Morgan Great Hall

Morgan Great Hall -- named after Junius Spencer Morgan from the famous financier family -- has been rehung salon-style with 95 paintings from the Atheneum's European collection. 

"Salon-style" refers to a tightly packed, multi-level approach to hanging artwork, illustrated in this 1749 painting, The Picture Gallery of Cardinal Sylvio Valenti Gonzaga, by Giovanni Paolo Panini.

The Wadsworth Atheneum is the country's oldest continuously operating art museum.  Founded in 1842, the original building is a castle-like Gothic Revival structure designed by Alexander Jackson Davis.  With four other connected buildings from different periods, it now houses 50,000 artworks. 

OMG! The Wadsworth Atheneum

Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum re-opened two weeks ago after a five year, $33 million renovation.

The museum also sports metal-neon-and-light-bulb "OMG" artwork above the entrance. 

All of the galleries are open for the first time in recent memory.
They have been reorganized and rehung.  Let's see some galleries over the next few days.

A Last Run through the French Photographs

Yesterday I took a look at the photographs from France, as I prepared to make a photo album 

for the trip.  I didn't make the album (yet), but I saw some you might like.

I was on a bridge taking night shots of the Eiffel Tower and turned around.

 Everyone who goes to Palais Royal has to shoot one of these.

 He REALLY didn't want to have his picture taken.

This stunning Frenchwoman was studying the large format photographs of

tribal Africans who cut their faces in an ancient (but dying) tradition.

Maybe it is not possible to show the Eiffel Tower in a new way, but I tried.

It is said that Julia Child had a meal at this Rouen restaurant 

and decided she wanted to learn how to cook.

This is a "fail."  On a night boat ride past Notre Dame on the Seine, I couldn't find the settings to deal with the boat's movement and the darkness, but I thought the failure was kind of artistic.

The Bomb Shelter is Gone

Most of the houses in my neighborhood are quite nice.  But, there are a few exceptions.

The most conspicuous exception was "the bomb shelter," an odd low structure built during the Cold War's fascination in the 1950s with the potential for a nuclear holocaust.

  

For the past two weeks, a developer's equipment has been demolishing the bomb shelter.  Now all that remains is clean-up and then construction of a new home that will fit better with its neighbors.

Jaguar

If anyone wants to make an advertisement for classic Jaguars, this photo is available.  Cheap.

A Rainy Day in Elizabeth Park

I have been greeted in Hartford by several days of rain, with more expected this weekend.  

Given how hot and dry the summer has been, that is not all bad.

I drove through Elizabeth Park and took a few photos out the car window.

Like reflections?  Visit James' blog, Weekend Reflections.

Village for Families and Children

The Village was founded in Hartford in 1809.  It is a nonprofit organization that provides
services to neglected children and families suffering from abuse.  It places orphans and
provides shelter and safe homes when endangered families and children need help.

The October theme for photographers and bloggers in the City Daily Photo community
 is "shelter."  Click here to see how others approach the theme.