art spaces / roy lichtenstein's girl with ball

i saw this painting at the museum of modern art in new york this last weekend and remembered how much i love roy lichtenstein. i immediately started thinking about how i am going to use the work in one of my kids' rooms one day, or perhaps a playroom. lichtenstein was inspired by comics printed in newspapers, and created works almost directly from images he found. he was closely associated with the pop art movement. his paintings celebrate the banal and tiny images that readers often overlook, turning them in to a form of high art.

this kid's room was inspired by lichtenstein's painting girl with ball done in 1961.  

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fishbowl, bed,  rug, pillows, end table, bedding, lights, pouf

bringing the museum home / the phillip's collection

i have visited the phillip's collection quite a few times recently. it is definitely my favorite museum in d.c. and i don't think it could ever get old to me. i recently learned the story of how the collection got started. duncan phillips and his brother discovered the art world, and decided they wanted to start collecting. so, naturally, they asked their father for a stipend which he gladly gave to them, and they began one of the best collections of 19th and 20th century works in the states.

now, whenever i visit the museum i imagine what i would do if i had a stipend to buy artworks from the most famous artists. let's just say my house would be amazing. today i am putting together some of my favorite works from the phillips, and designing an art wall and vignette to go with them. i like that the works represent different style within a relatively short amount of time. there is chardin's realism, vs. braque's cubism. kandinsky's expressionism vs. beal's american impressionism.

i love including the museum frames with the works, because they really affect how you view the paintings. the more modern works are apparent just because of their more simplistic frames. also, courbet's painting of the sea in the middle may just be the most amazing oceanic work i have seen. just saying. 

1. a bowl of plums (1728), by jean-baptiste simeon chardin 2. the philodendron (1952) by georges braque 3. the garden at les lauves (1906), by paul cezanne 4. my summer studio (1900), by john henry twachtman 5. the mediterranean (1857), by gustave courbet 6. old time card rack (1900), by john peto 7. autumn II (1912), by wassily kandinksy 8. ponte della paglia (1922), by maurice prendergast 9. the promenade (1922), by gifford beal 10. chartreuse couch from one king's lane. 11. deep blue lamp from bungalow five 12. gold accent table from joss and main

take some time to look through the phillip's collections website, and explore more of their paintings. there is so much more to see and be inspired by! 

art you should know / j.m.w. turner's slave ship

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i still remember the day i fell in love with this painting. we were in art theory and methodology and a girl in my class was presenting her research on this work. at the time i was working on my research for the raft of the medusa, so images of the sea and slavery were near and dear to my heart. the girl told us the story behind the image: a slavedriver was transporting slaves, and decided to throw over the sick and dying during a storm to collect the insurance money. what once seemed like a beautiful yet banal work revealed itself as the magnificently macabre painting that it is. when you look a little bit closer, you can see broken shackles and random limbs dispersed throughout the water. the fiery sky seems to reinforce the tumultuous scene and the rough water is a backdrop embodying the abolitionist movement.

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when j.m.w. turner exhibited the work in 1840, he included a poem that he wrote:

"Aloft all hands, strike the top-masts and belay;

Yon angry setting sun and fierce-edged clouds

Declare the Typhon's coming.

Before it sweeps your decks, throw overboard

The dead and dying – ne'er heed their chains

Hope, Hope, fallacious Hope!

Where is thy market now? 

 

the poem further enhances the painting, lyrically describing the horrific event. i have yet to see this painting in person, but am so excited to visit it at the museum of fine arts in boston this december!

hangable art / warhol's rorschach prints

i first discovered andy warhol's massive rorschach prints at the lacma last summer. i was instantly smitten. for a while i had been loving the look of small rorschach prints in the home, but  the idea of massive overarching prints was so exciting to me. last week at the bma i saw one of these prints with a gold background- what could be more perfect?

warhol created 34 rorschach prints on a large scale in 1984. he modeled them after the famous psychiatric inkblot tests. to make the works, he painted on side of the canvas and then folded it to make the butterfly effect, much like how kindergartners create butterflies. the style and way he created the works mimic the abstract impressionists who believe in non-representation and removal of the artist. the works are massive, in the galleries they generally go from floor to ceiling, causing them to have a major presence.

could you imagine using a work like this in your home? where would you put it? 

museum visit / rodin in philadelphia

can i just say that this museum made me more happy than eating gelato in italy. maybe that is going a bit far, but it was amazing. the rodin museum in paris was my favorite museum that i visited and i never thought it would be possible to go to one in the states! the museum entrance and gardens are by far the best part, and seriously makes you feel like you are in paris. the interior has two large rooms filled with rodin's sculptures. jarman loved that it was a smaller museum, especially because we didn't have a ton of time in philadelphia. 

the thinker is one of the most well known sculptures throughout the world. the idea for this piece was concieved when rodin was working on the gates of hell (which you will meet below). it originally represented dante, but rodin changed the name to have a more encompassing reach. the man uses his whole body to think, look at his toes digging into the surface below him. i love rodin's use of texture in his works, they feel so raw. 

rodin was commissioned to work on the gates of hell early in his career, but never truly finished the piece. the theme was derived from dante's inferno, can you see the thinker/dante at the top? this sculpture was the gateway for many of his other sculptures that would be redone in more-than-life-size. how amazing is the dynamism and depth? have you ever seen such an intricate sculpture that comes so far out of its space and in to yours. i love the figures who seem to jump off of the door.

the kiss was another work that was taken from the gates of hell. rodin believed that the human form was the best expresser of emotion,  and boy does he sculpt the human form well. he sculpted many of his works multiple times, often using different mediums. i generally like his marble sculptures better, but he does have a way with working bronze.

eternal springtime is my favorite of his works. i have seen it in marble and like that form better. doesn't it just make you want to be in love?

a few more favorites. rodin is my favorite sculptor and i am so happy i got to visit this amazing museum. anyone who visits philadelphia must go to this museum!