I have been working on crossing a few museums of my places to visit list this year. I already visited Montreal and my birthday is always a great excuse to visit some place new.

So in honor of my birthday my wonderful friend Kimberly and I drove to Baltimore for a few hours and wandered around The Walters Musuem of Art. It was a museum that I happened to stumble upon and knew nothing about. I am really glad that we went because I really loved it, there was the feeling of being in a small, intimate museum, but the work on display was what you would expect from one of the massive museums. On display is art ranging from pre-dynastic Egypt to the 20th Century, some beautiful scultpure and even a few Fabergé eggs. Personally wanted to take home with all the wonderful Lalique jewelry and a few vases as well.

Since modern art is not my preferred categories, the exclusion did not bother me. On the other hand the closed or unable to find Asian Art win bothered me slightly. That stems from the fact that there is always some area of a museum closed when I visit – the Prado, Musée d’Orsay, Montreal Museum of Fine Art – I am beginning to think it is me.

Level two covered the Ancient World, with examples of Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman art. Since I just finished reading the summary of Greek art a few days before I went in a little excited. Here I was able to look at what I had been reading about in person. As can be tricky with any museums layout, how the visitor to flows through this area was a little tricky. We started with the Egyptians, but ended with the early Greeks. To be honest, they have tried to position Egypt is a part all in its own, but it does lead into the ancient near east, or at least that is how I found it. In doing so I walked back through time, leaving Egypt via the Roman empire and ending in the early Greeks. I probably would not have even noticed, other than the fact that I am trying to learn to notice these things.

From there we walked through the Sculpture Court and the 17th and 18th century European art rooms which surrounded it. The museum impressed me with their Chamber of Wonders. It was not so much for the assortment displayed – which was great – but the idea of presenting this style of museum display. There was one very small special exhibit on display, The Art of the Writing Instrument from Paris to Persia. It was interesting, I actually would  have liked to see more items and the 19th century art was great, but it is always my favorite. Having never seen Titian’s “Venus of Urbino” being able to see Ingres’ copy the “Reclining Venus” hanging on one wall was a surprise to me. It is probably the closest I will ever get to the scandalous masterpiece.

As we were leaving we walked past the Conservation Window, which I think was the best part of the visit. So far I have learned nothing along the lines of art conservation, here they had one of the museum conservators showing a project they were working on and talking about it. The staff member we listened to worked on paper and prints, so she was showing a watercolor on floor paper that she was working on. It was very interesting to here what issues she was facing in the conversation process. I had read during my poster research some of the challenges of exhibiting works on paper. In this case the stability was a major issue and I was able to see how the paper sagged in areas and pulled at its tacking.

One piece that was very interesting that I now need to add to my list of things to learn more about was The Young Girl of Bou-Saadaby Ernest Barrias. So far all I have found is that this sculpture also appears on the tomb of Gustave Guillaumet in Montmartre in Paris.

The exhibit Gauguin – Maker of Myth at the National Gallery of Art was the real driving force behind the May afternoon I spent visiting the museums in DC. The exhibit closed on June 5th and I really wanted to see it while it was on display.

If John Singer Sargent’s Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose is my first love – innocent and sweet – then Paul Gauguin’s The Sacred Mountain is a love based on pure attraction. It was that painting that I wrote my first art analysis on so many years ago when I took my first art history class. The assignment was to simple, visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art and pick any piece to write a formal analysis of. Out of all the work available to me in the museum it was Gauguin’s colors that attracted me to this canvas.

Paul Gauguin, The Sacred Mountain (Parahi Te Marae), 1892© Philadelphia Museum of Art

At that point in time I knew nothing of Gauguin’s personal history or even what any of this other pieces were like, but I loved the painting. I have since learned about the artists personal life and I cannot say that the guy was all that great, nor is he that different then many other artists. My opinions about his work have never been as strong as say Susan Burns’ are, but some of his work I do not like. Until I personally experienced the Breton culture I did not understand the charm that his work from that period of his life captured. Also, other than the Philadelphia piece, I have spent little time looking at his works in person and this exhibit was the perfect opportunity to do just that.

It has been over 30 years since there has been a display of his work this size in the United States, and with nearly 120 pieces on view his evolution as an artist is clear. The exhibit organized around the theme of Myths, the works were divided into Personal Myths, Breton Myths, Tropical Myths and Sacred Myths. An arrangement which provided visitors with  an idea of Gauguin’s evolution as a painter. The exhibit expressed the connection to artistic styles which were growing in the art world at the time. You cannot help to see Pissarro, Cezanne’s influence and nor can you over look the effect his friendship with Van Gogh had on his art. Looking at the pieces from the “Breton Myths”, you can see the canvas showing through the paint. He did not apply the paint as evenly to the canvas and as his style evolved the canvas was covered more evenly. I also saw a change in the modeling he used, making the “Tropical Myths” feel more refined in some manner.

The task of showing all this to the public and to do well required incredible cooperation by museums from around the world. Truthfully, the museum geek part of me thinks that this fact was one of the things that made this exhibit remarkable. Standing in Washington D.C. the visitor was able to see pieces from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York and the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh – only a few feet from each other. I wish I had written down all the museums which sent a piece, potentially a very predominate piece, from their collection to this display. In fact my love from Philadelphia hung in the exhibit as well, and once again it drew me in.

Paul Gauguin, Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel), 1888, © National Galleries of Scotland

His colorful paintings are attention grabbing, but what I really enjoyed the most were the carvings and wood cuts. I have a soft spot for wood cuts, printmaking in general so the fact that I could see some of Gauguin’s was a bonus. The real treat for me was that on display from the Musée d’Orsay were the five wood carved pieces that make up Maison du Jouir. This group alone was worth visiting the exhibit to see and that it was available for display is remarkable. I think that the fact that all five pieces are owned by one museum is wonderful to see happen when so often “sets” ended being split between several different museums or collections. The Musèe held four of the pieces which had been purchased for Saint-Pol-Roux since 1952, they were able to complete this set in 1990 when the fifth piece was purchased. To then to lend out these pieces to another museum, across the ocean for several months is another thing all together.

My practical mind believes that if the Musèe was not currently going through an extensive remodel these carvings would not have made their way to Washington D.C., hopefully I am wrong and this is just one example of the how the art world all working together to share with the public. Whatever the reason, I am really glad that they were included in the display, being able to see these in context with the paintings, carvings and sculptural pieces really was amazing. They captured my attention for quite awhile and I went back to look at them again after walking through the entire show. 

I have much more to look into now, the wall text had some information about the idea of foxes as a representation of perversity, which is seen in many of his works. An aspect that I have seen, but did not know of the symbolic connection. The largest area that I want to explore is Gauguin’s ceramics. I never knew that he worked in ceramic, and to be completely honest looking at the pieces in person I think that maybe he should have done more. While the colors he uses in his paintings are wonderful and brilliant, I think the ceramics represent his best work.

Paul Gauguin, Eve, 1890, glazed ceramic © National Gallery of Art

His figure Eve can be seen at the National Gallery of Art, in Gallery 5 of the East building until September.

Links & Sources:

• National Gallery of Art – the pieces in their collection
• The Guide Musèe d’Orsay
• Paul Gauguin – The Complete Works
• Gauguin: Maker of Myth
• Biography