Gifts from the Chicago Art Institute

Colleen and I had enjoyed the amazing art at the Institute last year so it was a treat to visit the museum again.  I focused on American painters and their work from about 1870 to 1950.  Here are some of the gems I enjoyed.

"Self-Portrait" 1944 by Beauford Delaney (1901-1979).  Delaney is the son of a Tennessee preacher and studied art in Boston before settling in 1929 in New York

"The Indestructibles" 1946 by Philip Evergood (1901-1973).  Evergood was was born in New York City to an English mother and an Australian artist father.  He attended English boarding schools plus Eton and Cambridge.  He returned to New York in 1926, worked on WPA art projects in the '30's.  "He maintained a socially conscious attitude in his art for the remainder of his career." 

"Cotton Pickers" 1945 by Thomas Hart Benton, 1989-1975
Based on a trip he made to Georgia, Benton showed "the dignity of the cotton pickers in the face of back breaking labor and intense summer heat.  Benton believed that African American history was central to the understanding of American culture."

"Blues" 1929 by Archibald J. Motley, Jr. (1891-1981).
Motley was born in New Orleans, LA, an African-American painter, studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago.  He chronicled the African-American experience during the 1920's and 30's. 

"Self-Portrait" by Archibald J. Motley

"Woman with a Bird Cage" 1941 by Rufino Tomayo, Mexican, 1899-1991.

"This, My Brother" 1942 by Charles White (1918-1979).
"This, My Brother takes its title from a poem by John Rood about a rural minor who in this painting appears to break free from a mountain of rubble...White's hope for social change."

"Tattoo and Haircut" 1912 by Reginal Marsh (1898-1954)

"The Weaver" 1936 by Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886-1957)
Rivera sought to challenge social and political inequities and to foster pride in Mexican culture.

"American Gothic" 1930 by Grant Wood (1891-1942)
A Carpenter Gothic house in Eldon, Iowa with a father and daughter modeled by Wood's sister and his dentist.  They are painted to represent "American Gothic people"...Victorian people clinging to old values.

"The Boxer" 1942 by Richmond Barche' (1901-1989).
An African American sculptor from the Art Institue School who "created compelling works that emphasize the expressive potential of the body...inspired by famed Cuban featherweight "Kid Chocolate."

"Yellow Hickory Leaves with Daisey," 1928 by Georgia O'Keefe (1887-1986).

Left "Peru - Machu Picchu, Morning Light" 1957, Right "The White Place in Sun," 1943, Center Bottom "Spring" 1923-24, Center top "Road - Mesa with Mist" 1961 by Georgia O'Keefe.

"Swing Music (Louis Armstrong)" 1938 by Arthur Dove (1880-1946)

"Madawaska - Acadian Light-Heavy" 1940 by Marsden Hartley (1877-1943)

"Reclining Torso" 1922 by Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964)

"Mrs. Darrow" 1911 by Manierre Dawson (1887-1969)

"Portrait of Marevna" 1915 by Diego River
The Cubist manner of Pablo Picasso is shown here as this was painted while he lived in Paris.

"Grey and Silver: Old Battersea Reach" 1863 by James McNeill Whistler, American (1834-1903)

"On a Balcony" 1878-79 by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
Mary painted this in Paris after she joined the Impressionists group of painters and exhibited with them.

"The Child's Bath" 1893 by Mary Cassatt.  She was known for her paintings of women and children..."the mother's encircling arms and gentle touch convey an overall feeling of protection and tenderness."

"Mrs. George Swinton (Elizabeth Ebsworth) 1897 by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).
The American livng in Partis became one of the most favored portraitist of fashionable Europeans and Americans. 

"Portrait of Charles Deering" 1917 by John Singer Sargent

""Rehearsal of Pasdeloup Orchestra at the Cirque d'Hiver" 1876/78 by John Singer Sargent.

"Venetian Glass Workers" 1880/82 by John Singer Sargent

"Study from Life" 1894 by John Singer Sargent

"The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy" 1907 by John Singer Sargent

""Madame Paul Esudier (Louise Lefevre) 1882 by John Singer Sargent painted in Venice using Impressionist's style with chiaroscuro lighting. 

Chicago Wedding, Friends, and a race to the Art Museum

We arrived in Chicago on the 18th for Molly and Peter's wedding that included a rehearsal dinner with amazing Italian food and toasts.  Then after a race to the Millennium Park and the Art Museum (in 95 degree heat via cab of course) we were off to a beautiful wedding at St. Clements Church in the Lincoln Park area followed by a wonderful reception at St. Ignatius High School a 1869 founded school with a beautiful campus where Peter is employed.  Time for dancing, beverages, food and great fun.  Saturday was a time for friends Jon and Marsha and then a party in the suburbs with food and beverages for all the wedding guests.  Sunday was a time with nephew Sean and then Cincinnati's own Graeter's ice cream with the bride and groom in their new apartment and a slurping send off for their honeymoon to Costa Rica and Peru.  Below are a few pictures of the festivities.

Leo returns after a two week Hiatus in the Mid West

'Twas an amazing two weeks.  First it was a night at the Hollywood Bowl on July 17th with Colleen and friends Jim and Nancy.  We had a wonderful picnic and then enjoyed a concert by Sergio Mendez and his group then Herb Alpert and his group....no Tijuana Brass...but with Lani Hall.  We all left humming "The Look of Love."

Francisco Zuniga at Jack Rutberg Gallery

Later on Friday I stopped by the Jack Rutberg Gallery at 357 N. La Brea in L.A.  He represents the family of Francisco Zuniga who lived from 1912 in Costa Rica until 1998 when he died in Mexico, his adopted country.  He has been called "perhaps the best sculptor" of the Mexican political modern style.  Francisco's father, Manuel, was also a sculptor.  Below are some of the works for sale at the Rutberg Gallery.  I talked to Jack and he was particularly excited to have obtained the granite, called Cartago Stone, sculpture below.  It had been in a private collection until recently.  It is called "Cabeza De Indio," (Head of an Indian) 1932.  You can buy it for $160,000.  It could be worth it...very moving.

The next paintings and sculptures are of his women for which he is famous.

Appreciating Art and Friends on Friday

I met my friend Lois at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena on Friday and we enjoyed our company and lunch overlooking the lily pad blooming pond surrounded by sculptures.  We then strolled into the museum and I found two paintings that spoke to me today.  The first was the El Greco titled "Portrait of an Old Man with Fur by Domenikos Theotokopoulos, Greece, 1541-1614.  With a name like that you can understand why the Spanish in Toledo where her lived called him "The Greek"...El Greco.  He adopted the Baroque style with "audacious use of color...bold distorions of the physical world."  I have seen his paintings in the church and his museum in Toledo and was struck by his colors....eerie and elongated noses and bodies.  The painting below was completed in 1590 to 1600.

The next painting I liked was a landscape by Jacob van Ruisdael, Dutch 1628/9-1682.  "Jacob van Ruisdael is considered to be the greatest and most versatile Dutch landscape painter of the seventeenth century.  The figures were painted

by his friend Nicolaes Berchem.  The emphasis of the painting is on the natural elements in the landscape...the human and animal figures are less significant...but I very much like them.  They are hard to see in the bottom photo of the whole painting so I took close up pictures of the figures which are located in the bottom center.

LA Phil Rehearsal

On Thursday, neighbor John and I went to a rehearsal at the Hollywood Bowl.  Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the Phil and had very definite ideas on the sound he wanted to achieve...many stops and redo's.  Gil Shaham performed Sibelius' Violin Concerto and was amazing.  When Sibelius first wrote this piece, it was too difficult and wore out his soloist.  He himself was a wanna be solo violinist and perhaps he was talking out his frustration on this piece. Shaham mastered this one.  

The highlight was Tchaikovsky's "fateful" Fourth Symphony.  He wrote a lot of emotion in this one and it was felt on this gray....sometimes drizzly....Thursday morning...even with many stops and corrections by the conductor. Tchaikovsky "drew on his Russian roots to produce the impression of a folk celebration....to take joy in others' joy...go among the people...see how they can enjoy themselves, surrender themselves wholeheartedly to joyful feelings."  It seems that was a message to himself as he had difficulty holding on to the feeling of joy due to inner conflicts...fate.

The opening program was Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Dubinushka...a patriotic piece that dated to the Russian surf uprising in the 1860's.  This was written in 1905, also a time of uprising in Russia.  Dubinushka means "little oak stick." used to overthrow the oppressive masters.

Hollywood Bowl Season

On Wednesday I was introduced to Gypsy Jazz via the children's Summer Sounds program at the bowl where I volunteer on Wednesdays.  The music theme for this weeks program was Gypsy music and the guitar sound of Django Reinhardt, 1910 to 1953.  His Gypsy Jazz sound is a joy.  He lived in France but traveled through Europe and the US with Duke Ellington.

So from this fun summer program for young children I was introduced to Gypsy  Jazz.  Here are pictures of the performing group.