o95: Super Museum Day
Today I spent the day in NYC with my dad. We went to the Frick Collection over on Fifth and 70th, and then over to the Whitney on Madison and 75th. I STILL LOVE MUSEUMS. We covered a lot of ground, but there were a few works that I just can't get out of my head. So I decided to share them with you:
First, from the Frick Collection, collections.frick.org
George Romney (1734 - 1802) Lady Hamilton as 'Nature'
The reason why this caught my eye is because of the life behind her eyes. Lady Hamilton got married to a rich Lord who brought her to Italy, where she had an affair with an Italian lord. She had an attitude far beyond her time. And she's just gorgeous! Her beauty and attitude captivated hundreds of men. The first man that fell in love with her (her husband's nephew) commissioned this portrait. He said that nature was no where near as beautiful as she is.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834 - 1903) Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux
Lady Meux was another woman who rose from a life in the middle class to the lap of luxury by marrying the heir to a big brewery. Her husband kept trying to force her to conform to the high society around them, but she refused, which I think this portrait illustrates. The body language is almost challenging. Lady Meux was all about making a scene. Once she showed up to a hunt riding an elephant. Nuff said.
And now from the Whitney, www.whitney.org
Mike Kelley (b. 1954) More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid and The Wages of Sin
Ok, so More Love Hours... is the thing hanging on the wall, and The Wages of Sin is the table of candles to the left. The wages of Sin was supposed to represent guilt and the loss of the innocence of childhood. But I don't really care about that. The artist Mike Kelley bought all of these second hand, homemade toys and afghans at secondhand shops, and sewed them all together without cleaning them or anything. These are all toys and blankets that grandmas put hours upon hours to create, that eventually just got given away. The title of the work really hit me. I mean, I got goose bumps, teared up.. the whole nine yards. More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid. It's true. All of those hours and hours and HOURS our families spend taking care of us can never be repaid. All we can do is be the best we can be for them.
Allan McCollum (b. 1944), 288 Plaster Surrogates
I'm not usually one for conceptual art, but I really liked this piece. It's 288 plaster fake frames with just black squares. It was just really cool, the back story of it. Allan McCollum was working as a janitor, and through the empty hallways, he could see paintings on the walls. But he couldn't make out the painting itself, just frames. Yet he knew it was art. This was him commenting on what is art, a question we talk about a lot in class. It's in a frame, it's on a wall, it's art. That's what he's kind of suggesting.
Charles Burchfield (1893-1967) Church Bells Ringing, Rainy Winter Night
This is just a little kid's view of a Church. The bells were scaring him, and he turned to the Christmas tree to console himself (bottom left), but it's just too scary. The church looks like a weirdo scary building. At the stepel is a spiral instead of a cross, just showing how terrified he really is. It's really powerful, and the piece was painted with watercolors. I never knew watercolors to be so vivid and solid, but this piece really hit me.
I just love going to museums and hope to go to the Met again before the summer's over. I also really want to see the King Tut exhibition before it goes back to Egypt.
First, from the Frick Collection, collections.frick.org
George Romney (1734 - 1802) Lady Hamilton as 'Nature'
The reason why this caught my eye is because of the life behind her eyes. Lady Hamilton got married to a rich Lord who brought her to Italy, where she had an affair with an Italian lord. She had an attitude far beyond her time. And she's just gorgeous! Her beauty and attitude captivated hundreds of men. The first man that fell in love with her (her husband's nephew) commissioned this portrait. He said that nature was no where near as beautiful as she is.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834 - 1903) Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux
Lady Meux was another woman who rose from a life in the middle class to the lap of luxury by marrying the heir to a big brewery. Her husband kept trying to force her to conform to the high society around them, but she refused, which I think this portrait illustrates. The body language is almost challenging. Lady Meux was all about making a scene. Once she showed up to a hunt riding an elephant. Nuff said.
And now from the Whitney, www.whitney.org
Mike Kelley (b. 1954) More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid and The Wages of Sin
Ok, so More Love Hours... is the thing hanging on the wall, and The Wages of Sin is the table of candles to the left. The wages of Sin was supposed to represent guilt and the loss of the innocence of childhood. But I don't really care about that. The artist Mike Kelley bought all of these second hand, homemade toys and afghans at secondhand shops, and sewed them all together without cleaning them or anything. These are all toys and blankets that grandmas put hours upon hours to create, that eventually just got given away. The title of the work really hit me. I mean, I got goose bumps, teared up.. the whole nine yards. More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid. It's true. All of those hours and hours and HOURS our families spend taking care of us can never be repaid. All we can do is be the best we can be for them.
Allan McCollum (b. 1944), 288 Plaster Surrogates
I'm not usually one for conceptual art, but I really liked this piece. It's 288 plaster fake frames with just black squares. It was just really cool, the back story of it. Allan McCollum was working as a janitor, and through the empty hallways, he could see paintings on the walls. But he couldn't make out the painting itself, just frames. Yet he knew it was art. This was him commenting on what is art, a question we talk about a lot in class. It's in a frame, it's on a wall, it's art. That's what he's kind of suggesting.
Charles Burchfield (1893-1967) Church Bells Ringing, Rainy Winter Night
This is just a little kid's view of a Church. The bells were scaring him, and he turned to the Christmas tree to console himself (bottom left), but it's just too scary. The church looks like a weirdo scary building. At the stepel is a spiral instead of a cross, just showing how terrified he really is. It's really powerful, and the piece was painted with watercolors. I never knew watercolors to be so vivid and solid, but this piece really hit me.
I just love going to museums and hope to go to the Met again before the summer's over. I also really want to see the King Tut exhibition before it goes back to Egypt.