New Britain Museum of American Art.

This post will be one of my photo albums. I took quite a few pictures here and one of them I am in total awe over!!!! Jerry, if this album is done incorrectly, please let me know!!

I don't know if you guys have noticed but I like to use exclamations a lot and the phrase 'lol'. I'm a cheery, excited person and those are my ways of expressing my emotion via the internet!

So, shall we begin our experience to the New Britain Museum of American Art? Lets go!

This is me, hello!! =) lol Yeah, I went the beginning of the month when it was snowing. That was a joy! lol My boyfriend isn't the best photographer and didn't say cheese! lol so pardon the grouchy expression! lol It was definitely a good day to go to a museum!




This shot is from the inside, at the ceiling, when you are on your way up to the second floor. One thing I can mention about the second floor is that they had this really cool, hmm, how to describe it.. modern technology art piece? If that makes any sense! Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures of it, but its this little fish pond type thing. If any of you go, hopefully it will still be there. Anyway, I enjoyed this light piece because its very unique and I liked the pretty colors!



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This picture I thought was breath taking. You can't tell from the picture that I took, but it actually looked like the sun was setting because of the way the light hit the painting. Reminded me of a Thomas Kincaid painting, the painter of light! His work is truly amazing and very impressive! I got lost looking into this painting and I still am now, as I admire its beauty.







This picture is a close up of the sunset.... No, I didn't take out on the range in the mid-west, but it would be pretty believable to tell someone that! The colors in the sunset are very vibrant. The way the artist gives light to this particular piece, truly is amazing! Every detail is embellished right down to the man and his cattle! All I can say is look at the detail!!! lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hmm, there aren't many words to express my feels towards this painting. It is definitely unique! It is so beautiful, its almost like a Where's Waldo type thing because there are so many hidden things! If you look closely there is another man in the painting, which is under the rock. There are so many little things in this painting its just... mind blowing!!






This up close shot shows the detail in the painting. It is a different texture, it is an oil on linen on canvas. I just thought this picture was very unique and I love the different style in painting.




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This next painting is very moving to all of us, because it is something that happened not long ago in our history. It has affect all of our lives in some way or another even if you didn't personally know someone who perished in in this great tragedy. We can all remember back to that cool and calm morning of September 11th. (I would like to take some time and share a little of my experience and also explain the meaning behind the painting.) It was my senior year of high school. The day started off like any other. Cant remember what my first class of the day was, but I remember when my English teacher got that terrifying call. Her husband was (weird now that I think about it, lol) the photography teacher and they had the TV on in their room. He called up to our classroom and our teacher told us, with a surreal look on her face, "two planes have crashed into the twin towers." At that point it was probably about 930. In about 20 minutes we would be moving to our next class. When I arrived at my next class, which was astronomy, the teacher had a TV in his class room. We watched the news, and saw the towers fall. The principals came around and told us that we could not watch it, which we did not agree with because this is history happening before us! I understand that it could be upsetting for people to watch. That class ended at 1045, and from there, I left school. I shouldn't have done that, but what are you gonna do. This is something that I will remember in vivid detail for the rest of my life, as I am sure it will for everyone.


This painting is absolutely massive!!! I could only stand so far back, and there is actually another painting behind me that prevented me from going back further. There is a lot that went into this painting, every thing signifies something (as with all paintings) but it is something we can relate to.This close up is between the twin men, who represent the twin towers. I liked this portion of the painting because between them you can see a painted picture of an actual shot that is familiar to us all. Portions left of the twin towers as the dust is still lifted from the air, and the smoke is still rising. I was able to visit ground zero 3 months after it happened. What an absolutely upsetting sight. I personally, never remember seeing the twin towers, even though I had been to NYC several times. The area was such a massive sized hole and there were memorials set every where. Heartbreaking letters from children to their parents, hoping and praying for their return home. I have been to the site several times since, and the memorial they are setting up is amazing. I can't wait to see its completion.



I like this portion of the picture a lot because of the statue of liberty. This painting really is amazing, and I would suggest that even if you don't get a chance to visit this museum for this class, then go at some point and see this piece. I truly wish I could have a copy of this for my own, but any chance of that would cost more than ill ever own. lol The closet thing Ill ever get is it as the wallpaper on my lap top! lol

Unfortunately, I have miss placed my notes regarding this painting. I am going to do some research and try to update this post. Until then, I hope you all have enjoyed my thoughts and feelings regarding this painting.

Yale Art Gallery

So here is the photo shop version of this class for me! lol As you can see, this is my visit to the Yale Art Gallery. I happened to venture out on family day, which was quite hectic!! It was a cool and windy day out and parking was absolutely awful! The museum itself was, nonetheless, interesting with many things I never would have thought to find at an art gallery. I was disappointed some of the galleries were blocked off due to renovation, but it was still all the while interesting.

My first experience in the gallery, was in the African room. You can truly get a sense of culture from this room. May African pieces of art, and not only art, but artifacts. This is a carved ivory tusk that was produced by the Kongo people. It was also used by neighboring peoples and used for trade with the Europeans. There are scenes on the tusk that depicts life and nature. The piece itself is absolutely breathtaking. Different scenes that are depicted are a European man with a top hat and cane, with a woman who is carrying an umbrella. Another scene is an African woman carrying a container. There are so many scenes on here. Since Elephants were killed only for their ivory tusks and teeth, and at one point was such a highly traded item, the Elephant became close to extinction. The title of this piece is called "Tusk Carved in Relief", it is from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. This close up shows the amount of work and detail that went into the creation of this work of art. This piece is about 3 ft in height.

From the African portion of the gallery, I moved on to the Asian room. It is by Lan Ying, from the Chinese and is from the time period of 1633. It is called the "Autumn Landscape". It takes its influence from the Ming dynasty which took place from 1368-1644. This scroll is ink and color on silk. It is a very beautiful piece that has many colors. Its amazing vibrant. This piece is about 7-8 feet tall and is very detailed. The signature from the painter is "Recluse of West Lake." This quote refers for Ying's native home land of Hangzhou, which is a city in the province of Zhejiang. This city in the beginning of and mind blowing to think that this piece of art has survived for this long and is still the Ming dynasty, was associated with professional painters. Ying also had influence from a past painters and put the past styles and artists and notes in his inscriptions is also from Jing Hao.


From the Asian portion of the art gallery, I continued my journey to the Early European arts. I came across a painting that I kind of thought was a little comical. This painting is about 3ft by 4ft. The artist is Jean-Leon Gerome. He is a French painter who lived from 1824-1904. The size of the painting helped to depict all of the detail that was going on in the picture and allowed you to get a sense of what something like this would have been like. The title for the painting is "Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant" Translated to English means, Hail Caesar! We Who Are About to Die Salute You! and what a strong phrase to have said. The attitude of this painting is definitely a one of heroism. The Roman Gladiators of these times would battle to death for survival . The essence of light in this painting is shown over a body whose life has expired. Though the detail in my pictures are not as great as real life, the dead men are being dragged by a sort of "string" that is attacked to an "anchor" which is hooked inside their body, and are dragged to their final resting place. This painting is an oil on canvas. This painting is to narrate a story that took place so many years ago. The painters choice to choose such a subject to paint is his own personal obsession.


The Yale Art Gallery experience is one different from that of any other museum that I have visited. This could be because it is not a museum, but an art gallery! lol I enjoyed the different pieces of art that the gallery had to offer. I really enjoyed seeing works of art, that did not include just paintings, from different cultures.

Wadsworth Antheneum (Hartford)

My first impression of this museum was complete awe. The outside of the building is completely historical looking. It definitely shouted museum, but not in a tacky way. My advise that I can offer, is to make sure you get a photo pass from the guards station (it is at the right and side when you first walk in) that way you don't have to walk all the way back like I did. I really enjoyed this museum and before I go into m findings I just want to take a moment to share with you some thing I enjoyed most about the museum. The Martin Luther King Legacy portion of the museum is definitely interesting and very moving. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures in this exhibit. There are many moving pieces and ones that are very painful to view, even if you are too young to have lived through that era (like myself.) There is one very vibrant painting of an African-American woman, but it is sort of like a collage of painted words to make her and I was extremely impressed by the amount of work and thought that had to go into this painting. I wish I could have taken a picture of this painting, but unfortunately I I can not. There are many moving pieces in this gallery, but that is just one of the many that touches my heart.

My adventure begins in the Huntington Gallery. There are many wonderful pieces in this first gallery, but the one that caught my attention first and just totally blew my mind. There is so much detail to this painting and there is just so much going on that I just can't imagine how anyone could do such a thing! It sets me back so much because I am not artistic at all!
This painting is described as Aesthetic Movement. This attitude, rather than style, of painting was used during the mid-late 1800s. It was used in America as well as England. This new 'attitude' painting brought about new inspiration to painters.

This portrait was done by an Englishman named William Holman Hunt. The title of this painting is The Lady of Shalott, 1866-1905. This painting is an oil on canvas, and even though the picture does no justice for it, it is amazingly breath taking. This painting was designed after a poem entitled the same, which was written by Alfred Lord Tennyson. The poem was based on King Arthur and the knights of the round table. Hunts interpretation of the poem was of moral warning. His painting is to describe the dangers of straying from duty and shows that the woman of Shalott is bound to her weave tapestries from mirror reflections. Out the window is Sir Lancelot. Once the mirror breaks, chaos and confusion take over and she is confined to her existence and her work now unravels.

Hunt is an artist of high moral purpose. The detailed amount of work only explains the portrait further. The real translation for the particular poem is young love in an imagination. Like I have stated before, the amount of time and all of the detail that went into this painting is absolutely phenomenal.

From the Huntington Gallery, I ventured further to the Morgan Great Hall. In this particular section of the museum there are many large wonderful paintings depicting the country's greatest battles of war with in itself. I chose the signing of the declaration because not only is it a great accomplishment that took place for our country, but one the signers, Lyman Hall, is the name of the high school I went to. We had a copy of the declaration hanging in our school, but I never took the time to read it. I believe that the Declaration of Independence is something we can all relate to.
The painting is by John Trumbull who is an American. The painting was created in 1832, which is quite some time after it was signed, which was 1776. He is well known for is eight paintings for the scenes of the American Revolution, which many are located in this particular hall. The original paintings can be found in Capital Building in DC. Trumbull went on to produce life like sizes in only four of the paintings and he was upset that he was not asked to complete the whole series, which Congress had asked for. It is stated on the plaques in the museum that Daniel Wadsworth purchased the five paintings and that they are displayed at the museum, but they don't seem life like. This could be my misinterpretation.

Continuing on with my high school 'themes', the next painting I came across was in the Faith and Fortune Gallery (I believe.) This is a painting of the Trojan Horse, our school mascot was the Trojans. The painter of this great masterpiece is Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, who is a Venetian Italian. The painting was produced in 1773 and is an oil on canvas painting. Anyone who has taken Greek mythology knows the story of the Trojan Horse, and what a great plan that was. The story taking place in this painting was first told by Homer in the Odyssey. In the quest to conquer the city of Troy, the Greeks decided to end the differences with their enemies with this nifty trick. The men built this large wooden horse and then hid inside of it, and offered the horse as a gift to Troy. Once the gift as accepted and drug into the city, at night the soldiers came out and pillaged the city. This particular scene is the construction of the Trojan horse. This original piece is the only one surviving in a collection of three. It is believed that the paintings must have been created for a great palace. The three piece collection tells the story of the falling of Troy.

The next piece of work does not relate to my high school, at least not that I am aware of, lol. This piece like the first one takes my breath away. The amount of work, and detail in this painting is unbelievable. It is a painting that shows an art gallery with paintings covering the walls. Of course it is a flat canvas, but the artist is truly able to to create depth in this painting with the view down the hallway. This portrait is painted by Giovanni Paolo Panini who is a Roman Italian and was painted in 1749. The title of this painting is the Interior of a Picture Gallery with the Collection of Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga and is an oil on canvas.
The cardinal, who was originally from Mantua, lived in Rome and had a large collection of paintings. He is shown in the painting (almost like a Where's Waldo, just kidding) with an artist. They are inspecting a large copy of Raphael's Madonna of the Chair. This gallery is fictitious and does not depict the real paintings that the cardinal owned. The group on the left examines plans for the cardinals villa, which was built the same year as this painting. Records indicate that the cardinal owned nearly eight hundred pictures. Many that he owned were copies of famous works, but the others were original. When the cardinal passed away, some of the paintings were sent to the Torlonia collection and then to the Galleria Nazionale in Rome. Others went to auctions and can be found in galleries all over the world.

(Up close picture of paintings in the painting.)

I really enjoyed my trip to the Wadsworth Antheneum. It is my second museum visit (posts are not in order) and I enjoyed this museum a lot more than the Yale Art Gallery. Mostly because I don't care for contemporary art. I really encourage everyone to visit this museum as soon as they can and definitely take advantage of the Martin Luther King exhibit, because it is something worth seeing and is not going to be there forever.