Honolulu Museum of Art ~ Art Inspiration of the Islands

"Many things are so beautiful that they don’t seem real. 

My idea of the world—nature—things that grow ... "

~ Georgia O'Keeffe, 

letter from Hawaii to her husband Alfred Stieglitz

George Rickey

Two Open Rectangles Excentric, 1977

Burnished steel, 31' x 11'

(Balanced with counterweights, it moves with the wind!)

Honolulu Museum of Art

Opened to the public in 1922

This is a wonderful museum in Honolulu with a beautiful and varied art collection. I actually joined the museum when I was there, hoping to be able to spend more time. If I was an O'ahu resident I think I would practically be living there! You'll see why.

"The museum’s permanent collection has grown from 500 works to more than 50,000 pieces spanning 5,000 years, with significant holdings in Asian art, American and European painting and decorative arts, 19th- and 20th-century art, an extensive collection of works on paper, Asian textiles, and traditional works from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas." - from the website

Beautiful flowers as you enter the museum ...

"That our children of many nationalities and races, born far from the centers of art, may receive an intimation of their own cultural legacy and wake to the ideals embodied in the arts of their neighbors....that Hawaiians, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Northern Europeans and all other people living here, contacting through the channel of art those deep intuitions common to all, may perceive a foundation on which a new culture, enriched by the old strains may be built in the islands."

—Anna Rice Cooke’s dedication statement, which she read at the opening of the Honolulu Academy of Arts on April 8, 1927    

"The museum is really lovely—white— rooms not too large—open courts here and there—open to the sky—a lovely building ... The Chinese room very beautiful—much more human feeling than what we do with such things in the East—flowers and grass seem to get in—they help in a museum ..."  ~ Georgia O'Keeffe, letter from Hawaii to her husband Alfred Stieglitz

There's a building for the "Arts of Hawai'i" which is so lovely to experience while you are in Honolulu. Here is a very small sampling of those works. 

Theodore Wores

The Lei Maker, 1901

Oil on Canvas

Chris Campbell

Strike a Pose III, c. 2005

Oil on canvas

"It is hard to tell about the island- the people have a kind of gentleness that isn't usual on the mainland. I feel that my tempo must definitely change to put down [or paint] anything of what is here- I don't know whether I can or not- but it is certainly a different world- and I'm glad I came." ~Georgia O'Keeffe

Lionel Walden

The Torchlight Fishermen, Waikiki, 1930

Oil on canvas board

Lionel Walden

Hawaiian Fisherman, 1924

Oil on canvas

William Twigg-Smith

Hilo Sampans, 1917

Oil on canvas

"One of the things I find myself thinking most often is that there is some thing so perfect about the climate here that it seems a bit ridiculous— even if you walk in the rain as I did yesterday up on the side of the mountain . . . it is neither hot nor cold and I love slushing through the water—Such lovely rainbows too ... "  ~ Georgia O'Keeffe, in a letter to her husband Alfred Stieglitz

Robert Delaunay

The Rainbow, 1913

Oil on Canvas 

(I love his piece!!!)

If you'd like to get to know more of Robert Delaunay's work check out this slideshow (with music) someone uploaded to YouTube. I actually adore his wife Sonia Delaunay's work, as well.

Alexander Calder
Hi!, c. 1928
wire

Hans Hofmann (American, 1880-1966)

Fragrance, 1956

Oil on canvas

I love this vibrant work of abstract impressionism! In person it has even more a sense of energy, light and movement! 

Detail of Fragrance

Kevin, below, enjoying art of the 19th century. Van Gogh to the left, Monet's Water Lilies directly in front and a lovely Camille Pissarro, Rouen Saint-Sever Morning, to his right.

Vincent van Gogh
Wheat Field, 1888
Oil on canvas

This next photo was one of my favorite rooms. I want this room! Haha! I could have sat in there for hours with my journal or sketchbook. How cool do the orange walls look with the incredible (and very large) portraits, crystal chandelier, and lucite chairs? Yum!

On the left

John singer Sargent

Mrs. Thomas Lincoln Manson, Jr., 1891

Oil on canvas

On the right

James McNeill Whistler

Arrangement in Black No. 5: Lady Meux

Oil on canvas

Center

Alex Katz

Ada With a Black Scarf, 1966

Oil on canvas

There's also a wonderful Alice Neel painting in that room!

And, of course, when there are Italians present I must include a couple of those! Check out the look on Baby Gésu's face below.

Follower of Benozzo Gozzoli

Madonna and Child with Angels (detail) 15th Century
Tempera, gilding on wood panel

Workshop of Fra Fillippo Lippi
Two Saints, Mid 15th Century
Tempera, gilding on panel
(And velvet?!)

 

I love this garden area! So peaceful and the pond has koi fish! I want to go back and sketch there too!

The beautiful area above leads you into their wonderful collection of Asian Art. 

I don't have any photos of the Japanese Woodblock Prints because (for preservation) the room was too dark but they have the most incredible and expansive collection. More than 10,000 prints which is the 3rd largest in the United States! You can see many of them on their website including Hokusai's The Great Wave.

What I did get were photos of some of the other beautiful artifacts and exhibits that were on display.

Amida 

Japan, 15th century

Wood, gold

Bodhisattva Seishi

Japan, Heian period, 10th-11th century

Wood

The figure above is one of the main attendants of Amida Buddha and symbolizes the power of wisdom.

Anonymous Empress

Japan, Edo period, 19th century

Porcelain, paper-mâché, wood, hair, 

silk, cotton, metal and pigments

Attributed to Tankei (1173-1256)
Eleven-Headed Kannon
Japan, Kamukura period, 13th century
Wood, bronze, gold

So delicate and the face is exquisite!

OK, so keep in mind this next sculpture is large. As in ... life size. The room lights are dim and as you enter the room it's presence is so powerful. As you'll see, it sits there washed in a warm glow of light in the "royal ease" positing. Stunning.

Anonymous 

Guanyin ~ The Bodhisattva of Compassion 

c. 1025

China, Northern Song or Tangut Xia dynasty 

The Hawaiian wood works and textiles were almost impossible to photograph behind glass. It was too dark and there was too much glare for my iPhone but if you get there, they are definitely worth seeing.

When I came around a corner and saw these paintings I took a long breath and exhaled. Beauty in green! There's nothing else like a Georgia O'Keeffe. Here, she seems to pare the paintings down to their absolute essentials and the result is captivating. You have all the information you need about these beautiful scenes.

Georgia O'Keefee

Waterfall-No. III-Iao Valley, 1939

Oil on Canvas

" My paintings are all sharp green valleys with waterfalls. Today was very rainy so the valley is full of mists—It is queer to sit out there in the rain painting and not mind the rain till it really poured so hard I couldn’t see much ..."~ Georgia O'Keeffe, in a letter to her husband Alfred Stieglitz

Georgia O'Keeffee

Papaw Tree, 'Iao Valley, Maui,

1939

Oil on Canvas

Georgia O'Keeffe 

Waterfall-End of Road-'Iao Valley, 1939

Oil on Canvas

"Such deeply wrinkled mountain sides with such high waterfalls could be seen through breaks in the trees across the valley—It is really a beauti-ful world . . ." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

There was a whole show of O'Keeffe's Hawaii paintings at the New York Botanical Garden last year! Wouldn't that have been great to see? Well, we may have missed it but here's a great little video explaining her time in Hawaii. The video also shows more works that she did while she was staying in the islands as well as works she painted when she got home that were inspired by her visit. 

(The sound cuts out for about 10 or seconds near the beginning but it kicks back in so don't give up!)

"It all just doesn’t seem real—a lot of different kinds of waterfalls—mostly very thin—tumbling way down from way up high—Then the trees—such wonderful trees  ... " ~Georgia O'Keeffe

"The shade is sort of thick and light at the same time—the sun pale—a long dreamy blue sort of a mountain raising up out of the ocean to the right and on the other side of the house a nearer mountain rises up so abruptly it is startling—it has a look like a sort of mossy rock.—palm trees—other trees—flowering things—many birds. I think I am going to like it."  ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

1. The letters are in the Alfred Stieglitz/Georgia O’Keeffe Archive in the Yale Collection of American Literature at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and copyright © 2012 by Yale University. Per O’Keeffe’s request, the correspondence was sealed until 2006, twenty years after her death. 
   
   
   Hope you enjoyed the museum visit! For more information about the Honolulu Museum of Art, click HERE.

 Blessings, Light and Aloha!

Beautiful Water Bones by Loris Cecchini ~ Venice

Waterbones

by Loris Cecchini

Venice Biennale 2017

at the Fondaco die Tedeschi 

During the Venice Biennale there are art installations all over Venice. You just can't see everything. You'd have to spend a month! So, sometimes you have to go off of a photo and other times you just happen upon a space that has a sign out front and pop in for a look. In this case it was the former.

I'd seen an intriguing photo advertising this site specific installation by Italian artist Loris Cecchini and curated by Hervé Mikaeloff. It was made from thousands of movable thin steel modules. "A nod to algorithms found in nature and industrial design materials." 

To me it felt like being in some kind of space age organism ... 

"The title, “Waterbones,” underlines the morphological lightness and freeness and appears as a biological metaphor: The cells open and bloom, releasing molecular components in interaction with the space, developing autonomous and self-sufficient ways."

~Loris Cecchini

The shapes and materials were reflective and beautiful! Though they were not moving, they seemed to dance through space. I wish I could have laid on the floor under them and listened to Bach. They felt somehow musical to me. 

It's funny because I read the following quote after writing the above.

"The installation is composed of eight thousand identical elements in shiny steel linked together. The structure is continually varying thanks to the element’s hookup system. The particularity stands in the geometry of each element and in the fact that they are internally empty: This creates a great lightness in the overall structure that gives me the possibility to expand and contract the form in an organic way, almost as if it were becoming a biological element. The final result is a great “dancing” form in the space that is offered in continuity with the architectural structure."

~Loris Cecchini

As modern as the space looks, the actual building opened in 1228 and is a historic building right on the Grand Canal in Venice. It was rebuilt after a fire in the 1500s in the Italian Renaissance style. It's right near the Rialto Bridge and used to be the headquarters and restricted living quarters of Venice's German merchants.

In the 20th century it was used by Venice for the "Poste Italiane" and in 2008 it was bought by the Benetton Group. Rem Koolhaas was hired to incorporate a huge shopping area inside. There were a lot of beautiful things but I was on an art mission and didn't stop to shop!

“I have devised my creative language around the ideas of the object, the model and architecture. Often the work refers in different ways to the idea of inhabiting space. Currently, I am exploring the space of sculpture and of the environmental installation according to a notion of the parcelization of material, almost a sort of molecular deflagration of sculpture, in which scientific phenomenology becomes an intimate structure and go-between for vision ..."

~Loris Cecchini

View from the roof of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi

I love how seeing various kinds of artists broaden you perspective of what art can be and also how it  impacts your immediate mood or state of mind. This experience has happened to me over and over visiting many art exhibitions. On this occasion, I did leave with a sense of lightness and a burst of positive energy that still took me by surprise!

For more of the interview with Loris Cecchini click here

More Links

Loris Cecchini (official site more works and a slide show)

Fondaco Rooftop Terrace

Duty Free Venice/Fondaco dei Tedeschi

Venice Biennale

Ciao Tutti!

Blessings and light!