Art not necessarily with Music

Art!  Ah, that most elusive of topics.  (OK, it's a cliche.)

I do have definite tastes in art and have spent many hours in art museums.  When I was in junior high and high school, I would go to the library and check out books of art works and pour over them.  Columbus had an art museum, but it wasn't very big and didn't have a lot of the types of paintings that I liked.  It wasn't until I moved to Philadelphia that I got to indulge my passion.

In no particular order, one piece that I like is not a painting, but a sculpture.  I don't know that this was the exact piece that I saw, but it is very similar.  One evening shortly after my son was born, we visited the museum and went into the Medieval art section.  There were a number of sculptures of the Virgin Mary with Child and most of them obviously hadn't had real models as they all had women holding a child off to their side.  Then I found one little, unglorified statue that captured a mother and child perfectly.

This woman has held a child on her hip, which is what all mothers do.  And she had her hip jutted out to one side to rest the weight of the child on it rather than hold the child to the side with all of the weight solely on her arms.  This particular piece is by an unknown French artist in the 14th century.  What I like about this object is its realism.  It's real life.  This woman really lived.

A painter that I discovered in high school is El Greco (The Greek).  His real name was Doménikos Theotokópoulos and he was actual from Crete, not Greece.  He spent most of his life painting in Spain where he got his nickname.  Most of his paintings were religious in nature, either of saints or portraits of church officials.  The painting below is from 1607-1614 and is entitled The Visitation.  Neither of the figures are identified, but it seems to me that there is love and compassion and solace here and maybe even healing and it feels peaceful.

In comparison with that is the painting below entitled "A View of Toledo".  The first time I saw it, I fell in love and had a copy hanging in my room for years.  It is one of the few landscapes that El Greco painted and this was done around 1597.  What always attracted me to this was the raw emotion in the sky - storm clouds at the ready, but still with blue sky peeking through.    The painting hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and no reproduction can do it justice.

I love the Impressionist school of painting.  Just about any of the artists would do as an example, but I have always particularly like Renoir's "Girl With a Watering Can".  She is so innocent and self-possessed.  And the level of detail is amazing, also.  The lace on her dress is obviously lace and not just painted blobs giving the impression of lace.  I find this a very tranquil, domestic painting and it's real, too.  I've seen this little girl any number of times, all dressed up in her good clothes and being a little girl.

I also love the work of Georgia O'Keeffe.  She spent much of her time on her Ghost Ranch outside of Taos, New Mexico.  While I haven't visited the Ghost Ranch, I have been to Taos and the surrounding region and this painting captures the starkness of the southwestern desert and its vibrant colors.  It shows a desert canyon in ways words could never capture.  I feel like I can jump into the picture and be in that canyon.

I also love the watercolors of Andrew Wyeth.  This painting is of the Brandywine River valley near Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania, where Wyeth lived.  It is one of the most beautiful places on earth and magical.  It is an area steeped in history - this house is colonial and probably saw the Battle of Brandywine during the Revolution.  What I like about this is the tranquility and beauty of the place - you just know there is a fire in the fireplace and the family is gathered around it sharing the warmth.

Lastly,  (at last), I will finish my mini-exhibition with another 3-dimensional piece, "Ghost" by Alexander Calder.  This mobile hangs in the Great Stair Hall in the Philadelphia Museum.  It floats gently on the air and the title is very apt.  It makes no noise, but moves gracefully in the air currents produced by visitors walking under it.  It, like most of the other art works in this blog, is very peaceful.  If it is indeed a ghost, it is a friendly one and offers no threat to the observer.

If there is a common theme that collects all of these works together, it is peaceful domesticity.  All of these works say something about tranquility and life with family.  The virgin is at peace with her child and is lovingly caring for him.  "The Visitation" conveys comfort and solace.  The Renoir is the kind of scene we would wish to see with our children (or grandchildren).  Georgia O'Keeffe's cliffs are not threatening, but a statement of majesty and beauty.  Wyeth's watercolors show a world where opposition exists (there is snow on the ground), but there is safety and security within the strong stone walls.  Even things we would normally fear, the storm in Toledo and Calder's "Ghost" are not threatening, but are another part of life.  The storm clouds may threaten the town, but the town itself is tranquil.  And the "Ghost" floats freely above us, reacting to our movements, not causing them.

Enjoy!