August 11 -- Art Institute

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I decided to go back to the Art Institute.  Some parts of it had been really crowded on the 9th, and it is so big it is really hard to give all of it thoughtful attention in one day.  I get overloaded..........

The Impressionists had been very crowded on Sunday

Monet.  Love the steam......  (as always, click on any image to embiggen)

Van Gogh.  Scrupulous attention to perspective is not necessary for having your work admired in art museums.

Another Monet.  I really like the sketchy quality of Impressionism.  Cameras are obsessed with capturing exactly what they are exposed to; people needn't be.

Not sure I think this sort of frame is most compatible with this sort of painting, but I can admire the frame for its own sake.  Look at the shadows.....

Another Money.  (again -- the frame's shadows!)

There is a lot of decorative art in the museum.  An awful lot of furniture design leaves me cold.  Even pieces I think are wonderful are not things I'd like to own.  This one falls in that category.  I love it, but do not want it.

Early Art Nouveau by Gaillard, originally part of a whole suite of dining-room furniture.

Love all of these fluid lines.  And -- just imagine the craftsmanship it took to carve this out of wood!

Cezanne.  Here I think the clean lines and color blocks of the painting are not at all happy with the elaborate frame.  I think those plainer frames on the Monet and the van Gogh at the top of the post would be more appropriate for this painting.

I think it's amazing that so much work went into this frame!

Admiring the smoke coming from the chimney in the painting.

This silver item is described as a soup toureen.  Not a very big one.  I like its clean lines, and its shadows.  Having multiple lights on things with interesting shadows makes the shadows even more interesting.

Made in England, designed by Christopher Dresser.

My goodness.  When we speak of the amount of work that went into carving a picture frame..................

This one, it seems to me, is at least conversing comfortably with the painting.  Both floral, in part, and both with lots of rounded shapes and curvy lines........

And look at the shadows!!!  The piercings...............

Wow.

Oh my.  Look at this!  It was used to hold photographs.  Designed by Joseph Hoffmann, made in Vienna by W. Muller, 1880s.

What a beautiful thing.  And -- again -- the craftsmanship it took to make this!  Wow.

This is described as a samovar.  Made in Germany, designed by a Belgian:  Henry Van de Velde.  Love the shape of the teapot part of the object.  Why can't everything have a beautiful shape?  So many manufactured things are so clunky and ugly............  This is gorgeous...............

I failed to get the descriptive info for this.  It's an architectural fragment, I think.  Love the swirly lines, and the contrast between the swirls and the spiky points.

Something completely different, also with swirls and spikes.........  I forgot to get the descriptive info on this one, too, but believe it is Chinese.

And now for something completely different.  I totally loved this when I took its pic, but now I'm not sure what I think.  I liked the scribbly quality of the lines, but now ... I am wondering if I would like it better if the scribbles seemed more representative.  Or maybe just less random?  It's big -- two feet tall, maybe.

This piece is contemporary, made in the 1990s.  It's Korean.

This piece is also Korean, from the 1200s.

The descriptive info says:  Ganesha, remover of obstacles.  From Java, 9th-10th century.

Doesn't he look serene? 

Having our legs in this position is fairly common in yoga.  I know all the hand positions have names and meanings, but I don't know them.  I don't know what it means to have an orb in one hand.  I'm pretty sure there's no pose in yoga where you rest your trunk on your orb.  But I could be wrong.

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