Ceramic Horn

Ceramic Horn
France, late 18th or early 19th century
Glazed pottery
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 89.4.1115

How cool is this horn? Sadly this hunting horn was used for decorative display only. Covered in blue flowers, the horn also bears an unidentified coat of arms. Check the image out full-screen and zoom.

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/

Enchanting tendrils

Roxy Paine (b.1966)
Maelstrom
stainless steel
weighing over seven tons and measuring 130 feet long by 45 feet wide.
Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
April 28 - October 25, 2009
Image: http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/roxy-paine/ Photo: Sheila Griffin


These are the types of things that make me miss NYC with a passion. Heading up to to the Met's roof for art. This looks to be one of the best they've had. If you can get to nyc by November 29 do it and go see it and tell me all about it! Please check out more of Paine's work here:
http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/roxy-paine/#

Paine's tree sculptures are incredible. Maelstrom brings more into the tree. It is one of Paine's "Dendroids based on systems such as vascular networks, tree roots, industrial piping, and fungal mycelia" (http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={6267CA47-491B-4776-A468-0673F8362B0F}) It takes hardens the natural tendril quality of the tree in steel with the backdrop of Central Park. Digital images surely don't do it any kind of remote justice, as I imagine the experience of wandering through the tendrils and hollows of the negative space which the branches create. I'm not sure how Paine's work has escaped my knowledge for this long.

For a great short article about this work, I recommend checking out Roxy on the Roof by Max Weintraub via the art:20 blog.

Mother and child

Young Mother Sewing, 1900
Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926)
Oil on canvas
36 3/8 x 29 in.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Image: Heilbrunn Timeline

I was reminded of Mary Cassatt's birthday by an Art of the Day reader along with a suggestion to celebrate that with a week of women artists. I'm going to try to include some good links to more women artists in related subject areas. So, we start the week off (a little late!) with Mary Cassatt.

An American expatriate, Cassatt spent most of her adult life in France where she met Edgar Degas and eventually exhibited with the Impressionists which influenced her work. Cassatt chose her vocation, entering art school at the age of 15. With only minor support from family she stayed focused on the artistic life, believing that her career was not compatible with family life (which unfortunately was so often the case). Cassatt's popularity lies in her extensive focus on the subject of mother and child. I'm drawn by this particular work due to the little girl's gaze at the viewer.

Women Artists in Nineteenth-Century France

Medieval statuary

Shrine of the Virgin, ca. 1300
German; Made in Rhine Valley
Oak, linen covering, polychromy, gilding, gesso; Overall: 14 1/2 x 13 5/8 x 5 1/8in. (36.8 x 34.6 x 13cm) closed: W. 5in. (12.7cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art (17.190.185) (Image)

In a search for carved ivory (which will surely be appearing soon in a future post) I came across thia beautiful statuette/altarpiece.

When closed we see the virgin Mary nursing the Christ Child, the child holding a dove (of the Holy Spirit). When opened it turns into an altarpiece. The interior of the 2 side wings of the altarpiece have painted scenes of the nativity.

Springtime

Springtime ca. 1894-99
Maurice Denis (French, 1870-1943)
Oil on canvas; 31 1/2 x 38 1/2 in.
Double-sided canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art (image)

This awful weather we are having, wet snow and chilly temperatures, needs to stop. It has inspired thoughts of spring (which was here on Saturday!) so here is a painting with a perfect title, springtime. As we are also nearing Easter, Denis' painting is particularly fitting.

"Denis draws a parallel between the flowering sapling in the center (a symbol of spring, renewal, and Easter) and the maidens." (Heilbrunn Timeline)

Maurice Denis was a founding member of the Nabis group and associated with the Symbolists, active in the late 19th century (1888-1899). Spirituality and theory drove his work. The Nabis blurred the boundaries between art and craft, rejecting representational painting, preferring to focus on shape and color which is particularly evident in this work by Denis. While this is a study for a much larger, more detailed painting, many of Denis' works maintain this soft color palette, idealizing figures, presenting an abstract idea as opposed to a specific event through the flatness of the picture plane. This flatness was one of the lead ins to the modernism of the early 20th century.

Burghers of Calais

Burghers of Calais, modeled 1884-95
Auguste Rodin
bronze cast - 1985
lost wax casting of plaster model
H. 82 1/2 in.
Metropolitan Museum of of Art

Right hand image - first casting of sculpture in Calais, France. Installed 1895.
Image: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/rodin/rodin_calais.html

One of the fascinating things about sculpture is the reproduction ability. Note the sculpture owned by the Met was cast in 1985, while the original was cast in 1895.

I discovered The Burghers of Calais during study for my first lecture hall lecture in graduate school. The work, along with much late 19th century work was strikingly different from my initial focus on Impressionism. The expression imbued in this monument is incredible, it works out now only of the subject matter (click on title above to get an overview of the story) of the sculpture but the texture and modeling, the position of the figures, facial expression, arm gestures and the hanging of heads. This approach to the monument was controversial because Rodin did not portray the burghers as heroes but as worn individuals. Rodin wished for the statue to be presented at the same level as the viewer, not on a pedestal, adding to the personal, real nature of the work.

Cave Realism

The Source of the Loue, ca. 1864
Gustave Courbet (French, 1819 - 1877)
Oil on canvas, 42 _ x 54 1/8"
Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery

One of my favorite paintings during my annual trips to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery over the years. I never knew who painted it until a few years ago. It was always very different from the art I was attracted to, Realism only recently becoming an interest, yet there was always something about this particular painting. The subject of a cave entrance might have much to do with it, peering into the darkness, curious as to what lay beyond (Yay for caving!). Courbet painted this scene a number of times, though this is supposed to be the only one without any figures (http://www.albrightknox.org/ArtStart/Courbet_t.html) which I am inclined to prefer.

I learned more about Courbet in graduate school but still didn't become particularly interested (pretty wrong considering one of my professors is a Courbet scholar) until seeing a retrospective of his work at the Met last spring.

A Broader Definition

Untitled, 2006
Jasper Johns
Ink on plastic
26 1/2 x 31 in.
image - Matthew Marks Gallery

Since this image is currently hanging on the wall in front of me, it seemed fitting to share. John's drawing is a great example of the broad spectrum which the term drawing covers. (Here is a an exhibition focused on a broader definition of drawing at the Met). Drawing also typically falls into the category of works on paper in most museums. My own work (when I get to it) consists of what I call drawing, which is conducted with ink and a brush on paper. The lack of a formal canvas as well as paint (though paint is often a part of drawing as well) are often consistencies in "drawings". This is a particularly abstract image (though affinities with celestial objects, trees and water all come to mind) and I like it because of the material as well as the sectioning of the overall image. Very different things are going on but alll come together through the liquidity and touch of the ink.