The Way I See Things – watercolor by Donalee Nelson
Art and
the case for being a dilettante
It occurred to me that it is a
shame that being a dilettante gets such a bad rap. It used to be okay to be a
dilettante. After all it is a French word and everything sounds better in
French. Originally the definition in French was a person who loves the arts. But
things change and currently, by any standard, the word has the negative
connotation of someone who is superficial and without a depth of knowledge. Well,
we can’t all be geniuses or experts. Those who seek to impress aside, sometimes
being a dilettante can be fun. There is so much to learn and of course, so
little time. One can learn a lot without becoming an expert… the joy is in the
trying…the gathering of information. There is another upside. No one expects
too much, and the practicing dilettante will always stay interested in
something since he/she doesn’t know a whole lot about anything but knows a
little about a lot of things. As a non-expert there is always more to learn and
to spark curiosity. Curiosity keeps you young and vital so if you are old, and
we are all on our way, this is a good thing!
Highlights
Currently through May 3 the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
hosts Botticelli, Titian and Beyond:
Masterpieces of Italian Painting from the Glasglow Museums. The
travelling exhibit covers five centuries of Italian works from the Glasglow
Museum’s superb Italian collection. Included are works by Renaissance and
Baroque masters such as Bellini, Botticelli and Titian. Check on line at www.sbmuseart.org/ for more details.
If you are interested in Modern Art and its history, Ann
Sinclair has written My Grandfather’s
Gallery: A Family History of Art and War. Her grandfather was the esteemed
French art dealer Paul Rosenberg whose gallery held the works of Picasso,
Braque, Leger and Matisse. Because he was Jewish he moved his family to New
York during the war. The Nazi’s considered the artworks in his gallery
degenerate and it was taken over and used for anti-semitic activities. The
author is a well-known journalist in her own right, and this should be a very
interesting book.
Where
you can see my artwork
My artwork
is available at Rons. For
further information call the shop at 805.489.4747. Rons
is located at 850 W Grand in Grover Beach a few blocks from the train station,
a golf course and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. For more information go to Rons
website at www.ronsingroverbeach.com
or find him on facebook.
Not To
Be Missed –Museum Exhibits
Currently The Bowers Museum in Santa Ana has three
ongoing exhibits. California: The Golden Years features 22 paintings done in
the late 19th and early 20th century by some of the best
California artists. Included are paintings by Elmer Wachtel, William Wendt and
Gardner Symons. First Californians
is an exhibit taken from the museum’s
vast collection of Native American art. Another ongoing exhibit is Ancient Arts of China: A 5000 Year
Legacy. Information is available at www.bowers.org
on all these installations.
Nature and the American Vision: The Hudson River School can be
seen now through June 7 at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Featuring 45
individual 19th century landscapes from the New York Historical
Society’s collection, the exhibit is conceived as a grand tour by being set up
thematically by regions. Artists include Bierstadt, Cole and Durand. Details can be found at www.lacma.org on this exhibit.
J.M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free is at Getty Center in
Los Angeles until May 24. This exhibit displays over 60 oil paintings and watercolors
by the master and is the first exhibit to focus on his final years. Many of his
greatest works were created after the age of 60…a fact which is inspiring and
should give us all courage. Put together by the Tate Britain in association
with the Getty and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the exhibit shows
the breadth of Turner’s artistry. The place for information is at www.getty.edu with a sneak peek at what is in
store.
Opening March 27 at the Norton
Simon Museum in Pasadena is Tete-a-tete:
Three Masterpieces from the Musee d’Orsay. Included as one of the three
is Whistler’s iconic portrait of his
mother…Arangement in Grey and Black, No.1 The other two paintings are Manet’s
portrait of his friend Emile Zola and
Cezanne’s Card Players. At the same
time three masterworks from The Norton Simon’s own collection will be on
display at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. These are Van Gogh’s Portrait of a Peasant, Renoir’s The Pont des Arts and Vuillard’s First Fruits. More information is available at www.nortonsimon.org so be sure to take a
look.
Chuck Close, Face Forward takes center stage at
Pepperdine’s Weisman Museum of Art through April of 2015. Close changed how
portraiture was done with his large scale paintings of faces. He has continued
to experiment using not only traditional printmaking methods but has been
innovative using tapestry and rubber stamps, for instance. This has to be an
exciting exhibit. Go to
http://arts.pepperdine.edu/museum
for information.
The Armand Hammer Foundation has loaned some amazing
Impressionist and Post-Impressionst paintings to The Santa Barbara Museum of
Art for an ongoing exhibit. Degas to Chagall: Important Loans f rom
the Armand Hammer Foundation supplements the museum’s already wonderful
collection of these works. Artists also included in this exhibit are Bonnard,
Corot, Renoir, Pissaro and Morisot. Check on line at www.sbmuseart.org/ for more details.
When Art Rocked: San Francisco
Music Posters 1966-1971 is currently at the SFO Museum at San Francisco’s International
Airport. The exhibition presents art and artifacts from the 1960’s San Francisco
music scene. An amazing amount of work, particularly posters, was produced at
the time. There are 150 posters as part of the exhibit. The display is open to
all airport visitors through March 22, 2015. More information is available at www.flysfo.com/museum where you can
also see the exhibit on line. Also in San Francisco at the de Young Museum is
an exhibit of 120 African sculptures from the Richard H. Scheller collection. Embodiments: Masterworks of African
Figurative Sculpture runs through July 5. www.deyoung.famsf.org will have all
pertinent information. The de Young prides itself in making its exhibits
accessible and has instituted a plan for people who are unable to come to the
museum whether or not for medical reasons, distance or finances. They have two robots that will take visitors
on a tour via the internet. Rebecca Bradley is the Accessibility Curator. You
can email her office at access@famsf.org
if this great idea is of interest.
Seattle Collects Northwest Coast
Native Art
runs through the middle of May at the Seattle Art Museum. Culled from many
private collections, the exhibit features iconic masks, wooden sculptures and
weavings done by Native artists living along the Pacific coast. Go to www.seattleartmuseum.org to obtain
more information.
Currently at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver,
Colorado, the museum is hosting The Art
of Conservation: Understanding Clyfford Still. Check out www.clyffordstillmuseum.org for all the
details.
American Soldier is a survey of photographic
images of soldiers dating from the Civil War through current conflicts in Iraq
and Afghanistan. The photographs were taken for different purposes but collectively
comment on our perception of war. All branches of the military are represented.
The exhibit is on view at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in St. Louis through June
21.The museum’s website at www.nelson-atkins.org
will provide more information.
As a relatively new museum, The Crystal Bridges Museum of
American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas has begun on a promising note with an
exhibit on loan, From Van Gogh to
Rothko: Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Gallery. The installation
which is on display through June 7 includes 76 pieces and traces the history of
avant-guard art from 19th century Modernism through 20th
century Pop Art. Along with Van Gogh and Rothko such diverse artists
represented are Picasso, Kahlo, Warhol, O’Keefe and Dali among others. The
museum’s website at www.crystalbridges.org
is replete with information. Sounds like they are off to a great start.
Chicago has deep Irish roots so the new exhibit at the
Chicago Arts Institute comes as no surprise. Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690-1840 includes
over 30o objects from public and private collections as well as from its own
exemplary collection of Irish decorative and fine arts. This is also the first
exhibition of this scope undertaken either in the U.S. or in Europe. More
details are at www.artic.edu for this
fascinating exhibit.
Story Book: Narrative in Contemporary Art is at
the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in Madison, Wisconsin through July 1,
2015. Curated by Dr. Rick Axsom, the exhibit draws from the museum’s permanent
holdings and focuses on the diverse ways that artists tell stories.
Traditionally, many visual artists based work on religious, mythological or
historic subjects. Many have told a story in a single work while others have
used multiples to get a tale across…still others have continued to focus on a
single subject their entire careers. Some artists explored a single literary
work, like Colescott who took on Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice and expressed his take on the famous work with his
painting called Venice. This exhibit
explores the relationship between visual art and the narrative and the diverse
ways that various contemporary artists choose to incorporate storytelling in
their art. Story telling through images remains as viable now as it has in the
past. Go to www.mmoca.org for more details.
An exciting exhibit at the
Detroit Institute of Arts features a virtual who’s who of painters. Ordinary People by Extraordinary
Artists: Works on Paper by Degas, Renoir and Friends opened September
19 and goes through March 29, 2015. The show features works by these artists as
well as Lautrec, Manet, Gaugin, Bonnard and others. It focuses on the drawings
and renderings made by these artists of ordinary people, many of which were
studies for larger works. It should be a stunning as well as interesting
show. Opening on March 15 at the DIA is Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit.
The DIA houses one of Rivera’s huge murals which sits above a courtyard in the
museum. This exhibit will include many studies done for the mural and some
never before seen works by Kahlo. The backstory should be very interesting. If
you are planning to be in town be sure to check www.dia.org
for all the information.
The New Whitney is set to open soon
and has many wonderful exhibits set for its inaugural year in its new digs. I’m
looking forward to Frank Stella; A Retrospective
which opens in the fall of 2015. The show will feature approximately 120 works
covering the career of one of the most important contemporary artists of our
time from the 50s through his current works. Check www.whitney.org for all the details.
The Albright Knox Gallery is a little gem of a museum in
Buffalo, New York. It has an exceptional permanent collection particularly deep
in post-war European and American works. If you are in the area be sure and
check it out. Love this gallery. All the details are at the website www.albrightknox.org so be sure and take
a peek.
Thomas Hart Benton’s America Today
Mural Rediscovered will be at the Metropolitan Museum in New
York from September 30 – April 10, 2015. The mural was donated by the AXA
Equitable Life Insurance Company. It was painted for the boardroom of New
York’s New School for Social Research and the setting for the ten panel mural
has been replicated by the museum. An adjacent gallery features drawings and
character studies that the artist completed as he worked on America Today. Another gallery includes
works from the museum’s collections which are relevant to the mural. Jackson
Pollock was one of Benton’s students so some of his work is included. He also
served as a model for the mural. Pollock once said that it took him a long time
to shake off Benton’s influence on his work. Madame Cezanne is another exhibit at the Met that is on until
March 15, 2015. It consists of portraits made over twenty years by the artist
of his mistress and then ultimately his wife and mother of his only son. The
show features 24 of the 29 known paintings and drawings he made of her and
attests to her ongoing influence on Cezanne’s work. The Metropolitan Museum
recently received an exciting gift of 57 works by contemporary African-American artists from the South. The
donation consists of 20 quilts, 10 pieces by Thornton Dial and includes
paintings, drawings and works of mixed media by Lonnie Holley, Nellie Mae Rowe
and others. An exhibit is planned for 2016. Check out www.metmuseum.org for more information.
The Museum of Fine Arts Boston
will host Gordon Parks: Back to Fort
Scott through September 13, 2015. Gordon Parks was an artist and
photojournalist. In fact, he was the first African-American photographer hired
full time by LIFE magazine. In 1950
he went back to Fort Scott, his birthplace and the town he had left 20 years earlier, to make a
series of photographs to accompany an article he planned to call “Back to Fort
Scott.” The series chronicled the day to day life of African-American citizens in
the town, including the discrimination they faced. This was the period just before
the Civil Rights movement took off. The article, which was slated to be
published in 1951, never appeared. Also at the MFA is another rare treat, Visiting Masterpiece: Gustave Klimt’s “Adam and Eve.” The painting will be on view, juxtaposed with
Kokoschka’s Two Nudes, through April
27, 2015.The museum’s website, www.mfa.org
will provide more information.
In 1962 Mark Rothko was asked to paint six murals for
Harvard’s penthouse dining room at Holyoke Center. He took no payment but asked
that the murals be displayed together and that curtains be drawn to preserve
the color of the paintings. Only five were ever displayed and apparently the
request for drawn curtains was ignored and partiers added to the damage by
splashing drinks on the canvases. Hence, by 1979 it became apparent that
significant damage had occurred. The damage was so complete that the murals
were taken down, could no longer be displayed and traditional restoration
techniques were of no help. Finally, after twenty years of research and new
technology was discovered a unique restoration process was found. The original
colors have been digitally projected onto the canvases where they are being
displayed in the Harvard Art Museum. Mark
Rothko’s Harvard Murals will be open now through July 2015. Details are
available at www.harvardartmuseum.org
right now.
Simply
the Best:
The best place to find books on
the arts, Arcana, is a very
special book store located in the Helms Bakery complex in Los Angeles…its wonderful!
I have known owner Lee Kaplan for decades and his selection of books is as superb
as his taste is impeccable. Arcana: Books on the Arts is at 8675 Washington Boulevard, Culver
City, CA 90232. For information go to http://www.arcanabooks.com
or call 310.458.1499.
Michiko Jewelry Design is an
incredible jewelry store in downtown Seal Beach, CA, featuring excellent
one-of-a-kind gifts. The shop owner and artist, Carol Matsumoto, custom designs
beautiful pieces. Michiko is
at 228 Main Street. Call 563.431.3237 for more information or check www.michikojewelrydesign.com
Places
to go, People to meet
Santa Barbara is the host to
the International Orchid Show
from March 13 to 15. Home base is at the Earl Warren Showgrounds but many of
the local orchid nurseries will be holding open houses. It is a large show with
vendors from all over the world and many garden exhibits. Check out www.sborchidshow.com for all you need to
know.
A little farther south and
inland, Ojai is home to the annual Ojai
WordFest. It is happening from April 23 to 25 and features authors,
screenwriters, poets and playwrights. There is a writing retreat, seminars,
spoken word performances and writing workshops. Look up www.ojaiwordfest.com for all the
information.
In a drive through the area
around Lompoc you will see beautiful rolling hills and if you are fortunate to
be there at the right time of year you will be treated to the stunning show of
color from the area flower and seed farms. Known as the flower and seed capitol
of the world, there is much more to see in Lompoc. The city is home to several
boutique wineries and boasts over 100
murals on its structures in the heart of the city. If you are headed
this way be sure and take them in and check out http://www.lompocmurals.com/ for more
facts.
Just
a Thought
Recently I read a
quote by an esteemed jazz artist that indicated that an artist’s job is to
reflect the times in which he/she lives. Somehow that seems limiting to me. I
know that a silver tea service made in the 1930s in the Art Deco style of the
time is more valuable than a similar silver service in a style harkening back
to a previous era… but that is commerce. Art is an ongoing conversation that is
centuries old and most artists want to join in, add to the conversation and
help to move it forward. Luckily there always seem to be some geniuses out
there that are able to push the boundaries and surmount them. The excitement of
feeling, seeing, or hearing something for the first time can’t be beat. So
whether you are an expert or a dilettante there is always something new to
learn. Keep well and take care.
My website at www.donaleenelson.com was designed and created by Sandy Crespo at DesignsCrespo.
My website at www.donaleenelson.com was designed and created by Sandy Crespo at DesignsCrespo.
