Woke up this morning with a sore throat and called in sick. Nursed it all morning with hot tea and lozengers, and by mid-afternoon was going stir crazy to get out of the house! So I tooled down to the NGA for a couple of hours. Hope I didn't infect anybody else!
I started by revisiting the "Prayers and Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych" exhibition; this time with the aid of the audio tour. I tell you, DO IT -- it's always money well spent.
Then I went to the Constable landscape show: "Constable's Great Landscapes: The Six-Foot Paintings". I did it because I was already there, and because I was mildly curious. The conceat of the show is the fact that Constable often made full-scale "sketches" in oil paint on canvas of his major landscapes, in addition to a separate version of the finished work. There are several sets of these paintings presented for the visitor's review in this show. I found them mildly interesting ~ Okay, that's a lie! -- I find his buccolic and sublime landscapes mundane and boring. The show only confirmed this opinion. They're just not my cup of tea!
I like the Constable stuff. The mystery is in the detail. I zero in on the tiny people and think "Who are they and what is their story?"
ReplyDeleteMy new firend, I think that's really way cool! That's what ART is really all about: thought, connection, question, wonder... I'm not one that thinks resolution or statement is art.
ReplyDeleteSo you give me a reason to not feel so anti-Constable; but yet, his palate and subject only leave me feeling empty and unengaged. To each his own! And thanks again.