Monday Memories—Our Week-end in Pennsylvania Pt. 1

We had a wonderful week-end of art through Art Escapes of the Columbus Museum of Art. We visited the Carnegie and Frick museums in Pittsburgh; had an Italian lunch at Lydia's; then stayed at the Nemocolin Woodlands Resort, which has a number of art collections, and we saw only a part of it; then on to Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob homes, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Carnegie and Frick museums in Pittsburgh

At the Carnegie Museum of Art we caught the last day of the 2013 Carnegie International—35 artists from 19 countries. None of us were too excited by Phyllida Barlow’s sculpture at the entrance which looked like scattered steel wrapped with pink and orange ribbons, but after the tour, it made more sense.

One of my favorites was the neon sign pieces by He An, or at least it was until I learned how he had made it—stole the signage from various fast growing cities in China.

While we were observing Erika Verzutti’s strange forms and objects assembled on the floor, we saw a delightful little girl about 7 or 8 with her notebook, trying to copy the imagines.

There was some interesting art made from confiscated guns by a Mexican artist and an abstract sequence of “film frames” by Sadie Benning. Cubes by Lara Favaretto made of confetti were fascinating, although the docent explanation wasn’t clear. There was a large exhibits of photos of lesbians of South Africa by Zanele Muholi. I didn’t find anyone who liked the soft sculpture by Sarah Lucas—sort of stuffed panty hose in very suggestive positions which was supposed to represent the oppression of women, I think. I spent the most time (up close) examining the photos by Taryn Simon of women of the James Bond movies. There are just too many to mention all of them. I’ve not been a fan of contemporary art, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Pezzuti collection we saw last month, which I enjoyed much more than the 2013 International.

“An American Odyssey” is showing at the Frick Museum from March 1 to May 25, 2014.  There are many other things to see there like the Frick home and a car collection. This is from the Warner Foundation, the private collection of Jack Warner, who believes American history can be told through its art.

“The Warner collection is one of the most important collections of American art formed in recent decades, and the breadth and variety of works represented are both artistically and historically illuminating. Portraiture, still life, landscape, and genre painting are all represented with major groups of works by Hudson River School artists and American Impressionists, as well as significant groups of work by individual artists like Winslow Homer (1836–1910) and Mary Cassatt (1844–1926).“  http://www.thefrickpittsburgh.org/eventlist/events/index.php?eID=7881

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110227/NEWS/110229628