So I had Friday mapped out:
8 hours and 17 minutes, to go 426 miles - my kind of day!
A couple of years ago Wendy and I went down to New Bedford to see the art at the New Bedford Free Public Library (3 BEAUTIFUL Albert Bierstadt paintings) and the New Bedford Whaling Museum (amazing selection of William Bradford Arctic paintings!!). This was before my "call ahead" method-of-operation, so, of course, all 3 Bierstadt's were out in Connecticut being cleaned; But NOW THEY'RE BACK! After a hot chocolate at the Dunkin' Donuts at 24/495, I got down to New Bedford a little after 9:
The Art Room on the top floor is a pretty cool space:
a combination gallery/working space/storage area.
And the Bierstadts are WONDERFUL:
Sunset Light, Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains, 1861
"Sunset near the Platte River" or "Salt Lick at Sunset Glow", 1870-1886
Mount Sir Donald, 1889
(the space was a little tight to take a photo.)
Additionally there were 3 paintings by William Bradford, and, in another room, an exquisite print of Bierstadt's The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak, 1866 steel engraving.
My photo:
a better image from the Internet:
Then two hours+ to get up to Northampton - the Forbes Library "is supposed to have" a copy of Scribner's Popular History of the United States" (1897), with engravings by Thomas Moran! Unfortunately, they seem to have lost their copy, so I'll have to go into Brookline sometime. Since I was next door, I went to the Smith College Museum of Art - Wendy and I had been here Nov 12, 2016, and I really like their collection:
Works (left-to-right) are by Giovanni Paolo Panini, Lorenzo Bellotto, and Luca Carlevariis:
Giovanni Paolo Panini - The Death Leap of Marcus Curtius, 1730-40 oil
Lorenzo Bellotto - View of a Palace Courtyard, 1765 oil
Luca Carlevariis - Campo di Rialto with the Fabbriche Veccgie di Rialto and S. Giacomo di Rialto, n.d. oil
Claude Monet - Cathedral at Rouen (La Cour d'Albane), 1892-94 oil
Childe Hassam - White Island Light, Isles of Shoals, at Sundown, 1899 oil
I then continued the journey northwest to the Clark Art Museum in Williamstown, MA:
The 5 pieces they have on display by Winslow Homer are exciting
And it was wonderful seeing two other CLASSICS:
J.M.W. Turner - Rockets and Blue Lights (Close at Hand) to Warn Steamboats of Shoal Water, 1840 oil:
Hubert Robert - Roman Ruins with Laundresses, c. 1777 oil:
An hour west of The Clark is Albany, home of the Albany Institute of History & Art. They have a FABULOUS collection of Hudson River School paintings, and have an "official" exhibit up-and-running:
The exhibition space is lovely:
Thomas Cole - Lake Winnepesaukee, 1827 or 1828 oil
I took pictures of 18 paintings - Highlights include:
Frederic Edwin Church - Morning, Looking East over the Hudson Valley from the Catskill Mountains, 1848 oil
George Herbert McCord - Lake George, 1887 oil
Jasper Francis Cropsey - Dawn of Morning, Lake George, 1868 oil
James M. Hart - The Adirondacks, 1861 oil
It was a 2-hour drive up to the Super 8 in Ticonderoga, with the last half-hour heading east in the dark (I look forward to seeing this country in the morning). Thank you God for a GREAT DAY!
For my listening pleasure, I decided to tackle an audiobook of something that has been on my radar screen for quite some time - Surprised By Joy by C.S. Lewis, 1955. I listened to the first 3-of-6 cds:
After C.S. Lewis, Music for today was an "album" from my orange nano:
various artists - The 70's, 3 cds - I cut it down to 48 songs!
