
Weighing In
Oil on canvas

Have to love his realistic style. What are they looking at anyway? I would love to know the before and after weight.
Graydon Parrish (B. 1970)

Cycle of terror and Tragedy: September 11, 2001.

My son stopped and paid attention to this painting and called me over. It truly made me relive the sadness and horror of that day. This is an incredibly detailed painting that pulls in all the aspects of that day.

That is all for now :o)

The Met - June 3rd

On June 3rd I visited The Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) in New York City. I found everything about the museum to be stunning, from the stairs out front to the interior architecture and the amazing art on display. I am by no means an art expert, I must have missed that gene, everyone else in my family is. I truly felt that having a defined purpose as to what I needed to discover while at the Met was very helpful because there is so much to see while you are there. I went on this adventure with a friend and our two daughters. The girls were very good considering they are only six, but thought it was fun to take my picture as I “worked hard” admiring everything on display.

Here are some pictures of the outside of the Met. I zoomed in on some of the statues on the outside of the building. The place is gigantic, I believe it takes up about 8 or so blocks and is by Central Park. When I was little I thought museums were boring, I was really surprised to see so many people with their children (not complaining) there on a Sunday morning.

The lobby of the Met was spectacular with warm but bright lighting, the columns and balconies got my attention, with their ancient Greece look. We were greeted by very friendly people. I love it when I’m asked if $10 is agreeable to me as an entrance fee.

The first gallery we went to was the Greek and Roman gallery. There was so much to look at I did not know where to start. This gallery is described by the museum as “The spectacular redesign and reinstallation of the Museum’s superb collection of classical art” and opened to the public on April 20th. The first room I went to had the ten marble fragments of the Great Eleusinian Relief. This display was interesting because it was a copy, the ten fragments were set into a cast of the original relief. The copy is sharper than the original which follows the style that is current in Augustan Art. The goddess of agriculture is on the left, her daughter Persephone is on the right, the young boy is possibly Triptolemos, who was sent to teach men how to cultivate grain. The caption of the display shows in gray what has been restored.

Ten marble fragments of the great Eleusinian relief.

Roman Augustan period 27 B.C. - A.D 14

Found at Eleuses now at The Met

When I went to the second floor I walked by a door way that had sulight blasting out of it. Naturally I had to see what it was. This doorway was to the balcony above the "Italian Rennisance Bronzing Room". (How did I miss this when I was on the first floor?)

When I walked onto the balcony and looked below I could see a statue with a sword in one hand and a head in another. I wondered if this was the Greek myth about Medusa, I had to go back down and investigate. Sure enough this was Perseus with the head of Medusa. Of course I was so excited because I had just taken a class where I had to research Greek Goddesses, I was thrilled to see something where I knew the story behind the statue. I had written a paper on Athena, the Goddess of War, who had turned Medusa into what she is and helped Perseus destroy her. The statue is made of marble and was carved in Rome. I had to keep walking around the statue to take in all of the detail. It was interesting how the artist did not drop a detail at any point. I thought that the back part of the robe would be lacking in detail and not have folds in the robe, it had just has much detail as the front draping piece. The detail flowed, I could not find a flaw anywhere.

Perseus with the head of medusa.
Marble
Antonio Canova (1757-1822)



As I moved on to view paintings I was anxious to see what I would recognize from my dad’s art books or from what I remembered from previous art classes.

Norman Rockwell is always a favorite of mine. I have always been intrigued by his realistic style that always seems to either be humorous or serious. This painting, The Town Meeting, makes me wonder what the topic of discussion was. Look at the way the main character seems to have a captivated audience. Is he agreeing or disagreeing? Whatever the point of discussion, it appears to be serious. This painting is oil on composite. The strokes are so smoth the painting looks like it could be a photograph.

Norman Rockwell, American, 1894-1978
Town Meeting - 1943



Of course I had to find Vincent van Gogh’s “Vase of Roses”. The caption to the painting says that before van Gogh’s left the asylum at Saint Remy he painted four still lifes. He described these paintings as “great bunches of flowers, violet irises, big bouquets of roses…” The roses and the table top in this particular painting were originally a pale pink, but have faded. People around me must have gotten annoyed. Aside from putting my head through the canvas, I was trying to see the different angles of the paint. I hope this comes through in my pictures. The painting is oil on canvas. I have always been attracted to paintings where the strokes of paint look like they are rising off of the canvas, the best way I can describe it is like the strokes of paint are a smoothed out, textured, lump of paint.













My experience at the Met was wonderful. I hope I have set the stage for what some people might seek out while they are visiting the Met. Here are more pictures from the Met that caught my eye that I felt were interesting and stunning.



Pablo Picasso
Woman in White
1923
Oil On Canvas







Edvard Munch
Vampire
1894
Oil on canvas







Henry Matise
Dance 1912 (naturalism)
Oil on canvas (looked almost like water color to me)
If you look closely at this painting you can see what appears to be pencil lines. An interesting pamphlet was handed out for this painting asking, "Can you tell what is near and what is far? Where are the figures standing?"
Those are some questions to ponder before you see this painting.





Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas
French, 1834-1917
Dancers Practicing at the Bar





John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925)
A street in Venice, 1880-82
Oil on Canvas

The Met - I will post pictures soon. NYC sure was an experience :o)