Tag Archives: modern art

Farnsworth Part 2…..

April 14, 2020 Rivergirl 19 Comments

Continuing our stroll around the museum, we found abstract landscapes…

A necklace challenged woman…

And a large amount of love.

The husband still had that ~~what the hell am I looking at~~ puzzled look on his face… and read all the detailed descriptions in hopes of enlightenment.

And speaking of light….

While I’m generally not a fan of realism, the play of light and shadows in this piece were spectacular.

And now?

Behold….

I found a rock!

As well as a nude on a mushroom.

Bet you’ve never seen that before.

YOURE-WELCOME-7496ny

Upstairs we found the Maine gallery.

Which welcomed us with bloody fish guts.

I’d have preferred an apple martini, but whatever.

There were Maine scenes.

Including this melancholy piece of women waiting for their men to return from the sea.

There was an extremely long panoramic of Main Street, Rockland in the 1800’s.

Did you know it’s known as the Lobster Capitol of the World?

You do now.

There was a model ship, which after those amazing examples we’d seen in Virginia…. looked like a 4 year old had built it.

Btw… did you know it’s bad luck to say the word pig on a lobster boat? I’ve known fisherman who won’t even bring a ham sandwich on board…. though no one could ever tell me where that started.

What does this have to do with Maine? Other than the fact it’s made with seashells, I have no idea.

I’ve certainly never seen a lobsterman wear one.

COSTA CLEVELAND

I’ve also never seen one wear that.

For which I am quite thankful…..

Done with the museum, I picked a restaurant on the Camden waterfront.

It had a nice view.

And a tasty Maine sipper.

But the husband wasn’t satisfied with the small lunch menu, so we just had clam chowder….

And wondered when that eagle was going to swoop down and snag a piece of fish.

Though I suggested a few other places to eat, the husband opted for Chinese take out…

Which was disappointing, again. It seems no matter how many places we try, they’re always awful.

My shrimp lo mien? Tasted like soap.

The beef and broccoli? Like they used Alpo for sauce.

Blech!

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The Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine…. A. Wyeth, a fiber crow and some claws.

April 13, 2020 Rivergirl 18 Comments

This is a place I’ve always wanted to visit but never have… so on a rainy, blustery day a while back? We did.

The Farnsworth is famous in these parts for it’s extensive collection of Maine artists….

With the Wyeth’s being front and center.

I’ve always liked Andrew, and on the day we visited there was a special exhibit of his work from WW1.

Art is a strange thing, and totally subjective… so what moves me might leave you flat.

But hey, it’s my blog. My choice.

This simple painting of a helmet filled with pine cones for example.

You’ll have to pardon the reflections in a lot of these shots…. it’s nearly impossible to avoid with the bright gallery lights and glass.

While not known for his portraiture…

This series of photos showing Wyeth at work was quite interesting.

As was the case filled with drawings he did at the age of 8.

Huh…

I’m pretty sure my 8 year old artwork looked something like this:

Kids-Queen-Mom-Mothers-Day-Portraits-Featured-Image

The next gallery showcased Wyeth’s Maine pieces.

And trust me, they really capture the feel of our coast.

There was also a section of these…

Halloween!

Which looked much better without the reflection of the paintings from the other side of the room.

But you get the idea.

Nothing says Halloween in Maine like a skeletal ship’s captain.

Making our way through the museum we found a fiber artist….

Who had some unusual installations…

Proving that art comes in all shapes and sizes.

Down the stairs and into the main gallery…

A tribute to Maine’s agrarian culture…

And it’s crustaceans.

Yes, that is a marvelous pile of blown glass lobster claws.

It should be noted that while I grew up strolling happily around MOMA in New York, the husband has absolutely no tolerance for modern art.

And I have to admit….. watching him puzzle over what he’s looking at is half the fun of visiting museums together.

I keep telling him that it’s more important to experience art, to feel it… than to understand it.

But he just wrinkles his nose and says….

“Yes. But what the hell is it?”

There were a few Rockwell Kent pieces….

Whose work has sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As well as this:

A table to draw a self portrait.

Which made me very glad we hadn’t run into this fellow.

To be continued….

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The Mount.

October 24, 2018 Rivergirl 13 Comments

Bet that title has you wondering where I’m going with this…

No worries, it’s just Edith Wharton’s summer home in Lenox, Massachusetts.

You remember Edith? Forward thinking, independent, free spirited author of The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome, among others. She was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1921, and quite an interesting ole broad by the look of her photos.

whartondogs

Not just any woman can pull off a matching set of canine earrings you know.

Entering the estate from the road, you can’t see much.

And as we walked down the path I thought I spotted the house.

It was large, but rather plain.

Which makes sense, considering it was the stables.

Moving on down the lane to the actual house, we started passing large installations of modern art.

I thought they were wonderful.

My husband was just wondering what they hell they were.

It got to be a running joke as we walked.

Modern art…

WTF look.

Modern art…

WTF look.

You get the idea. It was priceless… and I was enjoying myself immensely at his expense. (We’ve been married for 34 years, it’s what you do.)

And it got even better after we ran into another couple who had picked up the brochure and told us the pieces were for sale. Well, then I really had a good time imagining where in our yard we could place the treasures.