On the Road: Munich Art Museums (continued)

After visiting the Alte Pinakothek, I walked the short distance to the Neue Pinakothek, which turned out to be not as Neue as I had imagined. The building is new, but the art is mostly 19th century art. I have always associated the place with Impressionist and Post Impressionist art, but the museum was founded by King Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1853 (the original building was destroyed during World War II; the building that houses the collection today opened in 1981) and much of the collection is art that was contemporary around that time and not long after—in other words, 19th century art. It's not until the last three or four of more than twenty galleries that any modern painting appears (modern in the art historical sense).

The Anatomist (1869) by Gabriel von Max

Among the older works, there were some oddities that caught my eye, including a painting entitled The Anatomist (1869) by Gabriel von Max. The anatomist of the title is in shadow, alone in a dark room with a pretty female corpse, lifting the white cloth that drapes her, about to expose a lifeless white breast. He seems perplexed more than anything, as if doesn't quite know what to do with the body. Another odd painting shows a group of monkeys sitting on top of what appear to be crates for shipping paintings. The edge of a gilded frame appears to the left side. The amusing title is Apes as Art Critics (1889). It was also painted by Gabriel von Max.

Apes as Art Critics (1889) by Gabriel von Max

Arnold Böcklin, Playing in the Waves (1883)

Another oddity was Arnold Böcklin's Playing in the Waves (1883), which shows a group of people (if "people" is the right word) playing in the ocean. The men appear to be centaurs and at least the large foreground figure is a mermaid. The upturned bottom of the swimmer diving under the waves at upper right is a particularly amusing touch that suggests at least some of the swimmers are human. I liked this painting the more I looked at it, strange as it is. It's not clear to me what's going on here, but it made me laugh. Aside from that, the use of color is appealing and the way the half-submerged figures disappear into the depths as the light fades under the surface of the water is convincing. I wonder about the title. "Playing" might be the wrong term. The mermaid doesn't look especially happy....

Nymphéas (1915), Claude Monet

 There were many good pieces by Caspar David Friedrich as well. I particularly liked Riegengebirgs Landscape with Fog Rising (1819-20), but the atmospheric effects didn't photograph well.

Vincent Van Gogh, View of Arles (1889)

The Impressionist and Post-Impressionist galleries at the end of the museum, if you follow the suggested route, are impressive. The walls are painted strong colors that suddenly bring the museum alive as you turn a corner—a bit startling at first, as the colors the Impressionists used were when these paintings were new. All three of the Van Goghs here I've seen before but only in reproduction. There is an early Cézanne still life, a large Monet waterlily, one of the Van Gogh sunflower paintings, a very large, very interesting Bonnard view of a colliery using a lot of his characteristic yellows and oranges despite the subject matter, and a beautiful Gauguin, among others. I had thought there were more modern works in the museum than were on display, but it was wonderful to see these. Perhaps a lot is kept in storage and rotated often, or maybe lent frequently. I don't know....

Lignite Colliery (1918), Pierre Bonnard

The Birth–Te Manari No Atua, Paul Gauguin, 1896

Vincent Van Gogh, Vase with Sunflowers (1888)

Poster designs by Ikko Tanaka
at Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

Next, I visited Pinakothek der Moderne to see its collection of modern art. There was a lot to see and I was tired by the time I got there, so I went around in something of a daze, but I got to see a special exhibit of graphic design by Ikko Tanaka in addition to the permanent collection, which, not surprisingly, is strong in German artists and artists working in Germany, including Max Beckmann and the Expressionists. I rarely get enthusiastic about sculpture, but a pice by Oskar Schlemmer caught my eye (below) along with a few pieces by painters unfamiliar to me.

Black and white at
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

In a large gallery of starkly black and white paintings, a woman dressed from head to toe in black was an irresistible subject. I'm not sure she was unaware as I photographed her from a distance.

Abstrakte Figur (Freiplastik G)
Oskar Schlemmer (1921)

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On the Road: Kansas City to Oakley, Kansas (Summer 2009)

I got a slow start today. I went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum, but, today being Sunday,  it didn't open until noon, so I lost several hours in the morning. As a result, I didn't get as far west as I had hoped to. I am now in Oakley, Kansas. I arrived in the middle of another severe thunder storm, having woken up to one in Independence, Missouri this morning.

I'm glad I got to the museum, though. It's an excellent collection, strong in American art of the region, but also with a good collection of European painting, Asian art, and Near-Eastern art. The painting here is by Victor Higgins (1884-1949). Higgins was a member of the Taos Society of Artists. The painting dates from around 1926. It's a good example of the excellent regional art in the collection. I enjoyed seeing Thomas Hart Benton's Persephone, a funny painting that I've seen reproduced many times over the years. The museum opened in 1933, so it would have been new when my father knew it.

I left Kansas City at around 3:00PM. I had hoped to get to Colorado Springs, Colorado tonight, but, because of the storm, I decided to stay in Oakley. Just before Oakley, in Victoria, Kansas, I stopped to see St. Fidelis Church, known as "The Cathedral on the Plains." Tomorrow I'll start to cross the Rockies.

On the Road: Yellow Springs Ohio

I've been busy with work as I travel, so haven't been able to write much. That and a very long drive from St. Louis to Covington, Kentucky left me very tired. I finally feel like I've caught up on sleep a bit now. In Ohio, I'll be traveling much shorter distances before heading west again.

After my stay in Washington, Missouri, I headed out to see if I could taste a little Missouri wine. I went to Balducci Vineyards and Montelle Winery, both nearby. I tasted a range of wines at both. My impression is that Seyval Blanc makes the most successful whites from the perspective of someone used to dry vinifera-based wines, and Norton (also known as Cynthiana) seems to make the best red wines. A couple of the port-style wines I tasted were quite good. I have to say that the wine we make in our backyard is better than anything I was able to taste, but I doubt I tasted the best Missouri has to offer. Montelle is in a beautiful setting with a large outdoor deck area to eat and drink wine on.

I started late on my way to Ohio and didn't arrive in the Cincinnati area until almost 2:00 in the morning and had a very hard time finding a hotel, the first time that has happened so far. The places listed in the hotel list on my GPS either weren't there or were scary-looking, so I headed back to Covington, thinking there would be something near the airport there. I was forced to have dinner at an overcrowded Denny's, although the turkey sandwich I ordered wasn't bad at all. I stayed in a Holiday Inn in Covington. I spent most of the morning working in the hotel business center before heading out again. I went down to see the Roebling Bridge, which the locals appear to call "The Suspension Bridge." I drove down to the water near the Kentucky-side tower and looked around a bit. There is a whole neighborhood of old brick buildings there. According to a plaque near the bridge, the area was heavily fortified during the Civil War and was a point at which Union forces held back an advance from the south.

Next I went to the Cincinnati Art Museum, which has a small but attractive collection. There were some beautiful portrait miniatures, a special show of Winogrand photographs, a contemporary glass exhibit that had some interesting examples, and, of course, the regular collection. The museum has a good Sargent. I saw the Art Museum in St. Louis, too. It was smaller than I remembered it, but I enjoyed seeing it again. They have a good Holbein (pictured). I last saw the place when it hosted a huge Monet show, in 1978, while I was at Webster College. I Stopped by Webster on my way out of St. Louis. The place has expanded a great deal, but the buildings I knew are all still there. I walked through Loretto Hall and Maria Hall. I waved to my old dorm room--although I couldn't remember what floor we lived on.... I strolled the halls on all four floors, to be sure.

Heading north, later in the day, after my visit to the Cincinnati Art Museum, I headed for Dayton, but was tired and, now in familiar territory for the first time on this trip, I decided on the spur of the moment to have dinner at The Golden Lamb, in Lebanon, as I was hungry. Turns out the rooms there are no more expensive than the cookie-cutter hotels I've been staying in, so I stayed at the Inn. I stayed in the Ulysses S. Grant room. I didn't realize so many famous people had stayed there, although I knew the inn was very old, dating from 1803. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Horace Mann, Charles Dickens, Henry Clay, and presidents such as Grant, Taft, Harrison, Harding, and others all stayed there, not to mention Ronald Reagan and George Bush, more recently.

Now having lunch in Yellow Springs, Ohio. It's hardly changed in the 25 years since I was last here. The rebellious mood is unchanged--first thing I saw driving into town was an anti-war protest. People still stand around in the streets discussing politics. It's amazing how many of the shops are still there, just as they were. One or two are new, and the Winds Cafe has expanded and moved across the street, but otherwise, little has changed. With my eyes closed I could have listed the stores along the main street.

Off now to visit my old haunt, the Outdoor Education Center, at Glen Helen.