Lower Level

John Huftalen (American, New Yorker, 1948-)
Lower Level
Metropolitan Museum

Image: http://www.jlhphotographics.com/coppermin/displayimage.php?album=19&pos=7

Hi Dad! It had to happen, here is a wonderful work by my father. I do hope it is okay. I believe it was taken with his Diana camera which he began to experiment with in the last few years (is that right?). There isn't much control with the camera (simple, plastic camera, prone to light leaks) so the shot relies so much on the intuition and eye of the photographer. I had a little trouble choosing between a few from dad's urban photos, oddly enough it came down to a scene of a Manhattan crowd and this image empty of people.

What is interesting to me is that while there are no figures in the image there it still doesn't seem isolated. As I gaze I keep expecting someone to walk into the shot, or one of the trees to turn into a figure. As quiet and still as the image appears the juxtaposition of the sharpness of the center of the image and the blur around the edges creates a movement (also in the shadows of the branches on the building).

As the title shows, this is a small portion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a megolith of a building full of treasures and beauty, yet it is awesome to see how simple, pure and beautiful this little corner of it's outside world can be through the eyes of an artist. Yet, this could be any corner in any city and that brings an additional wonder. Thanks Dad, for your passion and your eye. Happy Birthday to you again!

Check out more of John Huftalen's work at http://www.jlhphotographics.com/

Soutine Landscape

Landscape at Cagnes, ca.1923
Chaim Soutine (Lithuanian, 1883-1943)
Oil on canvas
23 13/16 x 28 3/4 in.
Art Institute of Chicago 1947.114
Image: artic.edu

It is becoming more common for me to discover the glorious landscapes of painters who I've known for very different subject matter. A similar find is the landscapes of Egon Schiele. I am more familiar with his work in general. Chaim Soutine is an artist I've always known but have only ever been able to associate with raw meat, sounds glorious doesn't it? I first encountered Soutine at my home art gallery, the Albright Knox, and passed by Soutine's Side of Beef, c.1925 (image: Britannica) on every trip to the museum. The artist's name never locked into my head until my graduate school (though I am sure I saw some more of his "food" paintings over the years. I have a love for expressionism and while I was not particularly fond of the subject matter (never have been of food in painting, despite my love for the real thing) I did start to find Soutine's style of painting attractive and interesting. A quick browse through a catalog of his work recently prompted me to take up some more research into his work and I discovered his glorious landscapes. Rich and twisted and dramatic with their skewed perspective and rich application of painting, I would love to live in any of the towns and cities he depicts.

His portraits are wonderful too, you will see a very strong affinity with those of Amedeo Modigliani (a friend).

Suburban Paris

Malakoff, 1898
Henri Rousseau
oil on canvas, 45,7 × 55,2 cm
National Gallery of Prague
photo: Wikimedia Commons

More familiar with Rousseau's jungle scenes, I recently came across one of his suburban landscapes. Rousseau's jungle and forest scenes are sizeable canvasses, and were produced for Salon shows in Paris in the late 19th c. These canvasses didn't make Rousseau a living, so he painted more intimate canvases of suburban Paris to sell and support himself.

We are used to seeing a thriving metropolis of Paris during this time, but Rousseau focuses on the modest every day of citizens. In contrast to Rousseau's large canvasses which are bold and bright and exotic, there is a familiarity in these smaller paintings that I like very much. In addition to the simple shapes that earthly colors that fill up the canvas.