Subtitle: Vicarious Living Through Aunt Tina, Daytona and MOAS, part 3
Today, I visited part of the grounds that I had not yet.
Wait, let me start over.
Once upon a time, I'd gone over to the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art at the Museum of Arts and Sciences, but, for whatever reason, it was closed.
That was the one and only time I'd driven to its location.
(MOAS also has another building down in Port Orange, but that will await another trip.)
Finally, today was deemed 'the day', as I'd fully enjoyed all the new exhibits and the Planetarium - and even the garden and walking trail - at the main structure.
This is part of the 12-panel painting in the lobby.
The plaques mounted on the rail in front of several panels listed the various native species of flora and fauna in the depicted scenes.
I could clearly see that the artist had taken care to include as many of each as possible, to let the viewer know what a special place Florida is... and that it is the place the artist calls 'home'.
Lots of marsh, lots of water, lots of palm trees.
(smile!)
But what really drew me in was the summertime shower, there to the left of that oasis of trees.
I cannot tell you how many times one of those spot showers would catch me unaware while I was at school in Tallahassee!
Sure, it would only last five minutes, but those were solid buckets of water raining down that entire time!
The artist captured that crazy bit of weather very well!
So did these other artists, all part of an exhibit that featured various phenomena peculiar to this US peninsula, as well as other East Coast states.
I think these paintings do a better job with depicting hurricanes than photographs, or even videos, do.
I'm sure it has to do with the energy caught in the bristles of the paint brush and left behind as a textured eye-catcher.
A rain-washed street in St. Augustine was the first to encourage me to compare and contrast.
The small upper painting and the large painting are of the same scene, by the same artist, but each showing a different perspective, even adding more people and splashes of red from one impression to the other.
Nice of the museum to include both!
In another room of that gallery was "The Seminole And The Everglades" exhibit, which included these gems to spark a conversation in my mind.
Again, the same artist is responsible for both, with the same swamp scene as the focal point.
Here's the difference: the work on the left is an engraving, made for publication in a magazine, whereas the work on the right is an oil painting made in his studio and based on his engraving.
Obviously, it's based on his memory, too, as it shows a sunlit scene and rich color.
Very nice illustration of how the remembered image in the mind can differ from reality!
What about a comparison of a similar scene as seen through the eyes of different artists?
I'm so glad you asked!
The upper was done by 32-year-old William Drown, while the lower was painted by 49-year-old Frank Shapleigh, with both showing an old kitchen in St. Augustine.
It should be noted that the paintings were done fairly close in time to each other.
I think it's notable that the younger man's scene is brighter and better lit, giving almost a sense of hopefulness or romanticism to the room.
On the other hand, the painting by the older man is darker, with a more dilapidated air to what was once the heart of the house.
I wonder what may have been going on in their lives when they did these?
Those two were part of the permanent collection, always on view in the upper gallery.
I wanted to concentrate on the new, temporary exhibits on this trip.
On to "The Latest News From Florida - Wood Engravings From 19th Century Periodicals"!
The docent, Anne, was very informative - I'm so glad I happened to be there on a Tuesday, as that's the only day she is present!
Many of the works here dealt with wars and skirmishes during the 1800's, but this scene captured my imagination.
Was this military base being threatened by a hurricane and just how close was it to water?
Those questions would remain unanswered.
Well, who was the artist that had made this drawing of Fort Pickens?
That question would only have the vague response of "Mrs. Lt. Gilman"... seriously.
At least Harper's Weekly gave her that much credit, which was remarkable for the time (1861).
While this was the only piece marked with her name, there were other drawings of Fort Pickens that were too similar in penstroke to not have been done by her hand.
Those had been ascribed simply as having been done by someone stationed there.
Very interesting!
On I went to the next little room, this one with the playful title "Gone Fishin' " for its exhibit.
And there it was, taking up much of one wall: a foursome featuring a famous author and his buddy out for a fishing trip.
This photo is of the last one of trio of watercolors in "Hemingway Among The Sharks", along with text recounting the conversation between him and the artist, Waldo Peirce.
(If you get a chance to see this, take the time to ready the spidery handwriting - it's a hoot!)
Above the three watercolors done on paper was a much larger piece which was an oil painting on canvas.
This was done for the same gory scene as shown in that last watercolor, but made more vivid and with a real sense of the frantic actions involved in killing the shark.
There's absolutely no doubt that the brush strokes shown in the oil medium made this fishing expedition every bit something that a he-man like Hemingway - and his good buddy, Waldo - would engage in.
At the time of the paintings in 1928, the author was only 29 years old; the painter was 48, making him the "old man" in the fight with the denizens of the sea.
I'll let that allusion to
a literary work just percolate there on the back burner...
get it?
(
smile!)
As a last showing from this particular exhibit, how about a more humorous turn?
This net full of mermaids would have been deemed a perfect catch by my middle brother!
Thinking of how much he would have enjoyed it made me smile - and that was very good.
I'm fairly certain this is one of Ralph Cahoon's pieces, especially as it is such a whimsical scene.
I made note of another of his works, "Palm Beach Bridge Club", with very similar mermaids playing cards, for the physicist, so I'm sure I'm right.
(smile!)
Now, to shuffle back to the suite at DBR and start emptying the fridge for one last dinner here within view of the the Atlantic.
Later, my dears!
(smile!)
