Ok, here we go again. I wrote a lovely paper about my experience at the musuem on Saturday thinking I could cut and paste it into this blog but I was wrong. It was bad enough that I left my syllabus and note pad at home accidentally so I didn't take as many detailed notes as I should have but then to slave away on my paper and now have to re-do it today just makes me crazy. Here is a recap:
I went to the YCBA in New Haven, CT with my sister Saturday, November 1, 2008. The women behind the Information Desk were quite helpful once I explained why I was there. They explained about the different exhibits and where I could use my camera and where I could not. To tell the truth, I am so ignorant about visiting museums that I thought the place would be dead on a Saturday afternoon. I ocul dnot have been more wrong. We started on the second floor where there is a new exhibit called Benjamin West and the Venetian Secret. The exhibit starts with a 1 minute video explaining about the "secret" and how West was conned into believing he had come across an old Italian manuscript that detailed the materials and techniques used by painters during the "High Renaissance". On dispay were two versions of his painting Cicero Discovering the Tomb of Archimedes. The first painting was done in 1797 and the second painting was done in 1804. My sister and I enjoyed trying to spot the differences in the painting. For instance, the color of the clothing worn by the men is different as well as the hair color of the young boy in the picture. We were not allowed to take pictures of the Venetian Secret exhibition and the many guards that were posted on the second floor followed the visitors as if to make sure we stuck to the rules. They were not intrusive but their presence was felt.
One thing that stood out ot me as unusual was that there seemed to be no order to the way things were laid out on the second floor. For instance, there was a beautiful painting entitled The Three Graces (1856) by William Edward Frost (1810-1877) that depicted three shapely, nude women ornamented with flowers and draped with some sort of delicate cloth. They seemd almost angelic in appearance. Next to it was a painting called Fish Market by the Sea by Richard Dadd (1817-1886) that also featured three women which seemed almost garish and frivolous by comparison. I wondered why they were hanging side-by-side on the wall but as we continued on the second floor, there seemed to be quite a difference in all the styles of painting. Some paintings looked as if they were "paint-by-number" style and more than once my sister and I remarked "gee, I could do that" and then on the next wall, we would see an oil painting that would take our breath away.
On the third floor, we checked out another current exhibition entitled Sun, Wind, and Rain: The Art of David Cox. No photos were allowed at all on the third floor. Once again, the guards were plentiful and followed us around discreetly. I made sure my camera was safely stowed away. My sister and I wondered if maybe we were talking too much. Are you just supposed to appreciate art quietly? The exhibit chronicles the life of David Cox beginning with his early artistic years in London to his teaching career in Heresford to the later years in his life. Along the way, we saw the difference in his paintings from watercolors to oil on canvas paintings. What I found interesting (because I have no artistic ability whatsoever) was how they were not simple watercolor paintings but watercolor over black chalk or over charcoal. i woul dnever think to do something like that.
I was happy to get to the fourth floor. It was so bright up there! It seemed there was also some sort of order to what I was viewing too. There were sections landscapes, countrysides, animals and buildings. One section completely reminded me what I consider the English countryside to look like based on all the marketing/advertising I have seen with furniture stores like Ethan Allen. The guards were not as plentiful. In fact, for the most part, they were downright out of sight. The fourth floor is made up of the permanent collection of the YCBA. Here we also more sculptures. On the lower floors, you almost don't notice them but up here, they are plentiful. They are mostly marble busts of kings and statesmen. The paintings included quite a few self-portraits of the artists and a few paintings of unknown artists. I took most of my pictures on this floor. I had no intention of taking one picture until I read the information next to it. The picture is called Frederic, Prince of Wales and was done by Charles Phillips (1708-1747). It seems in 1730, the Duchess of Marlborough offered the Prince of Wales one hundred thousand pounds to marry her granddaughter, Lady Diana Spencer - anybody else see that irony?? Two hundred and fifty years later, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales asked Lady Diana Spencer to marry him!
The fourth floor also held many Elizabethan and Jacobean portraits. I was familiar with this style of painting or maybe it was just the clothing style. Think of all the pictures you have ever seen of Henry VIII and you get the idea.
I learned my sister and I have different tastes when it comes to art. She would invariably be drawn to the paintings with the bright colors no matter if the were people, landscapes, watercolors or oil on canvas. I was drawn mostly to the portraits. The two that I liked the most were Ellinor, Mrs. James Guthrie (1865) an oil on canvas by Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) and Lord Granville Leveson-Gower by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) but my reasons for liking them are very different.
The Leighton painting I liked because of the detail in the painting. In the portrait, Mrs. Guthrie is turned to the left and wearing a beautiful black dress. Words cannot express the feelings I had when I looked at her. I swear I could almost hear the rustle of her silk dress. You just knew she felt beautiful in that dress. The folds in the dress and the detail of her hands were so life-like. It was almost as if she was going to step right out of the picture and join us. The painting just overall seemed rich to me.
The Lawrence portrait had an all-together different feeling. Lord Granville Leveson-Gower was considered an "Adonis" in his day - he was just so darn good-looking. He was handosme but it was the eyes in the painting that captivated me. No matter how you approached the painting or where you walked in the room, his eyes seemed to follow you around the room. It was as if he was watching us admiring him. It was almost eerie. Had we gone to the museum on Halloween, I would have been really spooked!
3 comments:
They say you can tell alot by looking at someone eyes. Great job personalizing your experience. PS. I took me a while to post as well, I found it easier to copay and past from the bottom up versus from the top down.
Wow, you were able to explain the contrast of these picture and you were very detailed with FOUR floors to view. I liked the difference on each floor and their settings. I also wish I had my sister close by to be able to do these SIBLINGS outing. Must have been fun!
Okay Helen... I finally found you here on your own blog!
From the sounds of it you had a good time at the YCBA... it does sound like you don't go to museums much. I get a sense of a broad perspective of your tour of the place... but now I'd like you to hone in on one piece particularly and do a more in-depth analysis of the art and the artist with a bit of biographical information, a sense of where the piece lies in art history what was affected by it and how did the painter come to paint that particular piece in other words what affected him... a name for the movement etc. I'd also like you to look long and hard at the piece and try to tell us what you see visually take a look at the section of the syllabus that takes you through some of the questions I'd like you to address. Also posting pictures of your chosen piece both an overall view as well as close-up details.
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