Entrance to the
Cincinnati Museum. Nice building, cool location on top of a hill, and Pinocchio greets you as you drive up. It's
Pinocchio (Emotional) by
Jim Dine, 2007 in bronze. Below is my ticket. Great place to visit if you have the time and it is certainly on my recommendation list.
I had a stopover in Cincinnati the day before Halloween and had enough time to visit the Cincinnati Art Museum. I’ve been to the Queen City before but either didn’t have enough time to visit or wasn’t aware of the museum. Once nice thing about being downtown is sites like this museum typically aren’t that far away. Below is what caught my eye and may or may not be accompanied by commentary.
R: The reverse of the panel in the center - with a scene very rare in central Italian art.
So, these are here because they're Mantegna and Botticelli - enough said. Let's not forget these are 557 to 531 years old. I'm glad the Mantegna caught my eye - because it's his and because the detail is something you can't believe came from that era. It literally looks like a print. A high-quality print. The Botticelli, well, it's pretty amazing Cincinnati has a Botticelli and what I would call a rather rare one with the painting on the back. It's in a case so you can see both sides. For reference and something you might recognize, Mantegna painted
The Lamentation of Christ and Botticelli painted
The Birth of Venus.
Another great example of
chiaroscuro in The Liberation of St Peter. You don't often see saints portrayed as children which caused me to snap the middle picture. The El Greco is here because it's his. Of note, I'd just seen some other El Greco paintings a few weeks early at Newfields in Indianapolis. I like El Greco's rawness.
The Two Sisters is here because this is the artist who painted Obama's
official portrait. You'd probably recognize it. I'm not a huge fan, but it's always good to see an actual piece from someone who has famous work. Also, I thought it was interesting that he drew inspiration from an 1843 double portrait by
Théodore Chassériau - also called
The Two Sisters. The Percy piece is here because it's wax! Pretty impressive. And the Wyeth is here because of
Christina's World - a painting I fell in love with the first time I saw it. It's probably his most notable work. I wasn't particularly struck by
Henry Teel, but I really liked that you can see the exact style and traits in
Christina's World. Maybe it's not bad to have a 'style'.
I was fortunate enough to see another Hopper. They get me every time. Parrish's tree has incredible detail and use of light - and a great title. He did some really cool and surreal work. His
Daybreak, was considered the most successful art print of the 20th century by the
National Museum of American Illustration. The Henri is her because it's a fantastic portrait. He was in a mood of being disinterested in painting well-to-do people while in Maine. Instead he focused on working class communities such as the
Roma. Patience, a spirited Roma child, appears in several portraits he painted while in Maine. Another great title.
The Singer Sargent is here because it's his. I don't particularly like this one, but it's a Sargent. Tanner's is here because I'm rather enthralled with nocturnal scenes. Also, I'm pretty certain I saw his
The Annunciation in
Philadelphia but didn't take a picture. Inness's piece is here because of the light. It's a relatively bland scene but the light on the trunk really gets your attention. A very thing I'm working on.
Similar to Sargent's painting, this Homer is here because it's a Homer. I'd also add, it's a rather unique Homer as many of his scenes are outside - and so wonderful. The L.A. Roberts is here because it's quite unusual for early 20th Century, uses great colors, and also its mystery. L.A. Roberts is a real mystery American self-taught artist whose true identity remains completely unknown. Cool to see one of his works. I gather it's known he was a man, but which man remains to be determined. The Peale is here because he painted several famous portraits of Washington - he painted over 1000 paintings. This portrait of Bailey is very representative of his work. On the opposite wall (and below) is his son, Rembrandt Peale's George Washington. Arguably just as famous.
Peale painted his first portrait of Washington at the age of 17 and made at least 79 portraits - ever determined to create a heroic representation of the man. Now, this was a Sargent to see. Even he said of this work, "I have never painted a better head". The Matisse is here because it's his.
Woman with a Hat is probably familiar and definitely trend setting, but one could argue
Romanian Blouse is in a museum because it's a Matisse.
I liked the softness and palette of Springtime. Duveneck uses great bold and powerful strokes but still gets the image and feel he wants. The guard and ship leave no doubt as to what he wants us to focus on. I also appreciate the unfinished lower portion of the guard. I like doing that sometimes. It let's people fill in the blanks but the bigger point is they really don't need to be filled in.
Some more Duveneck work. Great self portrait with those bold strokes of his and great lighting. The Memorial was interesting to see. I saw a marble version in
Boston and the bronze is in Florence. This plaster version was actually given to the museum by Duveneck. Full circle.
Great exhibit and he had neat style which he called "minimal realism". Here are some of my favs...
L: Who are You? (Flounder and Angelfish), 1951, color screen print on watercolor wash paper
C: Catfish, 1952, gouache and cut paper on illustration board
R: Jesus Bugs, 1960, acrylic on canvas
L: Sunfish, 1952, gouache and cut paper on illustration board
R: The Animal Kingdom, 1968, gouache on paper on illustration board
The Animal Kingdom was a preliminary design where the gallery notes, "it's easy to guess the reasons why this dark preliminary design was rejected, with an owl whisking away its prey, circling bats, and nocturnal creatures at large; it could trigger nightmares in small children". My note...no comment.
L: Brief Bio, 1968, color screen print on paper
R: Fearless Feathers, 1987, acrylic on canvas
He had great work and cleaver titles/stories associated with his pieces.
Brief Bio, for instance, is comment on the short life span of the Luna Moth - they don't even have time to eat (and that's barring a mishap). I also took a picture of this because I was blessed to have a
Luna show up in my yard in 2017.
Fearless Feathers is a more straightforward title, but it's more a commentary on the fierceness of the hummingbird - here chasing an airplane. But for all their macho, they can actual perish in a spider's web. Harper made great things and had a good run, making it to 84 years old.
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