Crystal Bridges statuary

Shore Lunch, Dan Ostermiller, 1999

 One of the great features of the Crystal Bridges Museum is the network of trails that surrounds the buildings. When we planned our trip, we built in time to take a hike on the various trails and see what there was to see. Like the rest of the grounds, there were lots of flowers, and well-designed trails. There was also art, which is appropriate, since it is an art museum and all. I didn't get pictures of everything, but here are some of the works we saw on the hike.

These two photos of boulders take a little explanation. The boulder in the photo above is art, as shown by the number and (not visible in this photo) the word "ART" that have been attached to it. It is part of an installation called Grains of Sand by Robert Tannen, that is designed as a sort of scavenger hunt on the grounds.

The thing is, the art boulders are made of the native stone that also is found all over the grounds, like the other boulder, above, which was situated directly next to one of the ART boulders. I try to be open and appreciative to art of all kinds, but I have to admit myself a bit mystified over these boulders. They certainly made us laugh a bit, and they made us think, and I guess that is the point, what makes them art? Anyway, we had a chuckle every time we discovered one.

Stella, Andre Harvey, 2009

Stella here typifies the problem with outdoor art - you want to run over and pet her snout, and climb on her back, but the museum doesn't want her to be damaged by constant contact with grimy hands. Makes sense, but it was torture to not rub an ear. They shouldn't have made her so cute!

Group of Bears, Paul Manship, modeled 1932, cast 1999

We had to hike a bit farther than we though to see these lovely creatures - the scale on the map is not quite accurate. They were apparently meant for the Bronx Zoo, but not cast at the time. You can definitely see the Art Deco influence in their lines. I would have liked to pet them too.

Let's get medieval

There were so many cool things at the Philadelphia Art Museum and I know I only saw a fraction of them in my whirlwind trip. For one thing, there were three other locations with even more stuff, including the Rodin Museum, and the Perelman Building, which appears to have all sorts of modern collections, including costumes and clothes.

One of the coolest things I did get to see were all the little rooms that have been brought from actual castles and manors and temples and so on and reconstructed at the museum. This is the ceiling of a small chapel-like room (can't find the specific room in the collection database, but others are there). The rooms that are complete with furnishing give you a real sense of what it was like to live in a medieval manor house, or a German monastery.

I like this painting of St. Catherine of Alexandria for several reasons. First, she is reading a book; second, she is standing in front of Bruges, and it has a special place in my heart since we were there last year; and third, she is totally standing on the pagan emperor who killed her. Awesome. I didn't spend too much time in the medieval/Renaissance painting rooms because a lot of it was similar to all the art we saw last year in Europe. If I had been there longer I probably would have spent more time there. But I wanted to make sure I got to see the other cool stuff:

Like 14th and 15th century swords. While I was in Philadelphia (and for a month afterwards) I was listening to A Distant Mirror, Barbara Tuchman's history of 14th century France, and was excited to see things that came from that time and place. I also saw later dueling-type swords, but these were true war swords.

And where there are swords, there must be shields and armor. I decided not to try your patience with the (many) pictures of horse armor I took (not sure what I was thinking at the time other than "horsies, in armor!"), but this shield is amazing. All that detail, all done by hand without any modern tools or computer renderings or anything. So. Much. Detail.

If you ever have a chance to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, do it. It definitely belongs in the same class as the Metropolitan Museum in NYC, and the Smithsonian, and the British Museum.

Next time, I will turn to the sights of Colonial America at Constitution Hall.

Poppies and Puppies

Here are some more pictures from my visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I love Rookwood Pottery, and I love poppies, so I would love to have this vase. My picture doesn't really do the colors justice. This one from the museum is much better.

Yes, another poppy vase. One thing I really like about Arts & Crafts era vases and lamps is that so much of the work was done by women artisans. Like this one. They didn't really get famous, like their male counterparts, but they were there, and they are documented, some of them at least, and they did lovely work.

This little guy was just about my favorite item in the entire museum. And he is really old - 3rd century CE - just goes to show that even the ancient Chinese liked their cute dogs.

And the Japanese, in the 18th century.

So did the Koreans. This adorable little puppy (who looks an awful lot like puppy Miikka) is from the 16th century.

Tomorrow - Medieval European art and artifacts.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

See the folks getting their wedding pictures done?

So, back to Philadelphia and the art museum. Not only does it have cool statues around it, it also has art inside - imagine that!  And even better, they allow photography, as long as you don't use a flash. So what follows are some of my pictures from inside the museum (well, after this one and the next one which are both outside). I had less than an hour and a half to see the museum, and the steep price of admission (which I was happy to pay to support art etc, just not more than once in a week) meant that I couldn't come back later to see what I had missed. And thus began a whirlwind journey through some of the treasures of the world.

OK, so we are still outside for this one. But isn't it cool? They have painted the frieze so that it looks much like architectural historians speculate Greek and Roman temples really would have looked like - not the plain white marble we are used to seeing. (I know, this escapes the column, and as much as I want to give you the best picture possible, I am not good at coloring outside the lines, so this makes me anxious. But art needs to be seen, so I am going to ignore that feeling. I think I need a wider column...)

I honestly have no idea who this is, since I didn't bother to take a picture of the identification. This is Mary Anne Heide Norris by Thomas Scully. I thought she had an interesting expression on her face. Look at the shine of the silk of her dress and the furriness of her stole. I am always blown away by the abilities of painters - there are very good reasons I stick to photography.

[Library-related Diversion for a moment: The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a really good example of a digital library for its art. You can search by artist, classification, origin of art etc. There are no limiters, so I couldn't search for Mary Anne by "painting NOT landscape," but that is sort of a minor quibble that probably doesn't come up for most scholars, since they would probably at least know the painter they are looking for. And they do have a social tagging feature, which allows casual visitors like me to help put more metadata on pictures. For instance, this painting did not come up under the social tag for "portrait," but when I found the painting through a more laborious search, I was then able to add "woman" and "portrait" to its list of social tags. Pretty cool. There are many examples of digital libraries that don't work all that well, so it is nice to find one that works. In all, I have been extremely impressed with the ease of searching for the art in Philadelphia and the information available. Okay, back to the art].

OK, coloring outside the lines for this one too.

This is Thomas Moran's Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. The play of light on the rocks is just right, what you actually do see when you are there. I have seen pictures of this painting in books before, and copies at art galleries in Sedona, so it was a little thrill to see the original in person.

I cannot find this armoire in the collection catalog, but I believe it is Pennsylvania German, since that was the group of furniture it was with. Sorry about the glare on the window in front. Anyway, there was quite a lot of interesting furniture, and apparently there was a lot more in one of the other branches of the museum. 

This jug made me laugh. I did manage to take a picture of the information about it (same as the info at the link), because I knew I would want to share it with you. And I have a friend who is a potter who used to live in Asheville, NC.

Next time - vases and ancient puppies - even 2000 years ago, people loved their puppy pictures!

More Statues of Philadelphia

On my first day in Philadelphia (I was there for the Special Library Association Annual Conference) I headed over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. You know, the one where Rocky runs up the steps? Since visitors are allowed to take pictures inside the museum, I have some of those to share too, but today we are sticking with statues.

Where was I? Oh yes, Rocky. If you look closely, you can see where his knees have been rubbed shiny. When I first got to him, there was a gaggle of tourists having their picture taken with him. I was a little disappointed that it was in a little alcove-like space at the bottom of the steps, and not at the top. But I guess this is a better place - no steps for careless tourists to fall down while taking a picture.

Another statue of Washington - he's everywhere

This statue in front of the museum is also a fountain, and is another tribute to George Washington (other photos and info here). I like this one, mainly because of the fun and pretty darn accurate animals all around the base.

Like these moose. Rather casual pose there, for such a large and majestic animal - one hoof dangling over the side - but still well done.

Or this bear. I love the splayed back leg on him - just like Miikka.

This one, just a little to the side of Rocky, is The Lion Fighter.  And can I just say how grateful I am for the Philadelphia Public Art website that I have been linking to? It has 756 separate works of public art in Philadelphia cataloged, with metadata!

Around the side and to the back of the museum are other statues. Like this very shiny one of Joan of Arc. I don't remember if there was a sign explaining just why there is a statue of Joan of Arc outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but I am sure there was a good reason. I'm sort of surprised no-one has tried to steal her and strip off the gold to sell. Maybe they have and she is just too big.

This one is a memorial to the Armenian Genocide. You can read the accompanying inscription here.

And so we don't leave on too down a note, here is Puma.

The Statues of Washington D.C.

Good gracious me, D.C has tons of statues! They are everywhere - the traffic circle, in front of random buildings, at monuments, in front of museums, int he bathroom. Well, maybe not the latter, although, it really wouldn't surprise me.  What casinos are to Las Vegas, statues are to D.C. (and I have seen slots in the bathrooms in Vegas!). Here are just a few of the statues we saw while we were there in June.

Yes, this one is inspired by the little brush/blowy thing that people used to use to clean out typewriters..   And look at how big it is. Just imagine the typewriter that would need it!

Most of the statues have little signs telling you not to touch, not to sit or climb on them, which is always sort of a bummer, even for grown-ups. This arrangement, on the other hand, specifically encouraged visitors to sit on the chairs. A nice rest on a very hot afternoon.

Some sculptures were grave and thought-provoking, others were just plain goofy. This set of statues were in the Sculpture Garden, which is part of the National Gallery of Art. There were many more scattered throughout the garden area, just off the National Mall.

This fountain is at the center of the garden, and all around the rim, people sat and dipped their feet in the water. We joined in - did I mention it was a really hot day?  In the winter, this pond is converted to a skating rink. How neat is that?

This is one of several statues outside the fantastic National Museum of the American Indian. If you are in D.C. and have a chance, visit this museum. Eat at the cafe (it is pricey, but the food is mostly worth it  - for the love of cultural diversity, just don't eat the chicken strips!) - it showcases Native American foods from all over the country and even South America. Watch the little introductory video and wander through the exhibits.

Many thanks to Jeannette for pointing us in the direction of Albert here. He sits in a little grove of trees outside the National Academy of Sciences. He was another statue that encouraged climbing (or at least didn't discourage it).  In fact, it was rather difficult to get a picture of him alone, because a family with several children was visiting, and climbing all over him. If we had been alone, I might have climbed him myself, but I have too much dignity (err, was wearing a skirt that might have flashed innocent bystanders). What a pity.