Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
My Shop Rite has been crowded and this morning it looked like the day before a blizzard alert. And the shelves are starting to look like the disaster movies. I planned on buying toilet tissue, as there was a sale and a digital coupon, but the shelves were completely bare. I think people may be overreacting just a bit. How many times are they going to go out and do a shopping like this as the virus soldiers on. I was surprised there was no skim milk in the case at 8:30 AM, while other versions were available. I asked in the back room and was told there were no gallons but he gave me two half gallons. I wondered why they weren’t in the case. Will rationing be next?
I’ve been trying to reconcile my lifestyle with the virus and reality smacked me in the face. For weeks I’ve had gallery shows of Japanese art on my calendar for this weekend which I planned to attend. They’re being held at the Mark Hotel on 77th Street. In thinking about whether to go or not I was hesitant because first of all it’s a hotel with people coming and going at all hours and second of all, the galleries aren’t local and the people running the exhibits are flying in from California, Seattle and other places. So they’re in airports and exposed to who knows what. What made up my mind was when the Metropolitan Museum and the rest of the major museums, as well as Broadway theaters and all the major sports leagues closed down. I have to believe this is telling me not to go. But it begs the question as to when it will be safe to see an exhibit again, this clearly isn’t ending anytime soon. I usually visit New York City once a week; I go in and out during non-rush hours. I also walk to the exhibits and only take the subway on the way back. The museums and galleries aren’t especially crowded during the week so when venues start opening again and exhibits start to appear I’m fairly certain I will visit them. We can’t pull the covers over our heads and just stay in bed. Meanwhile, I have a couple of museum visits in draft but in a few weeks the Saturday Flickrs may actually be just a flicker.
Earlier this week, before all the closings, I visited the Met for the current rotation in the drawing corridor. This is a link to the Overview page which also has links to all the objects.
https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2020/drawing-and-prints-collectors-collections It was an eclectic mix which started slow, with some contemporary art and some unusual art forms before it ended solidly with traditional art. I’ll link to some of the things I enjoyed.
Cyril Power – The Merry Go Round – Power was a 20th Century English artist. This is a linocut, a print process similar to the wood block prints of the Japanese except the medium is linoleum. I liked the somewhat psychedelic feel of this, similar to the old Rock Concert posters from the sixties.
https://www.theblankcardcompany.co.uk/acatalog/cyril-power-the-merry-go-round-print.jpg Auguste Edouart - The Magic Lantern – Edouart was a 19th Century French born portrait artist. This is an example of his silhouette art; the silhouettes are cut from paper and affixed to the canvas. A very evocative scene which shows the upper-class family which can enjoy this entertainment while also showing a black servant in the back peeking in to also get a glimpse.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/365307 Margaret Neilson Armstrong - Bush Poppy (Dendromecon rigida), Montecito, California – Like the first two artists Armstrong was unfamiliar to me. She was a 20th-century American designer, illustrator, and author. She wrote and illustrated the Field Book of Western Wild Flowers (1915,) from which this is an illustration. She came from a family of artists; her father Maitland and sister Helen were stained glass artists. She really captured the essence of the flower in this is beautiful watercolor.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/393658 Rembrandt - Landscape with Three Gabled Cottages Beside a Road – There were four prints by the master, and I could have chosen any of them. This is a wonderful rural scene.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/359972 Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée) - Harbor Scene with Rising Sun – Thought I would follow Rembrandt with Claude, a French contemporary. Remarkably intricate detail in this print, the buildings to the left, the boats in the distance and the men, on the shore and in the boat.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/360049Joseph Mallord William Turner - The Fort of L'Esseillon, Val de la Maurienne, France – You can just about make out the fort running along the mountainside and imagine what must have been involved in building it. Getting the materials up the mountain as well as where the workers had to camp out while the work was going on. It certainly seems impregnable. Wonderful contrast in color of the mountains, the foliage and the clouds in the sky.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/343384 Mary Cassatt – In The Omnibus – Cassatt had been turned on to an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints by her close friend Edgar Degas and she was immediately struck by their beauty and determined that she wanted to create similar art. This is from a series of ten plates and I think you will be able to see the similarities between this and the woodblock prints I’ve sent along before. This is a link to a review of an old exhibition of her prints at Rutgers art museum.
https://tinyurl.com/r7saqcw This is a pertinent quote from the review. “In the Omnibus” (1890-91), a drypoint and aquatint from that series, is a rare outdoor scene that shows two women and a child — and the flat application of color and sharp divisions of space familiar from Japanese woodblock prints.”
https://collection.mcnayart.org/objects/2915 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/365007 Sir Thomas Lawrence - Mrs. Papendiek and Her Son – Mrs. Papendiek was Queen Charlotte’s dresser. When Lawrence was painting Charlotte, he wanted to paint her jewels, but she never wore them and finally told him he could paint Mrs. Papendiek wearing them. But the jewels never came, so Lawrence chose the dress and hat she wears in the portrait as well as asking that her son be included to which she agreed. It’s pointed out in a book on Lawrence that if Charlotte had been more cooperative, he never would have made the drawing which shows how close the style is to that of Ingres’ portrait drawings. I love Ingres which I’m sure is what attracted me to this drawing.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/355382 John Downman - Memento Portrait of a Young Midshipman – Another artist I’ve never encountered along with Dusart, the artist of the image after this one, Downman was a 19th Century Welsh portrait and subject painter. This is a wonderful portrait of what must have been a very young boy in the Navy, painted with his ship off in the distance. Something his mother could look at fondly when he was away at sea and she missed him.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/341620 Cornelis Dusart – Kitchen Scene – Dusart was a Dutch genre painter of the 17th Century. I’ll close with this delightful tableau of two men enjoying a rudimentary meal in their kitchen. A detailed depiction of the kitchen right down to the two pegs hanging from the wall for pots.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/370463 As I mentioned, I was a little concerned when I was walking through the front of the exhibit but as you can see it turned out to be quite a lovely little show.
In other art news.
Just like in New York, museums around the world are closing as a precaution. Here’s an article about a major Raphael exhibition at Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome, mounted in collaboration with the Uffizi. As it’s in Italy I wouldn’t have had a chance to see this brilliant exhibit but now we can all enjoy highlights of it online.
In Pictures: See Highlights of the Once-in-a-Lifetime Raphael Exhibition Shuttered by Italy’s Coronavirus Lockdown
https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/see-raphael-blockbuste-shuttered-italy-lockdown-1798848 And we can always visit the Flickrs without fear of viral infection. Physical viral infection anyway.
Andy G.
Stop sulking and hang the washing up then you can demonstrate your curtsey to amuse my friends.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/142877968@N07/49463420403/White 4
https://www.flickr.com/photos/145905338@N03/31797215744/IMGR1808_M
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jorgina_ts/49489407551/48671684286_4418bffb41_o
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184583402@N04/49237551158/Lindy Lou with Sissy Sarah.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lindaw567/17308560421feeling so pretty in pink 5
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jerlee42/49215374902/Bedtime
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stefanied/49419603056/Kitchenmaid
https://www.flickr.com/photos/emmalouisetgirl/49543274781/Countdown: 2014
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rebecca_george/49542921468/Pink Sissy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127246282@N07/32133384737/
Betty's Pub 20.1
Topic: Rain, Snow and Freezing temperatures, I guess it’s time for the Winter Flickr (Read 10345 times)
