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MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, NYC (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez September 17, 2018

Was back in New York City with Mrs. Perez last week for a quick weekend getaway; primarily to catch lo-fi folk/rock act Waxahatchee at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village (check out the pics HERE). With the weekend rain dragging into Monday, we decided that a visit the only major art museum open on a Monday would be the perfect way to spend the afternoon, so we hopped a cab to NYC’s famed Museum of Modern Art. We had been there several years ago but brought my mother along who pretty much laughed her way through the museum (“You call that art?!!!”) and wanted little more than to get out of there as soon as possible. I returned this past week accompanied by Mrs. Perez, my camera and a few good lenses – but first, a little history.

Founded in 1929 by by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (wife of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.) and two of her friends, Lillie P. Bliss and Mary Quinn Sullivan, the Museum of Modern Art officially opened on November 7, 1929, nine days after the Wall Street Crash(!). It was housed in six rooms of galleries and offices on the twelfth floor of the Heckscher Building at 730 Fifth Avenue (corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street). At the time, it was America’s premier museum devoted exclusively to modern art, and the first of its kind in Manhattan to exhibit European modernism.

Former New York Governor and Vice President Neslon Rockefeller became president of the museum in 1939 and that same year MoMA opened to the public in its new (and present) location on 53rd Street. The new location was renovated and designed by the modernist architects Philip L. Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone (Stone’s other notable works include Radio City Music Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.).

In 1997, the museum undertook a major renovation and expansion designed by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi with Kohn Pedersen Fox, one of the largest architecture firms in the world. The project, including an increase in MoMA’s endowment to cover operating expenses, cost $858 million in total. The project also nearly doubled the space for MoMA’s exhibitions and programs and features 630,000 square feet of space. The Peggy and David Rockefeller Building on the western portion of the site houses the main exhibition galleries, and The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building provides space for classrooms, auditoriums, teacher training workshops, and the museum’s expanded Library and Archives.

The Museum of Modern Art is considered by many to have the best collection of modern Western masterpieces in the world, including more than 150,000 individual pieces in addition to approximately 22,000 films and 4 million film stills. Since 2012, the museum is open seven days a week and admission costs are $25 for adults, $18 for seniors and $14 for students (children 16 and under are free). TIP: Avoid long lines and buy your tickets online at www.moma.org – you’ll thank me afterwards.

Brought my camera along this time (still photography is allowed) so here are a few photographs of some of the art that caught my eye, enjoy…

Let’s kick things off with “City Dreams” by Congolese artist Bodys Isek Kingelez which consists of sculptures of imagined buildings and cities that reflected dreams for his country, his continent, and the world. The sculptures are created from a range of everyday materials and found objects — colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps — all meticulously repurposed and arranged.

“Fall of the House of Usher” (1979) by Italian artist Mario Merz (1925-2003)

An art tour discusses “Mademoiselle Pogany” (version I, 1913), a sculpture of Hungarian artist Margit Pogany, by pioneering Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957)

Images from MoMa’s “Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980” The exhibition explores themes of large-scale urbanization, technology in everyday life, consumerism, monuments and memorialization, and the global reach of Yugoslav architecture and includes more than 400 drawings, models, photographs, and film reels…

The Werner and Elaine Dannheisser Gallery features two towering wood sculptures by German sculptor Thomas Schütte and views of the city…

“Edge of Town” (1969) by American artist Philip Guston (1913-1980). Comical hooded Klan figures first appeared in Guston’s works after one of his Los Angeles murals was vandalized by the Ku Klux Klan in 1933…

“Do the Dance” (2005) by American artist Elizabeth Murray (1940-2007)

A couple perusing a portfolio of forty screenprints and lithographs from German artist Sigmar Polke (1941-2010)

“The Last Supper” (1986) by American artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987). From Carolyn Lanchner, MoMA Curator of Painting and Sculpture: In differentially vitiated colors, Dove Soap’s logo in rose and General Electric’s in muted blue announce their presence at the holy scene. God, having separated light and darkness, found his creation to be “good,” and, according to its slogan, GE, with beneficent intent, “brings good things to light.” And did not the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus at his baptism in the form of a dove? One might suspect a radically recast, reimagined transubstantiation. The much more brightly colored price tag of fifty-nine cents is more difficult to justify; might it be the cost of a Woolworth’s copy of The Last Supper?

“Reanimation” installation featuring four videos (color, sound and silent) on custom screens within a prefabricated house structure by American artist Joan Jonas

“American People Series #20: Die” (1967) by female, Harlem-born artist Faith Ringgold. The frenzied spectacle depicted here evokes the race riots that engulfed the United States in the 1960s

“Glenn” (1985) by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)

Young girl observing “Vir Heroicus Sublimis” (1950-51) by American painter and theorist Barnett Newman (1905-1970)

More than three thousand Bell-47D1 helicopters were made in the United States and sold in forty countries between 1946 and 1973, when production ceased. Its designer, Arthur Young (1905-1995), was also a poet and a painter and consciously juxtaposed its transparent plastic bubble (made in one piece rather than in sections) with the open structure of its tail boom. The bubble lends an insectlike appearance to the hovering craft, which generated its nickname, the “bug-eyed helicopter”. This was the “whirlybird” featured in the M*A*S*H movie and television series.

Claude Monet’s “Water Lillies” (1914-26). In this triptych of three mural sized panels, Monet depicted his Japanese-style pond covered with water lilies, at center, shimmering with reflections of clouds overhead…

One of my faves from the MoMA, Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte’s peculiar “The Menaced Assassin” (1927)

“The Lovers” (1928) by René Magritte (1898-1967)

Art lovers admiring Pablo Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907)

“The She-Wolf” (1943) by American artist Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)

“The Congo Queen” (1946) by Haitian artist Hector Hyppolite (1894-1948)

“Expansion in Four Directions” (1961-62) by Swiss artist Max Bill (1908-1994)

One of the most recognized pieces of art in the world, “The Starry Night” (1889), an oil on canvas by the Dutch post-impressionist painter and one of the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The painting depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (a commune in southern France), just before sunrise…

“Masks Confronting Death” (1888) by Belgian artist James Ensor (1860-1949)

Mrs. Perez snapping a photo of Jackson Pollock’s “Easter and the Totem” (1953)

“Interior with a Young Girl” (1905-06) by French painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

“Goldfish and Sculpture (1912) by Henri Matisse

Young woman snaps a photograph of yet another work by Henri Matisse, “Dance (I)” which is a preliminary version of a painting made by Matisse in 1909 at the request of Russian businessman and art collector Sergei Shchukin. The final version of the work, completed in 1910 and named “Dance (La Danse)”, resides in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Before we knew it, MoMA was closing and this security guard here looked like he was ready for a nap. Another work by Matisse (yeah, I really liked his work) “L’Atelier Rouge” (1911) hangs in the distance…

Our visit to the Museum of Modern Art was over after just over three hours. Happy we returned to this gem of an art museum. We’ll be back…

Even more art museums

I’ve got a thing for art museums. Whenever I travel, I’m always looking for an art museum to visit – and I’ve been to a few. Besides the MoMA, check out my images from The Solomon R. Guggenheim, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I’ve also visited Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, National Museum of Art of Romania, and the Museo Nacional de Arte and Museo Soumaya (which replicated the spiral design of the Guggenheim) in Mexico City. Yeah, I’ve got a thing for art museums.

September 17, 2018

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez July 26, 2018

written by Dan Perez

Was back in New York City with the family a few weeks ago and a family trip to NYC is usually accompanied by a trip to an art museum. Last week I shared a series of photographs from our first visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art (photographs HERE). Now, the Whitney was founded in 1931 by a wealthy and prominent American socialite and art patron named Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Today, I’d like to share several photographs from our first visit to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on NYC’s Upper East Side. And guess what? That’s right, Solomon Robert Guggenheim was also rich.

Born in 1861 in Philadelphia to a wealthy mining family (some guys are just born lucky, yes?), Guggenheim studied in Switzerland at the Concordia Institute in Zürich before returning to the United States to work in the family mining business. Already a multi-millionaire in the copper business, Guggenheim later founded the Yukon Gold Company in Alaska in 1906. He retired from his business in 1919 to pursue full-time art collecting and began displaying his collection of old masters at his apartment in the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

In 1937, Guggenheim established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, a leading institution for the collection, preservation, and research of modern and contemporary art that operates museums in Venice, Italy, Bilbao, Spain and in the United Arab Emirates. In 1939, he and his art advisor, abstract artist Baroness Hilla von Rebay, opened a venue for the display of his collection, the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, on East 54th Street in NYC.

By the early 1940s, the museum had accumulated such a large collection of avant-garde paintings that the need for a permanent building to house the art collection had become apparent. Guggenheim and Rebay commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright, a pioneering American architect and interior designer, to design a museum for a lot that Guggenheim had acquired on Fifth Avenue. Wright, a narcissist whose life was marked by scandal, debt and even murder, dispensed with the conventional approach to museum layout. His plan was for the museum guests to ride to the top of the building by elevator, to descend at a leisurely pace along the gentle slope of the continuous ramp, and to view the atrium of the building as the last work of art.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Hilla von Rebay, and Solomon Guggenheim with a model of Wright’s design for the new museum, Plaza Hotel, NYC 1945

The museum’s now-iconic spiral design recalls a nautilus shell, with continuous spaces flowing freely one into another. The open rotunda afforded viewers the unique possibility of seeing several bays of work on different levels simultaneously and even to interact with guests on other levels. Wright’s distinctive cylindrical building turned out to be his last major work, as the architect died at age 91, six months before its opening. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened to the public in 1959, ten years after Guggenheim’s death on Long Island in 1949.

So that’s a little bit of history. The Guggenheim Museum is a must-see NYC attraction and proved to be an excellent way to spend a few hours with the family (especially during what was a rainy, sweltering summer day in the city). Admission is $25 for adults, $18 for students and kids under 12 are free. Photography is allowed (and you know I never travel without my camera and a few good lenses) so here are a few images I snapped at this remarkable art museum. Enjoy…

The museum

First thing first, the views of the Guggenheim upon entering are pretty fantastic…

Constantin Brâncuși

My daughter taking a good look at “The Miracle (Seal [I])” by Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși (1876-1957). Considered a pioneer of modernism, Brâncuși is one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century. His exhibition is ongoing…

Assorted works by Brâncuși

Alberto Giacometti

The works of Swiss sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti dominated the museum as part of his exhibition, which runs through September 12. Giacometti was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. Philosophical questions about the human condition, as well as existential and phenomenological debates played a significant role in his work…

Bronze sculpture “Mains tenant le vide [Objet invisible])” (1934) by Alberto Giacometti

Thannhauser Collection

Plenty of work from the old masters in the museum’s Thannhauser Collection, including “Three Bathers (Trois baigneuses)” (1920) by famed Spanish artist Pablo Picasso

One Hand Clapping

Viewers watching Chinese visual artist Wong Ping’s “Dear, can I give you a hand?,” a rather unsettling video about a sexually frustrated elderly man and his seductive daughter-in-law. Installation features custom-modified LED panels and numerous plastic wind-toys and is part of the “One Hand Clapping” exhibition that explores the ways in which globalization affects our understanding of the future. The commissioned works, by five different Chinese artists, represent a range of traditional and new mediums, from oil on canvas to virtual-reality software…

“Spring River in the Flower Moon Night 4” (top) and “Spring River in the Flower Moon Night 1” (2017) by Chinese artist Duan Jianyu

Virtual reality installation by Chinese artist Lin Yilin

In “Possible Music #1” (2018) artist Samson Young turned to physical modeling, a practice in the field of computer science, to create a multilayered sound installation that interrogates our search for truth, and music’s unsung role in shaping humanity…

Part of Chinese artist Cao Fei’s “Asia One” installation includes a painted and decorated motorized tricycle, color video, and items with logo of JD.com

More Museum

The museum is a piece of art in itself…

More Giacometti

More works by by Alberto Giacometti (and me goofing off)

It was raining the day we visited so I wasn’t able to get a good shot of the outside of the building (which is also pretty remarkable) but our visit to this iconic New York City art museum was everything it was cracked up to be. So if you haven’t already OR if you happen to find yourself in New York City, make a few hours for the Guggenheim Museum – you’ll be glad you did…

Even more art museums

Check out my photographs from my visits to other art museums: Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, National Museum of Art of Romania, the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Museo Nacional de Arte and Museo Soumaya (which replicated the spiral design of the Guggenheim) in Mexico City. Yeah, I got a thing for art museums.

July 26, 2018

Blog Photography Places & Spaces

The Whitney Museum of American Art (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez July 11, 2018

written by Dan Perez

So I was back in NYC last week and as I am wont to do when I travel, I decided to drag my family to yet another art museum (they pretend to hate them but I know that deep down they actually enjoy them). We’ve already been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (photographs HERE) and the Brooklyn Museum (photographs HERE) so this time, I picked the Whitney Museum of American Art – known informally as “The Whitney”.

The Whitney was founded in 1931 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), a wealthy and prominent American socialite and art patron after whom the museum is named. Mrs. Whitney was inspired to become an artist herself after visiting Europe in the early 1900s. Because of her wealth and status, she worked under an assumed name but by 1910 she became a well-regarded sculptor exhibiting her work publicly under her own name. Her sculptures can be found all over the world including at the Washington Heights-Inwood War Memorial, the Women’s Titanic Memorial in Washington, D.C. and on the Victory Arch on Madison Square on 5th Avenue in NYC.

With the aid of her assistant, Juliana R. Force, an American art museum administrator and director, Whitney had collected nearly 700 works of American art and in 1929, she offered to donate over 500 works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but the museum declined the gift(!). This led Whitney to start her own museum, exclusively for American art, in a converted row of houses on West 8th Street in Greenwich Village in 1931.

In 1954, the museum left its original location and moved to a small structure on 54th Street connected to and behind the Museum of Modern Art on 53rd Street before relocating again to a larger structure on the southeast corner of Madison Avenue at 75th Street in Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1966. After grappling with space problems, the museum returned to the West Village in a new 200,000 square foot structure designed by Italian architect and engineer Renzo Piano. Construction began in 2010 and was completed in 2015 for a cool $422 million.

Today the Whitney focuses on 20th and 21st century American art. Its permanent collection comprises more than 21,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, films, videos, and artifacts of new media by more than 3,000 artists. It was our first visit to “The Whitney” and we spent several hours perusing the offerings of this fine museum. Time very well spent. Brought along my camera, here are a few photographs – enjoy…

From the exhibition ‘Mary Corse: A Survey in Light’ which approaches the question of light through painting…

“A Woman in the Sun” (1961) by American realist painter Edward Hopper

Henry Koerner’s fascinating “Mirror of Life” (1946)

A young woman observing “$199 Television” (1961) by Andy Warhol

“Standing Lincoln” (1912) by Daniel Chester French, one of the most prolific and acclaimed American sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries…

“Baptism in Kansas” (1928) by John Steuart Curry

One of my favorites at the Whitney, “The Family” (1955) by Charles Alston, an African-American painter, sculptor, illustrator, muralist and teacher who lived and worked in Harlem. Alston’s 1990 bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. became the first image of an African American displayed at the White House…

“The Lord Is My Shepherd” (1926) by American painter and muralist Thomas Hart Benton. His fluid, sculpted figures in his paintings showed everyday people in scenes of life in the United States…

“Office Girls” (1936) by Russian-born American painter Raphael Soyer

The Whitney Museum boasts four terraces and exterior staircases that let museumgoers enjoy sweeping views of the city…

A young woman takes a seat on one of the outside terraces of the Whitney next to “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” (2008), a steel rendering of a rifle’s crosshairs by African-American artist Rashid Johnson. The title is borrowed from a 1988 song by Public Enemy, whose logo features an image of crosshairs…

Another one of my faves, “The Subway” (1950) by American figurative painter George Tooker

“Employment Agency” (1937) by artist Isaac Soyer, a social realist painter who often portrayed working-class people of New York City in his paintings…

“Stop The War” protest posters from the Whitney’s “An Incomplete History of Protest” exhibition which looks at how artists from the 1940s to the present have confronted the political and social issues of their day…

“Felix, June 5, 1994” by artist AA Bronson depicts Felix Partz, one of Bronson’s collaborators in the Toronto-based collective General Idea. Partz died in 1994 of an AIDS-related illness…

African-American artist Carl Pope’s brilliantly disguised installation, “Some of the Greatest Hits of the New York City Police Department” addresses the history of police brutality in New York between 1949 and 1994. The inscriptions, which include the names of people who were killed or brutalized as well as the officers who committed the acts, were written by the artist using trophies and plaques made specifically for law-enforcement use…

A young man ponders the meaning of artist Melvin Edwards’ barbed wire “Pyramid Up and Down Pyramid” (1969)

My daughter takes a break under “New No’s”, a poem written after the election of Donald J. Trump and acts as a declaration against the drift of American society toward what is most un-American. Designed by Paul Chan and Badlands Unlimited, a book publisher…

Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s “Untitled” (America) (1994–95), which consists of twelve light strings, each with forty-two 15-watt lightbulbs and rubber sockets, hangs in the museum’s grand staircase…

Colombian artist Carolina Caycedo’s “Cosmotarrayas” combine handmade fishing nets and collected objects, many from Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. It’s part of the museum’s “between the Waters” exhibit…

My wife and daughter admiring the work of NYC based artist Cy Gavin’s “Aubade II (Spittal Pond)” (2016). The painting, made up of acrylic, chalk and oil on denim, is part of the collection of Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave…

And a good time was had by all…

Check out my photographs from my visits to other art museums: Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, National Museum of Art of Romania and the Museo Nacional de Arte and Museo Soumaya in Mexico City (yeah, I got a thing for art museums).

July 11, 2018

Blog Photography Places & Spaces

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez September 12, 2017

written by Dan Perez

So, I’m finally (finally!) wrapping up my series of photographs from our family trip to Spain this past spring. If you’re not a subscriber to this blog (and why wouldn’t you be? SUBSCRIBE HERE), here’s what you missed: We flew from Miami, landing in Madrid, where we spent our first two days and visited the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. We then rented a car and drove about 70 miles NW to the spectacular Walls of Ávila (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). We continued driving another 95 miles SW to our first stop in Spain’s Extremadura region (our main area of exploration on this trip), the city of Plasencia.

From Plasencia, we drove 13 miles south through Monfragüe National Park, the largest and best preserved Mediterranean forest worldwide and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and then drove another 28 miles south to the medieval city of Trujillo. From Trujillo, we drove about 50 miles east to the Royal Monastery of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (another UNESCO World Heritage Site) in Guadalupe, and then another 78 miles SE to visit the Roman Theatre in Mérida (yet another UNESCO World Heritage site) then driving about 45 miles north to the the capital city of the province of Extremadura, Cáceres (and yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site). On our final day in Extremadura, we took a short 20 minute drive further west to visit the Natural Monument of Los Barruecos before embarking on a three hour drive NE back to Madrid.

Which brings us to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Queen Sofia Arts Center), Spain’s national museum of 20th-century art which opened its doors in September of 1990 and is named for Queen Sofía, wife of King Juan Carlos I, who reigned from 1975 to 2014. The museum is mainly dedicated to Spanish art. Highlights of the museum include excellent collections of Spain’s two greatest 20th-century masters, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. Certainly, the most famous masterpiece in the museum is Picasso’s painting “Guernica”.

The original building was home to the San Carlos Hospital, opened by King Felipe II in the sixteenth century. The present building is the work of architects José de Hermosilla and Francisco Sabatini, who was responsible for a large part of its construction. Since then, the building has undergone many transformations with its final renovations occurring in the late 1980s. In 1992, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia inaugurated the permanent collection, and thus named it the Reina Sofia after the Queen herself.

The museum, which we visited on our last day in Madrid before flying back home, has a collection of over 21,000 artworks from the 20th century as well as three permanent collections, one of them being “Guernica”, a stunning mural-sized oil painting on canvas by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, completed in June 1937. Regarded by many art critics as one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history, “Guernica” was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country village in northern Spain, by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italian warplanes at the request of the Spanish Nationalists. As I stood face to face with this powerful work of art, I found it very difficult to walk away from it. It alone is worth the price of admission to the museum (8€, about $9.50). Nuff said.

Now, you know I never visit a museum without a camera in hand, so here are a few images I snapped during our visit to this truly remarkable art museum…

We started out in the Guernica exhibit…

No photographs were allowed in the Guernica exhibit (and despite being tempted, I fought off the urge – barely) so here’s an installation view of Picasso’s Guernica by photographer Joaquín Cortés via artsy.net

A group of students gazing upon “Visage du Grand Masturbateur (Face of the Great Masturbator)” by prominent Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí (1904-1989)

Mrs. Perez appreciating “Natura morta” by Salvador Dalí

“La verbena” by Spanish painter Maruja Mallo (1902-1995). Mallo was born Ana María Gómez González in Viveiro, Galicia, and studied arts in Madrid. She was a driving force in the flowering of Spanish culture through the 1920s and 1930s

“Le Bal” (The Dance) by André Lhote (1885-1962), French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life…

“Hombre con pipa” by Joan Miró (1893-1983), a Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona. Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride…

“María la gitana” by Spanish sculptor Julio Antonio (1889-1919)

“La visita del obispo” by Spanish painter, engraver and author José Gutiérrez Solana (1886-1945)

My daughter Miranda puzzling over “La famille en état de métamorphose” by French artist André Masson (1896–1987)

A tour group gazes upon Picasso’s “Mujer en azul”

Young woman seems oblivious to “Os retirantes” by Cândido Portinari (1903–1962), one of the most important Brazilian painters as well as a prominent and influential practitioner of the neo-realism style in painting. This haunting painting was one of my faves…

Outside the museum is a lovely courtyard to sit and relax for a while, especially on a glorious day like the one we had during our visit…

In the courtyard, museum visitors gather around “Pájaro lunar” by Spanish painter/sculptor Joan Miró

“Carmen”, a monumental standing mobile, by Alexander Calder (1898-1976), an American sculptor known as the originator of the mobile, a type of moving sculpture made with delicately balanced or suspended shapes that move in response to touch or air currents…

Back inside, tour groups were a common site all around the museum…

“Portrait of Josette Gris” by Spanish painter and sculptor José Victoriano González-Pérez, better known as Juan Gris (1887–1927). Gris was closely connected to the innovative artistic genre Cubism, with his works being among the movement’s most distinctive…

“Nu” by Brazilian artist Ismael Nery (1900-1934)

“Bird Lady” by Dutch painter Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys (1920–2005), better known as Constant

“El hombre del cordero” by Pablo Picasso

“Pescadores” by Brazilian painter Emiliano Di Cavalcanti (1897–1976)

Interior of the Reina Sofía was spacious and modern – a beautiful museum…

“Cuerda de presos”, which received the gold medal in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Spain in 1901, by Spanish painter José María López Mezquita (1883-1954)

“El primer consejo” by Spanish artist and writer Antonio Saura, one of the major post-war painters to emerge in Spain in the fifties

“Três Orixás” by Brazilian painter, illustrator and engraver, Djanira (1914-1979). She was known for her naïve art paintings, depicting Brazilian common people, religious themes and landscapes…

Mrs. Perez and my daughter walking past “Equal-Parallel: Guernica-Bengasi”, a laminated steel sculpture by prestigious American artist Richard Serra

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía was well worth the trip and made for a great way to spend a few hours whilst in Madrid. Overall, our trip to Spain could only have been better if we had stayed another week. Besides our time in the cosmopolitan city of Madrid, we visited four UNESCO World Heritage Sites as well as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a Natural Monument. We explored the mythical region of Extremadura and only wish we would have stayed an extra day (days!) in each city. Moreover, we had glorious weather every day of our trip (surely, the weather Gods will send rain every day of our next trip to Europe just to even things out a bit). As far as driving around Spain, it was easy like Sunday morning – very little traffic and plenty of eye-popping scenery along the way.

Madrid was great but I can’t recommend a trip to Spain’s Extremadura region enough. Visit turismoextremadura.com (and yes. the site is in English) to learn more and plan your trip to this historic region. We will hopefully return to Spain for another trip in the coming year, stay tuned…

Check out images from some of the other art museums I’ve visited in my travels abroad, starting with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museo Nacional de Arte and Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, the National Museum of Art of Romania, the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, el Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, and the Norton Museum of Art right here in South Florida. If there’s an art museum in town, I’m there.

September 12, 2017

Blog Photography Places & Spaces

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez June 16, 2017

written by Dan Perez

In case you haven’t read my previous post, last month, I took the family to Spain for a nine day vacation. Our first stop was the cosmopolitan city of Madrid. Now, if you know me, you know I got this thing for art museums and Madrid has what is known as the “Golden Triangle of Art”, which includes the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Reina Sofia national galleries. The Prado, the main Spanish national art museum, doesn’t allow photographs which immediately disqualified it as a museum I planned to visit (I mean, if the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City allows photographs, who the heck does the Prado think they are?!).

Over the years, I’ve visited the aforementioned Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museo Nacional de Arte and Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, the National Museum of Art of Romania, the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, el Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, and the Norton Museum of Art right here in South Florida. If there’s an art museum in town, I’m there.

Next up is the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum which houses over 1,600 paintings and was once the second largest private collection in the world after the British Royal Collection. The museum houses the core of the collection of Heinrich Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva, a German-Hungarian entrepreneur and art collector. The museum includes a mix of Medieval art, 17th century art by Flemish/Dutch masters, and works by Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí.

After Heinrich Thyssen died in 1947, his son, Hans Henrik Ágost Gábor, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (try saying that name three times fast) inherited his art collection. The collection was initially housed in the family estate in a twenty-room building in Lugano, a city in southern Switzerland. In 1988, the Baron filed a request for building a further extension but the plan was rejected by the Lugano City Council. The Baron’s wife, Carmen “Tita” Cervera (a former Miss Spain 1961), persuaded him to relocate the core of his collection to Spain where the local government had a building available next to the Prado.

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum officially opened in 1992, showing 715 works of art. A year later, the Spanish Government bought 775 works for $350 million. Cervera started her own collection and loaned 429 works to the museum in 1999 for 11 years. The loan has been renewed annually since 2012 (she also chose the salmon pink tone of the interior walls of the museum).

We visited this lovely museum on our second day in Madrid and, of course, I brought along my camera and took a few photographs of some of the many remarkable pieces of art there (thankfully, the Thyssen Museum doesn’t have the over-inflated ego of the Prado). Enjoy…

Our arrival at the Thyssen on an absolutely gorgeous day in Madrid…

“Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with a Mask in her Right Hand” by Italian painter Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1754)

“Tough Customers” by John George Brown, a British citizen and an American painter born in Durham, England (1831-1913)

“The Penitent Saint Jerome” by Spanish Tenebrist painter Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652)

“The Toilet of Venus” by Flemish artist Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), who is considered the most influential artist of Flemish Baroque tradition…

“Battery ParK” by Reginald Marsh (1898-1954), an American painter, born in Paris, most notable for his depictions of life in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s

Interior of the Thyssen…

“Los segadores” by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

“Quappi in Pink Jumper” by German painter Max Beckmann (1884-1950). The woman in the painting is his second wife, Mathilde “Quappi” Beckmann. With the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his dislike of Modern Art, the government confiscated more than 500 of Beckmann’s works from German museums in 1937, putting several on display in the notorious Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich. “Degenerate Art” being a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe Modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds that it was un-German, Jewish, or Communist in nature. Beckmann left Germany in 1937 with his second wife, Quappi, for The Netherlands. He later settled (and died) in New York City.

“The Prints” by French painter Henri Charles Manguin (1874-1949)

“The Reader” by one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century, Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918)

A couple (perhaps) discussing the meaning of “Portuguese Woman (The Large Portuguese)” (on left) or “Still-Life with a Parrot” (right) by French artist Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colors and geometric shapes…

Nearby, a woman beholds “Bathers” by Jean Metzinger (1883-1956), a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet…

“Portrait of Ferdinand VII” by Spanish romantic painter and printmaker Francisco de Goya, considered the most important Spanish artist of late 18th and early 19th centuries…

My daughter snapping a photo of “Portrait of Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland” by American artist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), considered the “leading portrait painter of his generation” for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury…

“Self-portrait” by Gabriele Münter (1877-1962), a German expressionist painter who was at the forefront of the Munich avant-garde in the early 20th century…

Art lovers, from admiration and reverence to curiosity…

“Arlequín con espejo” by Pablo Picasso

Man snapping a photo of “La Clef des champs (The Key of the Field)” by Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte (1898-1967)

“Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening” by prominent Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí (1904-1989)

“Large Interior, Paddington” by Lucian Freud (1922-2011), a British painter and draftsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century portraitists

Man appreciating “The Madonna of the Village” by Marc Chagall (1887-1985), a Russian-French artist of Belarusian Jewish origin and one of the most internationally recognized artists of his time…

“El proscrito deslumbrante (The Dazzling Outcast)” by Roberto Matta (1911-2002), one of Chile’s best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art

Portraits of the King and Queen of Spain by Spanish painter Ricardo Macarrón (1926-2004)

Hope you enjoyed the photographs. Look for my photographs from our visit to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in an upcoming post…

June 16, 2017

Blog Photography Places & Spaces

National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez January 10, 2017

written by Dan Perez

Back in September of last year, I traveled (with Mrs. Perez) to Bosnia and Herzegovina and stayed in the charming city of Sarajevo (check out the video HERE). Now, as an art lover, whenever I travel, I’m always looking for the nearest art museum. Whether it’s the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the National Museum of Art of Romania in Bucharest, the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City or the Norton Museum of Art right here in South Florida – if I’m visiting a city, I’m looking for an art museum (and I’m bringing my camera with me).

So on our last day in Sarajevo (a rainy one), we found a few hours to visit the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Umjetnička galerija BiH) which was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel in Old Town. The gallery opened in 1946 and over the years has collected pieces from the Communist Yugoslavian era, as well as post-civil war contemporary pieces. However, like many of Sarajevo’s museums and galleries, it has struggled with funding since the civil war and relies solely on donations, sponsors and a small entry fee (5 KM, about $2.80).

It’s a modest sized museum and to be honest, I really wasn’t expecting a whole lot from it but on this particular day, there was an excellent exhibit called Ženskom rukom (“By Woman’s Hand”) which featured contributions of women painters and sculptors from Bosnia and Herzegovina. I also found their permanent collection of art to be quite interesting as well. Let’s just say I got my 5 KM worth and a whole lot more. And as for why I’m posting these photographs four months after my trip, I had been waiting for the gallery’s updated website to go live. The struggle to get funding had stalled the process considerably but an updated site has just gone live. Check it out > www.ugbih.ba. Oh, and you can support the gallery HERE.

So if you happen to find yourself in beautiful Sarajevo (and you love art), spend a few hours at this little gem of an art gallery – you won’t be sorry. Now, enjoy the photographs from the collection of the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, taken with the gallery’s full permission (thanks to the gallery’s curator Ana Đikoli)

Entrance to the Gallery…

“Young Man” by Iva Despić Simonovic, the first female sculptor in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Born in Zagreb in 1890 to a wealthy family, she became a highly requested sculptor in a time (between the two World Wars) where most women were uneducated and relegated to taking care of the home. She died in 1961.

“Muslim Woman” by Iva Despić Simonovic

“Girl” by Serbian painter Milena Šotra (1909-2003)

Mrs. Perez admires “Bosnian Girl” by Mica Todorović, who is considered “the first lady of Bosnian and Herzegovinian painting ”. Todorović (1900–1981) attended art school and academy in Zagreb as the only woman in her class. In 1954 she had her first solo exhibition in Belgrade. This painting was probably my favorite.

“Bato is Playing” by Iva Despić Simonovi

“Reposing Nude” by Rajka Merćep (1904-1961), a Bosnian-Herzegovinian sculptor and ceramist

“Portrait of an Old Man” by Adela Ber Vukić (1888-1966), the first female artist from Bosnia and Herzegovina to be educated at an art school and a pioneer of women’s rights in her country. Ber organized her first solo art exhibit in Sarajevo after the First World War in 1919.

Up the stairs to the permanent exhibits…

We had the place pretty much to ourselves…

“Traces of War” by Edin Numankadić, a sobering reminder of the Siege of Sarajevo during the mid-90s. Numankadić, who was born in 1948, is one of the most important Bosnian visual artists from the beginning of the seventies. He is currently director of the Olympic Museum in Sarajevo and one of the founders of the collection of Ars Aevi (Museum of Contemporary Art in Sarajevo) and its permanent consultant.

“Interior” by Ljubiša Naumović

“Nude in the Studio” by Nedeljko Gvozdenović (1902–1988), a world renowned Serbian painter

“Self-portrait” by eclectic Croatian painter Vlaho Bukovac (1855-1922)

“Landscape from Maglaj” by Bosnian graphic artist Salim Obralić

[Banner image at top: “Little Girl” by Mica Todorović]

So, there you have it – a taste of art from Bosnian and Herzegovina. This gallery was a most pleasant surprise and well worth a couple of hours should you ever find yourself in Sarajevo; and you really should find yourself there one day…

January 10, 2017

Blog Photography Places & Spaces

The Brooklyn Museum (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez October 24, 2016

written by Dan Perez

During a recent trip to New York City, I paid a visit to the Brooklyn Museum. I’ve been to NYC many times and had always wanted to make the trip (about an hour and 15 minute train ride from my mother’s apartment in the Bronx) but never did. Now, having been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC (you can check out my photographs HERE), I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from the Brooklyn Museum but I must say, I was impressed by the museum’s size and collection.

At 560,000 square feet, the museum is New York City’s third largest in physical size (who knew?) and holds an art collection with roughly 1.5 million works including an extensive and comprehensive permanent collection that includes ancient Egyptian masterpieces, African art, European painting, decorative arts, period rooms, and contemporary art.

The museum first opened 1897 and was designed by by McKim, Mead and White, a prominent American architectural firm that also designed Manhattan’s former Pennsylvania Station and the main campus of Columbia University. The original plan for the museum was for it to be the largest art museum in the world but actualized plans reflect a compromise to the specifications of the New York City government. It is still a rather impressive structure and far larger than I expected.

That said, it ain’t “the Met” (what art museum is?) but this museum isn’t a two hour time-killer either. Having arrived at the museum at 3pm, we were literally kicked out at closing time (6pm) while rushing through the final exhibit of our visit, “Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present” (I actually thought this would be the least impressive exhibit and it ended up being our favorite and well worth the $16 admission fee). And the fact that one whole exhibit (Philippe Parreno’s “My Room Is Another Fish Bowl”) was closed due to a wedding (Oy!) AND the fact that it was raining that day which kept us from visiting the outdoor garden, makes this museum one that requires several hours to fully appreciate.

Now, as many of you already know, I never travel without my camera and the museum allows for photography (no flash, of course), so I snapped a few photographs that clearly illustrate why any serious art-lover needs to put the Brooklyn Museum on their list of places to visit. Enjoy…

A couple enjoying “A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie” (1866) by German-born American painter Albert Bierstadt

“The SIsters (Eleanor and Rosalba Peale)” (1826) by Rembrandt Peale, an American artist and prolific portrait painter

“Letitia Wilson Jordan” by Thomas Eakins, widely acknowledged to be one of the most important artists in American art history. During his life, however, Eakins sold less than thirty paintings and was rejected by the public and the art establishment of his day. It was only after his death in 1916 that a new generation of scholars and critics recognized Eakins as one of America’s greatest painters.

“Bust of Abraham Lincoln” (1922) by American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens

“The Greek Slave” (1869) by American neoclassical sculptor Hiram Powers

“The Outlier” (1908) by Frederic Remington, an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in depictions of the Old American West

The inscription on this medallion, “Am I not a man and a brother?” made it a potent early emblem of the anti-slavery movement in Britain. These medallions were mass-produced by the Wedgwood Company, a pottery, fine china and porcelain company founded by Josiah Wedgwood, a prominent abolitionist, in 1759 (the company is still in business today). They were worn as bracelets and as hair ornaments, and even inlaid with gold as ornaments for snuff boxes. From 1787 until his death in 1795, Wedgwood actively participated in the abolition of slavery cause, and his Slave Medallion, which brought public attention to abolition.

“In the Mountains” (1877) by merican landscape painter Winslow Homer

Croation artist “Ivan Mestrovic” (circa 1926) by American sculptor Malvina Hoffman, well known for her life-size bronze sculptures of people. After the death of her father in 1910, Hoffman, aged 23, moved to Europe with her mother and settled in Paris. Already a talented sculptor, her intention was to become a student of famed French sculptor Auguste Rodin and after three unsuccessful attempts, she eventually was accepted as a student by Rodin after sitting on his door step and refusing to leave.

“A Morning Snow – Hudson River” (1910) by George Wesley Bellows, an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City

“The Awakening” (circa 1926) by American sculptor and painter Maurice Sterne

“A Little Taste Outside of Love” (2007) by Mickalene Thomas, a contemporary African American artist best known for her complex paintings made of rhinestones, acrylic and enamel

“Intamacy – Autonomy” (1974) by Joan Semmel, an American feminist painter, professor, and writer. She is best known for painting large scale, realistic nudes of her own body as seen from her perspective looking down. Semmel, who has lived in her SoHo loft in NYC for the past 30 years, is now 84 years old and still paints self portraits. “There’s always been so much shame attached to the body” said Semmel in a recent interview in hyperallergic.com. “You should be ashamed that you’re old, instead of being proud to have lived? It’s also about the acceptance of mortality. It’s about being a body that changes, that ages, that loves, that hates, that does all of these things.”

“Female Model on Platform Rocker” (1977) by Philip Pearlstein, an influential American painter best known for Modernist Realism nudes. Pearlstein, who shared an apartment in New York City with an (as yet) unknown artist named Andy Warhol in the late 40s, has been cited by critics as the preeminent figure painter of the 1960s to 2000s.

In this painting, Miguel Cabrera, eighteenth-century Mexico’s premier painter, portrayed Doña María de la Luz Padilla y Gómez de Cervantes wearing multiple chiqueadores, or glued false beauty spots made of black velvet.

“Nydia” (1861) and “The Lost Pleiade” (1874) by American Neoclassical sculptor Randolph Rogers

“Pierre de Wiessant” (1886) by famed French sculptor Auguste Rodin

Winged Genie Wearing Fancy Bracelets (ca. 883-859 B.C.)

Mask of a Man from a Coffin (late 2nd century C.E.)

Head from a Female Sphinx (ca. 1876-1842 B.C.E.)

Cartonnage of Nespanetjerenpare (ca. 945-718 B.C.), using a technique similar to papier-mâché, scraps of linen or papyrus were stuck together with plaster or resin and used to make mummy cases and masks.

From L-R: Protective God (ca. 945-718 B.C.), Statue of Metjetji (ca. 2371-2288 B.C.E.) & Face from a Coffin (ca. 1075-656 B.C.E.)

Ox Mask, Bijagós Islands, 20th century

From L-R: Power Figure (Nkisi Nkondi), Democratic Republic of the Congo, 19th century | Figure of Mother and Child (Phemba), Republic of the Congo, 19th century | Ndop Portrait of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul, Republic of the Congo, 18th century

My daughter appreciating the iconic image of Muhammad Ali after his first round knockout of Sonny Liston by American photographer Neil Leifer in the museum’s “Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present” exhibit. We saved this one for last thinking it would be the least interesting of the exhibits (I mean, it’s just sports photography, right?). We couldn’t have been more wrong. Sure, there were the usual photographs any sports lover would have already seen (like the Ali photo above) but they had several remarkable sports photographs going back more than 100 years. They literally had to kick us out of there at closing time – wish we would have gotten there earlier…

Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present

So, go and check out the Brooklyn Museum and get there early or risk getting the lights turned off on you and wishing you had got there earlier (speaking from experience here!).

October 24, 2016

Blog Photography Places & Spaces

The National Museum of Art of Romania (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez May 4, 2016

written by Dan Perez

Anybody who knows me knows very well how much I love visiting art museums (and how much I love dragging Mrs. Perez and my teenage daughter to them). From the Perez Art Museum and the Norton Museum of Art right here in South Florida to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the Museo Nacional de Arte and the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City. If there’s an art museum in any city I visit, I’m gonna make the time to pop in and check it out.

So when I traveled to Romania recently and spent a day in the capital city of Bucharest, I stopped by the country’s largest and most impressive art collection, the National Museum of Art of Romania (Romanian: Muzeul Național de Artă al României). The museum is located in the former royal palace in Revolution Square, on the famed Calea Victoriei (Victory Avenue). Completed in 1837, the National Museum of Art of Romania features collections of medieval and modern Romanian art, as well as the international collection assembled by the Romanian royal family.

The museum is split into two parts, the National Gallery (which features only Romanian art) and the European Gallery (I visited only the Romanian art gallery – I mean, I was in Romania, right?) . There is separate admission for each gallery or you can pay to view both (20 Lei, about $5). Photographs are allowed but only after paying a rather hefty fee of 100 Lei (about $25) which I paid (how else would I be able to share how awesome the museum was?). It isn’t MOMA (how many art museums are?) but the National Museum of Art of Romania was a splendid museum with many fine pieces of art and well worth the few hours me and Mrs. Perez spent there.

Enjoy the photographs…

Upon entering the grounds of the museum, which is right across from the statue of Carol I and Revolution Square, you’ll find a sculpture of ‘Mihai the Madman’ by Stefan Ionescu-Valbudea (1856-1918)

Also on the grounds outside the museum, you’ll find ‘Izvorul’ (The Spring) by by Romanian sculptor Ioan Georgescu (1856-1898)

Entrance to the National Gallery (Romanian art)

‘Profile of a Young Girl’ by Ion Andreescu (1850-1882)

Two young students enjoying the assorted artworks…

‘Nude in an Armchair’ by Merica Ramniceanu (1891-1972)

‘Portrait of a Peasant Woman’ by Aurel Băeșu (1896-1928)

‘The Forester’s Daughter’ by Nicolae Tonitza (1886-1940) who played a major role in introducing modernist guidelines to local art

‘The Spear Thrower’ by Ion Georgescu

Mrs. Perez admiring ‘Toujours du Baudelaire’ by Theodor Pallady (1871–1956). A museum bearing his name is situated in one of the oldest surviving merchant houses in Bucharest, Romania and holds over 800 paintings and drawings by the Romanian artist…

‘Portrait of Maria Nacu’ (Portretul Mariei Nacu) by Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907), one of the founders of modern Romanian painting

Ion (Nicu) Irimescu’s ‘Girl with Grapes’ in the foreground and in the background, ‘Harvesters at Rest’ by Camil Ressu (1880-1962), one of the most significant art figures of Romania

‘The Turkish Woman’ by Iosif Iser (1881-1958)

‘Portrait of a Man’ by Marcel Iancu (1895-1984), the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading exponent of Constructivism in Eastern Europe

Bust of Romanian poet Iulia Haşdeu by Ioan Georgescu

‘Sărutul’ (The Kiss) by Frederic Storck (1872–1924)

Mrs. Perez admiring the works of Max Hermann Maxy (1895-1971)

‘Lorica with Chrysanthemums’ by Ștefan Luchian (1868-1916), famous for his landscapes and still life works. Paralyzed and confined to an armchair by Multiple Sclerosis at age 31, Luchian was no longer able to hold the painter’s brush with his fingers and had to have it tied to his wrist in order to continue working. This was his last painting, he would die 3 years later…

‘The Prayer’ by Constantin Brâncuși (1876-1957), considered a pioneer of modernism and one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century. Brâncuși is called the patriarch of modern sculpture.

‘Street at the Outskirts of Bucharest’ by Alexandru Țipoia (1914-1993)

‘Nud’ by Elena Popea (1879-1941)

Oh, and the photograph at the very top of the post is a bust of Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, a Romanian writer and philologist (the study of language in written historical sources) by Carol Storck

Hope you enjoyed the photopgraphs – check out my other photoset of my trip to Romania by clicking any of the images below…

May 4, 2016

Blog Photography Sound and Vision

Pérez Art Museum Miami (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez August 17, 2014

written by Dan Perez

After spending a Saturday afternoon with the family at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach last weekend, we decided to keep out of the usual heat, humidity and scattered thunderstorms that make summertime in South Florida suck, by heading south and checking out the new Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). Founded in 1984 as the Center for the Fine Arts, it became known as the Miami Art Museum from 1996 until the opening its new building designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron at 1103 Biscayne Boulevard. The museum was renamed the Pérez Art Museum in 2013 in recognition of a landmark leadership gift of cash and art valued at $40 million from local real estate billionaire Jorge M. Pérez.

One of the museum’s exhibits, Caribbean: Crossroads of the World, boasted some spectacular works of art from artists all over the Caribbean. We got to see it before it officially pulled out this past Sunday. We weren’t allowed to take pictures at that exhibit but the museum’s permanent collection was also pretty impressive. Moreover, the museum was in the process of reinstalling several of its galleries in which they’ll feature selections from their permanent collection alongside a number of works on loan. We’ll be back sometime in the Fall to check out the new galleries but as it was, the Pérez Art Museum Miami made for a pleasant way to spend a few summer hours.

Here are a few pics starting with this life-sized 1987 pseudo-religious mixed media piece called “La Trampa” (The Trap) by Cuban artist Rubén Torres Llorca. The “sculpture” invites viewers to to uncover veiled meanings in the imagery while also satirizing the tendency to overinterpret artworks. I just found it splendidly creepy. Enjoy…

Haitian-born, Miami-based artist Edouard Duval-Carrié’s “Imagined Landscapes” exhibition…

George Segal’s “Abraham’s Farewell to Ishmael”

Major installation by Simon Starling called “Inverted Theme” that poetically translates a post-war Puerto Rican housing plan into spaces akin to birdhouses. Made with wood, iron, tree trunks, and birds(!), the structure spans 133 x 122 x 140 inches…

Patricia Cronin’s bronze sculpture “Memorial to a Marriage”

Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn

Colombian Australian artist María Fernanda Cardozo’s “Cementerio (jardin vertical)”

Miami-born artist Hernan Bass “Untitled (blue glove)”

Mexican-born, New York-based artist Laura Anderson Barbata’s “The Cheese Ball Queen” is one of the centerpieces of the “Caribbean: Crossroads of the World” exhibit…

Oh, and the outside area of the museum has some sweeping views of Biscayne Bay – grabbed a few pics before the rains came…

I’ll post some more pics upon my return to the museum some time this Fall…

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August 17, 2014

Blog Photography

Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez August 4, 2014

written by Dan Perez

Summer time in South Florida can really suck. I mean, at some point in the day (and usually at numerous points) it’s gonna pour. And when it’s not pouring, it looks like it’s gonna pour any minute. Oh, and in the rare instance when it’s actually not pouring or looking like it’s gonna pour, it’s as humid as all hell. So when we plan a family activity in the summer, we keep it indoors.

That’s what brought us to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach. We love checking out artwork, whether it be in a museum or on the streets of Wynwood, Miami or Bushwick, Brooklyn. We’ve been to the American Museum of Natural History & MOMA in NYC and we also stopped by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. But we had never visited a museum here in Florida until this past weekend.

The Norton Museum of Art is actually the largest art museum in Florida and features a permanent collection of masterpieces by artists such as Picasso, Monet and Matisse. The museum was founded by Ralph Hubbard Norton (1875–1953), who retired as the president of Acme Steel in 1940, and his wife, Elizabeth Calhoun Norton (1881–1947) and opened to the public in February of 1941.

It made for a great way to spend a few summer hours with the family (it rained most of the day, of course). Here are a few pics…enjoy.

“Ruby Green Singing” (1928) by American artist James Chapin

Checking out “Soundsuit” by American artist Nick Cave (no relation to The Bad Seeds)

Assorted Barbie dolls from their current “Wheels and Heels” exhibit

Bodhisattva Maitreya, Northern Wei Dynasty (386-535), Chinese Art

Man and Woman Playing Polo, Tang Dynasty (618-906), Chinese Art

“Madame Le Comte” (1730) by French sculptor Guillaume Coustou the Elder

“Madonna and Child in Glory” (1563) by Italian painter Giovanni Francesco Bezzi aka Nosadella

Mrs. Perez admiring “Lady Doyle” (1804) by English painter Sir Thomas Lawrence

“Saint Jerome in his Study” (1530) by Flemish painter Joos van Cleve

American sculptor Paul Manship’s “Mother and Child” (1918) is the centerpiece of the museum’s Elsie & Marvin Dekelboum Gallery

Adrian Fisher’s “Theseus Slaying the Minotaur” (1997) is one of the finest decorative brick pavement mazes in the Americas; it spans 64 x 44 feet outside the museum.

“PAN” by French sculptor Eugene Desirée Piron

“Diana” by American sculptor Paul Manship

“New York Mural” (1932) by American artist Stuart Davis

The girls uploading pics in the museum’s spacious lobby…

So, if you happen to find yourself looking for something to keep you out of the South Florida heat, humidity and sudden downpours, check out the Norton Museum of Art.

August 4, 2014