ART IN MY TOWN

I've written several posts about the world-class museums I've been fortunate to visit in my travels in Europe, but you know what?  I've got a world-class art museum right in my own backyard!  The Art Institute of Chicago.

The Art Institute of Chicago has one of the most renowned collections of paintings in the world.  But it's not just the collection inside the building that is famous.  The building that houses the collection is just as famous.  The exterior of the Art Institute is one of the most photographed buildings in Chicago, and the two huge lions that greet visitors at the entrance attract as much attention today as they did more than a century ago. 

They get decorated with wreaths every Christmas...

And they get into the spirit of special sports occasions such as when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup Championship in 2010.

But of course, it's the art collection everyone comes to see when they visit the museum.  Some of my most favorite paintings are part of its permanent collection:

Young Girl with Hat (1892) by Berthe Morisot

This is my absolute favorite painting in any museum, and Berthe Morisot is my favorite painter.  She was a rare female French Impressionist, painting at the same time as her colleagues Monet, Degas, Sisley, Renoir and Édouard Manet with whom she was romantically involved.  However, she married Eugene Manet, Édouard's brother.  Other excellent works by her are:

The Garden (1882) by Berthe Morisot

Woman at her Toilette (1875) by Berthe Morisot

One of the last visits I made to the museum I discovered this masterpiece which I had not seen on display previously:

Auvers, Panoramic View (1873/1875) by Paul Cézanne

Édouard Vuillard is one of my favorite painters.  The Art Institute has several wonderful examples of his work:

Annette Roussel with a Broken Chair (1900) by Édouard Vuillard

Vuillard's Room at the Château des Clayes (1932) by Édouard Vuillard

Madame Arthur Fontaine in a Pink Shawl (1904) by Édouard Vuillard

Woman seated on a Sofa (1906) by Édouard Vuillard

Vuillard was a member of a post-Impressionist group called The Nabis, a group of painters whose works I enjoy.  Nabi means prophet in Hebrew and in Arabic. The rebellious group of young student artists came together in the fall of 1888, and like many of the Impressionists and post-Impressionists, they were inspired by the broad planes of unmediated color, thick outlines, and bold patterns. Another fantastic example is:

The White Tablecloth (1926) by Pierre Bonnard

Another group of Post-Impressionist painters I like are the Fauvists (fauve means wild beast in French) also because of their use of bright, intense colors.  Excellent examples (such vivid colors!) in the Art Institute collection include:

   

Antwerp (1906) by Georges Braque

Landscape at L'Estaque (1906) by Georges Braque

Another one of my favorite paintings is by the Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian.  There is just something about the symmetry with the simple horizontal and vertical lines and colors and reflection in this painting that I find mesmerizing.

Farm near Duivendrecht (1916) by Piet Mondrain

Continuing on the Dutch theme and remembering my recent trip to the Netherlands, on my most recent visit to the Art Institute, I sought out any Dutch Masters paintings in the collection.  Jan Steen was one of the original 17th century Dutch Golden Age painters. He was known for painting scenes of daily life.  Many of the scenes he portrayed are lively to the point of chaos, so much so that a Jan Steen household, meaning a messy scene, became a Dutch proverb.

The Family Concert (1666) by Jan Steen

You can't speak about Dutch painters without mentioning Rembrandt. Throughout his career, Rembrandt painted powerful studies of single figures, conveying character through dramatic costume and lighting.

Old Man with a Gold Chain (1631) by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn

The museum has dozens of wonderful etchings by Rembrandt.  This print exemplifies the popular depiction of the Passion of Christ which often combined multiple part of the New Testament story into one overwhelming scene:

Christ Before Pilate: Large Plate (1636) by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn

Jan Uytenbogaert, “The Goldweigher” (1639) by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn

Other painters discovered on my recent Netherlands/Belgium trip were the Flemish masters, one painter being Hans Memling.  Imagine my delight in finding this diptych in the Art Institute collection.  Separated for many years, the two images were reunited in 1953.  Fortunately, the image on the left is still in wonderful condition, even after 525 years!  Unfortunately, the original matching image on the right side is in poor condition.  The image shown here on the right side is actually the back side of the original painting, Portrait of a Man in Prayer.

Virgin and Child (1485) by Hans Memling

St. Anthony of Padua (1485) by Hans Memling

Photo of the original diptych showing Portrait of a Man in Prayer.

And of course, there are the German Expressionist paintings, my love of which I wrote about in my last post.  There are some excellent German Expressionist paintings in the Art Institute's permanent collection.

Despite being raised in a country that discouraged women from careers in art, Gabriele Münter became a founding member of one of the most influential early 20th-century modernist movements: German expressionism.  In 1911 Gabriele Münter, along with Franz Marc and her lover, Wassily Kandinsky, founded the Der Blaue Reiter group, an important expressionist organization.

Still Life with Queen (1912) by Gabriele Münter

The Bewitched Mill (1913) by Franz Marc

Red-Haired Girl (1919) by Emil Nolde

Speaking of color:  You can't forget this artist:

Interior at Nice (1919 or 1920) by Henri Matisse

Women before an Aquarium (1921-1923) by Henri Matisse

 



These are just a few of my favorite paintings located in the Art Institute of Chicago.  All photos in this post were taken by me at various visits to the museum.

 

In my next post I'll continue showing many more of my favorite paintings from several different genres.

• Admission for adults is $18.00**
• Admission for Students and Seniors is $12.00
• The museum is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s days.
• Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 10:30-5:00.
• Open Thursday 10:30-8:00.
• Open Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10:30-5:00.
• Free Family Wednesdays: Admission to the Art Institute of Chicago is free to Illinois residents the first and second Wednesday of every month.

** Chicago residents receive a $2 discount on admission in recognition of the significant support given to the museum through local property taxes. A valid photo ID with a resident address is required.

For more information, visit: http://www.artic.edu

THE GERMAN EXPRESSIONISTS

I first discovered the paintings of the German Expressionists during a visit to the Milwaukee Art Museum, so I was quite excited when I saw the collection of German Expressionist paintings at the St. Louis Art Museum.  I love the bold colors that this group of painters used in creating their works.

Of course, the German Expressionists were at the center of controversy during the early years of the Hitler Regime.  Many of the artists' works were deemed degenerate art by Hitler and the paintings (and sometimes the painters themselves) were destroyed by Hitler's order.  See my blog post in August, 2010 titled War Booty for more information.

In 1983, businessman and philanthropist Morton D. May (grandson of the founder of the May/Famous Barr Department Store chain) bequeathed his extensive collection of German Expressionist paintings to the St. Louis Art Museum.  Morton D. May began collecting German Expressionist paintings in the late 1940s.  His first purchase was a painting by Max Beckmann; his collection grew substantially when Mr. May discovered that Max Beckmann was actually living right in St. Louis and teaching at the local Washington University.  The two became close friends, and Morton May amassed one of the largest collections of Beckmann's works in the country.

All of the following paintings were part of Morton D. May's amazing collection:

Self-Portrait in Blue Jacket (1950) by Max Beckmann

(His 35th and final self-portrait)

Young Men by the Sea (1943) by Max Beckmann



The Bath (1930) by Max Beckmann

Acrobats (1939) by Max Beckmann

More than a dozen figures—including acrobats, tight-rope walkers, a snake handler

and other characters—bind together the panels of this triptych.

Acrobat on Trapeze (1940) by Max Beckmann

Beckmann's diaries from Amsterdam recount his numerous visits to cabarets,

theaters, and the circus.

Woman in Strong Light (1912) by Emil Nolde

Red Evening Sky (1915) by Emil Nolde (Such brilliant color!)

Sunset (1921) by Max Pechstein

Day of Steel (1911) by Max Pechstein

The Big Indian (1910) by Max Pechstein

Harlequin and Columbine (1913) by Heinrich Campendonk

Bucolic Landscape (1913) by Heinrich Campendonk

I love the bold colors in both of these paintings by Campendonk!

Spring (1912) by Alexei von Jawlensky

The Little Mountain Goats (1913-1914) by Franz Marc

Landscape with Cows, Sailing Boat and Figures (1914) by August Macke

Winter Landscape (1911) by Wassily Kandinsky

Between 1909 and 1911, Kandinsky lived and worked in Murnau, a village in the

Bavarian Alps. During this period, the artist turned away from the direct depiction

of nature in favor of a more abstract approach. 

The Painter and His Model II (1923) by Oskar Kokoschka

 Circus Rider (1914) by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Kirchner is one of my favorite artists.  Here are two other paintings by him that were not part of the May bequest:
 

Portrait of a Woman (1911)

View of Basel and the Rhine (1927-1928)

In 1905, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was one of the founding members of the art movement Die Brücke (The Bridge).  In 1906, Max Pechstein and Emil Nolde joined the group.  The Brücke style attempted the creation of pure expression through color and form.  Their aim was to find new ways of artistic expression and to free themselves from the traditional academic style of the time. The Brücke is therefore one of the earliest German artists’ associations which had a crucial impact on the development of classical modern art. The artists collectively created a style which was to be defined within 20th century art history as Expressionism.

In 1911, Wassily Kandinsky, Heinrich Campendonk, Alexei Jawlensky, August Macke and Franz Marc later helped form Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group.  They all shared an interest in abstracted forms and prismatic colors, which, they felt, had spiritual values that could counteract the corruption and materialism of their age.  The name Blaue Reiter refers to a key motif in Kandinsky’s work: the horse and rider, which was for him a symbol for moving beyond realistic representation.  Der Blaue Reiter dissolved with the outbreak of World War I in August 1914.  Kandinsky, a Russian citizen, was forced to return to his homeland; Jawlensky, also Russian, moved to Switzerland and both Marc and Macke, were killed in action.

MEMORIES OF MAYMAY

We lost our beautiful, beloved cat, MayMay on Friday.  She brought such joy and happiness to our lives for over 14 years.  I loved taking photos of her especially in Black and White.  So in an effort to help me through the grieving process, here are some of my favorite photos of my pretty girl:

MayMay, this is Mommy's tribute to you.  I love you so much and my heart is breaking because I miss you so much.  I miss hearing you jump down from somewhere you shouldn't have been.  I miss hearing the tinkling of the bell on your collar when you ran down the stairs.  I miss feeling your 6-pound body walk across the bed (and me) when I was trying to sleep.  I miss you snuggling with me at night while I read before bedtime (and trying to read through you and around you).  I miss you sitting in the bathroom while I took a shower (and making sure I knew you were there), waiting for me to give you the water bowl which was within easy reach...you just wanted me to put it right in front of you which I always did.  I miss you "exercising" your paws on the basket in my bedroom.  I miss singing you those silly songs I made up about you.  I miss you greeting me when I came home from work.  I miss rubbing your tummy and scratching your back.  MayMay, I just miss you so much...