for a hot Wednesday afternoon

Fallen Figure
Jean Helion

Saturday

On Saturday I visited the Phillips Collection in DC. I've been wanting to go and am excited about their upcoming Paul Klee exhibition but I decided I couldn't hold off until then. At the current moment their feature exhibit is "The Renoir Returns" in celebration of Luncheon of the Boating Party. The exhibit features many of the collection's best works and I was quite amazed at the display.
The museum has an exquisite collection and there was really nothing that I was disappointed to see (except perhaps a baseball painting which I believe was by Mr. Phillips' wife. Luckily it was hung in a stairway so it did not steal a prime spot away from something more deserving and beautiful). The Renoir exhibition had such beautiful things and I am not exactly certain where the exhibit began and ended because the other works hanging were as notable so I will tell you what I saw in no particular order. There were Picassos. Still-lifes mostly. Also cubist still-lifes by Braque and Gris. Matisses. Kandinskys and Mondrians. A Vierra de Silva (I think this was the first I've seen in the flesh). A wonderful Cezanne still-life. A small Ingres bather which was hanging slightly crooked. How I so wanted to reach out and straighten it! Two Bonnards, one of which I drew from. A Dufy which was lovely to see as I just posted one of his works on my blog last week. Rothkos, which were quite overpowering as they were hung in a very small room. Two small Klines which were rather nice. After my tour of the Phillips I decided to head over to the National Gallery to see if I could find a parking spot. I did and started out in the main building. I walked through the exhibit of Venetian drawings. I then headed over to the modern building. More Rothkos, saw Barnett Newman's Stations of the Cross. I saw these at the Philadelphia Museum but I thought differently about them this time. Sat for a while in the Calder room. Walked through the exhibit of small French paintings. More Bonnards, Corots.
There were a few things that stood out in my mind when I finally finished my museum-going for the day and sat to collect my thoughts.
In the Calder room there is a mobile which is attached to the top of a canvas. If I remember correctly, the canvas is really two canvases (squares perhaps?) put together to form a rectangle. I thought it was very interesting that this 3 dimensional mobile was casting its shadows on a canvas, and in the process producing a 2 dimensional piece of art. I sat for a while and looked at the Calder, thinking about the shapes he uses in his works and how they related to one another. Line becoming plane, plane becoming line. It was very fascinating. Another thing that interested me greatly was a grouping of fruit in one of Cezanne's still-lifes. Cezanne always arranges his objects, including his fruit, so meticulously, however there is always the possibility that an apple is just about to roll of the table. In this particular still life, he groups what appears to be 4 pieces of fruit together, but because of the way he groups them, they appear to be one strange object. I am constantly amazed by Cezanne's work and this still life was very amazing. As museum days go, it was a great one. I definitely feel that I got many things out of it and to anyone who is able to visit, I highly recommend the Phillips Collection.

work in progress

One of the paintings I am currently working on.

wednesday midday

more words to come in the near future.
until then, feast your eyes on this beauty.

Raoul Dufy for your Tuesday afternoon

my other blog

www.goodvintagefun.blogspot.com

drawing on the easel

Finished this sometime last week. I was a bit surprised at the final result.

Chardin on a Wednesday morning

Matisse and Nice on a Friday afternoon

The French Riviera is one of my favorite places. A few years back, my beau and I visited Nice, then drove through the countryside of Provence. We stayed at a lovely little bed and breakfast in St. Remy. Visited Aix and walked along the streets Cezanne may have once passed through. Sat on the stone covered beach and sunned ourselves on the riviera. One of the things we did on the trip, was visit the Matisse Museum as well as Matisse's grave. The museum was fabulous but it was amazing walking down the path that led to his grave. The grass was so green, the sunlight was beautiful and there at the end of the path, lay one of the most magnificent artists of all time. His grave was far from the sounds of cars passing on the street. It was a peaceful, quiet area surrounded by lush vegetation, blooming flowers in fuschias creating a sort of wall against the outside world. I believe that in my travel journal, I have one of those fushia flowers pressed between the pages. I can't wait to go home and see it.

Picasso gets 95 million

Picasso painting sells for $95 million

Portrait of mistress fetches second-highest auction price ever. Sotheby's also sells off Renoir and Monet owned by high-living CEO.

By The Associated Press

A portrait by Pablo Picasso of the woman who influenced him in the late 1930s and early 1940s sold for $95.2 million, the second-highest amount ever paid for a painting at auction, the auction house Sotheby's said.

"Dora Maar au chat," which depicts Picasso's mistress, went to an anonymous buyer in the room who was competing with telephone bidders during Wednesday's auction in New York.

Its selling price ranked second only to another Picasso piece, "Garcon a la pipe," which sold at Sotheby's for more than $104 million in May 2004, the auction house said.

Also sold were paintings by Monet and Renoir that once hung in a lavish Fifth Avenue apartment used by former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski.

Tyco loot also auctioned
The two paintings, Monet's "Pres Monte Carlo" and Renoir's "Fleurs et Fruits," were among items from the apartment listed in documents filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, where Kozlowski was convicted last year of grand larceny and other charges.

"Pres Monte Carlo," an Impressionist landscape of sea, sky and lush greenery, went to an anonymous buyer for about $5.1 million, Sotheby's said.

"Fleurs et Fruits," a still life of peaches and other fruits arranged around a blue vase holding bright orange flowers, fetched $2.8 million. A Sotheby's spokeswoman said no buyer information for the piece was available.

Prosecutors said it was unclear to them whether the canvases were owned by Tyco International or Kozlowski. Any money that is due Kozlowski would almost certainly be used to pay fines, restitution and possible civil judgments, they said.

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Thanks E for the forward.