Art and Artists

Franz Ludwig Catel, "A View of Naples Through a Window"

I had a great visit to Manhattan last week with an artist friend of mine. Carol suggested a couple of different exhibits we could see. One was a show at the Metropolitan called "Rooms With a View," featuring works from the Romantic period of European painting circa 1810-1820.

Adolph Menzel, "The Artist's Bedroom in Ritterstrasse"

Each painting (or drawing) depicts a portion of a simply outfitted room interior, composed so that a window - and the view beyond it - is featured. These are generally lovely, luminous works, combining rigid draftsmanship with elegant brushwork.

   Georg Friedrich Kersting, "In Front of the Mirror"

I love everything about this type of painting: the juxtaposition of  the hard architectural, elements of a space with the organic forms of flora and fauna beyond, and in some cases within the room; the vivid contrast of light flowing in the window and the subdued shadows and washes of a spare interior; the sharp focus of the foreground vs.the softened, faded distance.

Georg Friedrich Kersting, "Woman Embroidering"

Léon Cogniet, "The Artist in His Room at the Villa Medici, Rome"

 I realized as I walked through the exhibit that this is not a new affinity for me. I had a trio of prints by the artist Johannes Vermeer framed and mounted in the dining room of my last apartment in Old Brookville.

Johannes Vermeer of Delft, "Milk Maid"

One of my favorite painters, this 17th century Dutch master was highly acclaimed for his sophisticated use of color layering, expensive, rare pigments and - especially - the lighting effects he employed to achieve exceptionally complex and delicate modeling.

Johannes Vermeer of Delft, "Lady Writing a Letter With her Maid"

Johannes Vermeer of Delft, "The Girl With a Pearl Earring"

I remember being captivated by a similar effect evident in the work of another artist when visiting Europe some years back. I was unfamiliar with Georges de La Tour until I saw his "Education of the Girl Mary" in, I believe, The Tate Gallery in London.

Georges de La Tour, "Education of the Girl Mary"

 Like most of de La Tour's works, the drama of the scene is achieved by a strong focused light source, usually a solitary flame.

Georges de La Tour, "Magdalene With the Smoking Flame"

Mary Magdalene was a favorite subject for de La Tour but the divine quality of his illuminating technique brings all his paintings to life. 

Georges de La Tour, "Christ in the Carpenter's Shop"

When I met Pam Ingalls, exhibiting at a craft show in Bellevue, Washington, I was again enthralled by the shafts of light jumping off her canvases, creating a bold and compelling focus for each.

Pam Ingalls, On The Hook

Her scenes are more mundane than most of the old masters' - a vintage kitchen with dirty dishes in the sink, a bed with crumpled linens, even a toilet and sink - but this quality of light defining the entire structure of the piece elevates them all to the same level of beauty and wonder.

Pam Ingalls, Ethiopian Restaurant

Pam Ingalls, Second Stories

Pam Ingalls, Room With A View II

 Hmm funny I didn't recognize my attraction to this common element earlier, eh? ;0)

New York City, April 2011, Part 2

Yesterday on the bus ride to the City I noticed that finally, it seems, spring has come to New York. While the forsythias are not yet the blinding chrome yellow of their full bloom, the buds are certainly bursting and the color is unmistakably sunny! So with the dual enticements of a warm cloudless day and the advent of New York's seasonal outdoor displays I thought, while I was there, a walking tour was in order. I'd read a piece about a new public art installation along the Park Avenue mall. Will Ryman's crazy large, blatantly garish fiberglass roses were planted in January on a few dozen of these little urban stages, between 57th and 67th streets.

They are just the latest of the always eye-catching displays along this wide residential boulevard but definitely one of the more fanciful.

See them through May 31st during the day or under the spotlights at night.  You can find more details and read the artist's statements here.

What I love most about Manhattan is the likelihood that without warning you might all at once stumble upon the completely unexpected. One could argue that a 25 foot tall flower looking like the spawn of Little Shop of Horror's resident man-eater Audrey is the very definition of unexpected and one would be right. But in this case the unexpected I'm referring to is that particular vignette, vast and imposing or tiny and delicate, that one has no idea is lurking around the next corner.  So the surprise, in addition to the delight, is the thing.

At any moment you might be feeling oppressed by the gray hardness all around you when suddenly the crowd thins and you see an improbably large flower pot exploding with the glow of daffodils and the perfume of hyacinths.

Turn the corner from a boring, unending expanse of dreary storefronts and feel the exhilaration of a wide open esplanade lined with elegant residences punctuated by a parade of planters packed with masses of tulips, each with petals just now shyly peeking out from their green leaf robes.

Walk up the street a way and - can you believe your eyes? Is that a frightfully large yellow - YELLOW?! - teddy bear! Yes. Very large. And a fine shade of yellow. Like the lemon in lemon meringue pie.  And it seems to be knit from yarn. And it has the shade of a black desk lamp sitting on its head. Like a wayward baseball cap - or batting helmet. And its poor little head is crammed up against the light bulb in the lamp. And all the diminutive people, as amazed as I am, are milling around, fascinated. Or completely ignoring it as New Yorkers do.

This art installation, one of 3 by sculptor Urs Fischer, can be viewed on Seagram's Plaza (Park Avenue at 53rd street) for the next five months before being auctioned off by Christie's (in case you just HAD to have it for your own plaza).

New York City, April 2011

I decided to be a tourist Saturday...with a bus ride into Manhattan. I admit I have something of a love-hate relationship with "the City" as we call it. So many of us in this Metropolitan area do for there is so much to love - and to hate - about it. So we choose to either focus on the hate - never visiting, shunning all it has to offer - or embrace the love - admitting that the beautiful, interesting, exciting, educational experiences are worth the price of admission.
One of those lovely things, that so many true tourists never see, is the Macy's Flower Show. Only the 3rd most famous Macy event The Flower Show still draws huge crowds each year as the already dramatic main floor is turned into a kind of hovering botanical garden.

The tops of most display cases in the jewelry, cosmetics and accessory departments are laden with plants, shrubs, flowers and even trees, all of the most colorful, fragrant variety.
When the show debuts the scent of spring permeating the entire sales floor is as captivating as the visual display.

The throngs of people milling about, craning their necks to see the high-flying displays, are treated to a true taste of spring - bridal wreaths, ranunculus, pansies, rhododenron, lilies, orchids, gerber daisies - and azaleas nestled in a mini Japanese tea garden.
On this, the penultimate day of the 2011 show, some of the blooms are a little sad, the scent is not nearly as powerful but the experience is still one of a kind!