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 - More Interpretations and Shadowing a Mentor

Hello,

January 2019 is upon us. What with NFL playoff games, my binge watching of Chinese movies on Netflix, trying to get back into the groove of eating less and exercising more, and learning more and more about the Amon Carter Museum of American Art collection, my cup runneth over. I usually watch TV and work on my computer at the same time but, subtitled Chinese movies do not allow such luxury. Unless one understands Mandarin they must keep their eyes on the TV or forever be lost. The one thing about these movies is they are historically correct and take me back to the beginning of the first empires of China. So it is not mindless TV watching as much as catching up on my history. At least that is what I want to think.

I missed the class on 20th-century photography last week and regret doing it. Not only because I missed a learning opportunity but also because the curator took his time to give the class. However,  I did make this weeks class and it was outstanding. We started with a class discussion on the proper way to offer questions on our tours. The object is to get the guests we are giving the tour to an opportunity to get involved with the art. The trick is to not put them on the spot and in some cases to not let them take over the tour. It will take practice but I know I can do it.

Attention Company!

The second half of the class was spent with a few giving interpretations of the permanent collection. I was so impressed with their skill and learned a great deal about different ways of presenting the works. One in our class is a docent at the Modern Art Museum here in Ft Worth and also an art teacher. The work she interpreted was Attention Company! by William Harnett.

I have shown this picture before in another post. That interpretation was a comparison between this and a Mary Cassatt. This interpretation was just on this work and how it lent itself to the abstract. I found this to be an interesting take and one worth exploring more.

Two others did Thunderstorm on Narragansett Bay by Martin Johnson Heade. They pointed out that no one seems to be in a hurry to leave so maybe the storm is on its way out rather than in. The Civil War had happened shortly before Heade painted this piece. The question, was reconstruction on his mind? Hard to say without his input. At any rate, it is a lovely rendition of a thunderstorm.

Thunderstorm on Narragansett Bay

Although there were many great interpretations I only have room for one more and it is one with a significant history.

The Swimming Hole

The Swimming Hole by Thomas Eakins is a masterpiece that was not used by The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts during an exhibition because the students and Eakins himself are recognizable. Eakins had been forbidden to use students as models. He eventually had to resign because of having a male nude in his class where a woman student was present. The work became part of the collection of the Fort Worth Art Association, the institutional predecessor of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. When the Art Association decided to sell it The Amon Carter purchased it. Ruth Carter Stevenson chose it as one of the paintings to hang in President John F. Kennedy's hotel room the night he and the First Lady spent in Ft Worth.

I wish I could tell you about more of the wonderful interpretations by our class but need to move on to lunch with my lovely mentor Subie. We enjoyed lunch at The Cafe Modern in the above mentioned Modern Art Museum. Then I followed along on her tour of the ACMAA. We had a large group and it was great that they were interactive with Subie. This is what our goal is, to hopefully have the guests get involved with the art. We ended the tour upstairs with the western art of Remington and Russell. I am ashamed to say I had not yet been up there and was not aware that the ACMAA has every one of Charles Russell's western sculptures plus one he did of Douglas Fairbanks as D'Artagnan in 1921.  Mary Pickford actually asked him to create it. Just proves every art piece has a history and some of them have a very interesting story to tell.

Douglas Fairbanks as D'Artaganan - 1921

If you have a chance you must make it to ACMAA and view all of the terrific works by Charles Russell and Frederic Remington. Thank you Subie for a wonderful tour.

Well an NFL playoff game is coming on and it appears it is snowing in Kansas City so until next week please keep art on your mind and in the schools.

Warmly,
Caroline

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 - 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.
.

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 - 19th Century Photography

Hello again,

Cannot believe it has been two weeks since last class and since I last posted a blog. A lot of things has happened but here is the blog as promised.

Class was a very enlightening and entertaining journey into the history of photography. We all gathered at a table while John Rohrbeck, Senior Curator of Photographs, took us through the start of photography in the 19th century up to the 1890s. It included Daguerreotypes such as this one. The below print is a one-of-a-kind as are all Daguerreotypes. The ladies are unknown but in my opinion they are very charming. Think about it; we know nothing of their lives but they will be able to be seen for as long as this photograph exists. Here is a link to the ACMCC photographs shown on the web ACMAA Photographs. They cannot possibly have all 45,000 prints on the web but you will see a sample. I have borrowed a couple of the images shown on the website to give you a sample.

Two Women Posed With A Chair - 1850
Albert Sands Southworth (1811-1894)

I will not attempt to educate you on the different types of photographic processes used in the 19th century as it would just fill up this valuable space with a lot of facts and figures. I will however give you a link from the ACMAA that explains it all in a PDF. ACMCC PDF on photography processes. 

In an age where our phones are our way of recording and instantly sharing our lives, down to what we eat,  it is difficult to realize how important being photographed was to the people of the 19th century. Even the dead were photographed as a record and for remembrance. Before photography a person would have to have a portrait painter create their portrait and since there were different levels of skill the paintings sometime left a lot to be desired. But being photographed was not easy either as one would have to sit still and not blink for a long time. No wonder most people look stern and at times a little goofy.

Photography was not only used for portraits it did become a way of showing people the great western frontier such as this Albumen silver print.

Ancient Ruins in the Cañon de Chelle, N. M. in a Niche 50 Feet above Present Cañon Bed, 1873 Timothy H. O’Sullivan (1840–1882)

You should keep in mind that the image on paper could only be as large as the negative which was a glass plate. Imagine how difficult it was for the photographer to create images such as above and below. When people viewed these works they wanted to see the West and photographs such as these are responsible for a great deal of the travel west. The photographs also had a great deal to do with the establishment of national parks.

Canon of the Rio Las Animas, 1882William Henry Jackson (1843–1942)

One also has to remember that photography was used extensively to record the Civil War between the states. Since they did not have cameras that could record action they had to stage the shots. It must have been terrible to walk through the remnants of a battlefield with the carnage and smell to take the photographs. Just as photographs of the Viet Nam war made people aware of how horrible war really is, the recording of the Civil War made people aware that it was not the glorious adventure they thought it would be. Since I am a bit of a pacifist and an 'old flower child' I will not go into my thoughts on war.

Burying The Dead by Timothy H. O'Sullivan

However photographs recorded much, much more than death and gave us a great history of the Civil War. Check out the National Archives selection at National Archives civil war photographs to see a wealth of photographs on this subject. The photograph above is from their selection.

In January we will have a class on 20th century photography and I will use that class to go deeper into the social aspects of how life and minds were changed by photography and indeed writing. Also we will discuss how photography became an art form. But next is 20th century painting and sculpture. Unfortunate that I missed the first class on this subject but will catch you up the best I can.

In the meantime take a bit of time to explore the wonderful world of photography.

Until later my friends,

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