Philadelphia Museum : A Three Floored Building

Never before have I seen a museum as grand as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. From its architecture to its massive art collection, The Met has a little bit of everything and one is sure to find something that captures his or her interest. Considering that The Met is the United States' largest art museum, it is easy to get lost within its many corridors and wings. My visit to The Met took place during the last week of July. Despite the almost unbearable heat and humidity that hung in the air, visiting museums under these climate conditions is a welcome respite from a suffocating, yet bright summer afternoon.

One pleasant afternoon, my classmates and I decided to visit the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to begin on our museum assignment in world literature class. According to Houston Museum of Fine Art’s staff, MFAH considers as one of the largest museums in the nation and it contains many variety forms of art with more than several thousand years of unique history. Also, I have never been in a museum in a very long time especially as big as MFAH, and my experience about the museum was unique and pleasant. Although I have observed many great types and forms of art in the museum, there were few that interested me the most.

It must have been 13 years or so since I have been to the art museum, back in elementary school, on a one of a kind field trip. 13 years is way too long to have been away from the art museum, as my experience this year reminded me that. It was a beautiful, sunny October day, although it felt like July, and it was an even better day to talk a walk through the vast, mesmerizing pieces of art that the museum has to offer. The North Carolina Museum of Art provides an abundance of artwork from various time periods, cultures, and one can find art anywhere from Egyptian, to classical, to modern and contemporary art. The artwork that the museum provides not only displays an abundance of artwork, but

Cleveland has been fortunate enough to have become home several popular museums, including The Cleveland Museum of Art. The museum is filled with impressive masterpieces from the beginning of human documented time to today’s world. This free exhibit offers an exciting, enjoyable experience to those of all ages and those of all backgrounds. From the interactive futuristic portions of the building, to the delicate works of the past, there is something at this museum to please each person’s artistic mindset.

During our visit to the El Paso Museum of Art, our docent (insert name) took us on a tour of their current exhibitions: Robert Delaunay and Albert Gleizes: The School of Paris from Modern Master Series: Highlights from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Immaculate Conception, Amplified Abstraction, and Modern Stone Totems. In addition to our expedition we observed art of Mexico and New Spain that showcased 17th and 19th century paintings and sculptures. European art with includes paintings and sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. As well as, early American art from the 19th century to the mid 20th century.

The North Carolina Museum of Art is an art museum that composes of 5,000 years of artistic work from antiquity to the present. It features over 40 galleries, an amphitheater for outdoor performances, and a variety of exhibitions and public programs. The Museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 AM to 5 PM and closed on some holidays.

Under the guidance of Charles Willson Peale (fig. 1) in 1805, a group of Philadelphian artists and merchants gathered to ratify the charter that formed the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) the oldest art school and museum in the United States. Founded on the dedication and principles of education, collecting, and exhibiting American art. Peale and the other Found Fathers of American art sought “to promote the cultivation of the Fine Arts, in the United States…and exciting the efforts of the artists, gradually to unfold, enlighten and invigorate the talents of our Countrymen.”

The First painting that I was drawn to in the special exhibit “America after the fall: Painting in the 1930s”, was American Gothic by Grant Wood. This was a work that I had seen all through out my life because it was the staple image to represent the steadfast American pioneer spirit. Seeing it in person, rather than reproductions or prints let me realize why it was such an iconic American painting. It was a twentieth century painting with nineteenth century characteristics. The work is in the style of a typical portrait painting in the nineteenth century.

The National Public Housing Museum is much more than an objects and artifacts museum, rather it is a place of stories that explain the vast complex history of public and publicly subsidized housing in America.

The painting work done by C. Bertram Hartman was the first piece of art I observed inside the Dallas Museum. This painting, completed in 1930, consists of a campanile-type tower, most likely a representation of a historic skyscraper (Walker 73). The painting applies a fractured perspective blended on an urban look with muted color palettes accompanied by harsh shadows (MacDonald & Brettell 117). The painting is a reflection of the dynamism and energetic expansion of the current New York City. The geometrical arrangement of the buildings in the painting resemble the current scenes witnessed in New York, championing a fast pace and a

The exhibit that I viewed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art was one about European Art between the years 1100-1500. This was a series of paintings, sculptures, architecture, and tapestry of the Medieval and Early Renaissance as well as objects from the Middle East. This exhibit was an important part of the history of the Philadelphia Museum of Art because for the first time, Italian, Spanish, and Northern European paintings from the John G. Johnson collection were shown. It gave me a good idea of what the paintings were like in these four centuries and reflected ideas of both the east and the west.

The Whitney Museum of American Art has often been referred to a citadel of American Art, partially due to the museums façade, a striking granite building (Figure 1), designed by Bauhaus trained architect Marcel Breuer. The museum perpetuates this reference through its biennial review of contemporary American Art, which the Whitney has become most famous for. The biennial has become since its inception a measure of the state of contemporary art in America today.

With exhibitions of the most thought-provoking art, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago is one of the Nation’s largest facilities devoted to the art of our time (“About the MCA”) . The mission of the MCA is to offer a direct experience to the public of modern day art and living artists. German architect Joseph Paul Kleihues designed the new building with seven times the square feet of its previous facility (“The Building”) . October of 1967 the museum opened its doors to the public for the first time. The Museum of Contemporary Art is a symbol of modern art, culture, and the artist of our time. It is a stepping stone in history and will leave footprints in the heart of Chicago for many generations to come.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City is the world’s leading modern art. Its exhibits have been a major influence in creating and stimulating popular awareness of modern art and its accompanying diversity of its styles and movements. The museum’s outstanding collections of modern painting, sculpture, drawings, and prints range from Impressionisms to current movements. Moreover, there are exhibits of modern architecture, industrial design, sculpture, photography, prints and electronic media. The museum presently has a modern art library of 300,000 books and impressive collections of films that are shown regularly. The Museum is said to be the complementary of the Metropolitan Museum

The work I have selected to look closely at is Parson Weems’ Fable “Grant Wood” created by Mason Locke Weems or sometimes referred to as Parson Weems. He created this painting in 1939 to tell the story of young George Washington and his inability to lie. The medium of this painting is oil on canvas and is currently in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. The painting has a width of 127.3 cm by a height of 97.5 cm. This painting has main components that grab the attention of who is looking at it. In the painting, older George Washington is outside the frame showing what happened during the incident between young George Washington and his father. This painting created a fable that would later be known as the reason why