American Art Collection At The Fred Jones Jr. Museum Of Art

William H. Johnson was a successful painter who was born on March 18, 1901 in Florence, South Carolina. Johnson began exploring his level of creativity as a child, and it only amplified from there because he discovered that he wanted to be an artist. After making this discovery he attended the National Academy of Design in New York which is where he met his mentor Charles Webster Hawthorne who had a strong influential impact on Johnson. Once Johnson graduated he moved to Paris where he was exposed to different artists, various artistic abilities, and evolutionary creations. Throughout Johnson’s time in Paris he grew as an artist, and adapted a “folk” style where he used lively colors and flat figures. Johnson used the “folk” style to express the experience of most African-Americans during the years of the 1930s and 1940s.

To expand on the intricacy of the speaker’s life, symbolism is applied to showcase the oppression her ancestors etched on her quilt were facing for their “burnt umber pride” and “ochre gentleness” (39-40). Once again, the theme of absence is introduced as there is a sense of separation among the Native American culture as their innocent souls are forced onto reservations and taken away from their families. This prolonged cruelty and unjust treatment can be advocated when the speaker explains how her Meema “must have dreamed about Mama when the dancing was over: a lanky girl trailing after her father through his Oklahoma

These immediate images provoke other images in the Indian’s mind; these images are far more spectacular than those immediate images pointed out by the white woman. The two hundred year old house on the hill is linked in the Indian’s mind to the structures of his tribal ancestors which he describes in stanza three as “whose architecture is 15,000 years older”.

On November 7, 1883, an exhibition organized by “May Wright Sewell, her husband Theodore, and a small group of art-minded citizens” (History, 2017) began what would one day become the establishment now known as the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Since that first exhibition, the IMA has gone through several identity changes. They were first named, the Art Association of Indianapolis. Their next identity was as the John Herron Art Institute, which opened a whole new chapter, as they became “a campus featuring both a museum and an art school.” (History, 2017) Today, the IMA is one of the largest encyclopedic art museums in the nation. The IMA has had various leadership and staff over the years that have lent to how the museum operates today.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond at a glance is a modern metropolitan building that displays a vibrant exhibition of Byzantine art found in the Medieval and Byzantine wing. They are grouped together because they share a progression of time occurring in the heart of Europe roughly from the 1300s until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The exhibit begins with displays of medieval art of Western Europe. It further progresses to Byzantine art arranged in broad categories ranging from pre-Christian art, liturgical material, secular material and a display of coptic textiles. Although small scale, a few art pieces prominently featuring the human figure stood out in particular.

The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) holds many works of art from all types of cultures from around the world. The Torso of an Emperor in the Guise of Jupiter from Roman culture and the Torso of Aphrodite from Greek culture, are but two of them. It is unknown who the artist was for either of them, but the work has lived on for centuries. During the time period the gods were known for their perfection- like body and extraordinary looks. Since the sculptures highlight only the torso of the body it represents that only image matters and the brain does not.

On Saturday, November 4th, I visited the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado. The piece of art I decided to write about is called “A Mountain Symphony (Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado)” This two-dimensional oil on canvas painting was completed in America in 1927 by Sven Birger Sandzén. This painting has not been on public view since 1927 and is located in the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado. It was a “Free Day” at the museum, so I decided to attend by myself. I was unable to get a picture of myself in front of the work of art I decided to write about, but I did get several pictures of the artwork and a picture of myself with the “Free Day” sticker. I decided to write about this work of art because it was the only piece in the museum that really stood out to me and really caught my attention. A Mountain Symphony is a lively, beautiful landscape painting with a vibrant pallet filled with luminosity and broad brushstrokes. The sculptural quality of the paint surface reflect the influence of turn-of-the century modernist techniques. The balance of color and light brings happiness and joy to the viewer.

As you arrive into the reception area of the Cleveland Museum of Art, you are greeted with silence. The clomping of shoes and whispers of fellow museum goers about what the “true meaning” behind the piece is fills the air. The first floor of the museum is dedicated to historical artifacts and artwork dating in the time period called Before Common Era (B.C.E.). Each piece is accompanied by a placard on the wall courtesy of the museum. The pieces are approximately dated, described, and an explanation of how each piece was used is given in the short paragraph.

The reason I chose to go to the African Art Museum is because I have been there before and I enjoy my time when I go. The tours at the museum consisted of talks about certain pieces in the museum that fell in a category the tourist wanted to focus on. Nkechi Obi was my first tour guide and the title of her tour was “Docent African Arts”. Her goal throughout the tour was to show pieces of artwork that showed what Africans may have gone through in the past in slavery. One piece that she focused on that I want to highlight was “Southern Landscape” by Walter Williams Roots. In this piece there various things going on in the photo.

The St. Louis Art Museum has many intriguing pieces of artwork, but my eyes seemed to navigate towards Thomas Cole’s pieces. Research has shown that Thomas Cole was best known for his landscape art, but through the portal of America’s wilderness and it’s association of God. Nature, human life, and mortality were the key viewpoints

(2005). In D. Bjelajac, American Art: A Cultural History (pp. 37-129). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Perhaps illness so influenced the artistic style of Van Gogh, but the picture turned out completely different to all that the artist wrote so far. This is not a Van Gogh, who was known. In the canvas, there is tension, anxiety, dense colors and warm shades of olive-mustard. On the contrary, here there is some kind of lightness, airiness, and transparent weightlessness. On the manner of execution, the pattern resembles Japanese prints: iris field full of peace, a lightness, and transparency. "Irises" are simple and unique, they are striking in their serenity and the ability to remove the internal stress of everyone who saw at least reproduction. Painting simply breathes watercolor, translucency and make to look at it more than one hour.

When I attend the Oklahoma Art Museum this morning, I was completely blown away by the different styles, technique, and artistic abilities that artist have. Art can come in many forms and can involve many different things. From paintings, sculptures, and abstract pieces of the modern world. Along with my visit, I got to experience a new collection of blown glass that was absolute remarkable. As I walked though the museum, it was as I walked though time and got to see how each period’s art changed throughout time. From the different shades of color to the different types of technique that filled the halls of the Oklahoma City Art Museum, each piece was genuine in its own way. I was starstruck as I witnessed Lowell Nesbitt’s Parrot Tulip, Richard Diebenkorn’s Albuquerque, and Dale Chihuly’s blown glass.

The first American group of painters, The Hudson School of Romantic Landscapes, was lead by Thomas Cole, who was born in 1801 in England. He went to Philadelphia and Ohio as a traveling portrait painter in 1819. In addition, he traveled to Europe where he painted many Italian subjects, and later many of the scenes in his paintings came from his European studies. He died in 1848 at the age of 47. Cole’s artwork represents the Romantic style of painting, especially in his famous work The Oxbow (Fulwider 618). In the life and time around Thomas Cole, three things stand out. The major themes in Cole’s artwork, what was romantic about the Hudson River School’s art, and why landscape was a national religious symbol for Americans.

On Saturday, June 15 I attended the Civil War and American Art exhibit at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. There were a number of different people who were present on this occasion. I believe there were so many people there because this is one of the better known art galleries throughout New York. Additionally, the fact that today was part of the weekend probably contributed to the massive crowds of people present. Not everyone was there to attend the Civil War and American Art exhibit, however; there were several other exhibits taking place in different locations throughout the museum that day.