Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

All posts tagged Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Mt. Katahdin – November Afternoon

Posted by Maverick ~ on November 16, 2019
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Mt. Katahdin—November Afternoon (1942)
Marsden Hartley
American, 1877–1943
Oil on Masonite

After years of travel, Marsden Hartley proclaimed himself “the Painter from Maine.” This painting of Mt. Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak, belongs to a series focused on the mountain. Following a visit there in October 1939, Hartley painted multiple canvases over a three-year period. He modified his palette to suggest different seasons in each painting. In Mt. Katahdin—November Afternoon, the contrast between the blue sky, purple mountains, and auburn woods evokes an early-winter day. Hartley identified with the remote peak, seeing it as an emblem of his own lonely resilience.

Fallen Angel

Posted by Maverick ~ on November 9, 2019
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Fallen Angel (1959)
Oil on canvas
Byron Browne
American (1907-1961)

“A prime example of Abstract Expressionism, Fallen Angel (1959) features a gestural scene of an abstracted angel-like figure.  This work showcases his signature style of organic abstract shapes with his studies from nature.  Byron Browne was a founding member of the American Abstract Artist, an association to promote and understand Abstract art.  Browne and Willem de Kooning (American, 1904-1997), another founder, whose work is also featured in this exhibition, use a range of techniques, from gestural mark making to more detailed brushstrokes and figural abstraction.  Jansen echoes both Browne and de Kooning’s painterly gestural strokes in the collaged squares and pavement in Streets, attesting to Jansen’s contemporary conversations with Abstract Expressionism.”

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Corner of Studio

Posted by Maverick ~ on October 5, 2019
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Corner of Studio (1973)
Jane Freilicher
(American)
Oil on canvas

Jane Freilicher began her career as an abstract painter and later turned to representational paintings of still lifes and landscapes.  Corner of Studio depicts the Long Island landscape as seen from the windows of her art studio.  She uses minimal details o identify the interior space.  At the far left, a drawing or unfinished painting is attached to the wall, and a section of a painted landscape leans against the wall’s surface.  Both scenes, the landscape in the painting-within-the-painting and the landscape viewed through the set of windows, share the same sense of flatness, or lack of implied distance.

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Untitled (Malcolm X)

Posted by Maverick ~ on October 3, 2019
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Untitled (Malcolm X) – 2008
Glenn Ligon – American
Acrylic, vinyl based paint, and graphite on paper mounted on fiberboard

Untitled (Malcolm X) is the result of a workshop Glenn Ligon conducted.  He presented children with 1970s-era coloring books that had an agenda — to “normalize images of Black Americans to make them part of history.  But to a 3-year-old, none of that matters,” he recalls.  Eyeshadow, blush, and lipstick on the man once deemed the most dangerous in America by the New York City Police Department may seem transgressive, but the irreverence intrigued Ligon.  He silkscreened the image onto canvas, then faithfully painted the Muslim minister, activist, and black nationalist leader just as the child colored him.

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The Mirror

Posted by Maverick ~ on September 29, 2019
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The Mirror (1966)
Fairfield Porter (1907-1975)
American, oil on canvas

Fairfield Porter’s The Mirror explores the complex relationship between reality and illusion.  In this image, the artist depicts himself painting a portrait of his ten-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.  Her gaze, from within the illusionistic space of the canvas, acknowledges the viewer’s presence in “real space”.  Simultaneously, the artist’s reflection in the mirror establishes another level of space that is neither ours nor Elizabeth’s.

Porter entered the art world just as the Abstract Expressionists were gaining international recognition.  Yet he retained a commitment to the figure and to the traditional painting subjects: landscapes, interiors, still lifes, and portraits.

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Still Life with Liqueur and Fruit

Posted by Maverick ~ on October 28, 2018
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Still Life with Liqueur and Fruit, 1814
Raphaelle Peale
American, 1774–1825
Oil on panel

Still Life with Liqueur and Fruit is an exceptional early example of Raphaelle Peale’s “dining room pictures” and is one of only some 50 examples known today. The artist’s still lifes were considered extraordinary long before the vogue for still life took hold later in the century.

Delicacies from far-off origins, associated with the types of desserts offered in well-to-do households, are presented here in tempting detail. The meticulously rendered textures and skillfully executed reflections underscore Peale’s interest in scientific naturalism. The flawlessly balanced composition speaks to the desire in the early Republic for rational order, although the suggestion of extravagance simmers just below the surface.

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Jesse Howard

Posted by Maverick ~ on October 27, 2018
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Jesse Howard
Paint on enamel and metal

JULY.4.1969. HI NABOR’! IF THAT = OLD GEE – ZER’S IN HEAVEN, LIKE HIS TOMBSTONE SAYS, IT’S PROBABLY BECAUSE THE DEVIL WOULDN’T HAVE HIM. QUOTE. FIRE AND HAIL. SNOW AND VAPOUR. STORMY WIND FUL-LFILLING HIS WORD: PSALMS=148=8.


The self-taught artist and social activist Jesse Clyde Howard was an adamant defender of First Amendment rights.  Hundreds of sign sculptures like this one once filled his property in Fulton, Missouri.  Ranging from confessions to angry accusations, these signs demonstrate Howard’s belief in free thought and free speech. His “text messages” may be appreciated for their aesthetic qualities as well.  The bold, black lettering and stark white background create an arresting abstract visual arrangement.

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Prayer bowl and Jar

Posted by Maverick ~ on October 24, 2018
Posted in: Art, Miscellaneous, Music, Photography. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Prayer bowl, Cochini, New Mexico ca. 1820, and Jar, Hopi Arizona ca. 1890
Clay and pigment

"This mysterious little jar is painted with the image of four bears, a representation rarely found in Hopi ceramics.  Each animal has a heartline -- the line running from the mouth to the chest, terminating in the area of the heart.  Other features, such as teeth and claws, are emphasized.  The use of this jar is unknown; it may have had a ceremonial function or may have been made for sale to outsiders who were visiting Hopi villages in ever increasing numbers during the last decades of the 19th century."

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Bouncing Marbles, Bouncing Apple, Bouncing Olive

Posted by Maverick ~ on October 21, 2018
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Bouncing Marbles, Bouncing Apple, Bouncing Olive
Edward Ruscha
Oil on canvas

"In Bouncing Marbles, Bouncing Apple, Bouncing Olive, Edward Ruscha explores an obscure language of visual relationships. He divorces the objects depicted from their everyday contexts by placing them within an infinite, surreal space. The relationships that exist among the marbles, apples and olive are equally interpretations. The marbles might refer to childhood, the olive to hors d'oeuvres and martinis and the apple to the Fall of Adam and Eve. Such a reading makes this a meditation on the loss of innocence. Alternatively, Ruscha may have constructed a playful dialog among round forms or a treatise on Newton's law."

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Starboat (Tugboat and Riverboat)

Posted by Maverick ~ on October 20, 2018
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Starboat (Tugboat and Riverboat)  1966
Wayne Thiebaud
Oil on canvas

Starboat (Tugboat and Riverboat) is painted with Thiebaud's characteristic sensuous colors and thick impasto.  The boat and its reflection are rendered with delicate brush strokes.  Sea and sky, boldly defined by a yellow and green horizon line, are laid out in broad swaths with a palette knife.  While Thiebaud's work has been associated with Pop art because of its focus on the everyday objects of popular culture, he sees it as part of a long realist tradition.

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