Crossover Blog 1/2 - Massachusetts Museums

Thursday, October 14, 2021
This is a crossover blog, harkening back to the time-tested comic book tradition of having comic hero B appear in comic hero A's issue, then A appears in B. One of the best examples is Spiderman/X-Force from 1990:

(Yes, the issues were printed sideways/landscape-orientation, and meant to be read sideways [don't be stupid and turn your head sideways]). The plots might be silly, but the art was EXCELLENT: Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man and Rob Liefeld’s X-Force!!

What makes this blog a "crossover" is dixonheadingwest concerns itself with Art Museums and National Parks, while dixonheadingnorth documents my hiking endeavors - 4000-footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York. So today is the 4 Museums in Massachusetts, while tomorrow will cover hiking Mount Colden in the Adirondacks.

After my Thursday Men's Breakfast in Boston, I was going to head west to 2 museums in Springfield. Then over to Pittsfield, and Williamstown, then Middlebury, Vermont, and spend the night in Ticonderoga, New York.

Nice sunrise as I headed into Boston:

Driving in Springfield was a nice loop-de-loop:

Springfield, Mass. has some very nice architectural details:

My first visit was the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum:

They have a very nice collection of American Art (even though I am not a fan on the "Salon-style" of display):

My favorites here are:

John Bunyan Bristol - Summer, 1878:

Albert Bierstadt - The Brother's Burial, 1861:

Albert Bierstadt - Sunrise in the Hetch Hetchy Valley, California, 1873-75:

I then went across the courtyard to the Michele and Donald d'Amour Museum of Fine Art. It has some wonderful display spaces/galleries:

Bernardo Bellotto - Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, 1740-41:

Claude Monet - Grainstack, 1893:

Albert Bierstadt - The Hetch Hetchy Valley, California, no date:

Samuel Colman - Gibralter, 1866:

George Inness - Clearing Up, 1860:

John Kensett - Rydal Falls, Lake District, England, 1858:

Then it was time to get back out on the road - the Mass Pike, heading west:

I was at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield at 12:30

Thomas Hill - Yosemite Valley, about 1890:

Edward Moran - Painting, City and Harbor of New York, 1889:

George Inness - Leeds in the Catskill, 1865:

Back on the road, I continued up Route 7, and at 1:30 I was up at the Williams College Museum of Art:

George Inness - Twilight, c. 1860:

William Morris Hunt - Niagara Falls, 1878:

It was a pretty beautiful day leaving the Museum:

"Photos-crossing-state-lines" is a hard habit to break:

I visited Uncle Jon and Aunt Libby in Middlebury for an hour:

And then it was time to "race the setting sun" through western Vermont:

Into New York State at 5:44

An hour later I was down at the Super 8 in Ticonderoga, ordering my pizza for tonight and sub for tomorrow. Thank you God for a GREAT DAY!

To follow the blog tomorrow, please go to dixonheadingnorth.

Music for today:

Oscar Peterson Trio - We Get Requests, 1964


Melody Gardot - My One and Only Thrill, 2009 second album


Page & Plant - No Quarter, 1994 live album


Pearl Jam - Live On Ten Legs, 2011 live album


Van Halen - Van Halen, 1978 debut album


John Lennon - Lennon Legend: The Very Best Of John Lennon, 1997


U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, 2004


Michael Franks - Tiger in the Rain, 1979


Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/