And Parking too!

[Iberostar]

I went to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History this morning - it's free admission on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. I didn't know that until I went to the web site http://www.cabq.gov/museum/
to find out the address. What a wonderful gift!
The museum is featuring the art of Ernest Blumenschein, one of the founders of the Taos Society of Artists. One of his paintings, Star Raod and White Sun is one of my favorite paintings. I never saw any of his other work, so the exhibition was so exciting for me. I pulled up to the museum and there were a lot of parking spaces in front of the museum.
I think I was also thrilled because admission was free - it's free on Sundays and on the first Wednesday of the month (all day!). These times call for all the free entertainment I can find!
I enjoy Star Road and White Sun because of the expressions of the two men - one dressed in traditional clothing and the other dressed in more "modern" clothing. Their expressions dominate the painting - I always thought there was a defining sadness in their faces - their figures are set upon a stylized forest and mountain landscape. It's a moment in time that is powerful. You make of it what you wish, but I see outside influences pushing into the native land and a grief of the passing of a way of life.
Another painting I liked was Superstition. I found myself drawn in by the man with the pot and then I traveled all over the painting like a journey.
I've displayed some web images of these two paintings, so you can see what they look like. Go to the museum and see the others - you won't regret it.
P.S. Sunday, August 10, there is a lecture about Taos Artists and the Defense of Native Rights at 1 p.m. - so go in before.

[Phil_0]

Blumenschein was a very talented artist, but I've never really liked his work that much. His time and place excuse him somewhat, but I've always felt that his work contributed greatly to perceptions of Pueblo people as an exotic vanishing race, somehow outside the modern world inhabited by "civilized" folk like Blumenschein and his customers. While that's undoubtedly an appealing image, it's not particularly realistic, now or then, and I feel to some extent like it reduces native peoples to 2-d caricatures. I know some of the members of the Taos circle did a lot to support native land claims and defend native rights, and I don't want to take away from that. It's important, though, to put romanticized views of indigenous southwesterners in their proper contexts.

[magoo]

wow, whatta load of crap you're spewing there, Phil_O....................

[Tricross]

Um... it's art and being such, he can do whatever the heck he wants.

[jeff]

magoo: that's a pretty weak critique of phil's comment - you gotta do better than that.

tricross: phil isn't saying anything about what an artist 'can' do. depending upon your p.o.v., he's talking about what an artist should or should not do, or at the least, a consideration of the effects of an artists work.

[the hand model]

no sh*t, I thought Phil's comments were pretty valid and well stated.

[bleve]

Wow, comments start off with a thoughtful, intelligent critique and is followed by third grade jabs.

Phil_0 is spot on with his observation. Much of Southwester art has been indulged by outsiders exploiting what they perceive to be a romanticized view of the modern savage. This gaze at "the other" without fully understanding the culture can lead to a caricaturing of one's subjects. I'm not sure that's what's going on here but its useful input being that Phil_0 I believe has an Anthropology background.

Magoo and Tricross... its ok to critique art, in fact its part of the whole process. Yes an artist can do whatever he wants, that's quite obvious, yet if a public museum that we pay for puts up a work, the public has not only a right to critique it, but an obligation to at least look at it with some complexity.

I guess "pretty colors" works better for some.

[Iberostar]

I understand what Phil means - I grew up in Pennsylvania near an Amish area. Their way of dress, their lifestyle and their religion were taken and made into a cartoon-like tourist attraction. Now there are "farms" you can visit, ride in a buggy and buy Amish food - be just like them and then go home to your nice electric house and not even getting an idea of who the Amish really are.
On the art exhibit at the museum, I did see a painting of "Ourselves" meaning the Taos Artist group and there weren't too many Native Americans standing in the portrait. I did enjoy the art - it was a new opening for me to read and research - I'm not saying what they did is right for everyone - it gives me just ONE man's perpsective.

[ginny]

I thought the Blumenschein exhibit was fantastic. The portraits-- which included but were not exclusive to Native Americans-- were amazing. The two paintings of the plasterers were especially interesting. Even through all of the time and paint invested in creating those two pieces, he was able to evoke a very candid and nonchalant mood. The cityscapes were nicely done, but didn't have the same level of intensity or interest that the other paintings possessed.

For me, the highlight of the exhibit was definitely the group of landscapes along the east wall. Most of these paintings had unusual perspectives and compositions, and the later paintings began to take on a magical realism quality much like Van Gogh with exaggerated shapes, colors, and brush strokes.

I thought it was especially interesting that Blumenschein reworked many of his pieces. Most artists don't have the nerve or the technical skill to go back into a painting years later and successfully rework on top of a cured layer of paint. He was a truly talented painter, and it was an absolute treat to see his paintings in person.

[Tricross]

I re-read Phil-0's comment. Sounds like a petty attack on the artist's style more than anything else. I stand by my original comment.

[jeff]

huh?
phil isn't talking about artistic style at all nor is he attacking it (in fact he explicitly appreciates blumenschein's talent). he's talking about the effects and (potentially) motivation.
unless for you, the definition of style includes motivation and effects....