Whatever Wednesday - Art Adventure

Sunday June 22, I awoke and decided  on a Fort  Worth  art adventure.  Ray was off  to his family reunion (it's tradition - I don't go).  Anyway, I drove to  the Kimbell Art Museum  first.  The current exhibition - Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910-1945 was  a WOW and very timely for our current fraught American situation.  And it was the last day - so  a must see, and the Kimbell had quite  a queue. I was glad to see so many people open to this exhibit. 

above - Christian Schad's Sonja depicted the so-called "new woman" of 1928.  In the aftermath of 1918's  wartime, women won  the right  to vote.  Lots of change afoot. 

Numerous works of this time period  were declared as "degenerate"  art - denounced and confiscated.   The artists were the earliest to express displeasure with what they saw brewing in Germany.  Emile Nolde, Kurt Gunther, Curt Querner, Otto Dix, Paul Klee, Max Beckman, and George Grosz pushed the envelope and many had to flee. 

Let's think about  today - art bans, book  bans, television and movies and more....hmmm

 Horst Strempel's Night Over Germany (oil  on burlap) is a stunning, shattering work.  Jewish families hiding in fear.  

There  was hushed admiration in the Kimbell.  I'm sure many people left thinking...
 

After a light lunch in the Kimbell cafe, I walked down the  block  to the Amon Carter.  Forty photos for forty years since Richard  Avedon's American  West exhibit.  I remember that one - I  was fairly new to  Texas.  The black  and white photos of  just regular folks are stunning.  Crisp, clear, and the people staring back at you - their eyes say so  much. 

Here's a compilation  of  photos  from  the opening  day.  Avedon  was THE photographer  for  famous people and Vogue.   Then he explored the West - oil workers, ranchers - a tough life in  the summer heat.  One of  the  coordinators for  the  project was a photographer in her own right  (Laura  Wilson - mother to actors Owen, Luke).  Her keen eye helped Avedon  on the shoots.  

I truly enjoyed my art afternoon.  Then home for a dip in the pool.  And Ray  arrived home after a fine  time  with family and full from BBQ. 

That's how  we  roll. 

Finally Friday - Bathing Beauties

Blast from the past and my dad's art portfolio.  He  liked the  ladies 

Bathing beauties back in the day

It's getting hot enough here in Texas and it's Memorial Weekend - time for the pool to open

Have a safe and fun weekend
 

Whatever Wednesday - My Dad's Drawings

During house cleanout - we all reviewed my dad's portfolio.  He liked drawing the movie stars, back in high school days

Esther Williams

Veronica Lake

Betty Grable

 Gene Tierney ( I  think)

Happy Wednesday everyone

Whatever Wednesday - Memory Map

 I enjoyed a Sunday stroll at the Modern Museum of Fort Worth for a retrospective of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map. She is a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation.  Five decades of drawings, prints, paintings, and sculpture are fascinating to see. Abstract concepts pull together with satire and humor to tell stories of the Native ideology. She questions why "certain  visual languages attain  recognition, historical privilege, and value." (brochure). 

She has been active in issues and pressing dialogue through art on land, racism, and cultural preservation. (brochure). 

I was in awe as I studied her work. Her brain must never stop. Her work is deep and pulls in  from all styles. I watched a short film and appreciated her history and her eagerness to embrace the land to learn and grow her culture. Very impressive exhibit and I was happy to learn about this artist and her stunning body of work. 

Olive Pemberton: A Century of Beauty

So this was cool - Friday October 1st was the opening reception for Olive Pemberton: A Century of Beauty at the Fort Worth Community Art Center.   Look at the pic above - Born in 1920, she had quite a life including performing under the tutelage of Billy Rose in NYC, along with her sister. She came back to Fort Worth TX, married, and was a member of the Fort Worth Circle of artists challenging "visual conventions of the time -experimenting with modernism, etc. " She is alive at 101 but homebound. However, this retrospective of her work is now on display. 

I am fortunate to know her daughter, author Bonnie Pemberton (middle) - and it was cool to catch up with my writer gang (Stacy on the right) and celebrate Bonnie's mom. 

Her work is lovely - watercolors, oils, sketches, and sculpture. There is a bit of everything to see. 

What's sad is Bonnie told us she showed her mother the collection book. Her mother paged through it, but had no stories. Did not remember painting them. Bonnie asked, "Mom, well, what do you think of the art work?"  Her mother picked up the book and paged back through it. She smiled and said, "I think it's pretty darn good. "   Rather bittersweet. 

 As I said, all quite cool.  Better late than never for us to see local talent and learn some history.  

I salute Olive Pemberton. 

Finally Friday - Where are They?

 Finally Friday and Ray and I are off on adventure. A little weekend jaunt within driving distance, but another state. Can anyone guess?

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience - Francis Bacon

    Some travelers are drawn forward by a goal lying before them

    in the way iron is drawn to the magnet

    Others are drawn by a force lying behind them

    In such a way the bowstring makes the arrow fly

                    Isak Dinesen

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not - 

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

I shall report back next week with some pictures and a review about getting back out in the world. 

Wish us luck, and enjoy your weekend  everybody. 

Wednesday Wisdom

 Yep - nuff said there.  Yes, it's okay to fund the arts. Duh.

 and I always say, "Look up."

In our little quarantine time, spend a moment. Sit on your front porch (like I did Sunday), and look up.

Trees - worth contemplating. Time well spent.

This is no April Fool's joke. Savor the moment.

Happy Wednesday - hump day - carry on......

Wordless Wednesday

 History's Dark Fundamental Distance  2018   Jacob Hashimoto

 Some Lost Part of Delicate Fragrance  2011   Jacob Hashimoto

another work by Jacob Hashimoto

At the Crow Collection of Asian Art - a lovely museum in the Dallas Art District.

The delicate art created must have taken hours and hours of painstaking concentration.  I loved the sense of peace the pieces brought to the room.

I admire this artist's vision

Monday Moment - Art from the Phillips Collection

 How about a Degas?

 Throw in a Cezanne?

So many awesome paintings in the Phillips Collection that is being shown at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth TX  ( www.kimbellart.org )

Duncan Phillips had a vision and the money to amass an amazing amount of art. I enjoyed reading all of the blurbs about what he chose and why?  At some point he wanted a Van Gogh and basically put the word out.  Oh, if you have money, you can get what you want.

Lovely exhibit and I am very grateful to be able to zoom to Fort Worth on a Sunday and peruse such beauty.

Magic Gardens

https://www.phillymagicgardens.org/

who knew such a cool place existed?  I did not.  I was up in PA visiting my Dad this past weekend.
Coincidentally, a friend from Texas was up in Philly also for some sightseeing. She found stuff I never heard of and so I'm mooching off of her with these pictures.

Sculpture, mosaics, modern art - a feast for the eyes. Just don't touch.

enjoy this almost Wordless Wednesday post

Art - The Brothers Le Nain

Antoine, Louis, and Mathieu - the Brothers Le Nain painted in Paris 1630s and 1640s. Fifty paintings presented at the Kimbell represent a full range of production - altarpieces, devotional paintings, portraits, and paintings of local peasant life.

The art is rich and stunning. The brothers seemed to work together seamlessly and art conservationists dig deep to compare, contrast, and attribute aspects of the works to each brother. One seemed to work better on copper, another got the details of hair and faces, another was detailed in clothing and background.

This is a fascinating exhibit and brings to life seventeenth century France.

Art - Norman Lewis

Norman Lewis said, "I don't believe there is such a thing as black art. There are artists who are black making art."

Procession is a current exhibit at the Amon Carter Museum of Art in Fort Worth. I was pleased to learn about Norman Lewis and to enjoy his work. The colors, the view of life through his art - all impressive.

Seachange 1975 struck me.  In 1968, Mr. Lewis wrote, "just seeing the sea, color of water, of blues and grays and murky and muddy water in various ports. I was discovering a whole new life."

Discover Norman Lewis and appreciate a man's work. An artist who was black who made art.

Art - Frank Stella

More art on my Saturday a few weeks ago. The Modern Museum of Fort Worth featured Frank Stella - A Retrospective. Wow - The man is prolific and still creating. Over 120 works featured painting, reliefs, maquettes, sculptures, and drawings. Some of the pieces are massive.  The colors pop and seem to move on the wall.

The huge sculptures were my favorites. They flowed and seemed to reach out and draw you in. The man experimented with geometry and space. Here's a quote from Mr. Stella:

Virtual space has no ground. That's the beauty of it. It's about destroying ground so you can explore all the dimensions and viewpoints.

Frank Stella is an artist with no boundaries.

Meadows Museum - Fifty Years

Treasures from the House of Alba: 500 Years of Art and Collecting was a landmark exhibition.  More than 140 artworks were shown - paintings, tapestries, and sculptures. These normally reside in palaces in Madrid, Seville, and Salamanca.  Titian, Goya, Rubens, Rembrandt. It's a who's who of art including from 1426, Fra Angelico's The Virgin of the Pomegranate - this piece glowed.

The current Duke of Alba (the 19th) actually came to SMU to open the show. The collection never traveled before. This is quite the coup for the Meadows Museum. As of 5 pm Sunday, January 3rd, the exhibit closedand headed back to Spain.

Kudos to director Mark Roglan for his hard work in coordinating such a splendid show. The Meadows Museum is a classy gem, and should be valued in the Dallas art world. 

Art Stroll and Variety

If you need an art fix, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth has a superb exhibition on Gustave Caillebotte The Painter’s Eye.  Caillebotte (1848 – 1894) was a vital but low key member of the Impressionists. He had money and often bought his fellow artist’s works. He himself proved highly skilled in his perspectives – cropped figures, unusual vantage points, and views of daily life. The Floor Scrapers depicted shirtless working class men planing wood floors – shocking at that time. Caillebotte used a subdued palette and a structured style. His On the Pont de l’Europe and Paris Street, Rainy Day show geometric precision, and captured a scene like a photograph. The collection on view is impressive and worth a stroll. 

Also on view right now through February 14^th, Castiglione – Lost Genius. Masterworks on Paper from the Royal Collection.  Giovanni Bendetto Castiglione was a creative man conquered by demons. He painted, was a brilliant printmaker, and a draftsmen with unbounded technique. He was also violent, erratic, and overly ambitious. Consequently, he moved from Genoa to Rome, and ended in Mantua, Italy. Now ninety fine drawings, etchings, and monotypes are on display. He worked during the 1640 and 50s – addressing biblical themes of death, decay, and earthly trials. Lighting and drama created stunning images. His own self portrait shows a dashing figure, determined and obsessed. 

And finally, step from the past into the future with Kehinde Wiley A New Republic at the Modern Museum of Fort Worth. This prolific artist has paintings of street life in Harlem. He explores African American men using European traditional portraiture. Contemporary likeness on ornate backgrounds offers a unique perspective. His World Stage project contains bronze busts, and a chapel-like structure with stained-glass pictures. The work is stunning, vivid, and exemplary. 

A Sunday afternoon alternative to football - exercise your feet, eyes, and brain

Kimbell Art Museum presents Botticelli to Braque

The Kimbell Art Museum is a gem. Their current big exhibit is Botticelli to Braque - Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland. Fifty-five paintings span over five hundred years. You will enjoy the variety and the presentation.

Botticelli's Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Child (1490) gleams. Some of my favorites are a John Singer Sargent portrait, along with landscapes from Monet, Pissarro, and Cezanne. Other portraits from Rembrandt and Vermeer are breathtaking.

Take an hour and stroll around an art museum. Enrich your eyes.

Amon Carter Museum presents Indigenous Beauty

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art (www.cartermuseum.org) is undergoing a huge reconstruction project. But don't let that stop you from entering the new side door and enjoying the exhibit - Indigenous Beauty - Masterworks of American Indian Art from the Diker Collection.

Fierce masks or small tools carved from whalebone - the variety and ingenuity of native people in using nature to make a life is on display. Colorful beadwork and detailed woven baskets are astounding.

I also wandered in to the photo gallery and perused the skills of Edward and Brett Weston. Both father and son expanded the world of black and white photography with gorgeous still lifes and views of nature.

It's easy to keep coming back to the Amon Carter, and I look forward to their "new look".

Modern Museum of Fort Worth - Framing Desire

I don't always go to The Modern (www.themodern.org) due to my art preferences. However, this exhibit Framing Desire - Photography and Video interested me and proved thought provoking.

The artists explore the premise of desire with three themes - Ages, Rooms, and Scapes. From the brochure "these updated takes on the traditional subjects of portraiture, architecture, and landscape make the well traversed themes seem more magnificent and provocative, especially when they are couched within the framework of desire."

Indeed, I enjoyed the viewpoints and contrasts. One cool video was a compilation called "The Crying Game" - clip after clip of crying in movies, from quiet sobs to an outpouring of sorrow.

It's good to step out of the comfort zone and explore new worlds - my time at The Modern confirmed it.

Art & Appetite at the Amon Carter Museum

The Amon Carter museum, invites you to a feast. “Art and Appetite” go together. From lush oil paintings of fruit to Norman Rockwell’s famous Freedom From Want picture of Thanksgiving turkey to Andy Warhol’s Campbells soup can, you can stroll through America’s changing approach to food. From times of depression to overindulgence, food has brought people together. Paintings of picnics and a half empty diner (Edward Hopper's Nighthawks) adorn the Amon Carter walls.  

One picture and poem stood out. Marsden Hartley’s “Fisherman’s Last Supper” shows a gathering after a funeral. Several members of a family drowned at sea. His poem for the painting begins

“For wine, they drank the ocean/

For bread, they ate their own despairs”

Quite heartbreaking. 

In contrast, best to grab lunch prior to your visit. Or after seeing Wayne Thibaud’s slices of pie painting, you’ll hanker for dessert.

Movie Review Madness: The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men is a fabulous story brought to life on screen with an okay movie. Basically near the end of World War II, a motley collection of American art specialists were given the task of finding and saving tens of thousands of art pieces.  These were priceless items the Nazis had stolen from Jewish families, museums, churches, etc throughout France, Belgium, and Italy. Thanks to a lucky break, this group of men made a connection with a woman (played by Cate Blanchett) who worked for the Nazis (not happily) and kept meticulous records of the art work acquired. All in all, the Monuments Men’s goal was to save and preserve history and a part of humanity. Sadly it took the loss of some lives to do it, and yet the men sacrificed themselves for the sake of art.  

So, that is an incredible and inspiring story. The film is a Hollywood version that glosses over the difficulties. We get a smattering of war and danger, but it’s more about the chase. The movie itself has an all-star cast – George Clooney, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville, and more. It’s fun and glib, with snappy dialogue, jokes about Damon’s character and his horrible French, and the group putting together pieces of the puzzle to find the art. They do discover that the Nazis hid huge amounts in salt mines. They seek the famous Ghent altarpiece and basically rush to save it before the Russians hit the town at the end of the war.

 

The Monuments Men is entertaining, but my guess it’s better to read the book written by Robert Edsel to gain a full appreciation of what transpired. George Clooney looks great in uniform and he gives some inspiring speeches. The pictures at the end of the film of the actual art finds gives one chills.