Something Beautiful

William H. Johnson: Retrospective

The AAM portion of the Smithsonian site has quite a nice exhibition on African-American artist William H. Johnson. 

All fifty-three works presented are listed, complete with thumbnails, in the checklist section. (9 pages)    

The exhibition's curator has identified six major themes.  Three of them are  --       

• Journeys (8 works)
  
• Scenes of City and Country Life (5 works)
• War Effort (4 works)
  

But I feel a strong preference for the remaining, perhaps more personal, three --        

• Family and Friends (6 works)
• Fighters for Freedom (6 works)
• Women Builders (1 work, 7 details) (personal favorite)

 

American Graphic Masters

Graphic Masters is the title of an online exhibition at the the American Art Museum site (part of the Smithsonian Institute).  Here are three works that especially appealed to me --

Excelsior Geyser, Yellowstone Park, 1873, by Thomas Moran (watercolor, pencil)

November First, 1950, by Andrew Wyeth (watercolor)

August Breakfast, Maine, 1997, by Carolyn Brady (watercolor) 

And here is another that I like very much --

Ezekiel Saw the Wheel, c. 1943, William H. Johnson (tempera, pen and ink, pencil)

and that I have selected especially because it somehow reminds me of that very special contemporary American artist, Girl from the North Country.   

Early American Quilts

The American Art Museum, a division of the Smithsonian Institute, has an online exhibition featuring Early American Quilts.

Of the eighteen or so examples provided, these are the two I personally liked best --

Appliquéd Quilt, 1818, by Ann Dagge

Friendship Quilt, 1843–45, by unknown maker.

Barnyard Gate

This lithograph makes me feel so peaceful. It has been a favorite ever since I first came across it almost ten years ago - Barnyard Gate, 1990, by Roger Medearis (lithograph and acrylic), .

Old American Photographs

I don't really understand what this Digital Library collection is all about. But I do know that I want to be able to find this page again, and so am placing a link here.

Walt Whitman

The National Portrait Gallery presents a beautiful online exhibition about poet Walt Whitman. A very nice mix of pictures and poems.

Small churches

On Sundays I try to post (when I do post) something at least a little church-y.   I was charmed by these four  small churches and expect you will be too.

It's probably not the smallest, but the Mekeel's Corners Chapel, near which I once lived, is small and appealing. 

And far be it from me to omit mention of these eight tiny houses of worship on the Aran Islands, Ireland. 

Clover Fields

Here is a charming work by an American painter -- Clover Fields, 1940, by Rockwell Kent.  It depicts the artist's farm in upstate New York.  (See the zoom version, of course.) 

Kindred Spirits

The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., currently has on exhibition the painting Kindred Spirits, 1849, by Asher B. Durand.   The work shows the painter Thomas Cole and the poet William Cullen Bryant enjoying the wilderness of the Catskill Mountains in New York State.   (The zoom feature will take you close to the two men and to the natural setting they are admiring.)

Seeing America

At the Memorial Gallery of Art site, first pointed out a couple of days ago, my favorite feature would have to be Seeing America, a selection of 73 works depicting various Americans and aspects of American life, all from the Museums's own collection.   The images are simply superb.  Strongly recommend you take a look! 

(As an example, here is a portrait that just knocks my socks off -- Old Woman with a Bible, ca. 1834, by Ammi Phillips.)