Roaming Around L.A. in August with Friends

I had a ball roaming around L.A. with Seattle friends.  We started last Thursday with a trip to Malibu to the Getty Villa for lunch and to enjoy the architecture of the rich Romans of yore and antiquities from the Mediterranean culture about 2000 years old...some much older.  Each time I visit I see something new to me.   Here are some of favorites from this visit:

"Head of a Young Bacchus," Roman, A.D. 1-50, bronze and silver

Upper:  "Mixing Vessel with a Comic Mask," Greek, made in Apulia, South Italy, 350-300 B.C. terracotta.  Lower:  "Wine Cup with Dionysos and an Actor."

"Prize Vessel from the Athenian Games," Greek, made in Athens, 340-339 B.C., terracotta.  The event is pictured on the vessel.  The winner of the event received this prized reward. 

"Queen's Vase with Berenike II," Greek, made in Egypt, 243-221 B.C., faience.

A beautiful side garden with a fountain and water lilies...reminiscent of a wooden lake. 

On Friday we explored the Huntington Gardens, Cafe, Library, and Art Galleries.  It was a beautiful day to explore the gardens that were abloom with color.  Here is one flower bed being admired by a nymph.

More Water Lilies

Saturday was a beautiful day at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.  We lunched and roamed around enjoying the beautiful permanent collection and a few art visitors.  Here are some:

 "Portrait of an Elderly Man," 1575 by Giovanni Battista Moroni, Italian, 1525-1578, oil on canvas.  Moroni depicted citizens of his native Bergamo and even Titian sent him clients as he is considered one of the great portrait painters of the sixteenth century.

 "Wyoming Slab, 1974 by Ronald Davis, American born 1937, vinyl-acrylic, copolymer and dry pigment on canvas.

 "The Seine at Les Andelys," 1886 by Paul Signac, French, 1863-1935, oil on canvas.

 "The Stone Breakers, Le Raincy," 1882 by George-Pierre Seurat, French 1859-1891 (age 31), oil on canvas.

 "Still Life with Apples and Violets," 1890-91 by Paul Serusier, French, 1864-1917

 "The Yellow Boat," 1891 by Gustave Caillebotte, French, 1848-1894, oil on canvas.  The composition abandoned unfinished in 1891, depicts a stretch of the river not far from his house.

 "Black Tree - Bordighera," 1914 by Alexei Jawlensky, Russian, 1864-1941, oil on cardboard..  Bordighera is a resort not far from San Remo on the Mediterranean.

 The above two paintings are double sided.  This painting is on the reverse side.

"Lower Main Street, Muranau," 1915 by Gabriele Munter, German, 1874-1962.  She was a founding member of the German Expressionist group "Der Blaue Reiter." This village of Murnau is where she lived in southern Bavaria with Wassily Kandinsky in 1908.  Jawlensky and others visited for long periods.

"Near the Palace," 1914-1915 by Lyonel Feiningwer, American, 1871-1956, oil on canvas.  Feininger was sent to Germany as a teenager and remained there, influenced by Cubism and the German Expressionists.  The painting was inspired by an alley near Weimar.

"The Tug," 1934-37 by Lyonel Feininger

 This and the following photos are a part of a special exhibit of photographic art.  This is entitled "Auduboniana," 1998-2001 by Victor Landweber, American, born 1943, digital pigment print.  The artist uses James Audubon's "The Birds of America" where he re-imagines  Audubon's birds in present=day America.  "Bohemian Chatterer, Museum of Modern Art, NYC, NY," 2000.

"Gyrfalcon, Windows on the World, NYC, NY," 2000.  The Gyrfalcon's dappled plumage mimics, in reverse, the night lights of New York.  The photo was taken from the World Trade Center's North Tower about a year before it was demolished 9/11/2001.

Much Ado in August

We attended the new Tom Bradley documentary at the Luckman theater at Cal State L.A. on August 10th.  It was very well done and long overdue. He served 5 four year terms as mayor of L.A. from 1973 to 1993. He fought the overt racism of Mayor Yorty and police chiefs even though Bradley had a distinguished career on the police force.  He put together a leadership style that crossed all ethnic and religious groups similar to that of President Obama.  I highly recommend the movie and hope that it is shown in all high schools in the state as it tells important history that we all need to know.

The movie was followed by a panel moderated by Warren Olney that included Tom Bradley's daughter, Lorraine, former councilman and supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, former councilman and current supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Congresswoman Judy Chu, and labor leader Maria Elena Durazo of Unite Here.

The film makers, Alison Sotomayor and Lyn Goldfarb. also addressed the audience.

The next night we enjoyed an evening at the Hollywood Bowl with friends and a concert conducted by and at times played by Joshua Bell.  It began with Hebrides Overture and then Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 played and conduced by Bell.  After intermission we enjoyed Beethoven's 7th Symphony.  Here are few of my photos. 

A trip to Iowa in August to be with family and friends would not be complete without a visit to the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.  The fair has it's own kind of art that I appreciate.  Here are a few examples:

Of course a trip to The Fair requires a visit to the butter cow.  Sarah Pratt is the current artist.  By the way it is made with recycled butter from years gone by...not for use on your toast.

Des Moines has an impressive Art Center in a park setting on Grand Avenue at Polk Blvd.  I enjoyed my visit very much and found many art pieces to appreciate.  The first are from the German Expressionist movement in the early 20th century, influenced by the work of Van Gogh and Matisse.  Here are some of them:

 "Two Riders Against Red," by Vassily Kandinsky, Russian, 1866-1944, color woodblock print on papers

 "The Oriental," 1916 by Emil Nolde, German 1867-1956, watercolor on paper.  

 "Birth of the Wolves," 1913 by Franz Marc, German, 1880-1916, woodblock print on paper.

 "The Nymphes," 1906-1906 by Andre Deraine, French, 1880-1954, watercolor and pencil.

 "Simultaneous Contrasts," 1912-13 by Sonia Delaunay, watercolor and Chinese ink on paper.

 "Composition," 1916-17 by Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Exter, Russian, 1882-1949, tempera on canvas.

 "Abstracton on Spectrum (Organization 5)," 1914 by Stanton Macdonald-Wright, American, 1890-1973, oil on canvas.  "Stanton Macdonald-Wright was one of the first Americans to paint in a purely abstract manner.  He co-founded an avant-garde movement called Synchromism, which would 'divet my art of all anecdote and illustration, and to purify it to the point where the emotions of the spectator will be wholly aesthetic, as when listen to good music.'  Color and shape are arranged like chords in rhythmic patter, creating a work that appears like a visual representation of music."

 "Glass, Pipe, and Playing Cards," 1918 by Georges Braque, French, 1882-1963, oil on wood.

 "Still Life with a Bottle Marc," 1911 by Pablo Picasso, Spanish, 1881-1913.

 "Head of a Young Girl," 1908 by Gabriele Munter, German, 1877-1962

 "Head of a Woman," 1943 by Pablo Picasso, oil on canvas.

 "Automat," 1927 by Edward Hopper, American 1882-1967, oil on canvas

 "Talisman," 1958 by Robert Rauschenberg, American 1925-2008, oil, paper, printed paper, printed reproductions, fabric, wood, glass jar on mental chair and fabric on canvas..

 "Valley of The Loue," 1865 by Gustave Courbet, French, 1819-1877, oil on canvas.

 "The Disciples See Christ Walking on the Water," 1907 by Henry Ossawa Tanner, American, 1859-1937, oil on canvas.

 "Directional LInes (or Dissonance)," 1913 by Olga Rosanova, Russian, 1886-1918, oil on lined linen.

 "Fishers (Pond)," 1909 by Natalia Goncharova, Russian, 1881-1962, oil on canvas.

 "Still Life," 1908 by Mikhail Larionov, Russian, 1881-1964

 "House with Fir Trees in the Snow," 1938 by Gabriele Munter, oil on canvas.

 "Tulips in a Blue Vase," 1946 by Thomas Hart Benton, American, 1889-1975, oil on wood.

 "From the Lake No. 1," 1924 by Georgia O'Keeffe, American, 1887-1986, oil on canvas.

 "Mont Saint-Victoire," 1927 by Marsden Hartley, American, 1877-1943, oil on linen.

 "Autumn, New Hampshire," 1912 by Maurice Prendergast, American, 1858-1924, oil on canvas.

 "Lady in Blue Paying a Call," 1903 by Edouard Vuillard, French, 1868-1940, distemper on cardboard.

 "The Reader," 1863 by Honore Daumier, French, 1808-1879, oil on panel.

"Maiastra," by Constantin Brancusi, 1912-13, Romanian, active France, 1876-1957, polished bronze with stone base, ed. 1/3.

 "The Flock II," 1990 by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish, born 1930, thirty-five figures (twenty-five on view), burlap and resin.

 "Diamond Dust Martha Graham," 1980 by Andy Warhol, American, 1928-1987, silkscreen ink and diamond dust on synthetic polymer paint on canvas.

 "Ocean Park No. 70," 1974 by Richard Diebenkorn, American 1922-1993, oil on canvas.

 "Landscape," 1985 by Gerhard Richter, German, born 1932, oil on canvas.

 "Samurai Tree (Invariant 1)," 2005 by Gabriel, Orozco, Mexican, born 1962, "Lascaux" acrylic on linen.

"Piggyback, (Left)," 1996 by Juan Munoz, Spanish, 1952-2001, bronze. 

 "Woman, Bird, Stars," 1942 by Joan Miro, Spanish, 1893-1983, oil on paper, mounted on board.

 "Abstract Head: Inner Vision-Gray-Blue-Pink," 1927 by Alexei von Jawlensky, Russian, active Germany, 1864-1941, oil on board.

 "Seated Figure," 1916 by Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian, active France and the United States, 1887-1864, bronze.

 "Blues From the Old Country," 1974 by Romare Howard Bearden, American, 1911-1988, collage, acrylic and lacquer on board.

 "Woman in White," 1946 by Henri Matisse, French, 1869-1954, oil on canvas.

"Man Pointing," 1947 by Alberto Giacometti, Swiss, 1901-1966, bronze.

"Seated Woman (Thin Neck)," 1961 by Henry Moore, British, 1898-1986, bronze, edition 3/7.

 "Study After Velasquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X," 1953 by Francis Bacon, English, 1909-1992, oil on canvas.

 "Summer No. 2," 1957 by Sam Francis, American 1923-1994, oil on canvas.

 "Light over Gray," 1956 by Mark Rothko, American born Russia, 1903-1970, oil on canvas.

"Chalk Zone," 1968 by Helen Frankenthaler, American, 1928-2011, acrylic on canvas.