Roamings of a Leo: Cleveland and the Art Museum

Back in Cleveland, Colleen and I enjoyed a cruise on Lake Erie and up the "Burning River." Actually a "Burning River" fest was being held on Whiskey Island at the mouth of the river Cuyahoga.

We able to make two visits to the amazing Art Museum and enjoyed their beautiful works. The museum is FREE by the way so stop by when you are in the neighborhood.

Cleveland at night from a boat on Lake Erie...note the fireworks above the Indian's Stadium...yes they won with a walk off home run in the 11th inning.

"Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" by Ai Weiwei born in Beijing, China in 1957. I enjoyed these same sculptures when the traveling exhibit was at LACMA.

"Samson" 1630 by Valentin de Boulogne, French active in Italy (1594-1632
If he looks a little tired, he is painted as he may have looked after killing a lion with his bare hands. slaughtered a thousand Phiistines and liberated the Israelites. This painting is in the Baroque style showing the influence of Caravaggio...light and shadows.

"Samson and Delilah," 1621 by Gerrit van Honthorst (Dutch, 1590-1656)
The Philistines bribed Samson's lover, Delilah, to reveal his source of strength: his hair, uncut since birth. While Samson was asleep, Delilah signaled a waiting Philistine who sheared the hearo, rendering him helpless.

"Saint Peter Repentant," 1645 by Georges de La Tour (French, 1593-1652)

"Sunny Autumn Day," 1892 by George Inness (American, 1825-1894)

"The Biglin Brothers Turning the Stake," 1873 by Thomas Eakins (American, 1844-1916).
This painting commemorates an actual event on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphis in May of 1872. The Brothers wonand became the most celebrated oarsmen of the day.

"The Power of Music," 1847 by William Sidney Mount (American, 1807-1868).
The African Amerian laborer is eavesdroppng on a fiddle tune...he was not welcome inside.

"The Old Road to the Sea," 1893 by William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916)
The Eastern end of Long Island was one of Chase's favorite place to paint. He established a summer art school there.

"Fifth Avenue," 1919 by Childe Hassam (American, 1859-1935

"Dora Wheeler" 1882-83 by William Merritt Chase.
Dora was Chase's first student.

"On Bos'n's Hill," 1901 by Edmund Tarbell (American, 1862-1938)

"Portrait of Lisa Colt Curtis," 1878 by John Singer Sargent (American, born Italy) 1856-1925
This painting was a gift of the artist on the marriage of Lisa to a Mr. Ralph. She was an heir to the Colt Firearms fortune.

"A Woman's Work," 1912 by John Sloan (American, 1871-1951)

"Holiday on the Hudson," 1912 by George Luks (American, 1867-1933)

"Boy in a Blue Coat," 1915 by George Bellows (American 1882-1925)

"Early Morning After a Storm at Sea," 1900-1902 by Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910)
The coast of Prouts Neck, Maine painted by the artist in his last decade of life. He said it was the best painting of the sea he ever created.

"A Calm Watering Place - Extensive and Boundless Scene with Cattle," 1816 by Alvan Fisher (American, 1792-1863)

"Peregrine Falcons (Duch Hawlks)," 1827 by John James Audubon (American 1785-1851)

"Pond at Ville-d'Avray," late 1860's by Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875). Corot painted this near his home west of Paris. He was famous for his studies of nature in his landscape paintings.

"Goat-Girl Sitting Beside a Stream," 1842 Camille Corot

"Madame Lerolle," 1882 by Henri Fantin-Latour (French,1836-1904)

"Marie-Yolande de Fritz-James," 1867 by Henri Fantin-Latour

"The Apple Seller," 1890 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919)
Note the country girl offering apples to Renoir's wife, Aline, and the leaping dog.

"The Call," 1902 by Paul Gauguin (Fench, 1848-1903)
The painting explores the mysteries of life and death with two Polynesian women with bare feet as if on sacred ground.

"In the Waves," 1889 by Paul Gauguin. This was painted at Pont-Aven in northwest France..."a nude woman throwing herself into the sea suggest a metaphore for the soul abandoning itself to its natural, primitive instincts." Gauguin was considered a leader of the Symbolist movement in art.

"Mount Sainte-Victoire," 1904 by Paul Cezanne (French, 1839-1906). Cezanne painted this mountain near his home in Southern France many times

"The Brook," about 1895-1900 by Paul Cezanne
The painting depicts the valley of the Arc River that runs near the artist's home in Aix-en-Provence. Note the directional brushstrokes and patters of warm and cool colors.

"The Pigeon Tower at Bellevue," 1890 by Paul Cezanne.
This shows Cezanne's new emphasis on geometric structures. This was painted at his brother-in-law's house where he exaggerated the tower's cylindrical shape.

"The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Remy)," 1889 by Vincent van Gogh (Dutch 1853-1890).
"While walking through the town that fall, he was impressed by the sight of men repaining a road beneath immense plane trees. Rushing to capture the yellowing leaves, he painted the composition on an unusual cloth with a patter of small red diamonds, visible in the picture's many unpainted areas."

"Adeline Ravoux," 1890 by Vincent van Gogh
In the last weeks of van Gogh's life he moved to Auvers, a small town north of Paris to receive treatment for his mental illness. He rented a room at the inn run by the Ravoux family. This is a portrait of their 16 year old daughter.

"Romaine Lacaux," 1864 by Pierre Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919)
Renoir painted this early in his career while he was in the artist's colony in Barbizon.

"Spring Flowere," 1864 by Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926).
Monet capture the effects of light and color in this early still life painted with "near scientific accuracy" before his Impressionisht period.

"The Lock at Pontoise," 1872 by Camille Pissarro (French, born Danish Virgin Islands 1830-1903)
Pissarro moved from Paris to Pontoise just north during the 1870-71 Franco-Preussian war. He spent a decade painting outdoors in this area and work closely with Cezanne and other young painters encouraging them to paint outdoors as well. He was a leader of the Impressionists movement.

"Low Tide at Pourville, near Dieppe," 1882 by Claude Monet

"Interior with an Etruscan Vase," 1940 by Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954)

"Hills, South Truro,"1930 by Edward Hopper (American, 1882-1967)
Hopper sought to capture "the sad desolation" of America. His works have been called "silent poetry."

"Mountain Landscape," 1802 by Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775-1850)

"The Burning of the House of Lords and Commons, 16 October, 1834," 1835 by Joseph Mallord William Turner
"Although Turner based the painting on an actual event, he used the disaster as the starting point to express man's helplessness when confronted with the destructive power of nature." He has been called the painter of light. He he extended the flame of the fire high into the air. The twin towers of nearby Westminister Abbey can be seen to the right of the flaming Parlament. Turner witnessed the fire and made numerous sketches from which he would paint two paintings of this event.