Connecticut
I
flew into La Guadia. I would have preferred JFK, but it was cheaper to
go to LaGuadia. I rented a car and drove to my dad's. It was hot and humid
in Connecticut. On Sunday I went to see Terry who happened to be at his
parent's house. Later on in the week I got together with Paul and Mark,
but I forgot to take my camera so I didn't get any photographs. I helped
my sister put up so blinds in the bedrooms upstairs and I went through
all of the old photographs that my dad had. I shipped a large number of
the photographs back to my house. I plan on scanning them in and eventually
putting them on my website. One of the things that disappointed me was
finding some old tin-types that my mom had. These were very old photographs
and we suspected that they were photos of my mom's relatives but since
they were unmarked we didn't know for sure who was in the photos. There
is no one left alive on my mom's side of the family so we will never be
able to find out who they are photos of.
HillStead Museum
On
Tuesday I took a drive up to Farmington Connecticut which is about an
hour from my dad's house to visit the HillStead
Museum. The reason for going to the Hillstead was to see their small
collection of Impressionist Art. They had serveral paintings by Monet
including two from the Haystack series, one of the Harbor at Le Havre
and one of Antibes. The one of Antibes was my favorite and made the trip
worthwhile. There were also a couple of Degas there that I didn't care
for that much. Like many private museums one isn't allowed to take photographs
inside the museum. In fact, we had to be escorted by the docent the entire
time which meant that I couldn't go back and look at the paintings that
I liked the best.
Yale Art Museum
On
Wednesday I took a drive to New Haven to see the Yale
Art Museum. I used to live in New Haven when I went to college at
Southern Connecticut. The museum has a pretty good collection of Impressionist
art which was the reason for the trip. On my way to the museum I remembered
why I hate New Haven. The musuem was easy to get to, but parking was extremely
difficult. All of the one way streets don't make the task any easier.
Once I got to the museum I discovered that it was undergoing reconstruction
and a number of the exhibites were closed. The musuem had made an attempt
at trying to show works that were representative of the collection and
so there were a limited number of Impressionist works to see. I didn't
mind this, what I did mind was that one entire wall (that could have held
eight normal paintings) was taken up by a god-awful Duchamp and a snow
shovel by some artist that I had never heard of before. Fortunately the
collection of American artists on the second floor made up for the short
comings of the first floor.
Rodin Museum
On
Thursday I drove down to Philadelphia to see Ken Wing and his family.
When I got there Ken's wife Cara and his kids were out at the library
so Ken and I went out to get some lunch and to see the Rodin
Museum. The Rodin Museum in Philadelphia has the second largest collection
of Rodins in the world. Ken hadn't been to the museum before and I think
he liked it. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
After leaving the Rodin Museum Ken said that he was surprised that I wasn't going to see the Barns Foundation Collection of Impressionist Art while I was in Philadelphia. I had thought about it when I was planning the trip but I had read that it required reservations. Ken suggested that since it was a short distance that we just drive there and see if we could get in. We arrived shortly before the place was going to close. The guard at the gate gave me the telephone number and I was able to make a reservation for the next day.
Ken's House
Ken
and I returned to his house. By that time Cara and the kids were home.
Cara made a great meal and they should me their pottery and some of the
things that the kids had made. Ken showed me his shop in the basement.
He has a metal working shop and a wood working shop. Almost all of the
tools are antiques or just old. Ken has a table saw that is his father-in-law's.
It is old and doesn't have a safety guard on it like all saws are required
to these days. Ken told me that it was unlikely that his father-in-law
would want the saw back anytime soon since he had cut of his fingers with
it a number of years ago and none of his kids were particularly interested
in owning it since they witnessed him sawing off his fingers. (The fingers
were reattached.) Ken and Cara have a very nice home, but unfortunately
I all took photos Ken's workshop.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The
next morning I left Ken's house and headed for the Philadelphia
Museum of Art which has an excellent collection of Impressionist art
as well as other periods. I could only get an appointment at the Barns
Foundation for 12:00 andI only had two hours to spend at the Museum so
I just concentrated on the Impressionist art although I did take a look
at some of the post-impressionist art and a few of the modern pieces.
The museum has a great collection of Monet's and Cezanne's as well as
a few Pissarro's. I was disappointed to see only two Sisley's at the museum
because I know they have several more. There were also a number of Rodin
sculptures at the museum.
The Barnes Foundation
The
Barnes Foundation was originally a private collection. The only paintings
in the place are the ones that Mr. Barnes collected. The museum is an
old mansion that is filled with paintings. Unlike most museums the paintings
are just stacked one on top of another and hung close to one another to
accommodate as many paintings as possible. There were an incredible number
of Renoirs, also a large number of Cezannes. There were also paintings
by two artists that I wasn't that familar with that I liked very much.
One was Soutine and the other was Pendergast. Like most private museums
I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the museum.
Terry's Wedding
Saturday
was Terry's wedding. I hate driving in Connecticut! I've grown used to
driving in L.A. where everything is accessible by freeway and all of the
streets are laid out in a grid. I got lost going to the wedding and arrived
late. I was late and worried about missing the wedding so I left my camera
in the car. It wasn't until after the ceramony was over that I went back
and got my camera. The wedding was a lot of fun and it was good to see
Rick and Paul again. I didn't have much time to talk to Terry but that
is pretty typical of weddings. I should cut down on the number of pictures
of the wedding that I have, but I wanted Terry to be able so see most
of them.