paul

Series 1, No. 3, 1918, is from the Milwaukee Art Museum Once again the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, has put on a splendid exhibition of an early modern master, Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction. Although I've seen O'Keeffe exhibitions in the past, there is always something new to be seen in her work. Several compelling images that I had not seen before , especially from the Whitney Museum, a co-organizer of the exhibition, and the Milwaukee Art Museum, are in this show. O'Keeffe's abstract imagery is inspired by diverse subjects, more often natural than manmade--flowers, bones, mountains, aerial views, and the diverse places she lived, Wisconsin, Lake George, NY and New Mexico. Less well known is the fact that she lived in Charlottesville, Va., and some of her colors could easily be reflections of sunsets over the Blue Ridge Mountains. Even though a group of abstractions is inspired by music, one of the curators pointed out that Music, Pink and Blue, No. 2 , r...

Before many monuments arrived on the national Mall in Washington, DC, the Adams Memorial in Rock Creek Cemetery was a major tourist attraction in the capital city. Because of its fame, I decided to visit it. I compared this monument to a tomb by Lorado Taft in Chicago, because I have always been quite moved by Taft's Solitude of the Soul at the Art Institute of Chicago. The Adams Memorial is a seated bronze figure with an androgynous face and deep, textured drapery. Augustus Saint-Gaudens completed it in 1891. Its green patina and mottled effect beautifully contrast with the speckled pink granite base and block designed by architect Sanford White. By comparison, Lorado Taft's sculpture, erected in 1909, is starker; it takes the memorial concept further into 20th century abstraction. Henry Adams, a 19th century historian and novelist, commissioned the Adams Memorial after his wife, Clover Hooper Adams, committed suicide in 1885. An amateur photographer of some note, Clover ...

The Black Hawk Memorial stands nearly 50 feet tall and rises on a 77 foot bluff above the Rock River in Oregon, IL. It pays homage to the Chief of the Fox and Sauk tribes who fought against the United States in the War of 1812. Lorado Taft designed the statue in 1908, long after the memory of this chief -- who had controlled the region of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers until the 1830s -- had vanished. Taft sheathed him in a blanket and simplified his form to focus on the face. The main ingredient is concrete, an interesting contrast to the wild environment, and to the more radiant granite and bronze of tomb memorials. Using a hollow core and iron tie rods, Taft and his student John Prasuhn created a broad sweeping column for the body leading up to the sad, heroic face. Black Hawk died in 1838 and Native American culture also died, a fact not lost on Taft when he chose a generalized face rather than a likeness of Black Hawk. Taft considered this statue is the Etern a l Indian , s...

My friend at Smashedpc.com sent me this photo of the Veiled Woman in Las Vegas, while another friend said she should be the Madonna in the Elvis Wedding Chapel. What a combination, but hardly more ironic than using Raphael's Madonna of the Chair , right, in one of the interior settings of the Desperate Housewives ' TV show, although the neighbors on Wisteria Lane hardly embody the ideals of Raphael's beautiful women. As I'm thinking of it more and more, it seems that The Veiled Woman may represent Raphael's ideal for a perfect womanhood more than a real person, the same ideal behind his images of Mary at this time.  She looks like she could be the mother to Raphael's bambini Jesus of this time, also portrayed as the perfect chubby baby.   For example, the Madonna of the Chair , left,  has a similar face, but is almost in profile. The Sistine Madonna , right, has the same face in a frontal view. Either the same model is seen in these three paintin...

Over a Thanksgiving trip to Portland, Oregon, I came upon a pleasant surprise, Raphael's D onna Velata , was visiting the Portland Art Museum for a one-painting loan exhibition. One of my top 10 favorite paintings, I had last seen the veiled lady at the Art Institute of Chicago 10 years ago, when two Renaissance portraits had been sent from Florence in exchange for five Monets. Who is this Donna Velata , this remarkable woman, who is succeeding in the quest to bring crowds into smaller regional museums? How can she capture so much attention? She is not as well known as the Mona Lisa , but most of my students past and present have stated a preference for the kinder, gentler vision of womanhood presented by Raphael over the all-knowing, godly woman of Leonardo. The white lady wins over the shadows of Mona Lisa. Donna Velata's dress is luxurious, full, silky and lined with gold. The sleeves are voluminous. An elegant necklace doesn't detract from the welcoming gaze fro...