July 7 -- visiting the Nelson-Atkins

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Visiting the art museum.  We walked by the gift shop on the way in.  There was a special exhibition of Kahlo and Rivera works, and the gift shop window was festooned with paper marigolds.

This enormous piece was hung high above our heads.  I couldn't stand back far enough to get the whole thing in the picture.  It's made entirely of small pieces of metal, linked with wire.  I love the way they've made it look like fabric, draped and folded.........

I hadn't noticed that this part was constructed differently, with less metal and more air, until I saw it on "the big screen."

If you click on this one to embiggen, you can see the construction technique better.

The artist is African.  The work is made from the sides of liquor-bottle lids, cut, flattened, and linked with wire.  We were told the whole piece, which is more than 20' wide, weighs 168 pounds.  Amazing that such an enormous piece, made entirely of metal, is so light.....

And now for something completely different -- having visited the (excellent) Chinese section of the collection last year, I wanted to see the Impressionists this year.

Monet, Boulevard des Capucines, 1873-1874.

Love the frame's shadows!



Monet, Mill at Limetz, 1888.

Monet, Waterlilies, 1916-1926.

Emile Gallé, 1900.  Etched and carved glass.

I think it's amazing how much texture and movement he has achieved, with just that thin layer of glass to work with.  Look at the twisted petal, upper right....

Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902-1906.

Van Gogh, Olive Orchard, 1889. 

Love the use of color in this painting.  All those blues and greens, sparked with orange.

Looking closely, I really get a sense of a person, with a brush, making this work.

Gauguin, Landscape, 1894.  The info with the painting says this is Brittany, painted after Gauguin's first trip to Tahiti.  I bet those of you in the audience who will visit Brittany in September will find that these colors have more to do with Tahiti than with Brittany. 

Henry van de Velde, Chandelier, 1898.

In the same room with the last bunch of Impressionists -- who knew there were such modern light fixtures back then!

Love the way this is displayed!  The shadows.....



And now, something else completely different ...

Jar, Late Mississippian Culture, Chickasawba site, Mississippi County, Arkansas, 1350-1550.  I would have guessed this was pre-Columbian, but would have thought it was from south of the border.

I am caught by the marks on the face.  Some of them are so symmetrical, and some ... not......

It would be cool to see this the way the maker intended, with ... something ... in the holes in the ears, and the tab at the top of the forehead.

The jar above is a big pot, especially for something so old and complete.  Over a foot tall.  Having seen a lot of pot sherds in my archaeology class, I know how lucky we are when intact works are found, recorded, conserved, and displayed!



This is a contemporary work, made by Lonnie Vigil, who was born in 1949.  Unfortunately my capture of the info missed the date for this excellent (and large) pot.  It says that Vigil is "credited with reviving unpainted, micaceous pottery," and goes on to point out that the shiny bits of mica in the clay give the finished pot the glow you see here.  This is a big piece, over 2' tall.

Another good visit to the Nelson!

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