Documentary Photographers with Social Concerns

Documentary photographers and socially concerned photojournalists have been working in the United States since the 1880s. At that time, Jacob A. Riis wanted to bring to light the atrocious living conditions in the lodgings, basements and back streets of New York City. Riis’s photographs were the proof that society needed to change. Thanks to advances in technology it was possible for the images to be reproduced and distributed to a wide audience.

Five Cents Lodging, Bayard Street, c.1889. Jacob A. Riis (1849-1914). Gelatin Silver Print. Jacob A. Riis Collection, Museum of the City of New York.

Read Full Post »

Art and Fashion: Fashion in Portraiture

The Reverend Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, 1820. John Trumbull, (1756-1843). Oil on Canvas, 29 3/4 x 23 3/4 in. New Britain Museum of American Art, Harriet Russell Stanley Fund, 1948.08.

Regardless of time or place, fashion has been an unmistakable facet of portraiture. What someone is wearing in their depiction can tell the viewer the period in which it was painted, the economic standing of the sitter, their relative age, and much much more. While the faces of the subjects are important for identification, their clothing gives further insight to their lives. In John Trumbull’s portrait of Reverend Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (1820) we can assess what kind of man he is without ever knowing his title. He is clothed in traditional clergyman robes—an austere black and white. The overall lack of color in his wardrobe signifies a devotion to his religious practices while the singularly bright book indicates his passion for the scriptures.

Read Full Post »

Collection Highlights: The Eight

Snow in New York, 1902. Robert Henri, (1865-1929). Oil on canvas, 32 x 25 13/16 in. (81.3 x 65.5 cm). National Gallery of Art, from the Chester Dale Collection, 1954.4.3.

“The Eight” was a group of American artists devoted to depicting urban realism in each of their own unique styles.  They were considered to be rebellious pioneers of modern American art.  The Eight exhibited only once together in 1908 where they took it upon themselves to organize the exhibition rather than to go through the National Academy.

Robert Henri (1865-1929) was the leader of the group.  He met and befriended the “Philadelphia Four,” a group of newspaper illustrators (William Glakens, George Luks, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan) and encouraged them to become painters.  The five of them eventually moved to New York City and also came to be associated with the Ashcan School. 

Read Full Post »

Museum Ethics: Fakes on Display

Young Archer. Attributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564). Marble sculpture. French Republic, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.

In today’s technologically savvy society, how should the authenticity of a piece of artwork really be determined? By human eyes? By technology? Some combination of “collector’s intuition” and scientific analysis?

Recently, a mathematics professor at Dartmouth College, Daniel Rockmore, used his arithmetic background to develop a technique that determines if a work is real or an excellent copy. The notion of combining Rockmore’s mathematics background with his love of art was triggered by a visit to the Pieter Bruegel the Elder exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2001. The exhibition featured works by Bruegel as well as works that had long been attributed to him. After viewing the exhibit, Rockmore realized that using digital prints of the works, he could design a computer program that would analyze the pen stokes and distinguish which were Bruegel-like and which were not.

Read Full Post »

Collection Highlights: Lady of Shallot by John LaFarge

Romans during the Decadence, 1847.Thomas Couture (1815-1879). Oil on canvas, 472 x 772 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.

John La Farge took his first art class at the age of five. Following his graduation from university, he began an apprenticeship at a law firm in New York City. During that time he continued with his art studies. In 1856, his father, a successful lawyer, sent him on a trip to visit relatives in France. In Paris he worked in Thomas Couture’s studio, suggested he copy drawings by the Old Masters during museum visits. La Farge returned to New York in 1857 when he found out that his father’s health was rapidly deteriorating. On his way back he stopped in Manchester, England to see an exhibition that included modern art, works by the old masters, and paintings by the British Pre-Raphaelites.

Read Full Post »

Exhibition Survey 2010! Online Poll

Don’t have the time to fill out the whole form and send it in?

No problem! Take this poll!

Read Full Post »

Kwabena Slaughter: Breaking Photographic Traditions with Unbroken Photos

Dancing with the Woman in Red, 2008. Kwabena Slaughter. Detail at inch 410. 35mm slide filmstrip on light-box. Collection of the artist.

The photography-based work of NEW/NOW artist Kwabena Slaughter is currently featured in the New Britain Museum of American Art’s Cheney Gallery from Jan. 29 to April 25, 2010.

Popular photographic images bear a strong visual similarity with western painting; Slaughter deconstructs this notion of photography, as well as the structure of the camera, by utilizing an entire roll of film to create one distorted and continuous photograph. He considers cameras and photographs cultural artifacts that reveal a great deal about the society. His work asks: “what would photography look like if it had grown out of a different aesthetic tradition?”

Read Full Post »

Inspired Innovations: A Celebration of Shaker Ingenuity

Shaker Woodenware Sewing Baskets. Pine and Ash with Silk, Wax, and Poplar. 9 x 12.5 x 7 in. Miller Collection.

Inspired Innovations: A Celebration of Shaker Ingenuity is currently on view in the McKernan Gallery showcasing beautifully hand-crafted furniture, inventions and artifacts from the Shaker community.

Curated by West Hartford, Connecticut Shaker scholar and collector M.  Stephen Miller, Inspired Innovations seeks to raise awareness about the Shakers, who have successfully faced more than 220 years of challenges. Emphasis will be placed on the community that existed in Enfield, Connecticut from 1790 to 1917.

Read Full Post »

Art and Fashion: Ruthie Davis, Lady Gaga and How the Industry Has Changed

Ruthie Davis, GRAFFITI: Mondrian Pump with 4.5” nut & bolt heel, 1” forefoot platform, chic fluo patent leather.

With New York Fashion Week right around the corner (February 11-18th) and an upcoming exhibition of Ruthie Davis’ High-Fashion footwear at the NBMAA (Mar. 20 – June 20), one begins to wonder: where does fashion end and art begin? Haute Couture, once a world few dared to enter (its pure and unabashed exclusivity combined with utter impracticality often drives the “average” consumer away) has made its way into both popular culture and art , as a form of art in and of itself.

Read Full Post »

Major Installation by Artist Lisa Hoke

Following a national competition for the honor, artist Lisa Hoke of New York City was commissioned to create a new installation for the NBMAA at the top of the LeWitt Staircase leading from the first to second floor of the Museum.

The Gravity of Color, New Britain, 2008. Lisa Hoke. Plastic and Paper cups, paint and hardware. Stephen B. Lawrence Fund and the Edwin Austin Abbey Mural Fund of the National Academy of Design.

Read Full Post »