My Favorite Paintings at Metropolitan Museum, New York

I'll be insanely rigid in following my formula to cite only two favorite works from the museums I've visited before, however big or small, even the Metropolitan Museum in New York or the Louvre in Paris.

Met, the most prestigious in the U.S., naturally has more collections I like than I can remember, put amongst its many glories, I pick the two paintings below.

The first one is a triptych - I hope this doesn't mean that I'm cheating - Beginning, 1949, by German painter Max Beckmann:


Beginning 
Max Beckmann (German, Leipzig 1884–1950 New York City) 
Date: 1949 Medium: Oil on canvas 
Dimensions: 69 x 125 1/2 in. (175.3 x 318.8 cm) 67 1/2 x 36 x 3 1/2 in. (171.5 x 91.4 x 8.9 cm) (Frame, 67.187.53a left panel) 71 1/2 x 61 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (181.6 x 156.2 x 8.9 cm) (Frame, 67.187.53b center panel) 67 1/2 x 36 x 3 1/2 in. (171.5 x 91.4 x 8.9 cm) (Frame, 67.187.53c right panel) 

Beckmann is one of the very few artists I not only love, but draw inspiration greedily and incessantly.  I am very partial to the pessimistic and apocalyptic Germanic sensitivity.  I love Beckmann's insistence of staring down the deepest pit of human miseries and more importantly, the sources of them, while not dismiss a flicker of hope for the humanity.  More important, he was able to create paintings with real depth and gravity with incredible beauty and appropriate one.

A survivor of medical services during World War I, "he saw his world as a tragedy of man's inhumanity to man and saw life as a carnival of human folly. His work remained intense and allegorical throughout his life.
The theme that connects the three panels of "Beginning," the most autobiographical of Beckmann's ten triptychs, is a childhood dream. The central panel shows a playroom where a little boy in military costume brandishes a sword as he mightily rides a rocking horse. His Puss 'n Boots doll hangs upside down behind him, presumably slayed by his weapon. The noise he makes has alarmed his parents (seen at the left near the ladder), who have climbed up to inspect his attic kingdom. More prominently placed is the figure of a redheaded woman who reclines seductively, blowing blue bubbles from a pipe. Squeezed between the boy and his fantasy is an old grandmother reading a newspaper. To the left and right, on separate panels, Beckmann painted other memories from his childhood — a hurdy-gurdy grinder and a classroom with teacher and students." [metmuseum.org]

My second favorite, another painting, is a portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam by Hans Holbein the Younger:


Erasmus of Rotterdam 
Hans Holbein the Younger (German, Augsburg 1497/98–1543 London) 
Date: 1528–32 Medium: Oil on linden panel 
Dimensions: 7 1/4 x 5 9/16 in. (18.4 x 14.2 cm); painted surface 6 15/16 x 5 1/2 in. (17.6 x 14 cm) 

I love this painting, first by the beautiful colors Holbein employed.  I'm always partial to the green-tinted blues.  His portrait of this great scholar and humanist, was somber, serious yet open.  The face of Erasmus was wise and like an opened-book, invited people to benefit from the light it emitted.  His features were sharp in the alerted sense, not in a preying mood.  His gaze knowing yet humble, and full of consternation and mediation.  A wise sage indeed.  The brilliantly painted fur trimmings offered the warm tones to balance the cool aqua tint of the background, without rendering his or the painting flamboyant which surely would have made this great scholar a simony hawk.

Though the brush works of Hans Holbein the Younger was not as celebrated as those by Da Vinci, Rubens or Rembrandt, his austere style here, almost a thrown-back to the icon paintings, left us a most memorable and beautiful portrait in the canon.  Met surly is proud to have this in its collection.


My Favorite Museum Collection Series

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List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

 

A Portrait - First Painting Completed in 2012

My first completed painting this year is a dark portrait with a nightmarish atmosphere. I have been working on this canvas on and off for years, and declared it completed several times, yet every time, soon after, I felt dissatisfaction about it and scolded myself for giving myself an easy pass. 

Once more, motivated to correct my "wrong", I took up the challenge to made this painting work.  I kept the overall theme of the desire to ascend and motif of ladder(s) and flaming tree.  I wanted to present a frustrated desire which was deeply spiritual.

The new element I introduced to this latest reincarnation is a dominant portrait, which was a relic of an icon painting, or the memory of mine of such work, pious, suffering yet otherworldly, and a bit self-pitying and oblivious to surroundings, perhaps a tad narcissistic. 

Lastly, several boldly drawn lines dissected the face of this sufferer and I'll leave that to my viewers to interpret them freely.

Matthew Felix Sun's Paintings Completed in 2012 by Matthew Felix Sun photoset

Matthew Felix Sun's Portrait - 肖像 - Porträt photoset

My Favorite Paintings at Cincinnati Art Museum

The first American city I lived after graduation from an American university was Cincinnati and its art museum, Cincinnati Art Museum, became my first home museum I have explored multiple times.  This happened after I'd visited some wonderful museums in the US, including Metropolitan Museum in New York City, and National Gallery in Washington, D.C., but a home museum is a home museum and the easy access made it special.

The Cincinnati Art Museum features an unparalleled art collection of more than 60,000 works spanning 6,000 years and boasts of works by Andrea Mantegna, Sandro Botticelli, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Thomas Gainsborough, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase and Paul Cezanne, etc. Amongst works by these renowned masters and other worthy artists, I chose two paintings as my favorites from that museum.

The first choice is a painting by Tiziano Vecellio (Titian) - Portrait of Philip II.  It is a quite disturbing painting.  We see the king of Spain sat uneasily in his armchair, in wonderful slashed gown and chain of knight order, and a crown on head.  But he was hardly regal.  His weasel like feature and his furtive side glance made one wince and cowed.  This is a sickly monarch tormented by some inner conflict.  Only after some mental adjustment, one could move away from gazing into his penetrating eyes and wander about to see the surroundings of this king, and realized the wonderful touches Titian had.  This painting is the manifestation of wonders of those venetian masterpieces - buoyant color palette and lively brushstroke, etc.  It also had the hallmark of the psychological insight of Titian.  It is a marvelous piece.


Portrait Of Philip II, Tiziano Vecellio (Titian) (Italian, b.Circa 1488-Circa 1490, d.1576), Circa 1550-Circa 1551
42 3/16 x 36 1/2 in. (107.2 x 92.7 cm), framed 60 1/4 x 54 1/4 x 5 1/4 in. (153 x 137.8 x 13.3 cm), oil on canvas

The second favorite of mine is a unfinished piece by the French painter Honoré Daumier - the equivalent of a social-realist writers like Émile Zola or Theodore Dreiser.  Even in the unfinished stage, this painting had great beauty to recommend it.  The delicate profile of the character on the forefront, the flowing lines and the moody atmosphere gave me an impression that any extra paint would be unnecessary.  For a painter, it is often hard to judge when to stop.  Sometimes, the inability to complete did result in a wonderfully complete piece as this.  It also revealed, at least partially, the process of Daumier and that always holds special interest for me, therefore, I chose this my second favorite, despite many other more polished pieces.

 
Orchestra Stalls, Honoré Daumier (French, b.1808, d.1879), Circa 1865
23 1/2 x 33 1/4 in. (59.8 x 84.3 cm), oil on canvas


My Favorite Museum Collection Series

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List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

My Favorite Paintings at Museum of Legion of Honor, San Francisco

In San Francisco Bay Area, if one wants to see some substantial European painting collection, one has to go to the Museum of Legion of Honor (Legion), though its collection is still small and rather disappointing, even comparing to my previous resident city, Cincinnati, arguably somewhat more provincial.

Even so, I cannot deny that there were some exceptionally beautiful works at the Legion.  My favorite piece in that Museum is an extremely atmospheric piece by French painter Jean-Antoine Watteau.  It was not big and not flashy.  It was luminous and sublime.  There was a hushed spell emanating from the depth of the canvas.  The figures - a group of performer in respite by the moon light, at a most private and intimate moment, oblivious of the intrusive viewers.  I often felt that I should have averted my eyes to be decent but I couldn't.  The slightly resigned postures of the two male characters, the composed yet relaxed of the female characters tell incredibly rich stories about them - not sure what but rich.  Enigmatic.  Engaging.  Above all, it was the enchanting beauty lingers with me the most.  The contrast of light and dark, the finely defined figures, the fairly-tale atmosphere, the wonderful sheen of the silk dresses, all left indelible impressions on viewers.  A quiet rapture it is.


The Foursome (La Partie Quarrée), ca. 1713,
Oil on Canvas, 19 1/2 x 24 3/4 (49.5 x 62.9 cm),
Jean-Antoine Watteau, French 1684-1721

The other favorite of mine in this museum is Marie Claire de Croy, Duchess d'Havre and Child, by the Flemish master, Anthony van Dyck.  It is a mother and child portrait, rather official one.  Regal and formal.  But the spirits of the two figures were so well presented that their humanity penetrated from their stiff armor of clothes.  The duchess gazed upon viewers casually, knowing that being a public figure, she would be gazed upon and she willingly submitted to such rule of game.  She did her best to perform her public duty, yet maintained her status as a mother and the pillar of support to her young child, who looked like a miniature adult, yet without the self-consciousness and the confidence the mother had.  Their relationship was formal but not without love.  Their love was expressed by their utter trust, thus moving.

As one of the best draftsmen in the art history, van Dyck demonstrated why such regard amply.  He was also a wonderful colorist and the richness of the colors balanced perfectly - never called attention to themselves yet essential.  It would be hard to substitute with other tones to the colors he picked.  Blue, green, red, silver and above all, black, created a harmonious visual feast.


Marie Claire de Croy, Duchess d'Havre and Child, 1634
Oil on canvas
81 1/2 x 48 1/2 (207 x 123.2 cm)
Anthony van Dyck, Flemish, 1599–1641


My Favorite Museum Collection Series

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My Favorite De Young Museum Collections

My next target of this My Favorite Museum Collection Series is De Young Museum in San Francisco.  I never truly understand the philosophy of this museum, which collects rather haphazardly, despite the fact that it often mounted blockbuster shows, such as Impressionism and Post-Impressionism from d'Orsay, Collections from Picasso Museum, Paris and the current Venetian Masterworks from Vienna, and a very substantial Southeast Asian artifacts.

Its permanent collections are mostly modern works and American works in the Hudson School style, which was a big bore. 

My favorite artwork in this museum is an installation, Anti-Mass, by Cornelia Parker:



This installation, at first glance, was an intriguing but rather pleasant looking mass, which seemed playful and fun.  But, once a viewer understands what the fragments are, the perspective changes instantaneously and the work took on a weight far larger than the collective physical weight of these fragments.

De Young Museum describes this piece thus:

This sculpture is constructed from the charred remains of a Southern Baptist church with a predominantly African American congregation, which was destroyed by arsonists. After Parker learned of the arson, she received permission to use the timbers of the burned church to make this piece. In the title, Parker (who was raised Catholic) uses the word "mass" as a reference to both the elemental substance of the universe and the sacramental ritual at the center of the Christian faith. In this way, the realms of science and religion are brought together to emphasize the power of creativity over violence and destruction. Parker's cube appears to defy gravity, the title a witty allusion to this fact, and the sculpture floats ethereally in the air while remaining a monumental object of quiet meditation and reflection.

Confronting viewers with the temporal nature of everything physical, Parker captures the spirit of those who previously worshiped in the building until the fire turned it into a testament to violence directed against African Americans. Her work hovers as a miraculous, spectral object evoking both the lost church and the presence of its congregation through an absence more powerful than any figurative image.

The little video below can give my reader a sense what awe it cast over me:



Another favorite work of mine here is an oil painting by Elmer Bischoff, Yellow Lampshade.  I love its melancholic atmosphere and the lovely palettes, which were simultaneously warm and cold, drawing you in and making you want to run away from that enclosed fishbowl but one simply cannot move ones feet.  One was transfixed on the spot and got absorbed in that all too familiar dehumanizing modernity:






My Favorite Museum Collection Series

>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 3: My Favorite Paintings at Legion of Honor Museum
<< My Favorite Museum Collection Series 1: My Favorite SFMOMA Collections

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- Last Call - "The Girl With A Pearl Earring" in De Young Museum, San Francisco
- My Favorite Paintings in Mauritshuis, Den Haag, Netherlands
- "Compliments to Vermeer" - Controversial Solo Exhibition of the Renowned Chinese Painter JIN Shangyi
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2011 Recapitulation - Video Presentation of Paintings Completed in 2011

2011 was a reflection time for me. I spent much energy in learning and thinking, focusing on the future steps I was to take in order to improve myself as an artist and to facilitate my career. The paintings I created last year reflected this somewhat halting yet probing directions. I continued to explore spatial relations and patterns and experimented several abstract pieces. Near the end of the year, I grew tired of the experiment and took solace by working on some more representative or lyric piece, concluding with a portrait, Pierce, which I am rather happy with.

Below is a video presentation of the paintings I created last year:


Paintings included can be viewed on my Flickr portfolio:

Matthew Felix Sun's Paintings Completed in 2011 by Matthew Felix Sun photoset

>> Video presentations of paintings and drawings, Part XXV: 2012 Recapitulation - Video Presentation of Paintings Completed in 2012

<< Video presentations of paintings and drawings, Part XXIII: Video Presentation of Oil Painting "Progression"

List of Video Presentation of My Artworks

Another Look at De Young Museum in San Francisco

I have visited De Young Museum in San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Park many times and am very fond of this iconic but not uncontroversial architecture.  Every time, I found some startling new angle and even enchanting beauty.  Last December, when I returned for a special exhibit, Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, I sat in the beautiful garden for lunch for the first time and had wonderful views from many new angles and was grateful that the cafeteria was so crowded that I had to sit outside.  Disadvantage turned into advantage.

This building is muscular and startlingly forceful and I can understand that someone prefer the previous Spanish colonial building.  Hopefully, when the copper gains more green patinas, they will grew enchanted by this building as well.

My Favorite SFMOMA Collections

I have been to many museums, exulted or less glamorous, local or overseas.  I savor my memories of many visits to those museums and time to time relive the moments when I encountered a piece made the strongest impression on me.  I am going to write about those museums I have been to, with two pieces from each museum.  These works I pick don't have to be the "best" or the most renown, but they are to be truly my favorites.

Starting with the obvious museum - San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts (SFMOMA).  My favorite of mine at SFMOMA is Die Sechste Posaune (The Sixth Trumpet), Anselm Kiefer (Donaueschingen, Germany, 1945), 1996, painting: emulsion, acrylic, shellac, and sunflower seeds on canvas, 204 3/4 in. x 220 1/2 in. (520.07 cm x 560.07 cm)



I first saw this painting many years ago at SFMOMA and wad struck by the monumentality of this piece.  It is of biblical proportion, and its painful scream was quite overwhelming.  But, the pain was like those of madrigal from the earlier time, still orderly and restraint, like a Passion Oratorio by Bach.

Underneath the black specks, the deserted fields and hills were haunted spot, with eerie beauty, as if to tell us what we have lost, or what we did not deserve.

This is a beautiful but difficult piece to stare at.  It currently is not on display.  My guess is that if people see it too often, they might have lost all their wills to live.


My other favorite collection at SFMOMA is by Max Beckmann (Leipzig, Germany, 1884 - 1950, New York City, New York) - Frau bei der Toilette mit roten und weissen Lilien (Woman at Her Toilette with Red and White Lilies), 1938, Oil on Canvas.

Every time when I visited SFMOMA, I would spend some time with this enchanting Frau. I have always been partial with the German painter Beckmann.  I loved not only his stark vision but his bold yet exquisite execution. I particularly love the way he used the black color to outline object and give them monumental mass.  This Frau is both a typical and an atypical of Beckmann.  It has all the trademarks of his palette, his handling of paints in the bold outlines and thin layers.  However, this quietly melancholic piece is rather quite comforting, comparing to his more enigmatic and/or apocalyptic pieces.  This Frau needs not to be afraid but to be adored.









It is interesting that my favorite works were created by German masters haunted and pained by the ravages of war.  I am afraid that I do share such of their apocalyptic point of view.  But, by admitting my love for the Beckmann above, I think it is fair to say that I still have some hope and love for humanity.


My Favorite Museum Collection Series 

>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 2: My Favorite De Young Museum Collections

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

Venetian Masterpieces from Vienna at De Young Museum

Last December, I visited the Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna at De Young Museum in San Francisco.

I have visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna many years ago but the biggest impressions I gained from that visit were made more by the collections from Dutch, Flemish and German masters such as Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Vermeer, Rembrandt, etc. and the salt cellar, Saliera, by Benvenuto Cellini, which was stolen on May 11, 2003and was covered on January 21, 2006, according to Wikipedia.  That of course, did not mean that I wasn't moved or impressed by 16th-century Venetian paintings (Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto), or 17th-century Flemish painting (Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony Van Dyck).  If my chief impression was on those northern masters, it was due to the incredible richness of the collection that museum boasted.

I was deeply grateful that I had an unhurried experience of viewing their collections of Venetian Masters.  There are too many wonderful paintings at De Young but if I attempt, I would name Titian, Giorgione, Tintoretto and Veronese as my favorites, naturally, all those usual suspects.

De Young Museum provided a nice online preview of the exhibit.  Since some images they lists are my favorites, I'll cite them below:


Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian. Danaë, ca. 1560. Oil on canvas


Titian. Portrait of Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua, ca. 1534-1536. Oil on canvas


Titian, Portrait of Johann Frederich, Elector of Saxony, 1548-1551. Oil on canvas


Paolo Caliari, called Veronese, Lucretia, ca. 1580–1583. Oil on canvas


Paolo Caliari, called Veronese. Judith with the Head of Holofernes, ca. 1580. Oil on canvas

 
Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto, Susanna and the Elders, ca. 1555-1556. Oil on canvas

 
Giorgio da Castelfranco, called Giorgione. Youth with an Arrow, ca. 1508–1510. Oil on panel

True to their reputations, the sense of colors and the freedom of their painterly brushes were exhilarating and ravishing to behold.  

A few more thoughts: 

1) I love Veronese's Lucretia but Titian outdid him.  Veronese's was too calm and demur while Titian's were absolutely wounded and grieving, which was also included in this exhibit:

 

 2) I made a day-trip to Venice from Florence in 2000, especially to see Giorgione's The Tempest (c. 1507-1508, 82 x 73 cm, Oil on Canvas), in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, which was as enigmatic as it was beautiful:


[Wikipedia image, in US public domain]

3) I have seen so many Titian paintings and I cannot remember where I saw which wonderful pieces.  For Veronese, I will always associate him with "The Feast in the House of Levi", which also locates in the Gallerie dell'Accademia:


The Feast in the House of Levi (1573), 555 cm x 1280 cm (219 in x 500 in), Oil on canvas
[Wikipedia image, in US public domain]

This special exhibit will end on 12 February 2012 and I strongly recommend it.  It's an unforgettable exhibit.

Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- Last Call - "The Girl With A Pearl Earring" in De Young Museum, San Francisco
- My Favorite Paintings in Mauritshuis, Den Haag, Netherlands
- "Compliments to Vermeer" - Controversial Solo Exhibition of the Renowned Chinese Painter JIN Shangyi
- Paintings As Pivotal Elements
- Last Chance to See Terracotta Warriors in San Francisco Asian Art Museum
- Birth of Impressionism at De Young Museum, San Francisco
- My Favorite Works at De Young Museum, San Francisco
- My Favorite De Young Museum Collections

Richard Serra Drawing and 2010 SECA Art Award at SFMOMA

Before the year end, I visited SFMOMA for its Richard Serra drawing retrospective exhibit, a cerebral, intriguing more than exhilaration exhibit.  I enjoyed it very much but due to the photograph restriction, I can only share some images from SFMOMA's website:



They were just as monumental as his more celebrated sculptures, such as the "Sequence", currently in Stanford University and will move to SFMOMA once its new wing completes, though more somber and forbidding.  They were not all drawings - some were done with paint sticks on canvas or linen.  The richness of the texture completely compensated the absence of colors.

I then encountered the 2010 SECA Art Award exhibit, which also included many works from past winning entries.  In those rooms, everything has something to recommend though not every piece struck me as with exceptional depth, incredible beauty or iconographic longevity.  But one piece stood out for its unbridled fun and ever changing shapes and lines - Nest, made of Pencils and Glue, by Gay Outlaw, a 1998 SECA Art Award winner:









Another piece I do live very much was Japanese Maple II, Oil and wax on canvas on panel, by Anne Appleby, 1996 SECA Art Award winner:


Japanese Maple II, Oil and wax on canvas on panel, Anne Appleby, 1996 SECA Art Award

Finally, I'll cite a delicate watercolor on paper by Laurie Reid, another 1998 SECA Art Award winner - Love Litany:


Love Litany, Watercolor on paper, Laurie Reid - 1998 SECA Art Award

Breathtaking Sunset

Last night's sunset was breathtakingly beautiful.  I had to praise the cosmic wonder and feel very small and humble.  There were so many mystery and I was very tempted to believe in some omnipresent force behind everything.  Yes or no, actually, it hardly matters in the end.  What is important for every individual is to treasure the little insignificant time we have on earth and live to the fullest potential we have.