American art highlights from the Met, pt 2

Autumn Rhythm (No. 30), Jackson Pollock, 1950; the Met acquired this monumental drip painting in 1957, the year following the artist’s unexpected death; this large work, roughly 9 ft by 17 ft is worth a staggering $140 million

From the Faraway, Nearby, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1937; in 1935 O'Keeffe began to experiment with compositions that combined bones and landscapes, without regard to relative size, scale or perspective

The Lighthouse at Two Lights, Edward Hopper, 1929; set on a rocky promontory in Cape Elizabeth, ME, the lighthouse at Two Lights seems to symbolize a resolute resistance, even refusal, to submit to change or nature

On the Southern Plains, Frederic Remington, 1907; the artist likely departed from reality for creative purposes by showing the cavalry as a vibrant mass rather than in a straight line

The Water Garden, Childe Hassam, 1909; my favorite American Impressionist painter, Hassam was born near Boston but spent the last 16 years of his life on Long Island where he painted this work

Abraham Lincoln: The Man (aka Standing Lincoln), Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1884-87; influenced by the sculptor's memories of Lincoln's visits to NYC, this statuette is a reduction of the work residing in Chicago's Lincoln Park

Sunrise on the Matterhorn, Albert Bierstadt, 1885; Bierstadt's theatrical art, fervent sociability, international outlook, and unquenchable energy reflected the epic expansion in every facet of western civilization during the 2nd half of the 19th century

Snap the Whip, Winslow Homer, 1872; this is one of Homer's most beloved works coming right after the Civil War as more people moved to cities and the little red schoolhouse faded to nostalgia

Bestowed in honor of a marriage or baptism, silver porringers (like this one by famous patriot silversmith Paul Revere, ca. 1760) were popular presentation gifts throughout the 18th century

George Washington, James Peale, ca. 1782; serving from 1776-1779 as a captain in the Continental Army, Peale painted this work that is a smaller version of his brother's famous full-length portrait

Maria Longworth Storer, born to the wealthiest family in Cincinnati, founded Rockwood Pottery and decorated this vase in 1881; in 1900, she won a gold medal at the Universelle Exposition in Paris for her paintings on bronze mediums

Panoramic View of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles, by John Vanderlyn (1818), is a rare survivor of a form of public art and entertainment that flourished in the 19th century (this is less than half the work)

Portrait of God, Julian Schnabel, 1981; the artist attended UH and taught there while maintaining a studio on 19th St in the Heights; he won a Golden Globe for Best Director for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Government Bureau, George Tooker, 1956; Tooker's paintings typically convey his passionate desire for social harmony and justice but this work, that I loved, reflects a pessimism with government

America Today, Thomas Hart Benton, 1930-31; offering a panorama of American life throughout the 1920s, America Today is a room-sized mural comprising ten canvas panels showing life in each region of the country

Stoves, like this 1885 beauty, were an integral part of the parlor interior during the second half of the 19th century; the combination of ornamental cast iron and decorative tiles was unique to Low Art Tile Works

Two Vases and Biscuit Jar, Mt Washington Glass Co., 1886-94; this company produced wares in opalescent or opaque glass decorated with gold or colored enamel with exotic-sounding Near Eastern names

Head of a Spanish Peasant, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, 1911; in addition to being a very talented sculptor, the artist founded what is now the Whitney Museum of American Art

Young Mother Sewing, Mary Cassatt, 1900; you have to wonder if the artist's defining subjects, women and children, would have differed if societal norms had allowed