November 12, 2017 Field Trip
I always get annoyed at these really large galleries at the absence of women artists in history. I also get annoyed by the crowds of people “oohing and ahhing” around the Jackson Pollocks and the Andy Warhol’s. While attending this humungous gallery, I employed my strategy of only stopping for works that grab my attention. Perhaps ironically, or perhaps because I was subliminally searching for something specific; for the most part, women artists attracted my attention today. I didn’t know they were women artists until they drew me in. I am going to show a couple of these women artist who got me today, plus an Edouard Vuillard that deserves special mention.
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Joan Snyder, “Summer“, 1970.
So notebook like…maybe a recording of colours she observed in the summer or a musical composition?…
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Monika Baer, “Committed to Tradition“, 2014
I like the juxtaposition of abstract and realism. She works in a way I like, layering information and using both acrylic and oil.
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Eva Hesse, “Untitled“, 1960
An engaging abstraction of colour and form. If the orange is a head, it feels deeply psychological…
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Berthe Moriset, “Women at Her Toilette“, 1875/80
This painting is just beautiful in its brushwork, subtle colour and form. And Kudos to Berthe for being bad ass enough to be a painter in her time.
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Joan Mitchell, “City Landscape“, 1955
This was the big winner for me. I spent a lot of time with this painting. Visually there was so much to look at. I was most drawn to the white area’s and how they contrasted with the darks and colours. It felt as if the painting was full of knowledge and information. Part of my brain understood this painting, but the logical side is having a hard time describing it. This painting hung in a room full of Pollocks and vacuous people dropping his name as they knew he was important. I could barely look at the Pollocks, they seemed so flat compared to Joan Mitchell’s painting. My iPhone photo does not do this painting justice.
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And a shout out to the one male who really impressed me today: Edouard Vuillard with this work “Guelder Roses and the Venus of Milo“, 1905.
Again, my phone does not do this painting justice…