This then is the last of a spaced-out series of posts. The past few weeks have had me up and down the West Coast: a signing at a
Barnes & Noble, a signing at a
Warcraft Pre-Release in Berkeley, a signing at a Magic Pre-Release in Portland. In that time, we also got out to three
museums which
I've highlighted here. The last was the biggest surprise:
The Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA.
I became aware of the Haggin a year and a half ago, during a holiday trip back to CA. They were hosting the traveling
Leyendecker show (if it's near you at any point, GO), and schedule conflcits meant that I was not able to see it. This killed me, but, it did alert me to a gem I didn't know anything about before. I resolved to make the 90-minute drive next time I was around. We did, and it was well worth it. For those of you in the Bay Area who need a great art fix, it's worth the drive. I caught this and the Cantor on the same day since we needed to pack them in. What a great art day!
The Haggin sits in the middle of an older neighborhood, in the middle of a large and well-used park. I wish all museums were part of their communities in this way. With people growing up with birthday parties and their inflated bouncy-structures in the shadow of a great museum, when people regularly walk their dogs or throw a frisbee with a good museum in their midst, it seems to me that they will inevitably wander in, where if the museums are only in the downtown area they become destinations for the locals who might not often go downtown during the day on a weekend without real need.
Gerome: image courtesy the Haggin website
In any case, the Haggin was fantastic. The museum allowed photography but made you sign a release that basically said you wouldn't reproduce the photos anywhere, which was lame. They had a wonderful if small collection of Orientalist 19c. images, some works by
Vibert--a photorealist long before photorealism was really in, before color photography was such that it could really facilitate that sort of work. I don't think photorealism is the ultimate aim of realist painters, but I definitely appreciate the skill required to accomplish it, more when done in the 1800s.
One of my favorite Bierstadts, on view. Image courtesy the Haggin website
I'm also a big fan of Bierstadt's landscape works. The Bay Area is riddled with Bierstadts in various museums, and that's a good thing. As much as I love his work, I find the original paintings are not as enjoyable once you're about 3 feet away or closer. Part of it is that they always seem to be varnished satin or matte, and this kills some of the luster that oils are capable of. The other part is that Bierstadt seems to have painted for more distance viewing--back up a tad and bam, the piece comes right together and you imagine he painstakingly detailed everything. This also means his work in print translates very well. The Haggin has an impressively large collection of Bierstadts.
There were a number of other fantastic works, and some fascinating natural history items, including an Egyptian mummified cat. As my
cat is getting on in health, it made me scratch my stubble and wonder....
Well that's it for the short time back out on the wild west coast. Back to the east for us!
