Brooklyn Museum: Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera

 Where: Brooklyn Museum
What: Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera
When: November 19, 2010- April 10, 2011

This exhibition is ongoing. (Finally I am catching up my blog to present!)  The pictures below are from the museum HP.

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/norman_rockwell/barbershop.php

Rockwell has been my favorite. But even for those who is not a big fan, this exhibition can be very interesting, because it reveals a "backstage" of how something becomes an artwork.

Rockwell used photos to create his painting. He picked locations, used models dressed something almost exactly what he wanted to draw in the picture, and took pictures with different poses. Then he put them together--using parts here, parts there---to create a painting.
The exhibition put photos and final paintings next to each other.  The most interesting part for me was that I could clearly see the process of how Rockwell put a soul into what was originally a plain photograph (which was taken not to be an art itself).


Most of his paintings were for magazine and posters, they had certain stories to tell. Rockwell chose details very carefully, so that viewers could instantly grab insights. He did it so well, we do not know what he did to make them work so good. Observing the "original" photographs made it easier to see what he did to give life to the paintings.

 The "original" photos look almost exactly what appears in his picture, but something crucial was added in the process of drawing--which was the essence of making his picture so warm and human. They were specific angles, expressions and details, but also something coming through Rockwell himself, his values and beliefs, his personality, his own version of the world.








http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/norman_rockwell/neighborhood.php

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico

 Where: Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, Mexico
and Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2010
http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/GeorgiaOKeeffe/Images

I never really understood Georgia O'Keeffe until I came to US and saw her work for the first time in person. They are so beautiful, original and powerful---but photos and prints does not convey their real value. Ever since, I have been to many different exhibitions of O'Keeffe (she is very popular exhibition theme in here). Whitney's show was one of the interesting ones, focusing on her abstract works. I do not have pictures from the show, but the link above has highlights, please check it out. The pictures I posted below are from catalogs and postcards, many from O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. It was also a very nice museum, although many of her best works are not there.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century, MoMA

What: Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century
Where: MoMA
When: April- June 2010


This was one of the best exhibitions I went last year. Unfortunately, I do not have any picture from the show. I was going to go back to see it again before it ended before I got a chance (sad).

Cartier-Bresson was a pioneer of "photo-journalism," and he went everywhere---literally all over the world--and took pictures in most amazing places like China in revolution (If you are interested in more info, please check the link).

It was the first time I have seen his work, but looking through pictures after pictures---even with different theme and styles, I started to feel like what I was seeing is Cartier-Bresson himself. His thoughts and personality strongly came through what was shown in the picture. And for the first time, I understood why the photography could truly be an art of "creation"--- not just capturing the "best" moment of something already existing in the world.

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/968

Rythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

What: Rythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939
Where: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
When: 2008

The pictures are from the book I have from the collection. The first two print is by Sybil Andrews "the Gale," 1930 and  "Racing," 1934. The last one is "The Escalator" by Cyril Power, 1929.  

According to the book, the central artists who were featured in the exhibition were members of Grosvenor School of Modern Art. The group was established by artists who were "shared fascination with speed and sought to capture the essence of modern life." I see.

I do not know very much about the group, but I really liked the works (so much that I have the book!) I see some influence from Japanese printing (which was mentioned in the book as well) The school was contemporary to Art Deco, which I can see the connection as well.  This art form looks like a perfect representation  tie of the modern life to the art-- Power of machines, fast moving world, crowds in a big cities. So many things are still here in NY, but the optimistic beliefs for modern life in these pictures is long gone.



http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={C68D463B-B309-41CD-8BBE-C635AEAD6D74}

Sid Richardson Museum: Fort Worth, Texas

Where: Sid Richardson Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
(top picture: Indians Hunting Buffalo by Charles M. Russell)

It is a very small museum in Fort Worth, Texas. I visited there last fall when I was around the area for business. The museum has good collections of 2 American artists, Frederic Sackrider Remington and Charles Marion Russel. Both of them were active around the beginning of 20th century, painting pictures of Old West---native Americans, hunting, horses and cowboys. Many of the pictures take academic, realistic style, these themes could easily turn be cheesy paintings-- but Russel and Remington succeeded to pull them up to higher level of art. I  was particularly found of Remington's "Night" series, which are his later works. They take more impressionistic style. The pictures here are all Remington, from the postcards I bought there. The color of the photos are a lot more beautiful in real ones....

Peanuts and St. Paul

Just for fun, they are also what I found in the city of St. Paul. Mr. Schulz, the creator of Snoopy, was from St. Paul.

Ramsey County Court House: Art Deco building

Where: Ramsey County Court House, St Paul, Minnesota

Years ago I had an occasion to visit St. Paul for business, and had couple hour to waste. I decided to visit a Ramsey County Court House and was stunned.... The building was built in 1932, and renovated in 90's. Here are some pictures.

Permanent collection: The Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, Texas

 Where: The Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas
Highlight: American modern art collection

Though the collection covers wide range of classic art works from Greek statue to Impressionist, the section I was the most interested in was the modern art collection.

One which I especially liked was a printing of moon and field by Ellsworth Kelly, who I have heard for the first time, is a 50's~contemporary American artist from NY. He is one of the pioneers of an art form called "Hard Edge Printing" in which (according to my research at Wikipedia) "abrupt transition found between color." ...I see.

I feel like Kelly has something in common with my favorite artist Matisse (especially paper arts)---to convey certain mood with combination of very simple colors and shapes. This painting shows moon, field and sky and that is all-- very simple, yet so joyous!The balance and shapes are just perfect.

The other 2 pictures are few of my favorites, but I could not write down the name of the artist. The black one is made by a Latin American artist. It is made by a felt cloth and coins from different countries. He re-created the constellations in the sky with coins, and the colors and shapes of those coins supposedly very accurately calculated to copy how the stars look in the sky. Pretty cool.
 

One of the best thing about the museum is the entrance hall. White wall with shade of blue tiles, darker to lighter from bottom to higher up. Makes you feel like you are in the water. (The picture of the hall is from the homepage.)


 

Buildings, Prague, Czech Republic

Prague is one of the most interesting cities in terms of architecture. The uniqueness stems from the mixture....mixture of many styles from many different times right next to each other. I do not know how it happened, but it is fascinating. One of the dominant style is Art Nouveau---which was (practically) started by　a Czech native artist Mucha, so they take a big pride on. Take a look.

Czech: House of the Black Madonna

Where: House of the Black Madonna, Prague, Czech Republic

House of the Black Madonna is also one of the museums I have visited last year. Though it functions as a　museum, the biggest attraction is the building itself, which is one of the rare building that realized the idea of cubism (which was expressed mainly in form of painting). The entire building architecture idealizes the principle of cubism itself, it is really a form of artwork. I felt very strange being inside of a perfectly planned "idea..." just like you are accidentally fell into somebody's dream.