Docent in Training - Our Mentors

Hello again,

This weeks meeting was really exciting as we met our mentors. Some of the active docents have given their time to help us become ready to guide interested parties through the museum. After meeting them the mentors gave us some object interpretations and believe me it was most interesting. As I mentioned last week I stepped on my own tongue during my object interpretation, so, it was great to see how it really should be done.

I will list three of them. I have not yet asked permission to use names in this blog so will not name who gave which presentation. If I did not use your example and you read this blog, my apologies, it was not your interpretation just my need to conserve space. The point of tonight's exercise was to show different ways to interpret objects on our tours.

First was a brief talk about the museum itself including the Henry Moore sculpture in the front of the museum.

Henry Moore Sculpture

 Here is a picture of the sculpture. It exhibits all of Moore's strong, solid artistic ability.

Alexander Calder Study

Inside of the museum is the Alexander Calder study that was considered but not used. A beautiful piece and in my opinion, it displays Calder's playfulness.






















When viewing the very large Remington work Dash for the Timber we were asked what sounds would we hear if it was possible to hear the painting. Answers were horses' hoofs, Indians yelling, guns firing, pans clattering. We were then asked to emulate these sounds as a group. Imagine the fun of a bunch of adults making loud sounds. This is a great way to get people to really look at an action painting.

Dash for the Timber - 1889 Frederic Remington

 Another way to have people look at art is to do a comparison between two objects. The works, of course, need to be close enough to each other for a comparison. The active docent doing this interpretation chose two excellent examples.

Attention Company! - 1878 William Harnett

Attention Company! is one of William Harnett's few portraits. He was a trompe l'loeil (fool the eye) painter and mostly painted still lifes. He was an Irish-American painter and was born in County Cork Ireland during the time of the potato famine.

Woman Standing - 1878-1879 Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was an impressionist painter from Pennsylvania that was befriended by Edgar Degas upon moving to Paris, where she spent the rest of her life. She exhibited with other impressionist painters and is best known for her women and children works.

We were asked to compare the two works for differences in the subjects. Notice I said subjects because it is obvious they are painted in two different styles. Two of the answers were: the young man is gazing out intently at you where the woman seems to be unaware she is being observed. The young man is poor as shown by his clothes where the woman is one of privilege, again as shown by her clothes. This is just another way to get people to really look at the painting. Perhaps you can also see differences in the subjects.

Our next class is not until Jan 3, 2019, and will be on 20th-century photography.

Until then,

Caroline

Docent in Training - Second Evening With a Curator

Happy Rainy Friday the 19th of October,

Last nights class was as excellent as I expected. Curator Maggie Adler contains a wealth of information, but alas, she is also a very busy woman so I did not get to ask her a couple of questions about how a curator goes about their business. Maybe as the months roll by I will get a chance to speak with her one-on-one. Texas Christian University was also having guided tour classes last night and our docent instructor Nancy Strickland was able to attend them. Hope to find out more when we next meet in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime on to what you are reading this blog for. Sharing a few of the art and artists in the ACMAA (Amon Carter Museum of American Art) http://www.cartermuseum.org/collection that was discussed last night.

 William Merritt Chase 1849-1916) was a virtuoso artist and teacher experimenting in various mediums. The oil painting Idle Hours depicts Long Island's rural eastern tip. It shows Chase's wife, with two of his daughters and possibly his sister-in-law. Many Americans were craving a getting back to nature, not unlike today, and artists such as Chase painted just that.

Idle Hours - 1894

Docent In Training - First Evening With a Curator

Hello again,

This weeks class was presented by Maggie Adler curator of sculpture and paintings at the ACMAA. She presented and gave a background history of some of the 19th century arts in the collection of the ACMAA. I am so in love with lectures by persons with a passion for their work and Ms. Adler certainly has that. But passion is only a small part of the process. A curator has to know so much about art history that it boggles my mind. She will be teaching us again this next week on 20th century art of the museum and I hope to pick her mind, if permitted, about the process of knowing what is on the market and how to determine if it fits in the museum. Also knowing if it can be afforded is important.

Since you could not attend the class with me I will show you a couple of paintings that Ms. Adler presented and, give you a very brief description of the artist and, if possible, what lies behind the piece of work.

Johnson Martin Heade - Two Hummingbirds Above a White Orchid 1875-1890

Martin Johnson Heade - Thunderstorm on Narragansett Bay 1868

 Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) was born in Bucks County, PA. He is sometimes called a Hudson River School artist but he is also known for his hummingbird paintings, one of which is shown above. Unfortunate that the birds had to die to be still enough to paint. Hummingbird jewelry was also popular in that time period leading to an overkill of the beautiful little creatures. Heade had hoped to create a book on the South American birds but the cost was far too great so it did not happen. The Narragansett Bay painting was originally discovered in an antiques store in Larchmont, NY. Thunderstorm was the centerpiece of the show Ominous Hush: The Thunderstorm Paintings by Martin Johnson Heade at the ACMAA, among other museums, in 1994.

To learn more about Heade use this link
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1381.html

Thomas Cole - The Hunter's Return 1845

  When one looks at this painting by Thomas Cole (1801-1848) one sees an idyllic scene. A hunter returning home with food, wife and children rushing to greet him, a cabin and gardens. Lovely, but, Cole is also trying to convey the destruction of the landscape. Note the tree stumps in the lower right of the painting. Recognized as the creator of the Hudson River School of painting Cole did not live a long life but made a great impression on the art world. It is ironic to me that Cole built a house in the area he most wanted to preserve.
For more on Cole follow this link
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1155.html

Robert Seldon Duncanson - The Caves 1869

  Robert Seldon Duncanson (1821-1872) was one of few African-American painters in the 19th century. He left the country for Canada during the civil war. Some of his work is said to be references to slavery and he was popular with abolitionists. The caves may or may not have been used for underground rescue of slaves. Duncanson spent the majority of his career in Cincinnati, Ohio and helped develop the Ohio River Valley landscape tradition.

For more on Seldon Duncanson follow this link
https://americanart.si.edu/artist/robert-s-duncanson-1353


I will be posting again no later then this Sunday, October 21 on the class of the 18th which will be even more interesting. In the meantime if you are interested in the collection of the Amon Carter try this link. www.cartermuseum.org/collection.

Adios amigos,

Caroline