NJ-PA-VA-DC Day Two

Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon, April 29-May 2, 2016 - Art, Friends, Rowing:
The inspiration for this trip is a Rowing Luncheon in Philadelphia, and excellent Museum Exhibits in Norfolk and Washington!

Day Two

277 actual miles today; left Super 8, Newark, DE at 7 AM, met John and Lonnie at 7 PM.

It is good to see another of my "road buddies" at the Pennsylvania Rest Stop:


I parked on Schuylkill River Drive, up from the Boathouses, but about a mile down from the racecourse. They sure have a nice place to row!


I took a fun selfie with Jack Kelly (John B. Kelly, Sr.):


And it was GREAT to see the Lightweight Varsity beat Navy by open water:


I walked back to the Boathouse


and then into town to The Barnes Foundation


They have a "no photos" policy, but they have an excellent website, with images. There are literally hundreds of paintings on display, including:
Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906) [67]
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954) [59]
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973) [46]
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919) [181]
Henri Rousseau (French, 1844–1910) [18]
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640) [3]
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890) [7]
Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893–1983) [3]
Amedeo Modigliani (Italian, 1884–1920) [14]
Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926) [4]
(yes, that means they do have 181 paintings by Renoir)

My favorites are a very nice Canaletto:


and a couple by Amedeo Modigliani:



I walked back up to the car - I did all this walking because on any given Saturday, Philadelphia is mobbed by pedestrians - Walk For this, Bike For that, Run For this and that. If you find a parking spot, keep it. I wound up walking 8.78 miles!


Then up to a Lightweight Crew Luncheon (and Speeches) in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia (VERY NICE)



I was looking at the Speaker - I don't know what those two guys are looking at!!

And then 4-and-1/2 hours to get to John and Lonnie at a German Restaurant in Fredericksburg (it was celebrating The Asparagus Festival), and then a good night's sleep back at their place. Thank You God for a Great Day!

Music today was albums:

I wanted to hear John Lee Hooker doing "Boom Boom" (NCIS: New Orleans theme song) - it sounded GREAT (New Millennium Blues Party, released in 2000). I just kept it on, and the next song was Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble "Flood Down in Texas" - if Houston keeps flooding, I'm going to keep listening to this music!


and, of course, the rest of the album was great too!

Greatest Hits Vol. 2 by Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1999


Playboy Jazz After Dark (2 cds) by various artists, 2003


The Definitive Rod Stewart (cd #1) by Rod Stewart, 2009


Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire (I have done 41-of-48 thru October 2015)
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/

NJ-PA-VA-DC Day One

Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon, April 29-May 2, 2016 - Art, Friends, Rowing:
The inspiration for this trip is a Rowing Luncheon in Philadelphia, and excellent Museum Exhibits in Norfolk and Washington!

419 actual miles today; left at 8 AM, 5:30 check-in at Super 8, Newark, DE.

4 hours and 15 minutes got me down to the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, New Jersey. Wendy and I visited here before (May 2, 2014), but they currently have an Exhibition I want to see: American Visions: 1870–1940, Works from the Bank of America Collection. In the past year, my "awareness of art displays" has expanded to include "Exhibitions" - temporary display of Special Collections. Although they often have a "no pictures" policy, and include pieces from private collections, they are now certainly on my "radar screen" for when I want to plan a trip. In this case, the Bank of American Collection does not have a "permanent home", so if I have the opportunity to see it, I should go for it!

In their Collection are pieces by Albert Bierstadt, Jasper Cropsey, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Hermann Herzog, Thomas Moran, William Trost Richards and Charles Woodbury. The one I liked best is:
Childe Hassam - Old House, East Hampton, 1917


Another 2 hours+ down to the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. I had been there before (March 12, 2015), but they have 2 exhibitions I wanted to see:
The Poetry of Nature: A Golden Age of American Landscape Painting
New Terrains: American Paintings from the Richard M. Scaife Bequest

The first consisted of paintings from the New York Historical Society, and consisted of different paintings from, and was therefore complementary to, the Nature and the American Vision exhibition I saw last month (March 5) out at the Milwaukee Art Museum! In this exhibit, photography was allowed, but a majority of the pieces were behind glass. My personal favorites were:
Frederic Edwin Church - Sunset in the Berkshire Hills, 1857, on loan from Woodmere Art Museum


Thomas Cole - Mountain Landscape, ca. 1827, from the New York Historical Society


From their Permanent Collection: N.C. Wyeth - Late Spring Morning, circa 1915-1917


And then Beautiful works from the Richard M. Scaife Bequest (2014). Highlights include:

Martin Johnson Heade - New Jersey Salt Marsh, ca. 1875-85


Thomas Moran - A Passing Shower, 1885


Alfred Bricher - Maine Coast, n.d.


and an excellent new accession: Herman Herzog - The Sanctuary-Adams Brook, ca. 1880


Some beautiful Spring Flowers right outside the Museum:


And then down in Newark, Delaware, there was a street fair right next door to the Super 8! Cheesesteak for dinner!!


Check-in at 5:30 - Thank You God for a really Great Day!

Music today was albums (alphabetically) from my new silver nano:

The Central Park Concert (3 cds) by Dave Matthews Band, 2003


Cheap Thrills by Big Brother & the Holding Company, 1968


Clocks (cd single) by Coldplay, 2002


Continued Silence by Imagine Dragons, 2012


Cookbook: Their Greatest Hits by Canned Heat, 1970


Cupid Deluxe by Blood Orange, 2013


Dangerously In Love by Beyonce, 2003


Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire (I have done 41-of-48 thru October 2015)
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/

Worcester Art Museum

Thursday, April 7, 2016 - What a GREAT DAY! Thursday Morning Men's Breakfast in Boston; Turner, Monet, Canaletto, Bierstadt and Winslow Homer out in Worcester; then Brit Floyd in Lynn in the evening!! (no map because you know where all those places are)

A number of errands got me out to the Worcester Art Museum at 11:30. Its impressive front speaks to Worcester's past:


They have a nice collection of worldwide pieces, starting with
Winged Genie With Pail And Date-Palm Spathe, Assyrian, from the palace of King Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C.)


and the, in their Knights! exhibit, it was a pleasure to see The Dark Knight:

(Michael Keaton's Batman Costume, 1988)

Claude Monet - Water Lilies, 1908


Through the Galleries I could see


Hubert Robert - The Shipwreck


elsewhere:
J.M.W. Turner - The Banks of the Loire


Albert Bierstadt - Yosemite Falls, 1865-1870


Albert Bierstadt - Willamette River, 1871


a lovely early George Inness - The Meadow, 1857


and two iconic paintings by Winslow Homer:
Coast in Winter, 1892

(perhaps a bit too ostentatious on the frame)

The Gale, 1883-1893


I was disturbed at how dark the woman and her child looked, so I stood closer to just picture them, and their colors appeared beautifully in the camera!

maybe an Art Major can explain it to me? (The child is looking right at the Artist.)

It was even nice seeing their Furniture Collection:

Hepplewhite Sideboard, about 1790

mmm - looks familiar ...

Home to a great steak dinner with Wendy, then we went down to Lynn for the 8 PM show at the Lynn Auditorium - Brit Floyd (Thank You WGBH) [Row L, right on the aisle!]

It was all excellent Pink Floyd, and it was all LOUD!





WOW - what a GREAT DAY!! Thank you God!!

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire (I have done 41-of-48 thru October 2015)
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/