Inspiration Point
I am a big fan of National Public Radio’s show All Things Considered, and have really enjoyed this week’s focus on the various wonders of the National Park System system. I was particularly intrigued by yesterday’s quirky interview with Moose Mutlow, an environmental education instructor at Yosemite National Park, who tracks roadkill in an attempt to figure out what gets killed and why. It was a completely different view of the park than I have grown accustomed to seeing in the majestic photographs of Ansel Adams (1902–1984). One such view, Adams’ awe-inspiring 1948 photograph, Clearing Winter Storm, can currently be seen in the Carter’s Masterworks of American Photography exhibition. Take a trip to the site of the photograph without leaving your desk, and then come see the real thing before it goes off view on November 16.
Nuclear Fallout and the Avant Garde
I love reading about the intersection of science and art, and especially cases where science can tell us more about the history of a particular work. The Art Newspaper ran this fascinating and somewhat disturbing story last week about authenticating oil paintings based on the presence of isotopes resulting from nuclear explosions.
According to the article, this method was created specifically do authenticate Russian paintings from 1900-1930, for which there is a huge market in forgeries.
Apparently flax plants, whose oil is the binder for most paints, absorb the isotopes, which are then detectable in any works created with that paint. Therefore, works created before 1945 do not contain the isotopes, and those created afterward do. If the isotopes are detected in a work supposedly created before World War II, it is definitely a fake.
Visitors' Voice Part 2
We had a great time at the first Visitors’ Voice program last week. It’s not often that you can meet with a group of like-minded individuals interested in discussing art and what it means to them. Channel your inner art historian and attend the second part of our summer Visitors’ Voice series this Saturday, June 28, at 3:00 p.m. We will meet in the main gallery and discuss more winners from our “election” and do some fun activities too.
Monday Links
On the radar today, Marsden Hartley and the West: The Search for an American Modernism on the KERA Art&Seek blog and Frederic Remington’s Ridden Down (below) in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Tasha Tudor
We learned this morning that Tasha Tudor, a close friend of the photographer
Nell Dorr (1895-1988), died yesterday at the age of 92. Known for her children’s book illustrations and commitment to a 19th-century lifestyle, Tudor can be seen in two photographs currently on view in our exhibition, Nell Dorr: From Everlasting to Everlasting.
Nell Dorr, [Tasha Tudor hanging clothes], ca. 1940
Nell Dorr, Tasha at Dulcimer, ca. 1940
Tasha Tudor’s obituaries can be read in the New York Times, LA Times, and Washington Post; many of her charming illustrations can be seen here and here.
In Case of Emergency
With all the reports of flooding in the Midwest, this might be a good time to point out that the Carter (and indeed, most museums in the U.S.), have very detailed disaster plans in place. If you’ve ever been “lucky” enough to be visiting the Carter when tornadoes brewed in the area, you’ve seen our disaster planning in action as you were whisked off to huddle in the basement with museum staff.
We also take the safety of our collections very seriously. We have plans for what to do with the artworks in the case of natural or man-made disasters, and how to clean up after the fact. Professional organizations like the American Association of Museums and the Texas Association of Museums also provide resources for disaster recovery.
The fact that institutions like the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art have saved most of their collection (see the comments in the post below for an update from their director, Terri Pitts) even in extreme circumstances stands as a testament to the exhaustive planning and professionalism of their museum staff. It also serves as a reminder why we spend so much time preparing for the worst case scenario. The fact is it could happen any time.
Rising Emotions
For the past few days I have anxiously scanned the headlines trying to learn whether or not the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and Grant Wood Studio have been affected by the floods. A few years ago, a group of Carter docents and I traveled to Cedar Rapids to visit Grant Wood’s Studio and to see an exhibition that included our Parson Weems’ Fable. Watching the news and seeing the water seep into the streets and destroy the neighborhoods we explored and admired has been truly awful. So while I was relieved to read CRMA Executive Director Terry Pitts’ press release today, I can’t help but worry about everything and everyone else that has been touched by this tragedy. My thoughts are with you.
Hartley Roundup
Coverage for Marsden Hartley and the West: The Search for an American Modernism, currently on view in the Carter’s special exhibition galleries:
Porter, Gilpin, and O'Keeffe, now in Portland
Photos from two of the Carter’s largest artists’ archives are now on view at the Portland Museum of Art (Portland, Maine, that is) in the exhibition Georgia O’Keeffe and the Camera: The Art of Identity.
Both Laura Gilpin and Eliot Porter spent time with O’Keeffe at her home in Abiquiu, New Mexico in the 1940s-1960s and the Carter’s photography collection contains several examples from both artists. The following four photos will be on view at the Portland Museum of Art through September 7:
Eliot Porter, Georgia O’Keeffe’s Entrance Door (Outside), Abiquiu, New Mexico, October 8, 1949
Eliot Porter, Horse Skull, O’Keeffe’s House, Abiquiu, New Mexico, August 5, 1952
Laura Gilpin, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1953
Laura Gilpin, Studio of Georgia O’Keeffe Overlooking Chama Valley, ca. 1960
An Exciting New Exhibition
Everyone at the museum is hard at work preparing for the opening of the new special exhibition,
Marsden Hartley and the West: The Search for an American Modernism, which will be on view at the Carter from June 14 through August 24.
Hartley (1877–1943) is considered to be one of the foremost American painters of the first half of the twentieth century. His boldly colored paintings focus on monumental shapes, especially clouds and landscape forms. This unique style was described by influential critic Carl Sadakichi Hartmann (1869–1944) as an “emerging modernism that evolved through Impressionism”.
Hartley ran in the same circles as Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Demuth, Alfred Stieglitz, Fernand Leger, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound.
This exhibition was organized by Heather Hole, formerly curator at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and now an assistant curator of American art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Heather Hole will present a free, public lecture on Saturday at 11 a.m. entitled Marsden Hartley and the West: The Search for an American Modernism. Her lecture will be followed by an informal reception and book-signing. For more information, please call 817.989.5057.
Picture It!
It’s fun, it’s free, and it’s cool (as in really neato and air conditioned)! It’s Target Family Fun Day and it takes place this Sunday from 1 to 4 pm.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Decision 2008: Final Results
The results are in and Dash for the Timber has won by a landslide. Thank you to the almost two hundred people who participated in our little project. I hope to see you at one (or all) of the Visitors Voice programs this summer. These fun, interactive tours will be based on your votes and responses.
The Winner with Eighteen Votes
Frederic S. Remington
A Dash for the Timber
Eleven Votes
Grant Wood
Parson Weems’ Fable
Pulling back the curtain refers to another of my favorite paintings by Peele (I think).
Dana Harper, 33
Fort Worth, Texas
I saw this painting years ago in a grade school text. The painting captured my young imagination each time I returned to the text’s page. So when I came upon the actual painting in the Carter’s gallery, I was struck with a multitude of memories and a greater appreciation.
Fred Puckett, 37
Fort Worth, Texas
Ten Votes
Thomas Cole
The Hunter’s Return
Very colorful and very detailed
Georgina Shockley, 44
Austin, Texas
Nine Votes
William J. McCloskey
Wrapped Oranges
Five Votes Each
Albert Bierstadt
Sunrise, Yosemite Valley
Alexander Calder
[Untitled]
Martin Johnson Heade
Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay
Thomas Moran
Cliffs of Green River
Georgia O’Keeffe
White Birch
John Singer Sargent
Alice Vanderbilt Shepard
John Quincy Adams Ward
The Freedman
Four Votes Each
Thomas Eakins
Swimming
William M. Harnett
Ease
The 3-D effect without 3-D glasses, the “just this moment” feel of the painting.
Doug Black, 49
Coleman, Texas
Subject matter tells its own story
Robin Black, 49
Coleman, Texas
Fitz Henry Lane
Boston Harbor
Three Votes Each
Thomas Cole
The Garden of Eden
Stuart Davis
Blips and Ifs
Daniel Chester French
Benediction
Sanford Robinson Gifford
The View from Eagle Rock, New Jersey
Marsden Hartley
Provincetown Abstraction
Thomas Hovenden
Chloe and Sam
Frederic S. Remington
The Cowboy
Frederic S. Remington
The Old Stage Coach of the Plains
Frederic S. Remington
Ridden Down
Two Votes Each
Alexander Calder
Studies for Amon Carter Museum Plaza
Alexander Stirling Calder
An American Stoic
Stuart Davis
Chinatown
Charles Demuth
Chimney and Water Tower
Marsden Hartley
American Indian Symbols
David Johnson
Eagle Cliff, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire
Louise Nevelson
Lunar Landscape Wall
I would never have chosen this had it not been for my son’s marked attraction to it. At first, I could see only its black color and collection of random shapes; now, I think about it and look at it and think how the negation of what the individual objects were releases them to something altogether new.
Katharine Smith, 50
Houston, Texas
Georgia O’Keeffe
Black Patio Door
Georgia O’Keeffe
Dark Mesa and Pink Sky
William T. Ranney
Marion Crossing the Pee Dee
Frederic S. Remington
The Right of the Road
Ben Shahn
World’s Greatest Comics
One Vote Each
Saul Baizerman
Cantata
Paul Bartlett
Bear Cub Grooming
George Caleb Bingham
View of Pike’s Peak
Henry Kirke Brown
Filatrice (The Spinner)
Frederic Edwin Church
New England Landscape
Arthur Dove
The Lobster
John Haberle
Can You Break a Five?
William M. Harnett
Attention Company
Martin Johnson Heade
Two Hummingbirds above a White Orchid
Winslow Homer
Crossing the Pasture
Georgia O’Keeffe
Series I – No. 1
Julian Onderdonk
A Cloudy Day, Bluebonnets near San Antonio, Texas
John Frederick Peto
A Closet Door
Alexander Phimister Proctor
Indian Warrior
Frederic S. Remington
The Broncho Buster_
Frederic S. Remington
Cavalry in an Arizona Sand-Storm
I just like it
Clover L. Hewell, 32
Weatherford, Texas
Frederic S. Remington
Coming Through the Rye
Frederic S. Remington
The Fall of the Cowboy
Frederic S. Remington
Through the Smoke Sprang the Daring Soldier
Frederic S. Remington
The Rattlesnake
Frederic S. Remington
The Grass Fire
Severin Roesen
Still Life of Flowers and Fruit with a River Landscape in the Distance
Charles M. Russell
A Bronc Twister
Charles M. Russell
Counting Coup
Charles M. Russell
In Without Knocking
Charles M. Russell
The Buffalo Hunt, [No.39]
Charles M. Russell
Wild Horse Hunters
I like the subject matter and the entire drama of roping the wild horses. The colors, vivid, realistic, and yet dreamy give you a sense like you are there covered in dust and smelling like the great outdoors.
David Hewell, 36
Weatherford, Texas
Morton Livingston Schamberg
Figure
Where in the World is Red Cannas?
If you’ve been in our painting and sculpture galleries lately, you may have noticed the conspicuous absence of a favorite work in our collection, Georgia O’Keeffe’s Red Cannas.
The painting is part of the exhibition Georgia O’Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle, which started at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and traveled to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The show has gone to its final venue, the San Diego Museum of Art, where Red Cannas will be on display until September.
Decision 2008
Thank you to everyone who has participated in our Decision 2008 project. The “polls” will close on May 31. If you haven’t already cast your vote, now is the time to do so.
Dash for the Timber - It's Everywhere
Following up on Katherine’s post where she discovered a copy of everyone’s favorite painting at a restaurant in Alpine, Texas…
Fran Flavin, former UT-Dallas professor and friend of the Carter, sends us this pic all the way from Washington D.C. He went out for Mexican food with friends and found this copy of A Dash for the Timber across the restaurant wall!
Special thanks to Fran for sharing this with us. Of course, you can see the real thing anytime in the Carter’s main gallery!
Building a Better Field Trip
The end of the school year is rapidly approaching. This means that the active chatter of students visiting the museum on formal field trips will be replaced by the informal conversations of families and individuals that visit the museum over the summer.
Unfortunately, despite every good intention on the part of parents and caregivers the vast majority of the 20,000 students that visit the Carter each year will not be amongst these family groups. For many students, their one field trip to the Carter may be the only art museum experience that they have during their school careers.
Therefore, we make every attempt to make the most of that limited experience. We develop the tour content so that it makes appropriate connections between the classroom curricula and the state and national standards, and more importantly, we teach the tours in a way that connects to each student’s interests and learning style. Our goal is to help each student learn how to look so that when they do return to the Carter, visit another museum, or even just observe the world around them, they can make meaning of what they see.
This isn’t easy. The Gallery Teachers and I are in the process of meeting with classroom teachers, administrators, and students to talk about what worked this past year, what needs to be tweaked, and what should be tossed. We are reviewing the students’ history, language arts, science, and visual art curricula to make sure the connections we make are authentic to both the subject matter and to the works of art. We are attempting to go through the pile of professional development materials—museum education journals, visitor studies, and child development information—that has stacked up in our inbox. Soon, we will synthesize all of this information and start creating tours for next year. All in all, it will be a pretty good summer.
Paintings and Poetry
For the past four years, the Carter has partnered with the Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains, Inc to create a series of workshops that invite Girl Scouts to tour and explore the Carter’s collection and then use this information to create their own works of art. A recent workshop focused on finding and decoding narratives in works of art. After looking at several works of art, participating girls sat in front of Seth Eastman’s painting, Ballplay of the Dakota on the St. Peters River in Winter, 1848 and wrote the following poems:
Snow falls on the ice.
People and trees are in a circle all around me.
I love lacrosse, but my feet keep slipping!
The wind has blown off all the leaves and the trees look cold.
The game I hear outside my tent sounds a little scary.
When I walk out the wind is giving me bumpy skin.
It is very crowded here at the river with lots of noisy people.
They are pushing and shoving me.
They want to play, too!
Crunch! I hope this ice isn’t breaking!
It is so cold and I am shaking.
The trees are twisting around us.
People are sweaty, but I love the game.
The wind in the air is like knives on your flesh.
The air that we breathe is frosty and fresh.
When you open your mouth the snow floats in!
You keep wishing your team will win.
The river is crowded and people are cheering.
You even think that you’ll lose your hearing!
Thank you to Gallery Teacher Erin Whitmore for sharing these excellent poems with us. These young women have definitely set the bar pretty high for creating poetry inspired by our collection.
Why don’t you give it a try? Send your poems to us and check back to see if we post them on the blog.
Decision 2008
With only a few weeks left, it looks like Dash for the Timber is going to win our Decision 2008 program by a landslide. However, there is still time to change the course of the election. Take the time to cast a vote for your favorite painting and sculpture in the museum’s collection, and then check back to see how your favorite fares in the polls:
Eighteen Votes
Frederic S. Remington
A Dash for the Timber
Ten Votes
Grant Wood
Parson Weems’ Fable
Nine Votes
Thomas Cole
The Hunter’s Return
William J. McCloskey
Wrapped Oranges
Five Votes Each
Albert Bierstadt
Sunrise, Yosemite Valley
This work fits with where I am in my life right now. I am in search of serenity and in awe of majesty. This work has both, and is a great inspiration to me.
Amy Rasor, 32
Fort Worth, Texas
Alexander Calder
[Untitled]
I love the movement and play of shadows on the walls around the sculpture. It gives the work both a two dimensional and three dimensional image.
Pat Brown, 60
Walnut Springs, Texas
Martin Johnson Heade
Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay
Very atmospheric feeling from the painting—powerful and ominous (moment in time)
Stephen Seate, 61
Fort Worth, Texas
Thomas Moran
Cliffs of Green River
Georgia O’Keeffe
White Birch
John Singer Sargent
Alice Vanderbilt Shepard
John Quincy Adams Ward
The Freedman
Four Votes Each
Thomas Eakins
Swimming
Fitz Henry Lane
Boston Harbor
Three Votes Each
Thomas Cole
The Garden of Eden
Stuart Davis
Blips and Ifs
Jim Haas, 67
Fort Worth, Texas
Daniel Chester French
Benediction
Sanford Robinson Gifford
The View from Eagle Rock, New Jersey
It made me feel that this couple has their entire future ahead of them! Much like myself.
Tanya Stahlbusch, 32
Santa Barbara, California
Marsden Hartley
Provincetown Abstraction
Thomas Hovenden
Chloe and Sam
Detailed and intricate
Rosemary Stahlbusch, 62
Granbury, Texas
Frederic S. Remington
The Cowboy
Frederic S. Remington
The Old Stage Coach of the Plains
Frederic S. Remington
Ridden Down
Two Votes Each
Alexander Calder
Studies for Amon Carter Museum Plaza
Alexander Stirling Calder
An American Stoic
Stuart Davis
Chinatown
Charles Demuth
Chimney and Water Tower
William M. Harnett
Ease
Marsden Hartley
American Indian Symbols
David Johnson
Eagle Cliff, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire
Georgia O’Keeffe
Black Patio Door
Georgia O’Keeffe
Dark Mesa and Pink Sky
William T. Ranney
Marion Crossing the Pee Dee
Frederic S. Remington
The Right of the Road
Ben Shahn
World’s Greatest Comics
One Vote Each
Saul Baizerman
Cantata
Paul Bartlett
Bear Cub Grooming
George Caleb Bingham
View of Pike’s Peak
Henry Kirke Brown
Filatrice (The Spinner)
Many reasons: 1. I am a weaver so anything connected to weaving grabs my attention. 2. The piece is classical. I love the style. 3. I love the connection of women’s contribution to the American Revolution.
Jean Walbridge, 64
Fort Worth, Texas
Frederic Edwin Church
New England Landscape
Arthur Dove
The Lobster
John Haberle
Can You Break a Five?
William M. Harnett
Attention Company
Martin Johnson Heade
Two Hummingbirds above a White Orchid
Winslow Homer
Crossing the Pasture
Louise Nevelson
Lunar Landscape Wall
Georgia O’Keeffe
Series I – No. 1
Julian Onderdonk
A Cloudy Day, Bluebonnets near San Antonio, Texas
John Frederick Peto
A Closet Door
Alexander Phimister Proctor
Indian Warrior
Frederic S. Remington
The Broncho Buster
William Thomas, 62
Augusta, Maine
Frederic S. Remington
Coming Through the Rye
Frederic S. Remington
The Fall of the Cowboy
Frederic S. Remington
Through the Smoke Sprang the Daring Soldier
Frederic S. Remington
The Rattlesnake
Frederic S. Remington
The Grass Fire
Severin Roesen
Still Life of Flowers and Fruit with a River Landscape in the Distance
Charles M. Russell
A Bronc Twister
Charles M. Russell
Counting Coup
Charles M. Russell
In Without Knocking
Charles M. Russell
The Buffalo Hunt, [No.39]
Morton Livingston Schamberg
Figure
Behind the Scenes: Nell Dorr
Nell Dorr: Everlasting to Everlasting [and previously] is being installed in our photography galleries right now. I thought I would give you a little glimpse behind the scenes of this exhibition before it opens May 17.
Here is the installation in progress. The hard part is done: the photographs have been selected for the show, their condition checked, matted, framed, and hung on the wall. It looks like a mess, but all that’s left is attaching the labels and applying the vinyl graphics to the title wall (and some cleanup of course):
Where do the wall graphics come from? The large image of hibiscus seen here is a blown-up copy of a Nell Dorr photo in our collection. Our exhibition designer, Trang, prints the copy on a large printer in her office:
And here is a peek at what the final design will look like, minus the sunglasses and vitamin water:
Nell Dorr: Everlasting to Everlasting opens this Saturday…
A Summer of Hummingbirds
I love learning about the connections between the artists in the Carter’s collection and the authors and thinkers who shaped American cultural history. So, I was particularly interested to hear about Christopher Benfey’s new book, A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade. I finished it yesterday afternoon, and highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the intersecting interests of some of America’s most influential creators.
I started Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father yesterday evening. Can you recommend other books that explore connections between the artists in our collection and other artists, authors, or thinkers?
Familiar Faces
My husband and I recently traveled out to the high desert in West Texas. We had the opportunity to dine at the Reata restaurant in Alpine, a branch of which is in downtown Fort Worth. Imagine my surprise when a MUCH larger version of the frontrunner for the Decision ’08 program was seen in the C.F. room!
This painting is “after” Frederic Remington (which means that it is done in the style of) and the artist is Style Reed. Anybody else seen an “after” picture of an art work from our collection?
Framing America
Ever wonder what goes into choosing the frames that surround the museum’s priceless collection of American paintings? This Saturday, Suzanne Smeaton of the famed Eli Wilner and Company will discuss this topic in her special lecture, Exploring the Borders in Art: American Period Frames 1820-1920.
As a mental appetizer, take a moment to learn more about a few of the fascinating projects that Suzanne and her colleagues have completed. I especially enjoyed this one about the reframing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s beloved American masterpiece, Washington Crossing the Delaware.
Make it A Memorable Mother’s Day at the Amon Carter Museum
Are you looking for something special to do for your Mom this Mothers Day? Make plans to bring her to the Amon Carter Museum where we will be celebrating Moms from 1 to 4 p.m. with our Target Family Fun Day.
Visitors of all ages will enjoy participating in the following fun activities:
• Discover how families of all shapes and sizes have been depicted throughout American
history.
• Listen to stories that celebrate Moms and families
• Make jewelry and a “memory box” for Mom
• And much, much more
I look forward to seeing you this Sunday!
Decision 2008 Update (May 5, 2008)
Every time another candidate starts to close the gap Dash for the Timber races further ahead. There are only a few weeks left in this “election.” Take a moment to cast a vote for your favorite painting and sculpture in the museum’s collection, and then check back to see how your favorite fares in the polls:
Seventeen Votes
Frederic Remington
A Dash for the Timber
Ten Votes
Grant Wood
Parson Weems’ Fable
The legend regarding George Washington is treated in a whimsical manner that draws the viewer into the painting. The direct gaze of Parson Weems is very engaging and directs the viewer to the fanciful figure of Washington as a child. The cherry motif on the curtain fringe and the border of the tree’s foliage just delights me and reminds me that I love cherry pie!
Sharon LeConey, 55
Fort Worth, Texas
Nine Votes
Thomas Cole
The Hunter’s Return
William J. McCloskey
Wrapped Oranges
Five Votes Each
Thomas Moran
Cliffs of Green River
The museum itself is my favorite work of art. That said, I’ll vote for Moran’s work. I like it because its technical execution, palette of colors, and depth of field are quite compelling. I like how it suggests a story—of exploration and adventure—and all that goes along with it. This painting projects an authentic “feeling” of what it is like to travel through remote areas of the West, and this painting helps me vividly and fondly recall my own visits there. In short, it’s a great painting and it evokes an emotional response from the viewer
Francis Flavin, 38
Washington, D.C.
Georgia O’Keeffe
White Birch
John Singer Sargent
Alice Vanderbilt Shepard
John Quincy Adams Ward
The Freedman
Four Votes Each
Albert Bierstadt
Sunrise, Yosemite Valley
Alexander Calder
[Untitled]
Thomas Eakins
Swimming
Martin Johnson Heade
Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay
Fitz Henry Lane
Boston Harbor
Three Votes Each
Thomas Cole
The Garden of Eden
Daniel Chester French
Benediction
It is an artwork endowed with a romantic grace, conveying gravity and a sense of melancholy.
Jonathan Frembling, 32
Fort Worth, Texas
Marsden Hartley
Provincetown Abstraction
Frederic Remington
The Cowboy
Frederic Remington
The Old Stage Coach of the Plains
While I love all of the Russells and Remingtons at the Amon Carter, this is the piece that made an indelible mark on my memory as a young child. Somehow, the painting just draws my mind into the moment in a way no other does. I really can’t explain why, but it is the one piece I must glimpse each time I visit the Amon Carter.
Alexa Ewen, 34
Fort Worth, Texas
Frederic Remington
Ridden Down
Two Votes Each
Alexander Calder
Studies for Amon Carter Museum Plaza
Alexander Stirling Calder
An American Stoic
Stuart Davis
Blips and Ifs
Stuart Davis
Chinatown
Charles Demuth
Chimney and Water Tower
William M. Harnett
Ease
This was one of my father’s favorites, probably due to the cigar sitting on the table. He smoked cigars so this panting brings back happy memories.
Nenetta Tatum, 54
Fort Worth, Texas
Marsden Hartley
American Indian Symbols
David Johnson
Eagle Cliff, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire
Georgia O’Keeffe
Black Patio Door
Georgia O’Keeffe
Dark Mesa and Pink Sky
William T. Ranney
Marion Crossing the Pee Dee
Frederic Remington
The Right of the Road
Ben Shahn
World’s Greatest Comics
One Vote Each
Saul Baizerman
Cantata
Paul Bartlett
Bear Cub Grooming
George Caleb Bingham
View of Pike’s Peak
Frederic Edwin Church
New England Landscape
Arthur Dove
The Lobster
John Haberle
Can You Break a Five?
William M. Harnett
Attention Company
Childe Hassam
Flags on the Waldorf
Mary Jane Harbison, 58
Fort Worth, Texas
Martin Johnson Heade
Two Hummingbirds above a White Orchid
Winslow Homer
Crossing the Pasture
Louise Nevelson
Lunar Landscape Wall
Georgia O’Keeffe
Series I – No. 1
Julian Onderdonk
A Cloudy Day, Bluebonnets near San Antonio, Texas
John Frederick Peto
A Closet Door
Alexander Phimister Proctor
Indian Warrior
Unlike the Dallin sculpture one can look at this piece and see immediately the difference. The horse and rider mirror each other in valiance and dignity. Are they en route to or from? No matter, we can see they are ready for whatever may come.
Rick Lawler, 49
Cleburne, Texas
Frederic Remington
Coming Through the Rye
Frederic Remington
The Fall of the Cowboy
Frederic Remington
Through the Smoke Sprang the Daring Soldier
Frederic Remington
The Rattlesnake
Frederic Remington
The Grass Fire
Severin Roesen
Still Life of Flowers and Fruit with a River Landscape in the Distance
Charles M. Russell
A Bronc Twister
Charles M. Russell
Counting Coup
Charles M. Russell
In Without Knocking
The look as if they are about to have a good time! The other paintings look as if life is a struggle: perhaps even death is close.
Q.L. Collins, 64
Stephenville, Texas
Charles M. Russell
The Buffalo Hunt, [No.39]
Morton Livingston Schamberg
Figure
Filling the Void
The scent of spackle is in the air! With the Snapshot show packed up and sent home, the photography galleries are being reconfigured and repainted for two new shows featuring works from the Carter’s enormous permanent collection of photography.
On May 10, a new rotation of Masterworks of American Photography will go up. Of the twenty-some-odd works in the show, only two have ever been exhibited here before. Many of the photographs are new to the Carter, acquired (and cataloged by your truly) just in the past year. Three of these new photography acquisitions are quite large; one measures 6 x 8 feet!
Nell Dorr: From Everlasting to Everlasting opens on May 17 in the gallery adjacent to Masterworks. Dorr was a photographer who focused on family life, but she also shot many portraits and experimented with photograms. The Carter holds Dorr’s archive of over 5800 works, and this is the first time we’ve done a survey of her work.
I love photograms, so I was happy to find one in this show that I had never seen before:
Nell Dorr, [Light abstraction photogram], ca. 1950s-1960s
In the Circle
The outpouring of community support for the artists and artworks in the Intimate Modernism: Fort Worth Circle Artists in the 1940s has been truly amazing. I will be sad to see the exhibition close on May 11.
I recently received this response to our In the Circle project. I hope you enjoy this story and the stories that came before it.
I knew Dickson Reeder very well (1952 to 1965). His Flora Blanc I saw only now and again and always with Dickson. I saw their home and it was amazing.
In 1952, I got to see one of the first of four or five studios/ateliers/hide-outs. This was the log cabin in the garden of Sousa Bailey’s great home on White Settlement Road. I was then in the 11th grade at Northside High School. Mrs. Bailey was a grande dame in the very best sense. It was in her backyard that the Reeders put on their first production. Gardens, books, art were put together in every case. Because of Mrs. Bailey, I became aware of the role of patronesses—how they were supportive of the local artists. Later I met Miss Margaret MacLean and Sam Cantey.
Dink Starns
Fort Worth, Texas
Thank you so much to Charlene Baker, Jo Ann Fanning Durham, Jesse Garcia, Stanley Shepelwich, Naomi Stroud Simmons, Dink Starns, Jeanne Summers, and Violet Wickes for participating in this project. Your stories have helped to bring the works of art to life!
Decision 2008 (Update April 29)
Every time another candidate starts to close the gap, Dash for the Timber races further ahead. There are only a few weeks left in this “election.” Take a moment to cast a vote for your favorite painting and sculpture in the museum’s collection, and then check back to see how your favorite fares in the polls:
Sixteen Votes
Frederic Remington
A Dash for the Timber
It represents the romance and legend associated with Texas. After all, Fort Worth is “where the West begins…” for the world!
Mary L. (Cindy) Montgomery, 55
Arlington, Texas
I enjoy the combination of skill, color, story, composition, action, and complex characterization in a distinctly Western setting. It has European echoes, but is decisively American.
Linda Jenkins, 63
Fort Worth, Texas
To me, this is what this museum is…great western Americana of the early and mid-1800s. I know the Carter is so much, much more, but thank the Good Lord that Mr. Carter wanted to preserve and share this great work.
Jesse Pierrard, 58
Fort Worth, Texas
Because it just pops out at you.
Austin Anderson, 12
White Settlement, Texas
This picture has so many individual pieces and everyone is intriguing to me. I love the center horse whose eyes follow you wherever you move in the room. I love the soldiers looking back while others are looking forward. This painting is the epitome of classic western art. I take several moments each time I am in the museum to look at it again.
Cliff Holden, 50
Fort Worth, Texas
Nine Votes
Thomas Cole
The Hunter’s Return
William J. McCloskey
Wrapped Oranges
Ever since the ACM purchased this luminous still life, it has jumped off the wall every time I have passed. I have sought out other McCloskey wrapped fruit paintings, and none compare to this masterpiece. It is a gem.
Robert Bass
Fort Worth, Texas
I love how real this painting looks. To me, this painting is “alive!”
Anita Grimes, 37
Aledo, Texas
This painting awakens all of my senses. Visual, of course, but I can hear the crackling of the paper around the orange, feel the bumpy exterior of the oranges underneath the crisp paper, smell the wonderful orange smell, and of course imagine what they would taste like once the paper and peel are gone.
Kim V, 40
Fort Worth, Texas
Grant Wood
Parson Weems’ Fable
This painting is easy to connect to literature. Themes in the painting (cherry shaped curtains, vivid colors, etc.) can be used to teach themes in literature.
Diane Kue, 29
Fort Worth, Texas
Five Votes Each
Georgia O’Keeffe
White Birch
John Singer Sargent
Alice Vanderbilt Shepard
John Quincy Adams Ward
The Freedman
Four Votes Each
Albert Bierstadt
Sunrise, Yosemite Valley
I believe that Bierstadt conveys the beauty, grandeur, and opportunity of the West in this painting. It touches upon some themes central to the West such as exploration, Manifest Destiny, and conserving nature. Additionally, I really like Hudson River School, and while this may be a touch out of time period, it is my favorite Bierstadt.
Allan Mauldin, 45
Anniston, Alabama
Alexander Calder
[Untitled]
Thomas Eakins
Swimming
Martin Johnson Heade
Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay
Fitz Henry Lane
Boston Harbor
Thomas Moran
Cliffs of Green River
Three Votes Each
Thomas Cole
The Garden of Eden
Because it is so green and realistic.
Mary Kate Dockery, 12
Southaven, Mississippi
Marsden Hartley
Provincetown Abstraction
Frederic Remington
The Cowboy
Frederic Remington
Ridden Down
Two Votes Each
Alexander Calder
Studies for Amon Carter Museum Plaza
Alexander Stirling Calder
An American Stoic
Stuart Davis
Blips and Ifs
Stuart Davis
Chinatown
Charles Demuth
Chimney and Water Tower
Daniel Chester French
Benediction
Marsden Hartley
American Indian Symbols
David Johnson
Eagle Cliff, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire
Georgia O’Keeffe
Black Patio Door
Georgia O’Keeffe
Dark Mesa and Pink Sky
William T. Ranney
Marion Crossing the Pee Dee
Frederic Remington
The Old Stage Coach of the Plains
Frederic Remington
The Right of the Road
Ben Shahn
World’s Greatest Comics
One Vote Each
Saul Baizerman
Cantata
Paul Bartlett
Bear Cub Grooming
George Caleb Bingham
View of Pike’s Peak
I think that mountain views are the most spectacular images of nature.
Brian Anderson, 12
Bellflower, California
Frederic Edwin Church
New England Landscape
Arthur Dove
The Lobster
John Haberle
Can You Break a Five?
The painting is very realistic. So much so that you can almost expect to feel the actual items—if you were to touch them.
Amy, 38
Fort Worth, Texas
William M. Harnett
Attention Company
William M. Harnett
Ease
Martin Johnson Heade
Two Hummingbirds above a White Orchid
Winslow Homer
Crossing the Pasture
Louise Nevelson
Lunar Landscape Wall
Georgia O’Keeffe
Series I – No. 1
Julian Onderdonk
A Cloudy Day, Bluebonnets near San Antonio, Texas
John Frederick Peto
A Closet Door
Frederic Remington
Coming Through the Rye
Frederic Remington
The Fall of the Cowboy
Frederic Remington
Through the Smoke Sprang the Daring Soldier
Frederic Remington
The Rattlesnake
Frederic Remington
The Grass Fire
Severin Roesen
Still Life of Flowers and Fruit with a River Landscape in the Distance
Charles M. Russell
The Buffalo Hunt, [No.39]
Charles M. Russell
A Bronc Twister
Charles M. Russell
Counting Coup
Morton Livingston Schamberg
Figure
A Year of Blogging
Yesterday marked my one-year blogiversary! (The Carter blog started in January 2007 but I didn’t make my debut until April.) Since I started contributing to the blog, a lot of things have been happening around here. The museum closed in May for repairs to the fire protection system and major gallery redesigns, I celebrated five years at the Carter in June, and we reopened to the public with a big cookout on the plaza in August. In the year since I started blogging, we have completely redesigned the layout of the permanent collection, installed (and deinstalled) 16 exhibitions, added 64 works to the permanent collection, and added 3 more Carter bloggers. Here’s to a busy year and many more!
Bror Utter, Marine Creek Bridge, acquired in 2007 and currently on view
Newsworthy
Just in case you missed it, yesterday’s New York Times Magazine had an interesting article on the benefits of visual arts education. Today’s travel section features an article on Ansel Adams and Yosemite.
Decision 2008 Update (April 25)
Dash for the Timber continues to hold onto its lead in our election. Is it time for a change? Take a moment to cast a vote for your favorite painting and sculpture in the museum’s collection, and then check back to see how your favorite fares in the polls:
Eleven Votes
Frederic Remington
A Dash for the Timber
Action
Seth Hopkins, 41
Cartersville, Georgia
Nine Votes
Thomas Cole
The Hunter’s Return
This is my favorite work of art because I like the color and I like the shape.
Naseen Nabil, 8
Arlington, Texas
Seven Votes
Grant Wood
Parson Weems’ Fable
Five Votes Each
William J. McCloskey
Wrapped Oranges
Georgia O’Keeffe
White Birch
John Singer Sargent
Alice Vanderbilt Shepard
Sargent had great insight and affinity with the children he painted. He captures her shyness, revealed in part by a blush in her cheeks. Sargent always subordinated the lavish female costumes of that era to make the face the focal point. He is a virtuoso with paint strokes—his work is an ideal other artists strive for.
Leisa Corbett, 51
Saint Louis, Missouri
John Quincy Adams Ward
The Freedman
Four Votes Each
Alexander Calder
[Untitled]
Thomas Eakins
Swimming
Martin Johnson Heade
Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay
Fitz Henry Lane
Boston Harbor
Thomas Moran
Cliffs of Green River
Three Votes Each
Albert Bierstadt
Sunrise, Yosemite Valley
Marsden Hartley
Provincetown Abstraction
Frederic Remington
The Cowboy
Frederic Remington
Ridden Down
The Indian warrior on the top of the plateau with the white men coming after him—it so evokes the fate of the Native Americans at the hand of the white man
Dan Stoyak, 19
Arlington, Texas
Two Votes Each
Alexander Calder
Studies for Amon Carter Museum Plaza
Alexander Stirling Calder
An American Stoic
Thomas Cole
The Garden of Eden
Stuart Davis
Blips and Ifs
Stuart Davis
Chinatown
Charles Demuth
Chimney and Water Tower
Daniel Chester French
Benediction
Marsden Hartley
American Indian Symbols
David Johnson
Eagle Cliff, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire
Georgia O’Keeffe
Black Patio Door
Georgia O’Keeffe
Dark Mesa and Pink Sky
It was my favorite because it has a lot of shapes.
Sammy Najil, 9
Arlington, Texas
William T. Ranney
Marion Crossing the Pee Dee
Frederic Remington
The Old Stage Coach of the Plains
This is my favorite work of art because it captures the sense of adventure found in the way West along the U.S. frontier in the late 1800s.
Franklyn Henry Smith, 59
Fort Worth, Texas
Frederic Remington
The Right of the Road
Ben Shahn
World’s Greatest Comics
It’s really neato!
John Robinson, 27
Fort Worth, Texas
One Vote Each
Saul Baizerman
Cantata
Paul Bartlett
Bear Cub Grooming
Frederic Edwin Church
New England Landscape
Arthur Dove
The Lobster
Great composition, great color, great technique.
Matthew Bostick, 49
Fort Worth, Texas
William M. Harnett
[Attention Company]
This painting has always drawn me in from the first day I came to work at the Carter when we were at the Q. I could not put my figure on why I was drawn into it. Maybe it was because I could relate to the expression on his face of the unknown and I was new to the Carter. It was hypnotic and a mesmerizing image.
Lauri Lawrence, 40
Fort Worth, Texas
William M. Harnett
Ease
Martin Johnson Heade
Two Hummingbirds above a White Orchid
Winslow Homer
Crossing the Pasture
Louise Nevelson
Lunar Landscape Wall
Georgia O’Keeffe
Series I – No. 1
Julian Onderdonk
A Cloudy Day, Bluebonnets near San Antonio, Texas
I like it because it is so peaceful and pretty. I love it because of the comments my students make when they view it. They really connect to it and place themselves inside the painting. It is awesome!
Cindy Shaw, 32
Fort Worth, Texas
John Frederick Peto
A Closet Door
Frederic Remington
Coming Through the Rye
Frederic Remington
The Fall of the Cowboy
So much history is displayed, (I) love the Western art (and) also love sculptures—not being an artist, (I) love the expressions, details, etc.
Pam Armstrong, 57
Fort Worth, Texas
Frederic Remington
Through the Smoke Sprang the Daring Soldier
Frederic Remington
The Rattlesnake
Frederic Remington
The Grass Fire
Severin Roesen
Still Life of Flowers and Fruit with a River Landscape in the Distance
Charles M. Russell
The Buffalo Hunt, [No.39]
I love the noise of it, the intensity of the moment, the high drama and the bravery of the men and horses. I also love the bright dabs of color in their clothing, forsaking authenticity for interest.
Bonnie Bassett, 65+
Denton, Texas
Charles M. Russell
A Bronc Twister
Charles M. Russell
Counting Coup
Morton Livingston Schamberg
Figure