Ansel Adams At The Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco

Ansel Adams in Our Time: The Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco, CA presents a group of more than 100 pieces of his work.

“Laid out in seven sections tracing Adams’s artistic development, the exhibition features some of his most-loved photographs, including images of Yosemite, San Francisco, and the American Southwest.”

Ansel Adams in Our Time

Until July 23, 2023

Image : Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite ~ Ansel Adams, 1902 – 1984

 

MoAD Goes Digital: Art By The Incarcerated

“Museum of the African Diaspora is proud to present “Meet Us Quickly: Painting for Justice from Prison”, an exhibition of the work of twelve artists incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison…”

They have also provided notes about themselves and their work.

Meet Us Quickly: Painting for Justice from Prison

MoAD – The Museum of the African Diaspora

685 Mission Street San Francisco, CA

 (Image: Gentle Giants,  Antwan “Banks” Williams)

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Naudline Pierre ~ Dallas Museum of Art

 

“Naudline Pierre: What Could Be Has Not Yet Appeared”

“The DMA presents the first solo museum exhibition of works by Naudline Pierre, whose vividly hued paintings portray opaque, otherworldly narratives through depictions of supernatural beings entangled in complex scenes of struggle and intimacy.”

Dallas Museum of Art / DMA

1717 North Harwood
Dallas, Texas

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Vision & Sound: An African American Experience

Until March 31, 2023: The City of Goodyear Library and Sedona Arts Center Gallery presents, Vision & Sound: An African American Experience.

The exhibit highlights the work of eight prolific artists that represent various mediums and genres of art.

 

Michael Cunningham, Founder

Norma Cunningham,  Founder

*Vision and Sound: An African American Experience* founded in 2015

cunninghamart@ cox.net  ~   Phone 623-680-0538

www.visionandsound.org

https://www.goodyearaz.gov/government/departments/parks-recreation/library-fine-art-shows

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Edward Hopper, 1882- 1967, at the Whitney

The exhibition, “Edward Hopper’s New York takes a comprehensive look at Hopper’s life and work, from his early impressions of New York in sketches, prints, and illustrations, to his late paintings, in which the city served as a backdrop for his evocative distillations of urban experience.”

Edward Hopper’s New York

Until Mar 5, 2023

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street, New York, NY

* Image: Edward Hopper, “New York Movie”, 1939

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Caravaggio -“Thug”?

Caravaggio -“Thug”?

(Originally posted 3/5/12)

A PBS program that I enjoyed is now on DVD –  “Simon Schama’s – Power of Art”. Relaxed and informative, it even includes some personal tidbits about one of my favorite artists. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was gloriously talented, but he was also a youthful offender – violent and incorrigible. Not a cute “Denis the Menace” type, (he murdered a rival) but, as Schama labels him – a thug. I was shocked! Does his anger and madness show in his art?  Maybe.

Considered part of the early Italian Baroque style of painting, his work, perhaps as a way of seeking redemption, focused on biblical themes – but, if you look at the faces, you will notice that these are no cherubs or saints, his paintings are inhabited by the people that he found in the local taverns with all their blemishes and wrinkles. I’ve found his work to be vibrant and alive regardless of its theme – whether card players or John the Baptist – full of energy, often full of violence, always very up close and in your face. 

Schama narrates the hour and takes a gossipy, anecdotal look at the short life of Michelangelo Caravaggio, (1571 – 1610), and includes some re enactments to give background as to why/how certain paintings were created – like “Calling of Saint Matthew” and  his “David with the Head of Goliath”.

BTW – Caravaggio was like Alfred Hitchcock, who always had a walk on or walkthrough in his movies and TV shows – the artist liked to paint himself in the middle of his scenes – with a table of card sharks, with a group of musicians and most notably, he serves himself up as the “Head of Goliath”. 

The PBS series included the same 8 artists that are highlighted in Mr. Schama’s book of the same name, “Power of Art”: Caravaggio, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, Rothko and Bernini.

(Image:   David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1609. Oil on panel)

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