Art Trekker

Catalog cover My interpretation: Aliens landing in cornfield, little girl exclaims in wonder. I doubt museums make much off their exhibition catalogs. Catalogs are likely expensive to research and produce. The Speed provided an excellent catalog to go along with the Women Artists in the Age of Impressionism exhibit. Acquiring a catalog was an extra treat. Not every exhibit gets a catalog. Years from now I can pop it open and remember the amazing works of art that were on display by Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt and others. My purchase of the catalog had an unexpected good effect. My wife is a pre-school teacher, and she took our copy to work and used it as a teaching tool for her class. She educated the young students about Cassatt, and was able to show them Cassatt paintings of children their own age. Children Playing on the Beach by Mary Cassatt. My wife pointed out they're too young to play together! It's funny how the goodwill of the Museum in providing ...

"Go Fish!" (Courtesy Wikiarts.org) Netflix isn't just about Orange is the New Black  and Stranger Things . Viewers can binge watch art shows, too. One of the best is Raiders of the Lost Art . Each episode is either a half hour or an hour and features art experts discussing some of the all-time masters of art, including Rembrandt, da Vinci and Van Gogh. Last night my wife picked the Cezanne episode. Neither of us are big Cezanne fans. I've never seen a Cezanne in person that I really liked. But then again, I've never visited Europe. It's like saying you can't get into Rembrandt when you haven't been to Europe (or the Taft Museum). "Okay Rembrandt you can paint me, just don't make me look goofy." After watching this episode, my appreciation for Cezanne has grown. I saw several breathtaking paintings, including a selfie, and the stolen painting, "The Boy in the Red Vest". We learned that Cezanne paintings now sell for ...

Image by Sothby's Sotheby’s recently auctioned off a David Hockney landscape for $28 million: Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica  (pictured above). Hockney is kind of a big deal. How big? In my 50 Artists You Should Know book, he’s Number 50. That’s like being Agent 99 on Get Smart . "Whazzat doodad on the wall to her left? Some kinda space cyclops alien?!" Speaking of the 50 Artists book, Hockney has one more feature that makes him distinct from the rest of the club in that tome: David Hockney is still alive. He’s not like the Boy Who Lived. More like the aging British superstar artist who lived on. He’s still alive, and one of his paintings sold for almost $30 million. I can’t imagine how that must feel. In the age of Internet Trolls, now that the painting is safely sold, my suggestion to David is to announce that you're making 100 exact copies of it. To put it another way, David, ask yourself: WWADD? (What Would Albrecht Dürer Do)...

I'm pretty sure it's not upside down. Just when I think I’m finally getting a little bit of a clue about art, I run into a humbling painting like Picasso’s Female Nude (I Love Eva) . I took the above picture of the painting on a visit to the Indianapolis Art Museum last year.  I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Literally. I couldn’t make out a head in what’s billed as the torso of one of Picasso’s lovers. At times like this I’m glad I’m not a museum Curator who has to explain to people what exactly is going on. Don’t get me wrong. I’m no Picasso hater. I saw an amazing Picasso exhibit at the Bellagio a few years ago, Picasso: Creatures and Creativity . His painting, Woman With a Yellow Necklace (femme au collier jaune) was on display. And no, it wasn’t hanging next to a slot machine.* Picasso’s Woman captured my attention. I was able to make sense of it. I could appreciate the use of color and shapes. More details jumped out at me the longer...

(L-R) Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Dean Otto. I swear I was in the second row! Right before the Oscars, the two Directors of the movie, “Loving Vincent”, Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, visited the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, for an interview and Q&A session hosted by Curator of Film at the Speed Museum, Dean Otto. I perched in the second row, snapping the worst photos ever. Over 300 art lovers packed into the cozy auditorium. Loving Vincent is the animated film hand-painted in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. Part of the creative process for the movie involved painting a scene, then modifying the painting slightly for the next frame. The final paintings left over at the end were the final shots of the scene. The Directors brought one of the final paintings to Louisville, pictured below. Hugh said they have a plan in the works to tour the collection of final paintings around the world. Of course the audience at the Speed cheered for Louisville as ...

"Eat your heart out, Mary Poppins!" Hidden away in a corner on the second floor of the Speed Art Museum, past the Monet – if you turn the corner and run into young Benjamin Franklin you’ve gone too far – is an easily missed alcove housing the Speed’s quietly excellent exhibition, “Thoroughly Modern: Women in 20 th Century Art Design.”  I know everyone’s visiting the Speed to see the Women Impressionists right now. But don’t miss this secret, secluded sensation. Pioneers of the previous century including Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot paved the way for Eva Zeisel and Susie Cooper. But the road of the new wave of women artists was still difficult. Today, it's hard to imagine what women artists pursuing their vocation went through in their communities at a time when society expected them to raise children and manage the household. My favorite painting from the exhibition is pictured above: Jane Peterson’s “The Red Parasol”. My  amateurish photo fails to...

He came for the haircut. Stayed for the Quartet. One piece of good news filtered out of the report of the Berkshire Museum’s artwork fire sale: Norman Rockwell’s Shuffleton’s Barbershop (pictured, courtesy of Sothby’s) won’t hang in the office of some rich guy, after all. Instead, an undisclosed museum will purchase the painting. After the sale, millions of art lovers presumably will still have the opportunity to see Rockwell’s masterpiece. I wasn’t familiar with Shuffleton’s Barbershop until the controversy made its rounds on social media. Now that I’ve seen it and admired the painting, I’ve developed a fondness for how it captures a piece of mid-20 th century small town America. The use of shading and light provides the feel of a Barbershop closed for business with the owner and friends playing music after hours. The scene portrays cheer and comfort at the same time. Shuffleton’s barbershop isn’t just a place to work, it’s also a home. I hope whichever museum a...