A Tall Hartford Mural

This is Reach, an eight story tall mural by ARCY, behind the TheaterWorks building in downtown Hartford.  

 

ARCY describes the meaning of the mural as follows:  "the low bearing fruit may be easy to attain, but to reach beyond demonstrates the will to persevere, to never settle for less than your potential, and to always follow your dreams, no matter how high they are."

ARCY is New Haven-based artist Ryan Christenson, who has been painting murals worldwide over 20 years.  (ARCY is a play on his initials RC.)  ARCY was supported in this project by the Greater Hartford Arts Council, Theater Works and CT Murals.

This post is linked to Monday Murals.

Some gems at Wadsworth Atheneum

 Here are some of the amazing paintings at Wadsworth Atheneum.

A special surrealist painting by Salvador Dali.  The central image is either a chalice or a face.  

Vincent Van Gogh was fascinated with painting himself.  He did it numerous times over his brief career.

John Singleton Copley was a superb portrait artist.  This portrait of Bridget Forrester Foot always catches my eye because it shows us a not overly attractive woman just the way she must have looked.

Gilbert Stuart is famous because of his portraits of George Washington.  I liked seeing his painting of a different man, in this case James Heath.

Marsden Hartley painted this image of Military a year before the start of World War I.  As the nearby label wrote, "Here, numbers, bold shapes, and vivid colors evoke the sights and sounds of military music and parades. You don't just see the rhythm; you can hear it.  Military turns paint into music, line into movement."

This isn't a work by an artist famous today, but it is the kind of painting one can spend time admiring.  Giovanni Paolo Panini was a Roman artist who painted The Picture Gallery of Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga, a huge work, in the middle of the 16th century.

Charter Oak at Wadsworth Atheneum

The Charter Oak was an exceptionally large oak tree growing in Hartford from around the 12th or 13th century until it fell during a storm in 1856.  Connecticut colonists hid Connecticut's Royal Charter of 1662 within the tree's hollow to thwart its confiscation by Sir Edmund Andros.  

After the Charter Oak fell, pieces of it were gathered and turned into a variety of pieces.  This chair at Wadsworth Atheneum is said to be constructed from the Charter Oak.  A painting of the Charter Oak is visible behind the chair.  The painting's frame is also said to be from pieces of the fallen tree.

The gunmaker Samuel Colt was a wealthy Hartford businessman when the Charter Oak fell.  He had a bassinet crafted from the Charter Oak.  (See the colts atop the supports?)  It is said that Colt's three children swung in this bassinet when they were babies.

Batey Boricua at Wadsworth Atheneum

 

Hartford has the largest Puerto Rican population of any city in the continental United States.  This month the Wadsworth Atheneum is showing works by local Puerto Rican artists in Avery Court as part of the museum's America 250 celebrations.

Sol LeWitt at Wadsworth Athenum

Sol LeWitt was a Connecticut-born artist known for "conceptual art."  He believed that it is the idea that is important, not the execution.  In many cases he developed a plan and had assistants do the painting.

In 2004 the Wadsworth commissioned LeWitt for a wall drawing for the entrance to Great Hall.  The colorful Whirls and Twirls is the result.  LeWitt imagined patterns of circles and squares created in the rainbow’s colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Whirls and Twirls is a striking contrast to the pale classical forms in Morgan Hall where it is painted.  At the base of the monumental staircase leading to second story display areas, Hartford-born financier J. P. Morgan commissioned an inscription with brass letters announcing the dedication of the memorial to his father and his family’s ties to Hartford.

The museum's entrance has an earlier wall drawing by LeWitt.  This view is from a floor above the front doors, looking through the entrance hall toward the Wadsworth 1 gallery.  It also shows a sign for "Rebel, Revolt, Resist," an America 250 theme reflected in many galleries.

Amazing Art at Wadsworth Atheneum

 The quality of the art at Wadsworth Atheneum dazzles.  Everywhere I turned there was a work by a master.  As an example, I walked through a narrow passageway where two life-size portraits hung.  Checking the labels, they were by John Singer Sargent.  In an out-of-the-way passageway!

A docent talked about Saint Francis in Ecstasy, a painting by Caravaggio.

On a nearby easel, the chief curator's copy of the Caravaggio was on an easel.  When it is finished it will be offered for sale in a fundraiser for the museum.

Wadsworth Atheneum

 

I visited Wadsworth Atheneum with my family last Sunday.  Opened in 1844, it is the oldest continuously operating public art museum in the United States.  The collection is terrific.  Some of the art will be here in the coming days.