Art Museum Visit- Individual Assignment

Crow Collection of Asian Art
Ashley Lightley

For the Museum Visit assignment I visited the Crow Collection of Asian Art in
downtown Dallas. The museum features art from Japan, China, and India. The museum
devotes itself to different forms of art such as paintings, sculptures made of jade, and
different monuments.
The one piece of art that stood out to me on my visit was, Peace Island painted by
Yang Jin Long. It is a colorful representation of early spring is part of a series of paintings
depicting the different seasons. According to a short biography of Yangs work in the
museum, Yang believed that early spring was “when the gods make possible auspicious
beginnings and the wish of peace, love, and happiness to all.”
At first I tried to look at this painting without the bias of knowing what the painter
meant by it. At first glance I thought this painting depicted a fair or carnival but after
reading the title and the information about the painter it was very obvious that the
painting showed early spring. The colors, mainly yellows, greens, and blues, are
associated with the grass, sky, and sun found on a spring day.
The shapes, that at first glance seemed haphazardly placed and jumbled, I realized
were perfectly placed representations of spring. They take the form of imaginative
dragonflies and different flowers. The major shapes and characters in this piece stick out
the eyes first because they are placed in a circle to draw the attention of the viewer. They
are also all in one color with different splashes of bold colors to draw the eye downward.
At second glance, the background then pops out to the viewer. It depicts a countryside
and a blue sky filled with air balloons.
With my very novice art knowledge I can see that the artist used brush strokes in
one direction for each subject. The line of laundry, seemingly blowing in the wind, gives
the painting movement. The dragonflies, which could also be kites, are also in the air
giving the illusion that there is movement in the painting.
The painting was painted on a sturdy canvas and had two bright bulbed lights
shining on it. The room it was featured it was semi lit at the time by natural daylight so it
gave the painting a very bright and airy feeling. The painting is also very large in size,
giving the viewer the feeling that they are stepping into the painting.
Yang Jin Long’s other paintings depicting the different seasons were also posted in
the same room. They each showed similar qualities allowing for the viewer to find some
sort of continuity in the artists work.

Tim Laudan, The Dallas Museum of Art,
"The Seine at Lavacourt" by Claude Monet

The Seine at Lavacourt appealed to me because it reflects a calm scene as seen from a boat in a river on a nice spring day. The image depicts a peaceful existence in a small town near Paris. During the time Monet painted this series of similar paintings, he is said to have been experiencing severe financial hardship. These paintings were intended by Monet to appeal to the Bourgeois for the commercial purpose of broadening interest in his works. He painted this series of paintings according to traditional compositional rules – a strong horizontal axis intersects with the central inverted triangular form made up of the trees, and their reflection on the water. Monet’s use of colors was intended to make the viewer perceive that they were alone in a rural area, when in actuality; the places were actually more city oriented than rural in nature. Toward the time of this painting, Monet increasingly painted landscapes, with less and less people in his paintings.

Monet was at this point the acknowledged leader of the Impressionists and had been hailed by critics such as Emile Zola and Georges Rivière. It was Monet's Impression, Soleil Levant, 1873, shown at the first Impressionist exhibition, that provided a name for the group; the critic Louis Leroy famously wrote that this "impression" was less finished than half-manufactured wallpaper. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, Monet had painted scenes of yachting, promenading, and residential gardens at Argenteuil and Paris. He was primarily devoted to painting figures within contemporary settings, such as in Le banc, 1873. Immediately prior to his move to Vétheuil, he painted numerous scenes in Paris--the Gare Saint-Lazare, the Parc Monceau, and the Rue Saint-Denis and Rue Montorgueil--but these paintings were the last time he would depict life in the French capital. Instead, he began to concentrate more and more on landscape.

In 1878, faced with financial difficulties, Monet decided to move from Argenteuil further down the Seine valley to Vétheuil, a medieval town located on the Seine about 28 miles northwest of Paris. He and his family, along with Alice and Ernest Hoschedé and their family, shared a house on the river, and Monet would often take a boat out to paint. One of his favorite destinations was Lavacourt, a village on the opposite side of the river, from which he would paint the landscape and Vétheuil. Monet tirelessly explored this area for the three years he lived there, depicting scenes in all seasons. His works of these years, while less well known than those of the early 1870s or his later series, were pivotal to Monet's life and career.

This painting is currently on display at the Dallas Museum of Art, and is said to be valued at 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 US dollars, although the painting brought 3,736,000 dollars at auction May 9^th 2007. Claude Monet would have been happy to get a few bucks for one of his paintings back in 1878 when he painted this particular scene. He was in no way, a rich man.

The Seine at Lavacourt has been displayed in 14 different museums since it was purchased from Monet by Mme Cantin in November 1979 in Paris for display at the Hotel Drouot. This painting and others on display at The Dallas Museum of Art are definitely more impressive to view in person, rather than just seeing them online, or even looking at a reproduction. Painters like Monet, Van Gough, and many other famous European artists are on display at the Dallas Museum of Art. It was definitely worth the visit!

Rania Khoury- UTA Art Gallery, "The Warrior King" by Michael Noland



This painting caught my attention out of all the painting that were in the gallery. The use of lines, colors, and shapes is what really appealed to me. In this painting, lines play a vital role in the structure of the "King". Different colors of lines create depth to portray a 3-d image. Also, the different widths of the lines help create the interior detail of the animal. It seems the deeper the image goes back the thinner the lines become. The curvy lines also help the whole animal blend together. It almost looks like ripples in water. Some of the curvy lines seem to create the image of the breast/rib bones on the right side. This helps the illusion that the animal is in fact 3-d. There is a consistency with the lines which creates a rythym to create smoothness. There are many different shapes which make up the animal. Oval shapes play a big role in the beard and legs which helps the eye move in a certain direction.Color is the most important part of this painting. The different colors are used to emphasize importance on different parts of the animal. It is also used to show the direction of light by using darker shades and a shadow. When you first look at this painting the eye is drawn to the dark red beard because it stands out more than all the other colors. However, the hair is the only colorless part of this painting. This is also important because the eye then moves to that area. Another imporant part that stands out in this painting is the shape of the eye. The Oval shape of the eye helps catch the attention of the audience. The black around it really helps it pop out. The white horn stands out as well with the use of white which is not used anywhere else in the painting other than shading on the top of the head. I like the placement of the animal because it makes him the center of attention. Also using the bright blue in the background for the sky really helps the image pop out. The color of the ground helps with the illusion of the shadow. Black was used a lot to emphasize breaks within certain shapes/lines. There is not much extra space around him for the eye to wonder. The texture of this painting is very smooth and bold. That is why I liked this picture so much. I love bold lines that are used together in collaboration to make an image. It says this is oil on canvas, but I can imagine the artist drew many sketches of this before actually painting. Of course a canvas was used, paint brushes, pencils, maybe even markers on the sketches to help create the idea of seperation between certain shapes/lines.It is evident in the distinct thickness and structure of the lines. By using oil paint, which lays on thick, it helped in the creating the effect of boldness. Lets say if water colors were used, the artist could not create such distinct areas in the paintings as he does with the oil.