Thursday, December 14, 2017

Worcester Art Museum & Mount Holyoke Art Museum

Thursday, December 14, 2017 - Worcester Art Museum & Mount Holyoke Art Museum:



On Friday Dec. 1 Wendy and I headed to the Worcester Art Museum to see their WONDERFUL Winslow Homer Exhibit:

Coming Away: Winslow Homer and England, through Feb. 4, 2018.

We got there in time for a nice lunch, but then only had time to see the exhibit itself (not any of the other art in the Museum [Bierstadt, Duncanson, Hassam, Whittredge, and Cole]). The pictures I took (with the regular iPhone 5 camera) were ok, but I KNEW I COULD DO MUCH BETTER with the Camera+ app, which I had removed from my iPhone because of "storage concerns". I re-installed the Camera+ app, and returned to the Worcester Art Museum on Thursday, Dec. 14.

The two Albert Bierstadt highlights are:
Willamette River, 1871

Yosemite Falls, 1865-1870


and the Thomas Cole is View on the Arno, near Florence, 1837


Beginning in the Spring of 1861, Winslow Homer lived (and painted) in the village of Cullercoats on the northeast coast of England (on the North Sea).He was there for 18 months, leaving in November 1862. His watercolors are strong and vibrant, and his-time-by-the-ocean established the "ocean/surf theme" that is a major part of his œuvre. This Exhibition gathers works from dozens of institutions around the world (including Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Highlights include:

The Mussel Gathers, 1881-82 watercolor, The Baltimore Museum of Art


Crab Fishing, 1883 watercolor, The J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles< CA)

detail:


The Life Line, 1884 oil, Philadelphia Museum of Art


Rocky Coast (Maine Coast), about 1882-1900 oil, Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford, CT)


On a Lee Shore, 1900 oil, RISD Museum (Providence, RI)


An extra joy is the inclusion of additional art/artists in this exhibition, including J.M.W. Turner:
Stormy Sea Breaking on a Shore, 1840/45 oil, Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, CT)

The Fighting Téméraire, 1859-61 engraving, Worcester Art Museum


Needless to say, I highly recommend making the quick trip out to Worcester to view this exhibition, before it journeys west to the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, (March 2–May 20, 2018).

I had spent last evening reviewing a number of Albert Bierstadt paintings, especially his pictures of the valley of Hetch-Hetchy, a sister valley to Yosemite that was flooded in the early 1900s to provide reliable water for San Francisco. The paintings of this beautiful valley, now submerged under a reservoir, brought tears to my eyes. It turns out that one of his Hetch Hetchy paintings is out at the Mount Holyoke Art Museum, which is only about an hour down the road from Worcester. So I included it in today's adventure! (Yes, I checked first, and they are OPEN). The exhibition space is lovely:

and Highlights include:

Albert Bierstadt - Hetch Hetchy Canyon, 1875 oil


Alfred Thompson Bricher - Grand Manan, ca. 1885 oil


Thomas Charles Farrer - Mount Holyoke and the Connecticut River, 1865 oil


William Louis Sonntag - Hawk's Nest, 1851 oil


What a wonderful Adventure-Day! Thank you God for these 2017 adventures (and prayerfully hope that I can get a bunch more adventures in 2018)!

Music for today was albums from my orange nano:

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - 1977/02/07 Albany, NY, 1977 just released!


various artists - Totally Hits 2004

It was GREAT listening to Alicia Keys say "Oh yeah, Thursday's perfect." on her song "You Don't Know My Name"

Crosby & Nash - Another Stoney Evening, Recorded live Oct. 10, 1971 - Released Jan. 13, 1998


alt-J - An Awesome Wave, 2012


James Taylor - Before This World, 2015


Jethro Tull - The Best of Jethro Tull – The Anniversary Collection, 1993 (2 cds)


Sunday, November 19, 2017

Grand Canyon/Los Angeles - Day 8

Sunday, November 19, 2017 - Church, then off to the airport to fly home:


Easy getting down to Vintage Church - Trinity House:


and the place was full once the service got going:


Said our goodbyes to Ruth and Meg, and headed down the road to the Dollar Rent A Car return at LAX.

LAX can be a fun place:


But it can get a bit crowded:


An easy flight back to Boston on American Airlines, and Ellie picked us up at Logan at midnight. home and in bed by 1:30. THANK YOU GOD for this wonderful Grand Canyon/Los Angeles adventure!!

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Grand Canyon/Los Angeles - Day 7

Saturday, November 18, 2017 - I get the day to myself, so I hit the road and saw a pair of museums I had not seen before:

150 miles - The Irvine Museum Collection, the Laguna Art Museum, and the Huntington Library/Art Collections (I previously visited the Huntington with Wendy back in 2014, but they have a GREAT collection) - its going to be a GREAT DAY!

Easy getting down to the Irvine Museum Collection at the University of California, Irvine:

which is in the ground floor of what looks to be a fancy office building:

The paintings they had on display were part of an exhibit titled "Moods of California" - pictures of California by California artists. Although they did not show the William Keith painting I was hoping to see, they did have a BEAUTIFUL Thomas Hill - Yosemite Falls, 1885 (Private Collection)

It took my breath away!

I then headed further south along Highway 1 to Laguna Beach:

Um, Laguna Beach is REALLY NICE:






The Laguna Art Museum

had an exhibition called California Mexicana: Missions to Murals, 1820-1930:

They had a BEAUTIFUL Thomas Moran - Cortez Tower, Mexico, 1883, on loan from the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma. I have not seen it before!

Another highlight was Samuel Colman - On the Viga, Outskirts of the City of Mexico, 1892 (from the Brooklyn Museum)


I grabbed a panini in town, and had lunch on the road, heading back up north. Traffic was bad, and it was 2;30 when I turned off for what I thought was the way to the Huntington. I got lost - instead of heading NORTH on South Atlantic Blvd, I headed SOUTH on North Atlantic Blvd!! By the time I figured out what was wrong, it was time to head back to Bel Air. Good thing I did that - I-10 was PACKED with people going to tonight's game at the Coliseum - UCLA versus USC! (I saw some of the game in the bar at dinner). Got home in time for a dip in the pool:


Even with today's traffic, I still have to say THANK YOU GOD for these wonderful adventures!

Music for today was albums from my iPod:

Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays - As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls, 1981


various artists - Surfin' USA, 1964


Tears For Fears - Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92), 1992


The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request, 1967