Art for All

The Detroit Institute of Arts

Everyone knows about the financial and societal woes of Detroit. The once grand and prospering city has been in decline for decades now and an emergency manager was appointed in March which gave fiscal control to the state instead of the city. Last week the news came out that all city interests are being examined as possible revenue streams, up to and including, the city owned Detroit Institute of Arts. Now in all probability, the city would not be able to sell off assets given in trust or as gifts to the institution and the idea has already sparked a backlash in the museum community who would take it as a direct assault on museums in general. Even the suggestion of looting the collection really drives home how desperate situation is. The DIA owns some spectacular pieces, a Brueghel any museum would love to own, a beautiful Caravaggio, the painting by Whistler that sparked (pun intended) the legendary Whistler vs. Ruskin case, a sublime Bingham, and of course the Rivera Court, just to name a few. Perhaps all this publicity will remind people the depth and beauty of the collection and how a visit, over the course of the summer, to see it  for themselves would do the DIA and the city good.

Detroit Free Press Article from May 26th

Quiet Remembrance

Mending Socks by Archibald Motley, 1924, The Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina.

Although considered part of the Harlem Renaissance movement, Motley never lived in Harlem. He was born in New Orleans and moved to Chicago where he studied art the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This painting from early in his career shows his grandmother Emily Motley (a former slave) quietly mending socks surrounded by mementos and references to her life.

No Excuse Not to Surround Yourself with Art

Metro by Lisa Ferneyhough via Thumbtack Press

Jen Bekman's 20 x 200 is not up and running right now(I hope that is only temporary) but in the meantime check out Thumbtack Press for original art prints at a reasonable price and there is always Etsy.

Discovered on Pinterest

Marguerite Kelsey by Meredith Frampton, 1928, Tate, London.

Meredith Frampton was the son of a sculptor who created very detailed and finely finished paintings of a very modern style for the early 20th century. Some of his work, even veers toward the surreal in style. Frampton used a model for this work and dressed her in the latest austere fashions from Paris, making the work all the more modern in tone.

Dream of Flowers

Violette Heymann by Odilon Redon, 1910, The Cleveland Museum of Art

Symbolism is a genre that often is over-looked for Surrealism or Impressionism. It has roots in literature, the author Baudelaire is credited with its formation and being influenced by Poe. Many of the 19th century artists whose work is having a renaissance recently: Klimt, Moreau, Munch, to name a few, are considered to be part of the Symbolist category. Odilon Redon, is best known  for his prints and pastels, and his work is full of symbolism and he is quoted as having said he wanted to "place the visible at the service of the invisible." This is a portrait, so much more straight forward than some of his other works, but the sitter seems to be surrounded by floating flowers, who make her seem dour in comparison.

Herculaneum - The Redheaded Step Child

Pompeii A.D. 79 by Alfred Elmore, 1878, Yale Center for British Art

An exhibition entitled The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection opened on February 24th and runs through July 7, 2013 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The exhibition features works inspired by the loss of the cities in 79 AD and their re-discovery in the early 18th century. It includes works by a wise range of artists from Piranesi and his detailed drawings of the site, to Rothko's abstract expressionist take on the murals from the Villa of the Mysteries.

Last Days of Pompeii Twitter

Western Art

The Transformer Station, 1460 W. 29th St, Cleveland

This weekend a new art venue opens on Cleveland's near west side. The Transformer Station is a project of the Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Foundation and a collaboration with The Cleveland Museum of Art that strives to being contemporary art to Cleveland's oft neglected west side. The opening exhibition is called Bridging Cleveland Photographs by Vaughn Wascovich also, Light of Day Photographs from the Collection of Fred and Laura Bidwell.