Docent in Training - More Interpretations

Well Hello,

I am a week late writing this blog and should be ashamed, but, the world did not stop on its axis so I assume all is ok. Last weeks class was more interpretations with the addition of transitions from one piece to another by our docent interns. I bowed out as I was not prepared. It was much to the disappointment of the class as they wanted to see if I could once again walk on my tongue while talking. I will not be so fortunate to escape on the 31st class as we will be having to do interpretations with our mentors. It really should be fun and Subie (my mentor) is so wonderful I know it will be most beneficial to me.

In the meantime, this weeks presenters once again did a stellar job. They included:

Pat presenting  Diana by Agustus Saint-Gaudens. This 126-year-old, 7-foot cement and plaster statue of Diana, in Roman mythology, goddess of the moon and the hunt, was a gift from Saint-Gaudens to the renowned architect Stanford White. It stayed in the garden on White's estate for 30 years and in the 1980s was purchased by the ACMAA ending up in the basement.  Curator Maggie Adler was at the forefront of getting the statue restored under the guidance of Adam Jenkins and Diana is now once again in her glory. Word of note, this statue never had a bow with or an arrow and I learned the difference between concrete and cement. Write up of the ACMAA work on Diana can be found here Amon Carter Museum and Diana

Diana - 1894

There have been rumors that the model was the mistress of Stanford White, however, she was born in 1884 and not old enough to be the model or mistress when Diana was created. There is a movie about the rumor "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" starring none other than the beautiful Joan Collins. You can read more about the original Diana here Diana.

Augustas Saint-Gaudens - 1848-1907

Augustas Saint-Gaudens was born in France but was brought to America as a baby. We are truly a nation of immigrants. 

Sunrise, Yosemite Valley - 1870
Albert Bierstadt - 1830-1902

Julie interpreted Albert Bierstadt's painting Sunrise, Yosemite Valley, shown above. This painting's luminous appearance cannot be done justice on a computer screen. Bierstadt was born in Europe and again was brought to this county at a very early age. He loved the Rockies and took every opportunity to go there. His paintings were very large and so wonderfully bright. The majesty of the Rockies is evident throughout.

Bill interpreted Thomas Cole's The Hunters Return. Again you can see the wonderful use of light in this work. The story in Bierstadt's Yellowstone painting is the beauty of nature, but the story in Cole's Hunter's painting is a happy family greeting the hunters who are saddled with a heavy load of meat. There is a garden and one knows the food will be put by for the winter that will be coming soon by the looks of the trees. Cole was also concerned with the destruction of the forest by settlers. Both Cole and Bierstadt were part of the Hudson River School.

The Hunter's Return - 1845
Thomas Cole - 1841-1848

Beth gave a wonderful interpretation of three paintings that were created in a span of 100 years by three different artists. You will see in these paintings how art changed during that span of time.

Up first is Raphaelle Peale's Peaches and Grapes in a Chinese Basket. Peale was from an artist family and painted in trompe l'oeil. He was the first American still life painter as his family did portraits.  Portrait below of Raphaelle was Charles Wilson Peale.

Raphaelle Peale - 1774-1825

Find out more about Raphaelle here Raphaelle Peale.

Next is Still Life of Flowers and Fruit With a River Landscape in the Distance by Severin Roesen.  This rather large painting with a rather large title was a recurring theme for Roesen an immigrant from Germany.  His attention to detail combined with his exceptional skill makes this painting a joy to stand and study. The flowers, of course, would not all be in bloom at the same time. The beer glass is a nod from Roesen to his favorite beverage.

Still Life of Flowers and Fruit With a River Landscape in the Distance - 1867

Severin Roesen - 1816-1872

Last in Beth's presentation is The Lobster by Arthur Dove shown below. Arthur was considered America's first abstract painter.

I will go out on a limb here and say I find The Lobster to be more impressionist than abstract so please let me know (politely) if you disagree. More about abstract art here what is abstract art? and impressionist art here What is impressionism?

The Lobster - 1908

Arthur Dove - 1880-1946

No matter the style during a tour with Subie one of the guests announced that "the lobster looked drunk." Arthur was part of the Stieglitz group and was friends with Charles Demuth and Georgia O'Keeffe. He was expected to have a profession that would achieve wealth by his parents but chose art instead. He was a commercial illustrator early in his career. You can find out more about this interesting person here More about Dove .

And there you have it. 100 years of art in three paintings by three different artists. Thank you Beth.




The last two interpretations were done by Katherine and Susie and included two sculptures and one painting. To keep this post as short as I like to I will not include their presentations, but, trust me they were outstanding. Thank you, ladies.

Time to publish this piece or I will be in next weeks class.

Until next time,

Caroline

Docent In Training - First Attempt at a Object Interpretation

Hello again,

I have a friend that uses the expression "Don't get tangled up in your own underwear". But that is exactly what I did during my first object interpretation. I became so involved with all of the facts about the artist I forgot the object. Georgia O'Keeffe was my artist and believe me there is enough written about her to give long talks on, but people can look all that up on their own. What they come to an art museum to experience is art, not some long-winded docent rolling out fact after fact about the artist.

Rancho Church

What I should have been talking about is above. What I talked mostly on is below. Georgia and Alfred.

I started with the question "would there have been a Georgia O'Keeffe without an Alfred Stieglitz." I would not have asked that question had the group been any other than my classmates. It was and is a good question but asked at the wrong time. I should have discussed the beautiful mission first before even talking about Georgia and Alfred. Lesson learned.

Others of our group did a much better job. I was impressed with their skill and really enjoyed the evening. Below are two of their choices for object interpretation.

Fall of the Cowboy - Frederick Remington 

Crossing the Pasture - Winslow Homer

Next week we are assigned our mentors. Cannot wait.

Vaya con Dios,

Caroline

Docent in Training - Sculpture and Painting in 20th Century

Hello again,

Grrr! I had this post complete, I thought it was saved but Blogger was pulling the wool over my eyes and all was lost. Try, try again.

This weeks class was about 20th-century sculpture and painting with a bit of history thrown in. It was not live but a wonderful presentation recording of curator Shirley Reese-Hughes served as a great stand-in. In a way, it might have allowed us to concentrate on the PowerPoint presentation more. As usual, I will only hit a few of the highlights as she covered far too much territory for this little blog.

First up:

Chef d'Orchestre 1919

This simplistic stained Cherrywood sculpture by Elie Nadelman says so much with so little. Elie was born in Poland and was aided by Helena Rubenstein, she who owned the great makeup empire, in coming to America during World War I. There was a lot of antisemitism at the time.  He was interested in folk art as the beautiful Chef attests to. He and his wife lived well, collected folk art and even opened a museum to exhibit it. However; the stock market crash took it all. Elie taught sculpture for art therapy at the Bronx Veterans Hospital. Sadly Elie committed suicide when he found out the fate of many of his relatives in Poland during World War II.
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Elie Nadelman (1882-1946)

For a more in depth discussion on Eliasz (Elie) Nadelman see this web page About Elie Nadelman

Louise Nevelson (1899-1988)

Another sculpture presented to us is by Louise Nevelson who was brought to America in 1905 by her family to escape an oppressive government in the Russian Empire. Again antisemitism.

Louise was recycling before it became cool. Her works were created with found wood objects. She put them together and painted the resulting sculpture a brown color. To me, they look like they belonged together all the time. Stunning work from a woman when women were not encouraged to be artists. Louise was very successful. One of her quotes is "I only know you can't give advice to an artist" maybe that type of courage is why she was so successful. I would like to ask her why she called this piece Lunar Landscape. You will find out more about Louise here About Louise Nevelson

Lunar Landscape 1959-1960

You might be thinking that the artists above were not born in America. That is OK as the art represented was made in America making it American art. Speaking of made in America, the next artist is one of the best this country ever produced. The one and only Georgia O'Keeffe. What a free, creative and talented spirit she was. I do not need to give you a website for Georgia. just google her and you will find hundreds. Her husband was the artistic photographer Alfred Stegliest. You can see her strong beauty in one of his many photos of her below.

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)

Although Alfred lived in New York and Georgia lived in New Mexico their love continued on. She exhibited some of her paintings in his studio. You can see the age difference in the photo below

Georgia and Alfred

Georgia's magnetic beauty is captured in this photo by Alfred below.

Now to show you a couple of her works. She loved flowers but did not try to capture the whole flower. This made her work even more interesting. She was disturbed that critics called some of her paintings sexual as that was not her intent. Notice how she draws your eye to the center of the flower by putting a bit of vertical yellow. A computer screen cannot possibly show the sheen and real beauty of this flower.

Red Cannas - 1927

Before we leave Georgia I have one more picture of hers. This particular church has been photographed and painted by many artists. Each in their own unique style. This is the back of the church found to be more interesting than the front. If you get to Taos, New Mexico check it out. Maybe do your own version of it.

Rancho Church - 1930

You do get a sense of the bare landscape in the area. Artists loved this area and as you may know, there is a big art colony in Taos and Santa Fe. You might even spot an alien or two if you look closely.

 I have one more of the many artists shown to us in this class. He is Charles Demuth from Lancaster, PA. I chose him because like Georgia he is one of my favorites.

Charles Demuth (1883-1935)

Charles painted beautiful watercolors and only turned to painting with oils later in his life. He was part of the precisionism movement. I am totally in love with his work. Spouse and I had a chance to go through his museum in his house in Lancaster. It is well worth the trip. See more on Charles here More about Charles Demuth.

Talk about a small world. Charles was part of the Stieglitz group and was friends with Georgia O'Keeffe. He drew and painted many of the buildings in his hometown Lancaster. his work defies description so let us take a look at one.

Chimney and Water Tower - 1931

Now you can see why it is called precisionism. Every part of this painting is so well planned and splendidly executed. A very limited palette is all that is needed to achieve a painting that one can get lost in. Nothing goes to waste here.

Well, we made it to the end, again, and I believe this time I will be able to publish it. Remember you can get a taste of what is in the ACMAA here http://www.cartermuseum.org/


Until next weeks class,

Caroline

Docent in Training - Introduction to Photography

Steamfitter 1921 - Lewis Hine (1874-1940)

 Hello,

You should be able to guess what this weeks class was about by the photograph above. You got it: photography or rather an introduction to the history of photography. In an era where anyone that has a smart phone and snaps pictures right and left; it is easy to forget that true photography exists. But it does and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (ACMAA) has one of the most important collections of this medium to be had. Below is from the museums web page.

The Amon Carter houses over 45,000 photographic prints, making the museum one of the country’s major repositories of American photography. The holdings span the history of the photographic medium, from one of the earliest daguerreotypes made in this country to inkjet prints being made today. Because of the fragile nature of photographs, the works on view change frequently and may not include images featured on the website.

If you are not close enough to the ACMAA to visit here is a link to some of the collection. http://www.cartermuseum.org/collection/photographs. No, they do not have all 45,000 prints on the web page and of course you will not be able to see all of the collection, but there will be something on view as mentioned above.

Photograph means writing with light from the early Greek. It has also been called by some painting with light. Either is an apt description of photography because light and a means to record it are essential. If you are interested in the history of photography please visit this web page http://www.photo-museum.org/photography-history/

Now the ACMAA would not have such an extensive selection of photography if in the early 20th century a group led by Alfred Stieglitz had not created the Photo-Secession group. They believed that photography can be an art form and I among many, many others totally agree. A beautiful silver gelatin print such as the one above and the two below can take my breath away.

The one of Georgia O'Keefe was taken by her husband Alfred Stieglitz and the ballet slippers was taken and printed by my husband Dave Laskowski. The ballet slippers are not part of the Amon Carter collection.  I urge you to look at photography as the beautiful art form it is.

The last part of the class had to do with how to engage visitors to the museum while giving a tour. It was fun. Next week we will go behind the scenes with the photography curator. A class I am very much looking forward to.

Will let you know how it goes,

Caroline