There really were some lovely pieces at the Delaware Museum of Art in Wilmington, Delaware (old money, I guess ...), beginning with this Dale Chihuly installation - Persian Window (2004)
Andrew Wyeth - Tenant Farmer (1961)
Andrew Wyeth's paintings are usually behind glass. I certainly understand the preservation-aspect, but it is yet another barrier between you and the art. (Wait until you see "the barriers" in the Brooklyn Museum Storage Area!)
Asher B. Durand - Classical Landscape, c. 1850
Sanford Robinson Gifford - On the Nile, Gebel Shekh Hereedee, 1872
Frederic Edwin Church - South American Landscape (1873)
illustration by Leroy Scott, in McCall's, July 6, 1924
Early Tomorrow Morning, Mark and I Are Motoring Out To Stamford To Be Married
and don't the colors in the painting work well with the color of the wall
Howard Pyle - The Mermaid, 1910
a wonderful Thomas Moran etching - Tower Falls, Yellowstone, 1880
then just 5 miles north to visit the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Winterthur, Delaware (formerly the home of Henry Francis du Pont). A lesson I have learned (or so I thought I learned) is that when one is dealing with "art in grand estates" (Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park, for example), one may not get to "see the art" as quickly as one would wish or hope for (or even expect). You might have to go on a whole "house tour" to only get a few minutes seeing the paintings that you are interested in. Additionally, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller has a "no photographs" policy. And you generally cannot just "drive right up and walk right in" - I wound up walking 1.4 miles from my car to the house/museum and back.
ok - it is an imposing structure (and this is just the back side!)
I took a one-hour tour, but did not see the Frederic Church or William Sonntag paintings I was looking for. There are some nice maps
and the rooms are lovely (is that our furniture??)
I will call ahead next time to arrange to (hopefully) view the art in storage.
then only 15 minutes north is the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. It is primarily know for its Wyeth collections (N.C, Andrew, and Jamie), but it also has a permanent collection of other artists:
Edmund Darch Lewis - Scene in Chester Valley, 1856
Asher B. Durand - Landscape, Wood Scene (Sketch in the Woods), ca. 1854
a magnificent William Trost Richards - The Valley of the Brandywine, Chester County, September, 1886-1887
Jasper Cropsey - Autumn on the Brandywine River, 1887
photographs were allowed of Jamie's and N.C.'s works, but not of Andrew's.
Jamie Wyeth - Profile, in Fur, Nureyev (Study #9), 1977
Jamie Wyeth - The Islander, 1975
Unfortunately, I feel that almost all of Jamie's work comes with an attitude - a little rebellion, once in a while, is certainly ok, but if that is your life, it contaminates your work.
N.C. Wyeth - Treasure Island, endpaper illustration, 1911
and that print in the Museum Store looks familiar ...
Unfortunately, the Staten Island Museum did not have any of "my art" on display (although you can order prints ... we'll see)
There is a beautiful view of the New York skyline, though:
pretty cool - wild ponies one day, the New York skyline the next!
The Brooklyn Museum is open until 10 PM on Thursdays, so I get to SEE THE WHOLE MUSEUM!!
Their American Art and Storage Collection are up on the fifth floor (a nice workout getting up there after "hiking" at Winterthur and sitting in a car all day). I love what they do with color - that is Albert Bierstadt's A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie at the end of the hallways.
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