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May 28, 2009
My daughter and I went to see the Cezanne Exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum
of Art last Friday and I’m glad we did. Initially I’d decided against going since I’ve seen so much
of Cezanne’s work already, but since this show would only be in Philly and I’m not that far away; I fortunately
changed my mind.
The Cezanne show was pure enjoyment, even though I thought that some of the other artists’
works included were questionable – or rather a stretch to fit in. Not that I didn’t like most of the works
on their on merits.
Well, there were a few I wasn’t too impressed with – the painted figure
by Marsden Hartley (whose landscapes and abstract works I really like) that the show started with was so lacking in what the
Cezanne’s figure had, that I wish the show hadn’t begun with it. Also, where were all the women painters,
who were influenced by Cezanne? One “interesting” painting by Liubov Popova and some works on paper by Sherrie
Levine can’t be all that represent women artists. And while I love Picasso’s paintings, I’ve always
thought that his sculpture lacked poetry. In my opinion, they were just diversions from his painting.
However,
I was particularly impressed with Charles Demuth’s works on paper, which I didn’t remember seeing before.
His drawing and wonderful loose paint quality was a revelation. Of course, Giacometti’s sculptures have always
been a favorite of mine, but I was totally blown away by his paintings and drawings shown here.
The audio tour
was better than any I’ve ever had, although I did have to return the first two headsets. But the third was the
charm and all went well after that.
1:17 pm edt
May 6, 2009
So many rainy days have been depressing and I should have used that to work
on the sculpture, but instead I wasted hours playing spider solitaire and Mahjong. I did manage to get some weeding
done in the gardens and I remembered why it’s so therapeutic. The gardens don’t stir my imagination as they
used to and I really have to make myself think about them. Although, seeing all the dogwoods in bloom now, does make
me go looking for tree seedlings to pot until I can decide where to put them.
If I can motivate myself,
I’ll take advantage of the cloudy sky to photograph some pastel portraits that I did years ago of my nephews.
Of course, as long as I’m here on the computer nothing is getting done – time to turn it off!
2:25 pm edt
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