I had enough time on a layover to visit the
Buffalo AKG Art Museum. It is named for John J. Albright, Seymour H. Knox, Jr., and Jeffrey E. Gundlach. Great building and campus and great collection with rotating exhibits in nice open rooms. It also has an easy flow where you don't have to do backtracking and/or wondering if you missed something. I appreciate that. Here are some things that I wanted to capture.
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YAYOI KUSAMA,
Pumpkin, 2016, fiberglass with acrylic enamel coating
I took pics of the Kusama work because it was the special exhibit and the pumpkin is arguably famous. The photo of Ore-Giron's piece was more for reference for something I was working on at the time.
Good colors/birds, good fish, good motion.
I took the picture of Clark's painting mainly for reference for a project. The abstract style of Kirkeby's picture was interesting. The Guston was taken because I'd seen his work in San Francisco.
I thought the simplicity of Two-Tone was great, I haven't seen many Picasso sculptures, and a Rothko is always interesting to see.
I like Lichtenstein's work and like it even more after I learned they're painted by hand...not screened. I'd seen other soup cans by Warhol, but hadn't seen this one. I took the Pollock as a reminder that I saw it.
I like some of Kline and Kelly's work, but I thought a comparison of two New York works was cool.
I took a pic of the Mondrian because they are what they are. The full title is "Composition No. 11, 1940-42--LONDON, with Blue, Red and Yellow, 1940-1942". I like the rawness of Bacon's work and this painting was a great example. His unsettling images might have been reinforced by his environment - here's a
picture of his studio. It's good to see a de Kooning painting. He supposedly had a significant impact on Kline's later work.
I thought the Gorky was unique in its own way. Scrimmage shows good energy with low-level detail and I don't think I'd seen something from Mrs de Kooning. There were several Still works but I thought this one was more unique because of it's lack of other colors.
I'd seen Avery's work in
Portland and like his disregard for some details - I thought this painting was great. I don't think I'd seen a self portrait of Degas - ever. There was also a bronze study in the nude for the Dressed Ballet Dancer (aka
Little Dancer of Fourteen Years). The details (particularly of the face) of
Ratapoil were terrific. A bronze one from this case is in the
Musée d'Orsay.
There are a lot of Rodin's Age of Bronze and I think I saw one in either Musée d'Orsay or Musée Rodin in Paris. The Homer is here because I love his work and this one did not disappoint. The Picasso was a good example that he worked in quite a large spectrum. There was a Monet,
Chemin de halage à Argenteuil (Towpath at Argenteuil, Winter), but I didn't take a picture.
It's a Sargent, and I'm a fan. Even this painting shows a great use of limited light. The van Gogh is here because it's his but also because I'd argue less well-known. The Seurat was fantastic. So simple and in his style. Standing there and looking at it you can feel the emotion and the texture of the crayon on paper was perfect.
I've seen Ernst in
Hartford,
Philly,
San Fran,
Boston,
Charlotte and now Buffalo. Kind of weird, but I like his work more each time. I liked this one quite a bit. I thought the boldness of Carcass of Beef was perfect for the subject. It's a Dali. I don't think I'll ever be disappointed seeing a Dali in person. Below left is
La voix des airs (The Voice of Space), 1928, oil on canvas, by
RENÉ MAGRITTE. There are four versions of this in oil. The most famous is in
Venice and this is the other publicly displayed one. Magritte painted the man and apple which you might recognize,
The Son of Man. I think it's great. Below right is
Nude Figure, late spring 1910, by Picasso. Classic Picasso.
If you get a chance to visit this museum, it's a go-see!
There are several paintings I didn't capture mainly because of time.
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