What Do You Think? Another Satyr and Satyress

Attributed to Desiderió da Firenze
(Florentine, documented in Padua 1532-45),
Satyr and Satyress, After 1523 (?),
Bronze, H. 10 5/8 in. (27 cm),
Musée National de la Renaissance, Château d’Écoven

Test your visual skills and compare.

Hopefully, you have seen the exceptional exhibit Andrea Riccio: Renaissance Master of Bronze at The Frick Collection and read about Riccio’s Satyr and Satyress, c. 1510-20, Bronze, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in my November 19 post. Now view the Satyr and Satyress bronze statuette, attributed to Desiderió da Firenze (Florentine, documented in Padua 1532-45), a follower of Riccio, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s special exhibit, Art and Love in Renaissance Italy. This Satyr and Satyress is dated after 1524 (?) and comes from the Musée National de la Renaissance, Château d'Écouen. Actually, the work had been attributed to Riccio when it was taken out of a “reserve” collection in the late 19th century. It is relatively recently ascribed to Desiderió. What do you think?

My thoughts are as follows:
It seems to me the Desiderió piece is more crudely modeled than the work of Riccio I saw at the Frick Collection. It lacks Riccio’s refinement and attention to the crispness of details. Take for instance the hair on the creatures’s lower limbs. On the Satyr and Satyress on view at the Frick Collection, the hair appears lifelike, natural. This is true for the depiction of the Satyress’s hair that falls on her neck. At the Metropolitan Museum, the leg hair of the Satyr and Satyress is more decorative and the hair of the Satyress falling on her neck seems thick, unnatural. There is not much of a feel for the differentiation of texture of her head hair and leg hair. This difference is strongly sensed in the work on view at The Frick. There also seems to be something lacking in the modeling of the chests and backs of the figures at the Metropolitan Museum. The breasts of the Satyress seem to grow out of her armpit, again a bit inexpertly executed compared to the fullness and placement of the breasts on the Satyress at the Frick. Furthermore, the couple at the Metropolitan Museum is explicitly copulating. Judging from Riccio’s narratives and figures at the Frick, I imagine him to be more subtle in his depicture of sexuality and eroticism. As far as I am able to judge, I accept the specialist’s view that the work at the Metropolitan is by a follower of Riccio.

Speaking of “followers" or "in the manner of" or "workshop of”, I suggest you stop at the Metropolitan Museum’s Italian Renaissance Bronze Gallery on the Ground Floor, off the Vélez Blanco Patio. In this marvelous gallery, there is a glass case filled with small bronzes some attributed to Riccio’s workshop or in the manner of the artist. There are also bronzes ascribed to the master himself. Have fun looking.

Andrea Riccio at The Frick Collection

The Shouting Horseman,c. 1510-15,
Bronze, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Italian Renaissance bronzes - how can that be of interest to me? Take a chance for some visual joy and intellectual stimulation. Go see the masterly bronzes by the Paduan sculptor Andrea Briosco, (1470-1532), called Riccio for his curly hair, that are on view at The Frick Collection now through January 18, 2009. Riccio created intricate and intimate sculptures, many of which were made for a scholar’s study. His work includes figures, functional and non-functional objects, religious and mythological scenes. The detailed iconography and programs of his elaborate pieces suggests Riccio probably had the advice of Padua’s learned scholars. Padua, as now, was a university town brimming with intellectual activity. is work expresses complex ideas in three-dimensional form. You can easily imagine how his sculptures engendered discussions about philosophical ideas and antiquity.

A little background: Riccio was the son of a goldsmith who gave him his early training. It has been postulated Riccio pursued sculpting in wax and clay instead of following his father’s vocation because of some medical ailment. He studied with the sculptor Bartolomeo Bellano who had assisted Donatello. Donatello had had a studio in Padua and among his major projects created the life-size bronze equestrian statue of the condottiere called “Gattamelata” appearing as a Roman hero in front of the Church of Sant’Antonio as well as large narrative reliefs in bronze on the high altar of the church.

Donatello, The Gattamelata Monument, Bronze,
c.1443-53 (in place), Piazza del Santo, Padua

Riccio was also influenced by the work of Mantegna whose classically detailed frescoes, on the walls of the Ovetari Chapel in the Church of the Eremitani, must surely have impressed him.

Andrea Mantegna, St. James Led to his Execution,
1454-57, Fresco, Formerly Ovetari Chapel,
Eremitani Church, Padua

What we see at the Frick Collection is a large sampling of Riccio’s oeuvre set out in an atmosphere that induces study – like a scholar’s study. The pieces are placed in well-lit glass showcases, many of which allow for viewing on all sides. There are excellent juxtapositions – similar works are exhibited next to one another. There is an orderly pace to the exhibit - just enough work to engage but not too much to become visually exhausted. The exhibit is set in two large rooms separated by an introductory foyer. The foyer contains a bronze relief panel, The Triumph of Humanist Virtue, c. 1516-21, Musée du Louvre, Paris and a life-size painted terracotta of the Virgin and Child, c.1520-21, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, which serve to initiate the viewer into the characteristics of Riccio’s work such as engaging narratives, creative approaches to complex ideas, and the classicizing of Christian imagery. In the relief, fame of intellectual achievement insures the scholar’s triumph over death. The Virgin in the Virgin and Child has become a Roman goddess holding an antique robed child.

Virgin and Child, c. 1520-25,
Terracotta with traces of polychromy,
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

The Shouting Horseman, c. 1510-15, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, next to Orpheus, after 1510, Musée du Louvre, Paris, greets you as you enter the first large gallery. This gives the viewer ample opportunity to examen Riccio’s rigorous modeling and detail work. The classical costumes, richly decorated and the rippling muscles of the chest and back attest to Riccio’s talent. The horse is poised miraculously on three slender legs while his rider shouts fearsomely. We can think of Donatello’s famous bronze horse who does not dare raise a leg off the ground (one hoof rests on a bronze ball) or small Roman bronzes of Alexander the Great on his rearing mount.

Oil Lamp, c.1516-24, Bronze
The Frick Collection, New York

One glass case contains the remarkable lamp from the Frick Collection with others from London, Oxford, and Paris. Three of these are attributed to Riccio and one in the manner of the artist. The fabulously decorated bodies of the Frick’s, Oxford’s and London’s lamps, all attributed to Riccio, balance on elegant sinuous footings. Placed near these lamps and celebrating writing is an intricate bronze vessel from Florence reunited for the first time with its cover from London. There are many gems in this room to ponder. I may just point out, that some of Riccio’s early figures, let’s say before 1516, tend to have rather disproportiately large hands and rubbery arms. When you look close at some of these figures, compare the arms, wrists and hands to the well-developed and well-modeled chests and backs.

Drinking Satyr, c. 1515-20, Bronze
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

In the second large gallery room, the home of the previously discussed Satyr and Satyress, are statuettes and narrative reliefs. The ithyphallic figure identified as a Satyr (Pan)?, c.1520, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is near a showcase of three Drinking Satyrs ,united for the first time, from Paris, Padua and Vienna. There is much to compare in another vitrine housing four similarly posed seated males, a Pan, a Faun, and two Shepherds from four different collections. Another case holds a Warrior, c.1513-20, Private Collection, United Kingdom and a Strigil Bearer, c.1515-10, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. J. Tomilson Hill, that are in the identical posture but whose modeling and surfaces are finished quite differently.

Entombment, c. modeled after 1516, Bronze,
Daniel Katz, Ltd., London

You will also see an Entombment, modeled after 1516,Daniel Katz, Ltd., London near the large relief of the Entombment, c.1516-20’s, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and the beautifully rendered Saint Martin and the Beggar, 1513-20, Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’d’Oro, Venice.

St. Martin and the Beggar, 1513-1520, Bronze,
Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca' d'Oro, Venice

When you think of who was working and producing sculpture in Italy at the time of Riccio or earlier, his work may diminish. There was Andrea del Verrocchio, Desiderio da Settignano, Antonio Rossellini, and the great Michelangelo just to name a few. Yet, Riccio brought much talent and creatively and his legacy is presently on view for you to enjoy.

Note: The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., has a significant collection of Renaissance bronzes including a large group of Riccio plaquettes most of which from the Samuel H. Kress Collection.

Altar with Female Bust, Bronze,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

There is also a sample of Riccio’s teacher Bartolomeo Bellano.

Bartolomeo Bellano, Dead Crist with Two Angels,
Gilt Bronze, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

On your next visit to Washington, D.C., treat yourself to some time in the National Gallery of Art West Building, Ground Floor.

Andrea Riccio's Satyr and Satyress

Satyr and Satyress, c. 1510-20, Bronze,
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

They are mythological figures, followers of the Greek god Dionysos, known for their reveling and wantonness. Yet here, they look longingly at each other, more love than passion. Their lips are puckered for a kiss; their cheeks puffed up. Her right thigh, slung over his left, exposes her labia majora swollen with excitement, the deep cleavage of her sex, and perfectly coiffed pubes. She is a big breasted, large-handed female with an elaborate hair style and head piece. He and she have pointy ears, goat-like hairy lower limbs and hooves that befit a satyr and satyress. His large right hand, about to caress her face, approaches her chin. Such a chin-chuck gesture along with the slung-leg motif was identified by the distinguished art historian Leo Steinberg as deriving from antiquity: the former expressing affection, sacred or profane while the latter communicating erotic love. Meanings of which would have been obvious to the learned scholars of Padua. It’s love not just sex! The artist, Andrea Riccio, modeled the figures in wax, the facial expressions are formed as if he squeezed the figure’s cheeks between his index finger and thumb, details are delineated with sharp, pointed instruments and the metal enlivened with hammer strokes. As this work was most probably meant for a shelf in a scholar’s studio, with the figure’s legs dangling off the ledge, the explicit sexuality could not be denied. Here it is for contemplation – eroticism in the intellectual sphere. Eros is in power. See them in the exhibition Andrea Riccio: Renaissance Master of Bronze at The Frick Collection. More on this exhibit to come.

Bronze Master at The Frick Collection

Satyr and Satyress, c. 1510-20, Bronze, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Don't miss one of the funniest and masterly bronzes ever created. And don't miss some 30 other sculptures by the Renaissance artist, Andrea Riccio (1470-1532) now in New York at The Frick Collection.

Watch for my next blog to learn about the Satyr and Satyress including the erotic symbolism of the slung leg motif and chin-chuck. Also, learn how best to view the bronzes and deepen your understanding of active looking. More is coming soon.

Morandi in New York - II

The Bridge Over the Savena in Bologna,1912, Etching, Estorick Collection, London

Shell, 1921, Etching, Estorick Collection, London

I suggest you begin your Morandi New York voyage at the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò New York University. Here you can see in a small, quiet setting some twenty-three extraordinary prints. Although the lighting is low, due to conservation concerns, the prints are hung at eye level on plain walls and no large isolating vitrines to intervene between you and the image. Get out your magnifying glasses if you want and indulge in Morandi’s rich cross hatching, variety of tones, dark lines that appear to quiver in their formation. Visualize the etching process and the hard work Morandi put into his print making. Imagine the depth of the grooves cut into the metal plate, the ink that filled them and how the damp paper was pressed into the grooves by the print press’s cylindrical rollers, the damp paper picking up the ink – the deeper the groove the more ink accumulated, the darker the line. Four of the etchings are from an Italian private collection, the rest are from the Estorick Collection, a permanent collection in London devoted to modern Italian art. Morandi taught himself printmaking and became a professor of etching in 1930 at the Bologna Academy of Fine Arts. It is reported he wanted to teach etching technique like Rembrandt, considered the greatest print maker of all times. At the Casa Italiana is exhibited an artist proof of his first print, The Bridge Over the Savena in Bologna, 1912. At this early date Morandi has mastery of the medium – note the subtle tones in the sky. Three other impressions of this print can be seen respectively at Pace Master Prints, Lucas Schoormans Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In fact, you will be able to recognize different impressions of the same image at different Morandi New York shows. Look at the etchining Still life with Coffee Pot, 1933, Private Collection, exhibited at the Casa Italiana and compare to the impression at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Morandi retrospective that belongs to New York's Museum of Modern Art. It would be illuminating to see the impressions side by side and note any changes in press pressure or inking that Morandi may have made or changes due to worn out areas of the plate. The later is less likely since Morandi prints are usually in small editions (even if he pulled or printed the full run – the full intended amount of impressions). At the Casa Italiana, approximately half the prints are landscapes and half still lifes. As far as influences, Rembrandt strongly comes through in the wonderful etching Shell, 1921, Estorick Collection, London. The etching of the beautifully formed shell emerging from the dark background like a body, reminded me of the nude back of in Rembrandt’s 1658 print, the Reclining Woman. Of course, Morandi may have known Rembrandt’s gorgeous Shell print of 1650. Or, Morandi may have been familiar with the shells of the prolific printmaker, Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) who, possibly predating Rembrandt’s Shell print, published probably in the 1640's, a set of 38 shells . In fact, the markings of Morandi’s shell look more like one in Hollar’s set. Be that as it may, influences can be interesting and may lead to introductions to some wonderful artists and their work.

Still Life, 1960, Watercolor on paper, Private Collection











Still Live, 1944, Pencil on paper, Estorick Collection, London

Now on to the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. Here, on the second floor you will find two walls of the outer area devoted to Morandi’s drawings and adjoining this space, a separate room with drawings mixed with a few watercolors. One watercolor here is a 1960 Still Life from a Private Collection borders on pure abstraction. Forms appear and disappear like apparitions. They float as if in another world like Mark Rothko’s rectangles and some Chinese paintings. They convey through color and tone, diverse moods and feelings. The watercolors are all from private collections and half of the drawings are from the Estorick Collection in London. The 1944 Still Life pencil drawing, Estorick Collection, London, outlines the vessels and design of Morandi’s famous etching Natura morta di vasi su un tavola,1931, impressions of which you will see at Pace Master Prints and Lucas Schoormans Gallery – it is also the same vases seen in the 1931 etching Natura morta a grandi segni, impressions of which you will also see in the same gallery exhibits as well the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The beautiful pencil drawing here was done some ten plus years after the prints. Perhaps, Morandi had an impression of the print and traced it. Whatever, it is a wonderful study of relationships and an example of Morandi’s ability to animate the inanimate and to rethink old themes and compositions and come up with something new. Try to keep this drawing in mind when you see the etchings. The somewhat dim light in the high ceiling rooms of the Italian Cultural Institute made viewing a bit difficult. One always wishes for more light with Moandi. Since over half the exhibited works are from private collections, there is a bit of a hodgepodge of frames that detract from the works. It makes you appreciate viewing a Morandi in the simplest frame possible. Gold leaf only distracts from these works. However, the quiet of the Italian Cultural Institute is much appreciated and very conducive to spending time with Morandi's achievements.

Natural morta con il panneggio a sinistra, 1927, Etching, Private Collection
Natura morta di vasi su un tavolo, 1931, Etching, Private Collection

The next stop on your tour should be the Pace Master Prints where some twenty plus well-lit images are hung against terra cotta painted walls invoking the bricks of Bologna. You will find here an impression of the early Rembrandt-like still life of a piece of bread with a lemon (Natura morta con pane e limone) of 1921 among some beautiful landscape and still lifes. I assume owing to the nature of private collections from which almost all these etchings come from, there is again a variety of frames – the simple black frames, I think, are best. This exhibit is easily viewed and classy. You can never expect less from a Pace show.

Landscape (Paesaggio), 1962, Oil on canvas, Museo Morandi, Bologna

You are well prepared to move on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s major Morandi exhibit which is the first Morandi retrospective in this county and brings together over 110 works that include paintings, watercolors and etchings. You are able to track the artist’s development and influences and see how he worked out problems in different mediums and how the solutions in one medium relate to the solutions in another. There are also delightful juxtapositions such as the two similar paintings of the house in the hills of Grizzano one of 1927 and one of 1928; one of the late afternoon or evening sun and one of the late mornoing sun. The exhibit is one of the finest surveys I have ever seen. There are amazing works here and even though there is much to see, you never feel visually tired. My only peeve with the show is the close quarters of the Lehman Pavilion ground floor corridors, now with walls of blue-gray and beige fabric or blue-gray paint, where the retrospective takes place. I would have liked to have more space so the paintings and works on paper have room to breathe and resonate. Morandi’s painting size may be small, but they are big paintings. Also, the 11 matted and framed etchings in the show are placed in two large glass cases flanking the exit opening to the cafeteria that make close viewing impossible. Two of the etchings, including an impression of Still Life with Coffee Pot of 1933 as mentioned earlier, are from New York’s Museum of Modern Art (whose plain dark frames and white matts show off the prints well) and one curious small, horizontal Dutch-like landscape, Paesaggio, 1923, framed like an old master work, came to the museum as a bequest of William S. Lieberman, who was the Museum’s Chairman of 20th Century Art and had been the first curator of the Department of Prints at the Museum of Modern Art. I can see why Lieberman was attracted to this little masterpiece. I also loved to see the blown up photographs of Morandi and his studio. His unframed paintings on the walls as well as, what appears to be, framed prints – possibly for further study. Two or more hours can easily pass swiftly viewing all that is here. It is a feast for the eyes. You will leave full but not heavy. And, you will feel enriched.

Lucas Schoormans Gallery

To see how Morandi is best seen, go to the Lucas Schoormans Gallery. In this light-filled space, on two floors, you will see Morandi given the area he deserves and the works will take on a depth and richness not apparent when the works are hung closer together. The paintings are more intimate in their relationship to you and to the other works in the room. It was the Lucas Schoormanns Gallery that gave New York the miraculous Giorgio Morandi Late Painting exhibit in 2004. It will be remembered forever in those that saw it. Today we can see in the main gallery area incredible paintings, two of which have never been on public view. In the next room is a watercolor that appears to dissolve and form before our eyes and on view in the upstairs space are etchings and drawings. You will recognize some friends in the etchings but, although you have seen impressions of the same composition before, you can truly see the work here due to the lighting, matting, framing and placement on the walls. This is a beautiful exhibit to be cherished.

Natura Morta, 1962, Oil on canvas, Sperone Westwater Gallery

Last, almost as special petit fours given after a five course exceptional meal, visit the Sperone Westwater Gallery where there is a group show, spread out over several rooms, entitled “Sculpting Time”. Here are five Morandi oils from the forties and fifties. The last holds four of his paintings and is a fitting end to a Morandi viewing in New York. Have fun.

Giorgio Morandi in New York - I

Giorgio Morandi, Still Life, 1956, oil on canvas, 

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

Giorgio Morandi, Still Life with five Objects, 1956, etching on copper,

Estorick Collection, London

Edward Hopper, Lighthouse at Two Lights, 1929, oil on canvas,

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

A couple of weeks ago, 0penhousenewyork took place. For those of you who don’t know, this is an annual event during which significant architectural, engineering and landscape landmarks and spaces, many normally with restricted access, are open to the public. I take advantage of this opportunity and this year, visited Edward Hopper’s studio, now part of New York University on Washington Square North. This may sound like a strange way to lead into a piece on Giorgio Morandi but hang in there. In Hopper’s studio, a bright sun poured through the south facing windows almost blinding me as I viewed the space enclosing such original items as the artist’s easel, model stand and printing press. The old, heavy metal press was particularly interesting for I thought about Hopper pulling his prints, looking at the results and reworking and experimenting accordingly. This had to be hard work. Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was 8 years older than Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964). Both artists excelled in etching as well as painting and watercolor. I can imagine both men delighting in a plate well-inked. Both artists pursued an individualistic way of seeing and were steadfast in their ways – we can recognize a Hopper and Morandi quite easily. Both artists found their own solutions to the effect of light on forms. Both artists are much valued in their native countries and both affected their own country’s great film makers: Hopper on Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho) and Morandi on Frederico Fellini (La Dolce Vita). While Hopper’s work can be characterized by remoteness, melancholia, isolation, alienation, Morandi’s work is filled with relationships, emotions, warmth and tenderness. Both artists worked outside main stream movements, doing their “own thing”, producing, one might say, quiet poems. In America, Hopper is familiar territory and now in New York, Morandi comes into his own.

With an amazing retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as five other concurrent exhibits in Manhattan, we are given the occasion to become intimately acquainted with this remarkable artist. Moreover, we can submerge ourselves in his works on paper and get real close to his sublime etchings. Although not well-known in America, among artists here Morandi is acknowledged as a painter’s painter. He is a painter of subtleties, of relationships, of colors, tones, shades and forms, his paintings seem to materialize before I eyes. Once Morandi having absorbed his early influences such as Giotto, Massacio, Piero della Francesca, Cezanne and the metaphysical works of his Italian contemporaries, he worked outside the main stream movements, doing “his own thing”. He was steadfast in his concentration and dedication to the problems he set up and his solutions. How does light define form? How do we perceive shadows, tones, relationships? How can we ever really depict reality when it is always changing?

Soon to appear on this blog: What not to miss at the Morandi shows and in what order to view them.

Giorgio Morandi Venues

NEW YORK IS GIORGIO MORANDI COUNTRY:

 The Metropolitan Museum of Art 

Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò New York University

Italian Cultural Institute of New York

Pace Master Prints

Lucas Schoormans Gallery

Sperone Westwater

Damien Hirst & Nick Miller

The Physical Presence of the Object

The Physical Presence of the Paint

Damien Hirst

The Kingdom, 2008

The Golden Calf, 2008

The Golden Calf, 2008, with base

Before I send you, my readers, off to the New York Studio School to see the work of the artist Nick Miller and tell you why you should go, some words about the Damien Hirst’s two-day, 220 plus work auction at London’s Sotheby’s. I saw the show. Damien took over the whole of the New Bond Street Sotheby’s which necessitated strategically placed guards to steer viewers through the labyrinth of rooms. Heaven forbid you miss anything. All was not without merit. I was particularly taken with “The Kingdom”, a single elegant tiger shark in a glass and steel tank of formaldehyde as well as the “The Golden Calf” with its religious overtones. This, a huge twenty-ton work, was missing its marble base which was deemed to heavy even for the reinforced floor of Sotheby’s. I also saw beauty in several colorful relatively small spin and skull paintings invoking Tantric prayer hangings, sort of contemporary mandalas. The sale marks a seismic shift in the commerce of art. Now, artists are free to flaunt and sell their latest work themselves through the auction houses. They may skip the conventional gallery venues and cut out dealers who traditionally nurture not only the artists but also their collectors. I was reminded of the 1973 New York Robert C. and Ethel Scull auction at the then Park Avenue Sotheby Parke Bernet when some 50 Scull owned contemporary American sculptures and paintings sold amid heavy marketing and press. So extraordinary was the sale considered with its attendant hoopla, a documentary film was made of the event. If it is any consolation for those of you who are not Damien Hirst fans, The Wall Street Journal reported that half the lots sold below their estimate and the estimates reflected about a 30% discount from retail prices. Poor Damien.

Nick Miller

Now dear reader, off to the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture to see a small show of eight really good paintings and two excellent paper works of rich Chinese and Indian ink. Nick Miller’s “Trunkscapes” are landscape works created from the artist’s mobile truck studio. Through the truck’s rear door, Miller views and captures the Irish countryside of the comely County Sligo. His influences include the intense emotional artists of the School of London, Cezanne, John Constable, the Impressionists, Giacometti and possibly the abstracted, densely built up landscape canvases of Anselm Kiefer. Miller looks hard. His paintings and drawings are about perception, about the control of vision, about the visual grasp of a fluctuating reality, about capturing the subject’s authenticity. His work is a visual and tactile experience. You may get lost in the build up of pigments or ink lines as reality recedes from your mind and then you are pulled back into the view when a tree suddenly appears through a thicket of black and white. Or, while concentrating on layers of paint and colors you are reminded of the countryside by the infringement of a telephone wire stretched across the picture plane. Don’t forget to spend time with Miller’s beautiful overcast skies. See the depth and variety in the skies of the painting “From Cogan’s shed” and the Chinese and Indian ink work “To Kilronan”. Enjoy all the greens in the painting “Ben Bulben craggs” and the dense layering of paint and the struggling paint strokes seeking to picture the real.

From Coogan's shed, 2004

To Kilronan, 2005

Ben Bulben crags, 2008

The more you look, the more you are rewarded with things to see. This visually fulfilling show will leave you satiated and feeling your time was well spent.

Nick Miller Truckscapes
Paintings From A Mobile Studio
New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture
8 West 8th Street, New York, New York,
Daily 10 to 6
Through October 25, 2008

Hello and Welcome

This blog is about art in its broadest sense.  It seeks to explain how art can stimulate the intellect, raise visual awareness, impact emotions, impart beauty and enhance the quality of life.  Monthly posts may focus on specific exhibitions or events or concern some aspect of the various manifestation of things described as art.  

As a trained art historian, I have been looking at art for over forty years.  The more I looked, the more I realized that art is always talking about art.  The more seen, there more interest and enjoyment.  This writer hopes to help readers understand the how to of looking and stir their enthusiasm for this thing called art.