To my recollection, I've never been in Connecticut, so making the capital the first stop seemed fitting. I had to look up the airport since KBDL didn't make much sense (unless you know its Bradley International). We had a nice layover which gave me time to do some exploring. It was a beautiful day and conveniently, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art was just a few blocks away. It's always cool to get a nice surprise and the Wadsworth certainly surprised me with a very nice and large collection. Here are some items of interest...
Albert Bloch, Cityscape, 1911 // Edvard Munch, Aasgaardstrand, 1904.
There is nothing particularly impressive about Cityscape, but I have grown to appreciate boldness and lack of detail in paintings. For me, the cool thing about Munch's Aasgaardstrand, is that it's the smae place where he painted The Scream.
Max Ernst, Europe after the Rain II, 1940-42. This is a painting you have to see in person because of the detail and technique. Ernst used decalcomania which is pressing paint into the canvas with glass or another smooth service.
Orazio Andreoni, Pereat (Let him Perish), 1892 // Henri-Paul Motte, The Trojan Horse, 1874. The two ladies giving the 'thumbs down' is classic. You can't really see their faces, but they're full of distain. Although painted almost 150 years ago, The Trojan Horse (to me) is perfect. The lighting, the contrast, and the story behind the painting are captured so well.
Hedda Sterne, New York No 1, 1957 // Franz Kline, Painting, 1952
New York No 1 was a hard painting to grasp because it's fuzzy - on purpose of course - and actually a great technique. Your eyes want to focus, but they can't. It's painted fuzzy. Painting was unique in that Kline painted it out of a gallon can of paint house using a normal (house) painting brush.
Morris Louis, Impending, 1959 // Duane Hanson, Sunbather, 1971
Louis stumbled across this technique after spilling thinned paint on a canvas. On the other hand, Hanson knew he created incredibly life-like works, but that wasn't really his goal. Rather, he wanted to focus on aimless workers, bloated consumers and neglected senior citizens.
Francisco de Goya, Gossiping Women, c 1792-96
Goya has done some amazing work. This painting shows his great use of contrast and also displays his brilliance in capturing humans in their normal environment - that of life. Women gossiping...might be real.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, The Last Supper, 1750s // Salvator Rosa, Lucrezia as Poetry, 1641
Other than Da Vinci's Last Supper, this is the best Last Supper I've seen. In fact, if it wasn't for Da Vinci, it might be the best. Rosa's paintings are great. Aside from being 380 years old, it captures human emotions as well as any painting can.
The building itself and me in front of it.
This was the incredible jet we took to Hartford. Amazing airpower.
- mm -
No comments:
Post a Comment