San Luis Obisbo Art Center on December 23rd

While vacationing in the central California coast last week, we visited the Art Center in San Luis Obisbo.  I was interested in the work of Kuzana Ogg entitled "Oil."  This artist interpreted the oil rigs that line the roads into Bakersfield with symbols depicted in piping and instrumentation  diagrams from the oil industry.  She uses color with drips, splashes, scratches and abrasions in her abstract imagery.  She lives and paints in Bakersfield, was born in Bombay, India, lived with her family in England, India, New York City, and South Korea.

Here are my favorites:

"Reciprocating Compressor," oil

"Combustor"

"Compressor"

"Cone Roof Tank"

"Nitrogen Oxide Vessel"

"Mr. Turner" the movie

I went to see the new movie "Mr. Turner" last night and was fascinated by the interpretation of the life of J.M.W. Turner, the landscape British painter who lived from 1775 to 1851.  The movie covers the last 25 years of his life and shows him interacting with his colleagues who are artists, some of his patrons, his former mistress and mother of his two daughters, his father, his maid, and a woman who was his partner for his last 18 years.

Many of the scenes take place in his private gallery that he built on the back of his London house on. Queen Anne Street West that was opened in 1822.  In one scene he is offered 100,000 British Pounds for all his remaining collection.  He turned down this offer as he said he was bequeathing all his paintings and sketches to the British people so they could see them for free.  Most of the paintings were accepted by the nation as a part of the Turner bequest in 1856 and they can be seen at the Tate Britain Museum in London.  Some are in other collections include many in the United States.  I have enjoyed two at the Getty Center and two at the Huntington Museum in San Marino.

Turner has been called the painter of light.  His impressionistic sky and ocean scenes perhaps influenced the French Impressionist in the 1870's.

I viewed the Tate Britain museum web site and enjoyed the paintings I saw represented in the movie. Below is a painting by George Jones from 1852 of the Turner Gallery just as he left it when he died a year earlier.  The web site also shows a re-creation of the gallery with photos of all the paintings and describes each one.  Most can be seen in the Tate Britain Museum in London.

Here are some of my favorites:

"Interior of Turner's Gallery," 1852 by George Jones

Photo recreation of the Turner Gallery

"Second Sketch for 'The Battle of Trafalgar'" 1823
The painting was commissioned by King George IV to commemorate the 1805 battle in which Lord Nelson led the British Navy in the defeat of the French Napoleon navy to insure the British control of the English Channel.  Lord Nelson was killed during this battle and his statue sets a top of a high column in Trafalgar Square in central London.  The king rejected the final painting by Turner 

"The Battle of Trafalgar as seen from the Mizin Starboard Shrouds of the Victory," 1806-08.

"The Fall of an Avalanche in the Grisons," 1810

"Fishing upon the Blythe Sand, Tide Setting In," 1809 

"Van Tromp Returning after the Battle off the Dogger Bank," Exhibited 1832

"Snow Storm - Steamboat off a Harbour's Mouth," Exhibited 1842
One scene in the movie shows Turner being lashed to the mast of a ship during a snow storm in order to prepare for creating this painting.

"Crossing the Brook," Exhibited 1815

"London from Greenwich Park," Exhibited 1809

"The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to her Last Berth to be Broken Up," 1838
The Temeraire was the lead fighting ship during the battle of Trafalgar. 

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"War, The Exile and the Rock Limpet," Exhibited 1842
This painting shows Napoleon in exile.

"Peace - Burial at Sea," Exhibited 1842

The Hudson River School Landscapes at LACMA

I enjoyed seeing 45 landscape paintings from the Hudson River School at LACMA last Thursday. The exhibit is entitled Nature and the American Vision:  The Hudson River School."  The paintings are from the New York Historical Society.  They include works by Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Albert Bierstadt and others.  These landscape artist painted life as they saw it and imagined it during the mid 19th century.  Many were of scenes in the Hudson River Valley of New York but others painted from their trips to South America, Europe, and the American West.

Here are a photos of some of my favorites:

"Catskill Creek, New York," 1845 by Thomas Cole (1801-1848).  Born in England, lived and worked in New York.
In 1836, Cole left New York City to settle at Catskill a village on the Hudson River.  He has been deemed the "father" of the Hudson River School of painters.

"The Solitary Oak," 1844 by Asher B. Durand (1796-1886)

"White Mountain Scenery," 1859 by John Federick Kensette (1816-1872)

"Niagara Falls:  The American Falls," 1821 by Alvan Fisher (1792-1863)

"Summer Twilight, a Recollection of a Scene in New England," 1834 by Thomas Cole

"Autumn Twilight, View of Corway Peak (Mount Chocorua), New Hampshire," 1834 by Thomas Cole

"Cayambe,"1858 by Frederic Edwin Church (1926-1900).
This was painted soon after Church returned from his second trip to South America.  This scene in Equator shows the tropical splendor with the mountain in the distance. 

"Indian Encampment, Shosone Village," 1860 by Albert Bierstadt (1830-1892)

"Italian Scene, Composition," 1833 by Thomas Cole
Cole visited Italy for the first time in 1830 and sketched ideas for this painting.

"The Harvest Moon," 1860 by Louis Remy Mignot (1831-1870)

These are the first of 5 paintings by Thomas Cole entitled "Course of Empire."  They present a theory of history that all societies were subject to the same inevitable rhythms of growth and decay.  The series was began in 1833 when commissioned by Luman Reed, a New York merchant.  It is presented as it was designed for a wall with a fire place for the central painting and two on either side.
The first painting is entitled "The Savage State" and shows the natural beauty of the earth before man's changes.  The second one below the first is entitled "The Arcadian or Pastoral State."  It shows the early influence of man with stone structures and farming.  Notice the mountain with a large rock on top in the background of all five paintings.

"The Consummation of Empire" shows the scene of a fully developed culture, like that of Rome 2000 years ago.

The top painting is entitled "Destruction" and the bottom "Desolation" with the return of a civilization to nature once more.  Together, these are Thomas Cole's most famous works.

Manet Paintings at the Norton Simon

My friend, Nancy, and I enjoyed the Manet paintings at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.  "The Railway" painting by Edouard Manet, 1873, is on loan from the National Gallery of Art.  It is company with other Manet paintings as well as works by Courbet and other artists of that era in France.  Much has been written about Manet and much has been projected into his work.  What we know is that he painted a diverse view of his era in Paris and we return to appreciate his works as often as possible.

Here are a few that we appreciated on last Monday:

"The Railway,"  by Edouard Manet (French, 1832-1883), is on loan from the National Gallery of Art and is featured on a wall with coordinating blue wall panel behind it.  The following two paintings on on either side.
One may project that the woman and girl may be mother, daughter, sister, governess and that they are waiting for someone coming on a train or  the women is just reading and may feel interrupted by the viewer.  What ever the theme, I was was  moved by the colors and the  puppy on her lap and what wondered why a bunch of grapes are setting on the low wall in the lower right corner.  It was fun to project what might be going on in the artist's mind as her created this scene. 

"Still Life with Fish and Shrimp," 1864
Art critic Emile Zola is quoted as saying "Even the most determined enemies of Edouard Manet's talent admit that he paints inanimate objects well."

"Madame Manet," 1874-76.
Manet's wife was Suzanne Leenhoff  was famous for her even temper.

"Ragpicker," 1865-1870
This is my favorite Manet at the Norton Simon.  This large painting greets one at the end of a long wing of 19th century paintings.  It demonstrates Manet's interest in painting all elements of Parisian life during his time.  I project dignity in this old man who is doing what he can to support himself, collecting rags to sell to paper manufacturers. 

Adventures in Santa Barbara

We went to Santa Barbara last Friday and Saturday to enjoy a winery party and the Santa Barbara Christmas Parade.  The parade started at 6:30 pm on Friday and came down State Street...twas a long parade with seemingly half the population of the area in the parade and half watching, cheering them on.  We enjoyed a sidewalk cafe view and then a stroll around the Arcada shopping area to enjoy the galleries and the creative statues in the arcade.  It is located on the north west corner of Figueroa and State and has many treats.

Here are a few of my photos:

Yes, Live Turtles Live Here!