Well, we left Arlington, VA at 9 AM. We were on the southwest side of DC, and we were heading northeast. Google Maps sent us on "the most direct route", which took us along the south part of Washington, but I made a wrong turn and headed into street traffic and stop-signs east of the Capitol - not a good drive! Everything "turned out ok" and we made it up to Baltimore (which is a bit of a driver's headache on its own). Eventual street parking, and we got to see some gems at the Walters Art Museum:
Highlights of the Walters are paintings by Duncanson, Church, Alfred Jacob Miller (a Baltimore son), JMW Turner, Durand, Degas, Monet (2), Haseltine (pencil and ink on paper), Bierstadt (behind glass, unfortunately) and William Trost Richards (also behind glass). They have a very large collection of Millers, but only one was on display.
The Frederic Church (Morning in the Tropics, ca. 1858) is a lovely little painting:
but one of the benefits of going on these trips is discovering new artists and new art. The Walters has two such pieces:
Clearing Up - Coast of Sicily, 1847, by Andreas Achenbach (German, 1815-1910)
Syria, The Night Watch, 1880, by Briton Riviere, R.A. (British, 1840-1920)
From the Walters, it was just 2 1/2 miles north to get to the Baltimore Museum of Art. Although the majority of the Museum was closed for renovations (reopening Fall 2014), it was worth a gamble to see what was on display, and to have a divine lunch. For me, the two beauties of the collection were the Monets side-by-side:
Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effects with Smoke, 1903, is on the left, and Charing Cross Bridge, Reflections on the Thames, 1899-1904, is on the right
Auguste Robin produced such powerful sculpture, and it was wonderful to see The Thinker (original model 1880; this cast 1904-1917, Bronze)
Time for a lovely lunch in their cafe/restaurant
and then viewing their Henry Moore and Alexander Calder pieces in their Sculpture Garden in the beautiful sunshine.
Calder, 100 Yard Dash, 1969
Then over-the-river-and-through-the-woods (well, actually it was over-the-Bay-and-through-the fields) to the Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, DE. I only had 2 pieces in my database (a Bierstadt, and a Cole), so imagine my surprise and pleasure to discover additional pieces by Asher B. Durand, Edmund Darch Lewis, William Trost Richards, Worthington Whittredge, plus another Cole!! My two favorites here are:
Albert Bierstadt, Niagara Falls, c 1869
William Louis Sonntag (1822-1900), The Misty Rocky Mountains, late 1860s
Although the map at the top of this blog shows the next stop at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, DE (they have a Frederic Edwin Church [South American Landscape, 1873] and an Asher B. Durand [Classical Landscape, c. 1850]), they close at 4 PM, which was just too early for us to make on this trip. So off we went for two hours to spend the night at the Holiday Inn in Cherry Hill, NJ (after a wonderful dinner-and-desert at The Cheesecake Factory!).
Thursday, May 1
Arlington Court Suites, Arlington, VA
1 hour -- Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD
1/4 hour -- Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
2 hours -- Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, DE
2 hours -- Holiday Inn, Cherry Hill, NJ
here is today's playlist:
Deede's assorted 2013 music
Coldplay - Live 2003
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
Jackson Browne - The Naked Ride Home
The Big Chill soundtrack
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