Monterey Museum of Art x2

2012-09-08:  I visited the MMA for a Saturday event.  The museum is in two locations: MMA-Pacific Street and MMA-La Mirada.  You can easily see them both in one afternoon as they're not that large.  On Pacific, there are three floors but the lowest floor holds a library and classrooms.  The MMA-La Mirada is in an old house which was donated for the purpose of a museum.  The house, and its courtyard, are impressive.  The art is the original furniture, the garden and the architecture.  There is an addition which holds the collection.  Below are the two locations:

MMA-Pacific Street (l) andMMA-La Mirada (r)

The MMA-Pacific had a Auguste Rodin exhibition during my visit.  I also saw a Rodin exhibit in Tennessee in 2008, but exhibits of bronze work are always interesting/frustrating to me.  There can be several castings of pieces so you never really know if you're looking at the first or one of a set of original castings.  Museums are pretty good a labeling pieces as such, but not always.  It would be great if museums could procure/display the original mold and/or sculpture...there is (usually) only one of those.  There were other collections - several photographs, but photographs and I have an unusual relationship - and a few pieces which caught my attention  are below:

 Mary deNeale Morgan, Untitled (l) and William F. Ritschel, Mammoth Cove (r)

At the MMA-La Mirada I found an awesome collection of Gottardo Piazzoni's final murals. Below is the The Forest (one of fourteen and one of the "last four") and here is a description of the set.

I also enjoyed Ilya Bolotowsky's Orange Tondo (circa 1973).  This abstract style (embracing cubism and geometric abstraction) seems to often agitate people I know.  Usually followed by comments similar to "I could have done that" or "that would be easy".  My response is standard..."but he/she did it first".

Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981), Orange Tondo, 1973, Silkscreen 

Final assessment of the museums...I thought they were a little limited.  For an "artsy" town, I was expected a bit more.  Both museums were well maintained and enjoyable but just limited in size and collection.  There is value in this.  You don't feel rushed to see everything.  It doesn't take a day to see both museums.  I would recommend visiting them, but just manage your expectations.  A couple more shots of the MMA-La Mirada...

La Mirada's garden (l) and the living room (r)