Category: Art

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Art in NYC: Public Parks, Private Gardens at The Met Museum

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Art in NYC: Public Parks, Private Gardens at The Met Museum

History and beauty of the parks and gardens from Paris to Provence through the famous artworks on view March 12 – July 29, 2018

NYC Met Museum Public Parks Private Gardens Paris Provence
Claude Monet, The Parc Monceau, 1878 / Image courtesy of the Met Museum

Public Parks, Private Gardens exhibition at the Met is a perfect chance to see the magnificent green spaces of Paris through the eyes of the celebrated Impressionists from the Met Museum collection. And you don’t need to travel overseas to breeze the rest air of French parks! The Met brings the best of Paris to you.

The history behind the opening up of the parks and gardens to the public for its full enjoyment starts from the time of French revolution.  The idea that the beauty of nature has to be enjoyed by all not only by the privileged, had brought us the beloved public gardens of Paris and accelerated their expansion and general interest in horticulture and urban landscaping. Vive la Revolution for letting us escape the hustle and bustle of the city in the stately designed allees!

Impressionists and their en pain air painting movement preserved the lush greenery of the places in their celebrated works. Streaming sunlight, fresh and potent vegetation with relaxed figures strolling the grounds or sitting on the benches is how the parks are memorialized for us by Monet, Pissarro, Rousseau, Pissarro, and others. The names of the celebrated Paris gardens, Jardin des Tuileries, Le Jardin du Luxembourg, Le Parc Monceau sound like a love song to the eternal beauty of the city. See the show and enjoy a short imaginary walk in the best urban parks at the best time of year. It’s a timeless gift that will make even the gloomiest day full of excitement and hope. Don’t miss your stroll in that gentle sunlight! Read More

Art in NYC: Like Life – Sculpture, Color, and the Body at The Met Breuer

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Art in NYC: Like Life – Sculpture, Color, and the Body at The Met Breuer

History of Sculpture from 1300 until Now on view from March 21 – July 22, 2018 

Like Life sculpture color body Met Breuer Museum
Tip Toland, The Whistlers, 2005, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Dale and Doug Anderson, 2011 / Image courtesy of The Met Breuer

This truly fascinating exhibition at The Met Breuer covers seven hundred years of history from 1300 till now of sculptures, casts, tableaus, masks and even automatons to illuminate the perfection of likeness and its distortion. Covering a vast time window and the diversity of the approaches, the show is organized into 8 thematic sections located on 2 floors of the museum. Each section includes works from various places and times connected by either similarity or extreme contrast in the concept. About 120 works by old and new masters are selected including Donatello, El Greco, Rodin, Degas, Kusama, Koons, Cattelan and many many other.

One may agree or disagree with the overarching thesis about the use of colors and the influence of religion and societal biases on how we perceive the body in its nakedness and likeness, but it all comes back to how we see ourself and how we are perceived by others. Allow yourself enough time to observe, compare and read. Read More

Art in NYC: Provocations by Anselm Kiefer at the Met Breuer

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Art in NYC: Provocations by Anselm Kiefer at the Met Breuer

Kiefer’s works from the Met Museum collection on view until April 8, 2018

Met Breuer Museum NYC Provocations Anselm Kiefer
Anselm Kiefer, Bohemia Lies by the Sea, 1996 © Anselm Kiefer / Image courtesy of the Met Museum

The exhibition at the Met Breuer “Provocations: Anselm Kiefer” presents selected works from the Met collection covering artist’s 50-year career. Well known for pushing the boundaries of comfortable art and sleepy consciousness, Kiefer’s paintings, watercolors, and collages shake the norms by questioning the stale and tired concepts. The art lovers, sophisticated and novices, will appreciate the introspection and depth of thought that this expose projects. The exhibition is on view from December 13, 2017 until April 8, 2018. Read More

Beyond NY: Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, PA

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Beyond NY: Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, PA

Beyond NY: Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, PA
The Cathedral, Rodin Museum

As the world celebrates a centennial of Auguste Rodin death this year, its a good occasion for a visit to Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. The museum opened in 1929, has more than 140 pieces covering all stages of artist’s oeuvre.

Walking through the formal French garden where 8 sculptures are installed including The Thinker, The Burghers of Calais  and The Gates of Hell, the visitors enter an elegant Beaux-Arts building. Inside the airy main hall and the more intimate side rooms, you will have a chance to see the famous sculptures up close and find insightful details about each piece of work with historical parallels and the stories that served as inspiration for the works.

If you are so moved by seeing the sculptures and want to sketch them for better understanding of artist’s vision, there are sketch albums and pencils on hand in every room. Follow your heart and draw what you see – after all the art is only alive when it moves us.  The museum also offers a very well designed family guide to sharpen young eyes and encourage them to see the artist’s shapes.

Read the notes, observe the sculptures, try to sketch and follow the lines to fully appreciate the artist’s ideas and the forms.

 

With your PhiladelphiaPass you can visit the museum for free!

 

Venue: Rodin Museum, Philadelphia, PA                                           See museum hours here.

Art in NYC: Zurbaran’s Jacob and His Twelve Sons at The Frick Collection

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Art in NYC: Zurbaran’s Jacob and His Twelve Sons at The Frick Collection

Zurbaran’s remarkable series on loan from Auckland Castle, England is on view until April 22, 2018

Frick Collection Jacob twelve sons Zurbaran Genesis
Francisco de Zurbarán, Jacob, ca. 1640–45 © The Auckland Project / Zurbarán Trust / Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle

The Frick Collection, located in the heart of Manhattan, is presenting Francisco de Zurbaran’s incredible series of portraits of Jacob and his twelve sons from his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and two concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah, as is found in the Book of Genesis. While the depiction of these characters in the form of the life-size portraits is unusual for the time, Zurbaran followed very closely the prophecies and verses for the Old Testament to make each portrait easily recognizable by the details of the garments, or the attributes of trade, or background landscapes. The history of the portraits, which were created between 1641 and 1658, is also full of missing pages and lost provenance with the first record of it appearing only in 1722. In 1756 Richard Trevor, Bishop of Durham had acquired the series but the one portrait of Benjamin. The series was installed in the Long Dining Room at Auckland Palace in Durham, England as a political statement of religious tolerance and support of the Jewish Naturalization Act of 1753. The portrait of Benjamin hangs in Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire. Bishop Richard Trevor ordered a copy of the portrait of Benjamin done for his collection. It is remarkable that American public can see the series in full and appreciate Zurbaran’s original intentions.  Read More