continued Art Institute of Chicago
Continuing my Art Institute of Chicago wanderings, I found the "Modern Art after 1960" wing and was greeted by a lovely Brice Marden. I walked a little further and had a "HEY!" moment when i saw a color field very much in the style of my painting by Ellsworth Kelly!
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| Tableau Vert by Ellsworth Kelly, 1952 |
gift of the artist
This image doesn't do the work any justice but I noticed the following colors: permanent light green, cobalt teal, and Hooker's green. I am sure there must have been some sort of blue, like cobalt or ultramarine blue. It looks nothing like any of the work I've seen by him.
An amusing Hockney painting titled "American Collectors" which we studied in Western Art History.
I did not realize it was such a large painting at 88 in X 120 in. It is goofy with the collectors standing as if they are part of the art collection that is being shown with pride.
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| American Collectors by David Hockney |
Next, to the Modern Art After 1945 wing. Whenever I see a Mark Rothko painting, I want to rush back to the studio and paint.
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| Purple, White, Red by Mark Rothko |
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| Untitled by Mark Rothko |
And it isn't clear in the above image, but there is an amazing pink in this painting. It is absolutely delicious with the orange and yellow. I want to create an "Edges" painting but I need to work on my portraits. With my October 13th deadline looming, I have much more work to do.
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| City Landscape by Joan Mitchell |
This Joan Mitchell painting really captures the city landscape. It is super noisy, harsh, busy, frenzied and when i first saw this, I thought it was rather ugly ..."an ugly Joan Mitchell", I thought. but as I stood in front of it for a while, I felt it's energy and appreciated the brush strokes, the shapes and the use of color. Wow, she is good!
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| Cyclops by William Baziotes |
After seeing this painting by Willaim Baziotes, I thought, "I need to do a cyclops painting" and I wrote "haha!" in my notes. But seriously, I love the shapes and I haven't seen a contemporary artist do a cyclops painting yet. The time has come!
Next, to the European Modern Art wing -
and a lovely self portrait by Ashile Gorky...
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| Self Portrait by Ashile Gorky |
My painting instructors at the San Francisco Art Institute worshiped Ashile Gorky. I have tried to like him, but I don't really get him...perhaps in a few years, I will appreciate his abstract work more. However, I love his portraits and this self portrait is gorgeous. The brush work is so confident.
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| Mother and Child by Wildredo Lam |
I don't remember why I loved this but I wrote in my notes the artist, title, and a big heart next to it. I do love a beautiful charcoal drawing!
My museum meanderings took my to the European Modern Art wing and I found myself in a room of Matisse paintings. Aahhhhhh...
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| Interior at Nice by Henri Matisse |
A lovely and sensitive Picasso.
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| Nude with a Pitcher by Pablo Picasso |
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| Crazy Woman with Cats by Pablo Picasso |
There is a man in my neighborhood who pushes a shopping cart full of his personal belongings whose body is bent very much like in "The Old Guitarist". I always think of him (and vice versa) when I see one of Picasso's bent people.
Afterwards, I felt i should go see the Roy Lictenstein retrospective (I am not a fan). I reasoned that since I was there and it was one of those "blockbuster" shows, I would have a quick look. And quick it was, I scanned the paintings as I walked briskly through the galleries. After seeing the work and admittedly the scale of the work was impressive, I am still a non-fan.
Still more Art Institute meanderings to come.....
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