Variations on America: Masterworks From American Art Forum Collections

posted at 2007/07/02 23:17

Last Saturday, I made an unexpected trip to American Art Museum and ran into a very interesting exhibition: Variations on America: Masterworks From American Art Forum Collections. Until last Saturday, I had not realized that American Art Museum shares the same building with the National Portrait Gallery. Because they share the space, it is quite tricky to tell from where to where is one or the other. Although some well-painted portraits are breathtaking, they are not my favorite. So whenever I go to this building of the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum, I tend to stay around in the latter.

I may be prejudiced, but when I hear "America," I do not think of "Art." There are famous American artists such as Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Georgia O'Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassat, Edward Hopper, etc. Of these, especially, Mary Cassat and Edward Hopper are ones of the painters I love very much. Still, America reminds me of "technology" or "convenience." Don't get me wrong. I am not trying to say that American art is inferior. It is just that American art does not really stand out in the western art history. Well, maybe it is too harsh to even talk about American art that way, considering the short history of the U.S.

For neither do I know much about American art nor I am familiar with American artists, except for a few modern and post-modern artists, it was a pleasant surprise to come across this special exhibit at American Art Museum. As if I was introduced to new friends, I sauntered around in the gallery, discovering unfamiliar paintings and painters.

Unfortunately, I was not able to see all of the paintings exhibited due to the short of time and so am planning to go back and see the rest before this special exhibit is over. Although I was in a hurry, I was able to jot down the basic information of paintings I liked a lot, such as the title of paintings and the name of the artists. So here I would like to introduce you to these artworks. Hope you like them as I do. :)

Before you look at these paintings, I must warn you that original pieces are twenty times better than these web image files. Some of these web files completely lost the virtue of the original paintings. But these are the ones in the highest resolution available online that I could track down. So you must use your imagination to appreciate these paintings as nearest to the original image. Click on images for larger views.

John Singer Sargent, Francois Flameng and Paul Helleu

Mary Cassat, Portrait of a Lady (Reading Le Figaro)

venetian-bead-stringers-by-robert-frederick-blum.jpg (600×433)
Robert Blum, Venetian Bead Stringers