Centered book jacket

Here is where the layout lines should be placed on this book....

Project 4: Book Cover- The History of Ballet

Project 4: Book Cover- The History of Ballet

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This past weekend, I traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York city. On this trip,  I traveled with my family, my parents and my sister accompanied me on this trip. Fortunately for us the day was beautiful. From early morning, I knew that it was going to stay that way for the rest of the day. We left for the train station at 8:00 am and we parked in the stations parking. We took the 8:25am train which put us in NY at about 10:30am.

 

Our arrival in NY was without delay. Luckily my sister knew her way around the subway and we took the subway to 86th street and we walked the three blocks  to the museum. Apparently everyone was in the same frame of mind because it seemed that everyone was out enjoying the day. The museum was full of people.

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art earliest roots begin in Paris, France to 1866 when a group of Americans created a "national institution and gallery of art" to bring art and education the American people. The lawyer John Jay who was the one the proposed the idea, upon his return to the states began to move the project forward. Under his watchful eye the Union League Club in New York got together civic leaders, businessmen, artists, art collectors and philanthropists and on April 13, 1870, the Museum was incorporated an opened to the public. It was opened in the Dodworth Building at 681 Fifth Avenue. On November of that same year the Museum acquired its first object, a roman sarcophagus.

 

On March 30, 1880 after a brief move to the Douglas Mansion at 128 West 14th Street the museum opened again to the public at its current site on Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street. The architects Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould designed the Ruskinian Gothic building, the west facade of which is still visible in the Robert Lehman Wing. The building has since expanded with various additions, built as early as 1888 which now completely surround the original building.  

 

The building was massive and with so many people I couldn't decide what to go see first. We decided to just go down the hall way on the left and we came upon something that has always fascinated me, Greek Mythology and its sculptures.  My mother would tell me the stories about Zeus, Hera and Hercules. I remember that one of my favorite shows to watch when I was younger was Hercules and Xena Warrior Princess. The following pictures are of the pieces that caught my eye walking through the gallery.

  

Marble torso of a cuirassed statue of an emperor
Rome, late Augustan or Julio-Claudian, 1st half of the 1st century A.D
Said to be from the Roman colony of Salona in Dalmatia
(modern Croatia)

This was the first thing that you see when you enter the gallery that houses the Greek sculptures. This is an example of Roman imperial art. The breastplate is decorated in relief on the chest with the Sun God (Sol) emerging from the waters in a frontal quadriga (four-horse chariot) and on the abdomen with two Victories hanging shields on a trophy.

 

Marble column from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis
Greek, Hellenistic, ca. 300 B.C.



This is a section of a fluted Ionic column in the center stood over fifty-eight feet high in its original location at the Temple of Artemis. The delicate foliate carving on the capital is unique among extant capital from the temple.

 

Marble statue of Eirene (the personification of peace)
Roman, Julio-Claudian period, ca. A.D. 14-68
Copy of a Greek bronze statue of 375/375-360/359 B.C.
By Kephisodotos



This a statute of Eirene the daughter of Zeus and Themis. She is one of the three Horai (seasons) maidens associated with fertility of the earth and the nurturing of children. The original statue made of bronze was erected in the Agora (marketplace) of Athens between375/374 and 360/359 B.C. 

 

Marble statue of Hermes
Roman, Imperial period, 1st or 2nd century A.D
Copy of adaptation of a Greek statue of the late 5th or early 4th century B.C. 

Statue of Hermes. Hermes was the God of Greek religion and mythology,  he is the messenger of the gods and the intercessor between mortals and the divine as well as the conductor of souls into the afterlife. He is the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia. He is he second youngest of the Olympian gods.

 

Marble of a statue of a girl
Roman, Imperial period, 1st or 2nd century A.D.
Copy or adaptation of a Greek work of the
3rd or 2nd century B.C. 

Is a a statue of a girl that was restored in the 17th century. The back of the head, neck, plinth with both feet and the drapery adjoining the left foot and the drapery folds along the left side. This statue was done during the Hellenistic period and sculptors during that period liked doing complex renditions with layers of drapery. This sculptor was once a part of the collection formed by the MarcheseVincenzo Giustiniani in Rome. 

 

My trip with my family to the Met was an awesome experience. I truly enjoined my time there and this summer I will definitely return to see the rest of the galleries that I didn't get to see.

 

Graphic Artist Susan Kare



Susan Kare does a lot of digital design work and has done an extensive amount of work for Apple during her career. She was the screen graphic and font designer for Macintosh during the company's formative years. Susan has designed for many software companies. Her designs are simplistic, clear,  and appeasing to the eyes.



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Graphic designer Jessica Walsh



America born graphic designer, art director and illustrator Jessica Walsh is only 28 years of age and already has an illustrious resume. Jessica has a very eccentric, abstract and eclectic sense of style shown in a few of  her works below. She currently owns and operates her New York based company Sagmeutser & Walsh along with her business partner fellow graphic artists Stefan Sagmeister. They service many clients including some well known clients such as, Levis, HBO and BMW. 

New Britain Museum of American Art

This week I also visited the New Britain Museum of American Art, This museum was really nice and I must say this was one of my favorite museums I visited for this course. There was an art auction going on this day, so there were pretty wedding like table set up in each room. The atmosphere was very elegant. The museum was founded in 1903, and it is the first museum in the country dedicated to American art. I took the ride up from Bridgeport it was a nice ride, a little traffic and it took me about 45 minutes. It looks like it was in a residential area, not too far from a city park. I really enjoyed my visit up there.

The museum was really nice and the decor was admirable. I like the Otis Kaye Money, Mystery and Mastery room. It was filled with artwork with money displayed out of the ordinary.

<<<Heart of the Matter 1963

^^^ Fate Is the Dealer 1957

West Rock Branches 2012

Valerie Hegarty 1967

Made of wood, wire, epoxy, archival print on canvas, acrylic paint, gel mediums, sand, glue, hardware. This was my favorite pieces in the museum. Valerie's West Rock Branches was based on Frederic E, Church's West rock , New haven, 1849. Hegarty took the original painting and framed it in burnt and blackened canvas on what looks like to be roots. Hegarty work represent the destruction of the land that Frederic once painted as a beautiful landmark. 

Mattatuck Museum

 This week I visited the Mattatuck Museum of art in Waterbury CT. The museum focuses on the work of painters and sculptors who were born and/or based in Connecticut. Its collection spans the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The museum highlights the commercial and cultural achievements related to the city of Waterbury. The museum was small and only the 1^st and 3^rd floor were open for viewing as the 2^nd floor was under renovation and will be open next week.

 

Horizontal Mona Lisa,1993

oil on a canvas, 14x18

George Deem

This painting was influenced by the original Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, ca, 1503-1506. Although I have seen the original Mona Lisa several times it caught my eye because of its position. The idea of the artist was to make a point that how certain images are so into our          conscious minds that we recognize them even when they are altered. 

This is true, Deem turned the painting on its side and turned the face 

                                                     upside down. 

Fragonard at the Frick, 2006

oil on a canvas

This piece was another gift from the estate of George Deem. This picture caught my eye because I remember studying late Baroque art in Art History class. I really enjoyed that class and the art from that era.  This piece is part of the Frick art collection in New York, called Progress of Love which is part of the large murals origin as a decorative series for Madame du Barry.

Bruce Museum

This past weekend I traveled to the Bruce Museum in Greenwich. I again traveled alone. The ride up there wasn't to bad and traffic wasn't bad at all either. It took me an hour to get up there. 



The museum is and institution that has exhibits of art, science and natural history.

 

The original museum was built as a private home in 1853. Robert Moffat Bruce, a wealthy textile merchant and a member of the New York cotton Exchange, bought the house and property in 1858 and deeded them to the Town on Greenwich in 1908. In the deed he stipulated that the property be used as a natural history, historical and art museum for the benefit of the public. The first exhibition of the Bruce Museum took place in 1912 and it had art form local artists known as the Greenwich Society of Artists.

 

Over the years and because of the generosity of its community the museum has built a collection of more than 15,000 objects representing the arts and sciences.

 

During my visit, unfortunately they had the art exhibits closed because they were changing the exhibits. The only thing that was open was the science part of the museum.

Persephone, 1987
Mary Frank (American, Born London 1923)
Bronze, 27 x 73 x 40 inches

 In the entrance of the museum they have two awesome sculptures that caught my attention. This is Persephone the daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter. The legend says that Hades saw her and fell in love with her and because of that he stole her and took her to the underworld.

Dans la nuit, 1935
Gaston Lachaise (1882-1935)
Bronze

This sculpture was the first thing that caught my eye when  I first arrived that the museum. The couple embracing each other is beautiful. This is called Dans la nuit, meaning In the night.



 

This is a dwelling that represents the large population of Indians that lived here. The tribe called the Siwanoy people that belonged to a larger group of Indians known as the Munsee-speaking Lanape. The Siwanoys most likely lived a at Greenwich point but moved inland during the coldest months of the season. They depended on fishing, farming, hunting and foraging. The model above is what it might have looked like 800 years ago. 

 

 

Some thing interesting that I learned on my visit was that the Native Americas were the one that invented lacrosse which it's still played today.

 

My visit to the museum was interesting learning about the life of the Native Americans that lived in Connecticut (which its an Indian word) hundreds of years ago. This coming weekend I will be traveling to New York with my family to visit The Met, which I'm really excited about.