Thomas Hart Benton
Romance, 1931-1932
Tempera and oil varnish glazes on gesso panel on board
Gift of Mari and James A. Michener, 1991
This work, painted when the artist was at the midpoint of his life, provides a lyrical view of a young couple on a relaxed evening stroll. Drawing on his knowledge of both Old Master techniques and modernist ideas, which he had gleaned from several years spent studying in Paris, Benton crafted a lively composition whose rhythmic alignment of forms conveys a sense of poignant familiarity.
Love this Benton at the Blanton!
I love this video from the @MuseumModernArt Conservation Studio. Educational, smart, fun, and, well cool.
Tony Smith, She Who Must Be Obeyed, 1975
From the Smithsonian American Art Museum:
“I always like to look at the sites in the dark because I feel that a lot of the detail is eliminated, and you can grasp the major features better.” Tony Smith, quoted in Donald Thalacker, The Place of Art in the World of Architecture, 1980
In March 1974 the General Services Administration commissioned Tony Smith to make a sculpture for the Department of Labor building in Washington, D.C. A few months later the artist was ready to present this maquette to the GSA Design Review Panel for final approval. Smith was concerned with getting the model safely from his studio in New Jersey to Washington, and carefully wrapped it and carried it like “a newborn child” (Thalacker, The Place of Art in the World of Architecture, 1980). The maquette had its own seat on the plane and arrived safely at National Airport. Smith hailed a taxi, and the driver, insisting that the model would be safer in the trunk than on the seat, slammed the trunk lid on one of its edges. Despite the damage to the model, the GSA panelists unanimously approved his design. Smith often titled his pieces after literary works, and this maquette was named after the central character in H. Rider Haggard’s 1887 novel She. The completed sculpture was installed in 1976 and measures 30 by 24 by 8 feet.
Check out the Wikipedia article that has been written about this artwork as part of INCCA-NA’s efforts to document ever single Tony Smith in the world. Get busy folks and get a t-shrt!
You can hear me talk about the project over on MAN’s podcast. Click here to listen.
So we went on a UCLA labs tour yesterday. Pictured here is their big lab, forensic light source (A magical light source box that gives you really specific wavelengths anywhere from IR to UV) that hangs out in their documentation room, and finally, their reading room. I was busy being all fascinated by equipment, and then i remembered how we sit in the stairway to have our coffee in Melbourne and felt mildly depressed.
A great project by Corey Jefferson and Brian Presnell to get a bunch of folks in Indy to create “face jugs”, then sell them as a fund raiser for “Art with a Heart” here in Indy.
The show is Friday May 3rd at the Murphy Building — bands, beer, and jugs. Info here.
Ozkaya’s “David (inspired by Michelangelo)” in front of Lincoln Center, New York City, 2012. (submitted by Gillian)
Such a bummer:
The Shocking Demolition of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Park Avenue Showroom
Hoffman Show Room in 1955 (photographed by Ezra Stoller, via steinerag.com)
It’s shocking that a…
Pssst, wanna know what she said? (Detail of the Paul Manship at the IMA). #art #sculpture #thatswhatshesaid (at Indianapolis Museum Of Art (IMA))
Okay, this is pretty awesome: the folks researching the Miller House and Garden archives have uncovered Kevin Roche’s designs for the, uh, “Throne Room.” Read more below.
digitizingmillerhouseandgarden:
This is an architectural drawing of the Millers’ “THRONE ROOM,” or commode room as it’s referred to in other correspondence. In 1999, the Millers requested a grab bar be installed in this portion of their master bathroom and called upon none other than Kevin Roche to oversee the design. While YES, it’s funny to come across a drawing of a toilet within the archival collection of an architectural masterpiece, this document is telling of how carefully any addition or change to the house was considered. It also serves as a reminder that Miller House functioned as a family residence. Structural changes such as these allowed the Millers to live in their home until the end of their lives and design quality was always considered alongside functionality.
Drawing of 2760 commode room , sent by Irwin Management to Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo and Associates, 28 January 1999, 09/82, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ib_B009_f082_045)
#whoisaiweiwei? Here’s a still from @aiww’s video message to a packed house at the opening @imamuseum last night. (at Indianapolis Museum Of Art (IMA))
A funny little video in which Robert Indiana talks about an inauthentic “LOVE” painting as part of The Madness of Art, a series I’ve not seen before. (via @imbprez)
A remarkable scene today at “Cloud Gate”: this couple snaps the obligatory shot in reflection as a number of Guantanamo Bay Prison protesters show up. They didn’t notice they had been photobombed until after the protesters were ordered to move on by a Chicago park ranger. #art #contemporaryart #protest #photobomb (at Cloud Gate)
A market in Kano, 1960s
Vintage Nigeria
Some people have asked to read the commencement address I delivered this morning to the 2013 graduates of Butler University....
“Bakers Book Bug” used books in Ridgecrest, LA. Which is just past B.F.E. great scifi collection and actual 1/2 cover prices. Really nice lady and...
Feet with wings? By Angela Lergo at Kavachnina Contemporary (Miami) #PulseNY (at Metropolitan Pavilion)