A day of art
Micaela and I got out of the house today and went to the Museum of Printing History and then to the MFAH where we saw an amazing exhibition of French painting from the Met 1800-1920.
I always feel a mixture of sadness and exhiliration when I see the female models especially knowing they were the rebel women of their times and most of them only live on anonymously, captured by the brush. I try to imagine what it might have been like to be a woman outside of the mainstream at that time; more difficult I imagine than now. I can't look at paintings and the texture in them without imagining it placed in its time and environment; some dusty studio, the smell of oil paint and an itchy nose that couldn't be scratched. That painting in front of me was part of a life that is now gone...makes me feel small, but inspired!
I'm not a huge fan of impressionism, but the organization of the paintings from early in the 19th century into the beginnings of the 20th gave a real feeling of how painting evolved over that time, including, of course, the impressionists.
I always feel a mixture of sadness and exhiliration when I see the female models especially knowing they were the rebel women of their times and most of them only live on anonymously, captured by the brush. I try to imagine what it might have been like to be a woman outside of the mainstream at that time; more difficult I imagine than now. I can't look at paintings and the texture in them without imagining it placed in its time and environment; some dusty studio, the smell of oil paint and an itchy nose that couldn't be scratched. That painting in front of me was part of a life that is now gone...makes me feel small, but inspired!
I'm not a huge fan of impressionism, but the organization of the paintings from early in the 19th century into the beginnings of the 20th gave a real feeling of how painting evolved over that time, including, of course, the impressionists.
posted by Jeanne at 12:02 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds like a lovely afternoon at the exhibition. Like you, I often wonder about those women and the things they endured for "art."
Post a Comment
<< Home