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.

Nathan Hale

 On September 22, 1776 -- 250 years ago today --  the British hanged Nathan Hale for spying on behalf of the Patriots.  He is reputed to have said “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”  

Hale was born and raised in Coventry, Connecticut.  He was educated at Yale, where he graduated with honors before starting a career as a teacher.  His room at Yale is in Connecticut Hall, this brick building in Yale's Old Campus.  The statue by Bela Lyon Pratt was placed here in 1914.

Nathan Hale's strong Connecticut ties and the brave last words attributed to him have given rise to several Connecticut statues in Hale's honor.  This 1889 statue by Enoch Smith Woods is in front of 

the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.

And, Hale has a position of honor in the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford.  This 1886 statue by Karl Gerhart is in the east entrance of the Capitol lobby.  On October 1, 1985, by an act of the General Assembly and the efforts of the Nathan Hale Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, Nathan Hale officially became Connecticut's State Hero.