Hello Everyone,
Who would have thought there was such a jewel of a museum in New Britain. Truly this is where “Art Meets Life” as they proclaim in the museum’s brochure. There was easy parking and access to the building which is on beautiful grounds. I took this journey on my own and quite frankly enjoyed the time to go at my own pace and not worry about others. When I arrived I was just in time for the tour. George Martin was our docent. He was an extremely knowledgeable and distinguished gentleman who had been leading these tours for a long time. The glass chandelier was an amazing site to see. A wonderful blend of Colonial and Early American, Illustrations, Hudson River, Academic, Civil War and Impressionism greeted us on the first floor. The second floor transported us through the first half of the 20th Century and then gave us a view of Contemporary and Regionalism works of art that appealed to many different people. I was busily writing information as fast I as heard it and older lady said with a question in her voice, “You must be a reporter who is writing an article commenting about the paintings?” “No”, I replied,” I am an art student enjoying the lovely paintings.” “Oh”, she exclaimed.
Out of many different works of art what stood out in my mind on that day as I went home was “The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy: September 11, 2001 painting by Graydon Parrish. This oil canvas is 76x210 inches in size. It is a painting you must experience and see for you will either hate it or love it. It was beautiful and tragic at the same time.
But what really stayed with me over the next few days was the Benton Murals. These murals represented “The Arts of Life in America” during the depths of the Great Depression. Through a series of murals he indulged in his passion for politics and represented America at work and at play. In 1950 the Whitney Museum commissioned Benton to paint these murals. When they were done the Museum trustees were uncomfortable with the topics displayed and tried to find any loop hole so they wouldn’t have to show the murals. Finally, they found a zoning law and used this to not show the murals. They were actually covered and the doors of the exhibit room were barred and locked. You had to get special permission to view the murals. Eventually they were happy to sell the murals to The New Britain Museum for $500. Today it is one of their most popular exhibits. In 2004, when the museum was doing extensive renovations they had to find a home for the murals during construction. Believe it not, the murals went back home to the Whitney during the renovations. The murals were one of the most visited exhibits while they were at The Whitney. I wondered if they thought selling them for $500 was a big mistake. Hearing this story made me want to visit The Whitney for one of my experiences.
Here is the link for my pictures from my visit.
http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4161822015/a=141417625_141417625/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Best, Kim
Such a nice way to begin your piece.. I loved your response to the older lady, I'm an art student...perfect...
ReplyDeleteOne of my expectations was that you would focus on one piece to into more depth. The Thomas Hart Benton murals would be a good choice. You could tell us a bit more about the artist, why they were painted (commissioned?) something about his frame of reference and the movement he was associated with... Here is a quote from the Wikipedia article on him.."On return to New York in the early 1920s, Benton declared himself an "enemy of modernism" and began the naturalistic and representational work today known as Regionalism."
You could explain what regionalism is... and describe his method. What is the size of each and medium?
Thanks Jerry! Things have been very hectic and unsettling this month with the passing of my grandmother, two uncles and my husband back and forth to acute care and my father in law being in the hospital. My saving grace and escape has been my museum visits. Since I am still having problems posting pictures I have created albums for each of my visits that I will be posting in the next few days. Apologies for not combining my Benton and Church section on the first posts. I am still getting used to blogging! I will combine experience and focused artist in one post for my other visits which I will be posting over the next few days. I am happy that I am able to incorporate some of my art work into my visits. It was wonderful to actually view the works in person during my visits that I was learning about in color class. You will see pictures of my attempts at creating art in the slideshow for the Met. If you have trouble viewing please let me know. Cheers and thanks for the direction, Kim
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