Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Huntington Museum in Pasadena ~ American Collection


Well, I just got my beloved iMac back from "Melrose Mac" with my ram now maxed out, so that I can get the new Lion operating system. Normally I avoid any changes to my computer and shy away from any sort of updates but apparently I have to get Mac's icloud or I can't keep my email address!! Apparently, I first need to load the previous operating system (which I never did.) Before that, I have to back up my hard drive, so I don't loose everything ... which I have also never done! I know ... Gasp! I do make copies of my photos to discs and upload to Kodak. I mean, I am not totally nuts, just kind of.

Of course, now I hear Kodak online was bought out by Shutterfly, and that they will "move" my photo galleries to their website. EEEEK!!!

Anyway, on to more important things. ART! In 2009, The Huntington reopened the American Art Collection (which is "continually evolving") and it's in its very own (air conditioned) building. A perfect place to get inspired for doing plein air painting and for getting out of the Pasadena heat.

Here's a little sampling from the collection. PLEASE click to enlarge paintings. Especially the landscapes. The details are unbelievable!


The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of thing,
but their inward significance.

~Aristotle

William McGregor Paxton
The Canary
1913







This piece, below, is amazing and gigantic...

Chimborazo 1864
Frederic E Church
48"x84" (!)


Detail of Chimborazo



Chauncey Bradley Ives
Ruth
1853

Marble




Albert Bierdstatdt
Landscape with Waterfall

Oil on paper mounted on board





Daniel Chester French
Benediction
1922

Bronze





John Frederick Kensett
Woodland Interior
1850-55






George Innes
Sketch for Washing Day near Perugia
1873

Oil on Cardboard
(they had the finished piece, but I liked the sketch even better!)






Thomas Moran
Rock Towers of the Rio Virgin
1908





Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places
where other people see nothing.

~Camille Pissaro


Thomas Moran
Detail from A Mountain Stream
1869






Mary Cassatt
Breakfast in Bed
1894





Haviland and Company
designed by Theodore R. Davis
Oyster Plate
1880-87

Silver by Tiffany & Co.
1880





Edward Jean Steichen
Snow Bound - Dawn
1915





Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were.
But without it, we go nowhere.

~Carl Sagan


Richard Diebenkorn
Berkeley #24
1954






Sam Francis
Free Floating Clouds
1980
Acrylic on canvas






Art is not what you see, but what yo make others see.

~Georgia O'Keeffe



Well, I'll be back after my hard drive is backed up. Wish me luck! I have no idea what I'm doing!

Blessings and light!


6 comments:

mermaid gallery said...

What an amazing show!!!....I have never seen orange walls in a gallery....or a gallery that allowed photos!...lucky us that they did!....computers cause us all sorts of grief but the rewards are staggering!!!!thanks for the fabulous tour....i needed that!

Loree said...

That was a lovely tour. Good luck with you computer. Sometimes they drive us to the limit of our patience but I d oubt we could live without them.

donna baker said...

You lost me after operating systems, Good luck! I still have saved my pictures...

Tammie Lee said...

such an astounding exhibit!

so glad you are getting your computer up to speed, so important these days. I think you will be happy you did it.

Joyce said...

I felt as if I spent the day with you. Doesn't art just warm your art? :) xo

rjerdee said...

Gorgeous show!!! Wish I'd been there in real life.

Computer problems...yours sound absolutely over the top. I've never loaded my operating systems, back-up etc...somehow I think I don't really care if I lose everything...I'll just start over again. :)