Why do I have photos of 25 Picasso paintings?

Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019 (Thanksgiving Day) - To keep track of the museums I have visited, and the artists that I have taken pictures of, I have a giant spreadsheet. I was looking at it the other day, and I see that I have taken pictures of 25 paintings by Pablo Picasso (at 17 different museums, over the past 6 years). I find this remarkable, because I hate really dislike Picasso's art - it all seems very self-indulgent, and he takes a gimmicky idea and pounds it into the ground. Having said that, there are certainly a few VERY BEAUTIFUL pieces (Guernica, Three Musicians, some pieces from his Blue and Red Periods), and I love it when I encounter them.

So why do I have 25 photos? Well, 4 are "famous":

"At the Lapin Agile", 1905 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY):


"Jester on Horseback", 1905 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA):


"Three Musicians", 1921 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA):


"Bullfight", 1934 (The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC):


That still leaves 21 pictures - they were all done in a 4-year period from 1909 through 1912. It turns out that I really like LOVE his "Cubist" period!!! Here is where they are located:


and here they are, chronologically:

"Carafe, Jug, and Fruit Bowl", 1909 (Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY):


"Woman in a Black Hat", 1909 (Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH):


"Nude Figure", 1910 (Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY):


"Girl with a Mandolin (Fanny Tellier)", 1910 (Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY):


"Portrait of a Woman", 1910 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA):


"Portrait of Wilhelm Uhde", 1910 (Fogg Museum, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, private collection):


"Seated Woman with a Book", 1910 (Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI):


"Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler", 1910 (The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL):


"Glass of Absinthe", 1911 (Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH):


"Man with a Pipe", 1911 (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX):


"Pipe Rack and Still Life on a Table", 1911 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY):


"Still Life with a Bottle of Rum", 1911 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY):


"Still Life with Glass and Lemon", 1911 (Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH):


" "Ma Jolie" ", 1911-12 (Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY):


"Man with a Violin", 1911-12 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA):


"Bottle, Glass, Fork", 1911-12 (The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH):


"The Pomegranate", 1911-12 (Fogg Museum, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA):


"Still Life with Inkwell", c.1911-12 (Fogg Museum, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA):


"The Architect's Table", 1912 (Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY):


"Man with a Guitar", 1912 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA):


"Pigeon in Nest with Eggs", 1912 (Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY):


It turns out that, beginning in 1909, Pablo Picasso was major-hanging-out with his friend in Paris - Georges Braque - and they just kept experimenting with "new ways to see things". Using a mono-chrome palette, and different perspectives/viewpoints painted on individual surfaces ("cubes"), they were capturing many more aspects of a person (or a scene) than an artist traditionally achieved with his (or her) head-on view. Picasso and Braque kept stretching each other, and at one point in 1911 their works became almost identical:

Georges Braque - "Girl with a Cross", 1911 (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX):


Georges Braque - "Still Life with Banderillas", 1911 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY):


a FUN FUTURE PROJECT is find out where the rest of Pablo Picasso's "Cubist paintings" are located (and visit them!). (and don't forget Georges Braque!!!).

I wonder why I am so attracted to this style of art. Perhaps a clue can be gleaned from my high school yearbook picture:


Thank you Bill Damon, photographer!

New Britain Museum of American Art

Friday, Nov. 22, 2019 - Although I went up to New Hampshire yesterday to hike the Sandwich Dome Loop (see blog here), I feel fine for today's trip to Connecticut and visit the New Britain Museum of American Art:

Nice easy drive - we left the house a little after 9, and got there at noon:


There are 3 reasons why I wanted to visit New Britain: they have a WONDERFUL collection, and I hope to see new paintings rotated in the galleries, and they have TWO Exhibitions I want to see - "For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design" and "The Art and Artists of Monhegan Island":



The National Academy of Design is an interesting "museum". I had previously visited it Nov. 22, 2013 (six years ago TODAY):

I was very disappointed at their non-display of art I was interested in.

In researching my trip to NYC this past October, I discovered that they had sold their building at Fifth Avenue & 89th Street:

"Thanks to the sales of our previous facilities (donated to us by Anna Hyatt Huntington (ANA 1916; NA 1922) and her husband, Archer Huntington, in the 1940s), we used the proceeds to create an over $65 million endowment that stabilized our finances and ensures our future."

Which leads to the MAIN QUESTION: How can I see their art? Well, their web site tells me:


After lunch in the Museum Cafe, we hit the galleries:


Although mostly portraits, there were a few great pieces:
John Kensett - The Bash-Bish, 1855 oil:


Asher B. Durand - Landscape, 1850 oil:


Albert Bierstadt - On the Sweetwater near the Devil's Gate, 1860 oil:


Frederic Edwin Church - Scene among the Andes, 1854 oil:


And then it was time for the second exhibition:


Wendy and I did a day-trip on the ferry out to Monhegan Island in July 2016 (read blog here) - very cool place, and it was nice to see these paintings capture the geography and spirit of the place:


Back in the Museum's Regular Collection (not repeating Oct 2015 blog [read here]):

Thomas Cole - The Clove, Catskills, c. 1826 oil:


Frederic Edwin Church - West Rock, New Haven, 1849 oil:


George W. Waters - The Boating Party, c. 1870s oil:


Frederick Childe Hassam - Le Jour du Grand Prix, 1887 oil:


Samuel Colman - Venice, 1875 oil:


William Louis Sonntag - A View in Vermont, ca. 1874 oil:


John Ferguson Weir - Early Morning Light, 1882 oil:


And a painting that really caught my eye:
Paul Sample - Norris Dam, 1935 oil


This is a painting of a particular place (Norris Dam, Andersonville, TN, USA) at a particular moment in time (1935, as the dam was being constructed). Maybe nothing (except strip mining) shows how man can so permanently change a landscape - before the dam, a series of rivers and streams wind through the northeast Tennessee Valley.

Afterward, there is a big lake, and a lot of happy power boaters:


Sorry for the critical tone - Norris Dam brought electricity to an impoverished region, served as a model for the Tennessee State Park system and helped establish flood control along the Clinch River and, further downstream, the Tennessee River itself. But its construction also drowned a valley, displacing nearly 2,900 families and flooding an area nearly 34,000 acres in measure. AND I don't exactly know the environmental/ecosystem aspects of damming a river - but I KNOW IS NOT GOOD!!

Looks like a cool location for a future road trip.

Out of there about 2, home for dinner and Friday night church! Excellent Adventure-Time with my Beautiful Bride! Thank You God for these Great Days!

Audio today - Wendy continued reading me a book she loved, and it sounds GREAT:

Robin Sloan - Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, 2013


When we weren't reading, we listened to some live Bruce Springsteen - 1977/02/08 Rochester, NY


Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking in New England (the 4,000 footers; the 100 Highest; WATERFALLS)
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/