Finally, an art post! I have been very lazy with composing art posts lately. Part vacation wind-down, part lack of inspiration, I have had more fun posting photographs from my summer travels. The inspiration for seeking out and enjoying art is always there. Visits to four art museums this summer, two if not three of which are world class museums, have been fantastic and given me much to think about and to explore further. But narrowing down what I want to focus on for posts has been difficult for me and I've avoided trying. It's not easy to separate out what interests me and what may be accessible and interesting for others. But just yesterday and practically up the road a ways, I visited one of my favorite museums The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. There is an exhibition titled Picasso Looks at Degas going on at The Clark through mid-September. It was packed with visitors; a testimony to the wide popularity of both Picasso and Degas. Perfect, I thought, for a post that reveals a little something of what the exhibition content held in store. If you are interested to learn more about the exhibition, please follow the links. Better yet, if you live in the area or are visiting, check out The Clark in Williamstown.The grounds are beautiful, with views of Mount Greylock and a tiny but very nice little downtown near Williams College, which boasts a fine little museum of its own.
By 1904, when Picasso settled in Paris, he had already responded to some of Degas's celebrated pictures—such as In a Café (L'Absinthe) and Woman Ironing—
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| Picasso: Portrait of Sebastià Junyer i Vidal, 1903 |
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| Degas: In a Café (L'Absinthe), 1876 |
A few more shots of my favorite works in the permanent collection at the Clark. You may recognize one or two of them, if you visit here frequently!
Degas (and a whole wall of impressionism)
Lautrec
Gaugin
Thank you to the hosts of My World for providing this opportunity to brag about my surroundings!
What a great sampling! Thank you for sharing it with us. You know, I had to read Emile Zola's L'Assommoir for a French class and the Degas In a Cafe was on the cover. I cannot tell you how many times I sat and stared at the image, wondering at the drab, almost sickening colors.
ReplyDeleteThe Berkshires are a beautiful place. I have a friend with a cabin there. You were so lucky to see art by Picasso and Degas! It doesn't even look crowded.
ReplyDeletewonderful! i wish i have access to masterpieces such as these within driving distance.:p
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