Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Another remarkably chilly day here in Northeast New Jersey, 18 degrees when I left the house at 8AM and my thermometer currently reads in the mid 20’s. It was nice to see the groundhogs agree that we will have an early Spring. Both Punxsutawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck saw their shadow this morning although they probably would have been happier if they saw breakfast. Can’t say if the groundhog carries any weight but I would be truly pleased if things start to warm up a little.
I took a walk uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art this museum, the cold battering me and making my nose run the whole way but it was worthwhile as aside from the exercise I saw a splendid little exhibition. It was actually two small shows in the Robert Lehman wing of the museum on the first floor. The Lehman wing has an outstanding permanent collection which is always worthwhile visiting owing to its magnificent Rembrandt and Ingres portraits just to mention two notable paintings. But there are two special exhibitions currently on display, each in a single room which is what brought me to the museum. The first is “The Path of Nature: French Paintings From the Wheelock Whitney Collection, 1785-1850.” It was an exhibit of lesser known artists but not artists of lesser talent. Beautiful paintings of landscapes, ancient ruins, cloud formations and images of contemporary Italian life. The artist Leopold Boilly is represented by a beautiful portrait of a young woman, head and shoulders. On the plaque describing the painting it said that Boilly finished these paintings in about 2 ½ hours so that the sitter would be able to take the painting with her/him. He estimated that he did 4500 portraits in this manner! These were clearly working artists. This is a link to the Boilly painting.
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/view?exhibitionId=%7bfe4e0259-a50d-4418-8afe-aec76fa55916%7d&oid=110003330&ft=*&fe=1
This is a link to the Met museum website showing all of the paintings in the exhibit.
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/objects?exhibitionId={FE4E0259-A50D-4418-8AFE-AEC76FA55916}&pg=1&rpp=20 This is a link to a NY Times article about the exhibit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/arts/design/the-path-of-nature-at-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 The drawing exhibit was also wonderful as it had several Rembrandt’s and a Paul Signac depiction of a large oil painting that he had done. Lehman had excellent taste and lots of money so he was able to put together a formidable collection. But in leaving it to the Met he stipulated that it had to remain complete, that is, the different pieces couldn’t be sent to the areas in the museum where other paintings of the same vintage reside. So if you go to European paintings and visit the Dutch you will see many Rembrandt’s but not the one that Lehman donated. To see that you must visit the special wing the Met designed for his collection.
It was nice to get back to the museum and see wonderful art. Anyone who is in the New York Metropolitan area should certainly go out of their way to visit the Met and see all their beautiful treasures.
Now let’s see what’s at the Flickrs.
Andy G
Black and Turquoise Sun Dress
http://www.flickr.com/photos/84400915@N04/8350013489/ Air Rebecca - Cruising at Altitude!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebecca_george/8367513297/ Harold Carrington and his new present, Christmas 1902
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whatsthatpicture/8349162981/ cool_chris
http://www.flickr.com/photos/avrilharder2011/8376504946/ Boy to Girl 2013
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chloebrown/8420036111/ Shepherds Ball, Fancy Dress, Waimata Valley 20 Aug 1959 Gisborne Photo News
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nztony/8376665420/ Time Flies
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7883261@N02/8369356187/ img007
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11787607@N02/8377190285/ supergirl
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfaggan/8378558065/ hwn2k12
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickydanger/8378044095/ 
Topic: The Mid-Winter Flickr (Read 47753 times)
