One of the joys of free museums is the opportunity to enter a museum with 35 minutes of free time and take a marvellous tour through the galleries that expose you to new artists and art forms. I experienced this joy today at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, which is having its annual "Free Summer" days.
I'm attending the United Society of Friends Women International Triennial in Cedar Rapids, and this afternoon there were buy-in tours of area interests. I did not sign up, and held my own self-guided tour of downtown Cedar Rapids. The highlight was the small art museum, which I would not have visited were it not for the free days.
Here is a smattering.
This exhibit sought to answer the question, "What makes American art American?" What themes or ideas have inspired an art form that is notably different from that of other countries? In the 18th century American artists generally travelled to Europe to train in the art schools there, but by the 19th century (this same phenomenon happened in literature, actually) artists were basically conducting their own training here, establishing their own methods and techniques.
The museum also had several pieces from Rodin's work representing important people in French cultural life. The pieces of Balzac, Hugo and Claude Lorrain evoked what must have been the larger than life personalities of these men. The whole placard on Lorrain is worth reading; I love that Rodin tried to let the light dance off the statue in a way that would mimic the effect Lorrain admired in the sun (which he is presumably observing); both the subject and the audience are enjoying the same light effect. That's cool.
One of the things I like about my one-time-local art museum The Farnsworth in Rockland, Maine, is the gallery devoted to the Wyeth family painters. There is something gratifying about looking at a family of artists, imaging these people in the same home, the love of their work being passed down as much across breakfast conversation and rural vista-viewing as in DNA.
A similar exhibit at the CR Museum of Art showed the Lasansky family, primarily father Mauricio and son Diego, print makers both.
There was a video which nicely showed the technique involved in making a print, which I hadn't known at all. I love this wall of Martin Luthers.
I'm attending the United Society of Friends Women International Triennial in Cedar Rapids, and this afternoon there were buy-in tours of area interests. I did not sign up, and held my own self-guided tour of downtown Cedar Rapids. The highlight was the small art museum, which I would not have visited were it not for the free days.
Here is a smattering.
This exhibit sought to answer the question, "What makes American art American?" What themes or ideas have inspired an art form that is notably different from that of other countries? In the 18th century American artists generally travelled to Europe to train in the art schools there, but by the 19th century (this same phenomenon happened in literature, actually) artists were basically conducting their own training here, establishing their own methods and techniques.
These show a bit of the diversity in the museum's collection of the styles that emerged. I love that each of them, either in its style of its subject, is cheeky. I think cheekiness is a definite theme in American art.
The museum also had several pieces from Rodin's work representing important people in French cultural life. The pieces of Balzac, Hugo and Claude Lorrain evoked what must have been the larger than life personalities of these men. The whole placard on Lorrain is worth reading; I love that Rodin tried to let the light dance off the statue in a way that would mimic the effect Lorrain admired in the sun (which he is presumably observing); both the subject and the audience are enjoying the same light effect. That's cool.
One of the things I like about my one-time-local art museum The Farnsworth in Rockland, Maine, is the gallery devoted to the Wyeth family painters. There is something gratifying about looking at a family of artists, imaging these people in the same home, the love of their work being passed down as much across breakfast conversation and rural vista-viewing as in DNA.
A similar exhibit at the CR Museum of Art showed the Lasansky family, primarily father Mauricio and son Diego, print makers both.
There was a video which nicely showed the technique involved in making a print, which I hadn't known at all. I love this wall of Martin Luthers.
Art. A Marriott in the Mid West seems like it would be an artistic wasteland. And indeed it is, except for the market place packed in the suitcases of Kenyan and Jamaican Friends women. Also, the outfits of the Kenyan women make up for the deficit of any number of bland hotels along this state route. Not to mention the emotional power and spiritual heft of their singing, which we have been treated to daily.
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