July 5, 2011

4th of July Weekend

From the Aldrich gift shop. (But is it Art?)

Thursday's FVB concert was at a retirement facility called River Ridge in Avon. A good-sized crowd was in the courtyard for the concert, and there were numerous wineglasses remaining from the pre-concert party (that the band was not invited to.) We sounded good to them.


On Saturday, we pulled an Art Attack on Greenwich. It only took ninety minutes to drive to the Bruce Museum, so we had a little time to walk to the waterfront at Indian Harbor.

Priapos by Lila Katzen, 1980

And take pictures of the sculpture we found on the museum grounds.

Searching for Peace by Luis Arata, 1980
Obelisk Head by Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas, 1983
Five Legends Pole by David A. Boxley, 1987
Dancing Figures by Lynn Chadwick, 1956

When deeding his home to Greenwich, Mr. Bruce stipulated that it be used as a natural history, historical, and art museum. And that’s what they have. While being billed as a hotbed of American Impressionism, there were only four paintings exhibited. But there was also rocks and minerals, stuffed birds and animals, the history of corn, African stuff, horse Art (nothing good, don’t get excited), and Picasso prints. So we were very disappointed, but now I know why there are dinosaurs on the grounds.

Harbor Scene by Edward Henry Potthast
Ambroise Vollard with His Cat by Pablo Picasso, 1938
Directum by Gustav Fischer, Sr

That left us time to hit a couple of Cos Cob Tag sales. I cleaned up at the Free Stuff box and Marie got some beads (like coal to Newcastle).

In downtown Greenwich we found the Public Library and the Flinn Gallery for the Brush with Fate show of the Greenwich Art Society. As one would expect, it is a beautiful library with a few pieces of sculpture on the grounds:
The Yak by Shay Rieger
Spirals by S. Ogden Jr.
Two Lines Up Oblique by George Rickey, 1998

And a beautiful gallery for Art.

Flinn Gallery

The show was very nice. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Carolina Dewez Reyna
Devil's Food by Galina Dargery

Of course, downtown Greenwich had a few pieces of Art to show off:

Bolling by E. Potter

The Greenwich Arts Council shares the Old Town Hall where the Bendheim Gallery was hosting The Art Society of Old Greenwich’s annual juried show. I managed to find one more boat.

Morning Mist by Thom Ecay

And out front:

animals by Denis Curtiss

We had hoped to see the paintings in the Bush-Holley House, which, as a boarding house, became a Mecca for writers and artists known as the Cos Cob Art Colony in the 1890s. Artists such as Childe Hassam, Earnest Lawson, Theodore Robinson, John Henry Twachtman and J. Alden Weir were a few. It was the plethora of natural settings in which to paint en plein air and the proximity to New York City, that attracted them. Some settled in the area, such as Mr. Weir, whom we shall come back to later.

Problem was, after waiting until noon for them to open, we were informed that the first house tour was at one, and we had other places we wanted to see as well.

One look at a parkinglot-like I-95 North convinced us to stay on Route One and try our luck as we were heading up the coast to Norwalk. There was surprisingly little traffic on the old post road. We made stops for Art in Stamford:

Graceful by C.J. Rench
by F. Shrady
Poetry in Life by Julie Saypoff
Pigeon by Michael Whiting
Richard Taylor
Passion by Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor
A Graveyard in Darien:


Lunch at Uncle's Deli in downtown Darien:


Other stops in Darien:

War Memorial by Karl Lang, 1936
Castle to the Stars, Zvista Palace by Colleen Flannery and Sharon Barker

Norwalk has a lovely park which contains the Stepping Stones Children’s Museum and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, but we decided to skip that as well, and headed north on Route 7.


After a stop at Jerry’s Artarama, we found the Weir Farm in Branchville. Or Wilton, or Georgetown, or Ridgefield, depending where you look. A National Historic Site, it is the former home of three generations of artists and a beautiful spot of country.


Weir Home

In addition to painting Art and teaching Art, Julien Alden Weir did a bit of Art brokering on the side. There was one particular piece that Weir purchased for his own collection which was coveted by a gentleman willing to trade 112 acres for the painting and $10. Done and done in 1882. Weir proceeded to make it a studio for himself and a refuge for friends and fellow artists. Let me offer some quick background.

The Open Book by J. Alden Weir, 1891

Weir is known as an American impressionist painter; a member of the Cos Cob Art Colony. He was also one of The Ten, a loosely-allied group of American artists dissatisfied with professional art organizations.

J. Alden Weir, 1873

Julien’s father was an artist and professor of drawing at West Point. His older brother, John Fergusson Weir, became a well-known painter in the Hudson River and Barbizon schools (and first director of Yale School of Fine Arts). I also want to add that Julien was the fourteenth of sixteen children. (Where did all the money come from?) Weir hated Impressionist at first contact in 1870s Paris. He did still lifes (lives) and figures in a realistic style, but by the 1890s he had reconciled his disgust and adopted Impressionism as his own. (Though he would occasionally slip into Tonalism.)

Childe Hassam (left) with J. Alden Weir

Weir founded the Society of American Artists in response to the Academy. He also formed the Tile Club, which included William Merritt Chase and Winslow Homer. The Association of American Painters and Sculptors selected him as their first president, but he resigned a year later following the association's sponsorship of the modernist Armory Show. He later became president of the hated National Academy of Design. He died in 1919.

Weir also had three daughters with Anna Baker of Windham, a new student, who died ten years later: Caroline, Dorothy and Cora.


Dorothy, who was the only daughter to study art, married a sculptor named Mahonri Young, grandson of Brigham, and moved to the Farm in early 1930s. Mahonri did a lot of work in Connecticut that was shipped back to Salt Lake City, such as the monument he created, entitled This is the Place, words said by Brigham Young said on entering Emigration Canyon, near Salt Lake City.

Mahonri Young's studio
This is the Place

But this piece, called The Boxer, was in the visitors center (actually Cora’s fomer-home):


The third generation is represented by Doris Bass Andrews and her husband Sperry. Both were painters but not descendents of Weir. They moved to the farm in 1957 and, with the help of Cora, preserved the property until it was transferred to the National Park Service.

Sperry Andrews

Ridgefield, which was close by, is another beautiful town with an elegant main street.  Don't know how they did it, but the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum fits right in.  There were six shows:

 Barrier and Trigger by Type A:

 

Visual Sound by Chelpa Ferro:


One Plus One Minus One by Kate Eric:


And All the Holidays All at Once by MTAA:


There was also work by Jessica Stockholder that I chose not to shoot and a video by Judi Werthein.
Our next stop was further up Route 7 to the Danbury Fair Mall. Why would two people who only go to a mall kicking and screaming do this? Because there’s a carousel inside, of course.


Yes, it’s a modern but unusual double-decker Bertazzon Venetian, which features chariots and horses that rock (rather than going up and down) and spinning cars. Just like two we saw in Paris.

Interesting Firemen's outfit.
It shouldn’t be a total loss, Marie stopped in at Victoria’s Secret but didn’t buy anything..

One last stop on the way home, in Oxford, home of CT Magazine’s Best Ice Cream in CT, Rich Farm. After being greeted:


Marie had pistachio and mint chocolate chip, while I had German chocolate cake and Cowpie (leftover from National Dairy month special with chocolate ice cream, walnuts, raisins, and chocolate chunks). Good but not the best.


Happy 4th of July!

We had to be in Barkhamsted by 9:30 am when they close the parade route. The Boyles invited us to join their parade-front party afterwards, so we parked in their yard and I carried my tuba to the start. The whole parade is only around a half-mile (though it seemed much longer).

We and any other living creature were invited to march with the Star Band, directed by Will Minton


I don’t know how many were in the band this year, but Marie, who was marching at the front carrying an American flag in the honor guard (sorry no picture, darn it), said it sounded pretty good. Considering. Two of the sousaphones were horn players from the Farmington Valley Band. But it was a hoot. The people really appreciated us. Though I suspect they liked the candy-throwing firemen behind us even more.

Heavy Metal
The parade ended at the entrance to the elementary school where there was a flagpole. There were prayers, speeches, and more speeches. Actually, it wasn’t all that bad. The band played a few numbers in addition to the SSB, and the party.


Not a wild affair, but met some very nice folks. Mark Waterhouse was eager for me to hear the cd he got in Danville with Sousa conducting the Sousa Band in playing the SSB (before it was changed somehow), Stars and Stripes, and Victor Herbert’s American Fantasy. The recording was dated October 29, 1929. Mark was in charge of the entertainment. Good food. Didn’t stay for the fireworks that will go off tonight. Marie had to paint.

Harriet
Leslie, Mark, and Larry

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