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)
