TravelswithCharie

Winslow Homer, Saco Bay, 1896, Oil on canvas.  The Clark Art Institute, 1955.5 The Clark Art Institute The Berkshires is one of the most beautiful places in the United States. Sleepy little towns snooze amidst lush vegetation and green hills. At Williamstown, you are immediately drawn by the calm and restful appeal of this town. This is why it is so surprising to find a museum of the caliber of the Clark Art Institute in this pastoral setting. Sterling Singer Clark, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune and his wife, Francine Clary, founded the museum in 1950. Their collection of  French Impressionist and Academic paintings including works by Renoir, Degas, Gauguin and Van Gogh form the core collection of the museum together with their silver, porcelain, drawings and print acquisitions. The museum opened to the public in 1955. Sterling Clark also had an interest in American artists and collected the works of Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent. The museum is at 225 South Street,

Lino F. Villarruz Lino F. Villarruz graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Santo Tomas. He is a founding member of the Arts Association of Capiz (formerly Capiz Arts Council) which he served as its Visual Arts Director in 1995. Mr. Villarruz  has received numerous art awards throughout his career including the Capiznon Artist Award. He comes from a musical family and was a guitarist for the band he formed with his brothers when he was in his teens. He lives in Roxas City with his wife and children. How did you come to realize you wanted to be a painter? Lino: I liked drawing and found I was good at it during high school so it was easy for me to decide to study Fine Arts in college. Who were the artists who influenced you the most? Lino: The artists I admired most and who influenced my work were Vicente Manansala, Carlos "Botong" Francisco, Mauro "Malang" Santos and Pablo Picasso. How would you describe your artistic style? Lino: My style of pain

Reclining Figure: Arched Leg 4/6, Henry Moore, 1969-1970 “Sculpture is an art of the open air. Daylight, sunlight is necessary to it and for me, its best setting and complement is nature.” -  Henry Moore One of the most impressive museums in Portugal is the Berardo Collection Museum in Belém, a short train or tram ride from the center of Lisbon. The permanent exhibition at the museum is the private collection of one man, José Manuel Rodrigues Berardo. It includes works by the likes of Picasso, Mondrian, Magritte, Warhol among others. An afternoon at this museum is merely an introduction to the Berardo Collection. You’ll want to return and appreciate the works on display at a leisurely pace. Entrance is free on Saturdays. This is a late post . These few images of the artworks presented here were taken during my visit to Portugal in April 2016. I’ve arranged them in chronological order except for the Henry Moore outdoor sculpture because this image gives a perspective of t

Melancholy. Albert György. Bronze. Lake Geneva. Geneva. Switzerland Before I embark on any trip, I always check the net for public art or street art in the cities I plan to visit, especially places I have been lucky to visit a few times. These searches give me options which I may otherwise have missed since these works of art are seldom listed on the "must see" lists. On my recent trip to Europe, I had the opportunity to see these sculptural pieces that beg explanation, are meaningful, controversial, poignant, thought provoking and Instagrammable (lol). These discoveries were lessons in art appreciation and added mileage to a deeply satisfying trip. Nothing represents emptiness better than this sculpture about melancholy.  Inverted Collar and Necktie. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen. Polymer concrete, steel, fiber-reinforced plastic. Westendstrasse 1. Frankfurt am Main. Germany. The tie as a "traditional part of office attire, its loosening could

In 1966, Marc Chagall donated the group of paintings collectively known as “Biblical Message” to the French State. These paintings were exhibited at the Louvre and became the inspiration for the Musée National Marc Chagall in Nice which was inaugurated in 1973 and attended by the artist himself. This biblical series of 17 large scale paintings form the core of the exhibition. 250 works were initially donated by Chagall. Aside from the paintings, there are sculptures, bas reliefs, a ceramic piece, lithographs and copies of his illustrated books. A mosaic wall called, The Prophet Elijah,  presides in the courtyard. Every Chagall painting has more than one story to tell. I learned to watch for the little vignettes scattered throughout his canvases so I wouldn’t miss the rich narratives that define his works. The Creation of Man, 1956-58 An angel carries Adam from the ocean where animals thrived prior to the creation of man. The rays of a swirling sun evoke the artistic style of

At the recently concluded exhibition, Les Nabis et Le Décor, decorative works by the Nabi group of artists including Maurice Denis, Bonnard, Vuillard, Sérusier, Ranson and Vallotton, were on display at the Musée Luxembourg in Paris. These works of art were intended for “contemporary interiors in reaction against the aesthetics of historical pastiche that were in vogue at the end of the 19th century”. The painting above, Arabesque Poétique ou L’Echelle dans le feuillage, is by Maurice Denis from 1892. This wool tapestry is entitled, La Baigneuse ou La Vague. It is the work of Aristide Maillol during the period 1896-1899. There are Japanese influences in the decorative works of the Nabis as shown on  this screen, Passage Vallonné by Marguerite Sérusier from 1910. The Japanese ukiyo-e style of painting with its simple forms, vibrant colors and decorative themes appealed to the Nabis. Most of these works were commissions by friends or patrons and themes about wo

Marc Chagall June and July have been busy months for me. Haven’t had the time to write much. There are so many travel articles that I would like to post soon. Here’s a preview of what’s to come.  Bordeaux Marc Chagall Museum in Nice Albi Toulouse Bordeaux Notre Dame de Paris Carcassonne  Albi Stay tuned! ***** Images by TravelswithCharie

In 1968, Antonio Villegas (then Mayor of Manila), commissioned Carlos "Botong" Francisco to paint the history of Manila for Manila City Hall. The series of large scale paintings was called  Kasaysayan ng Maynila  (History of Manila).  The paintings deteriorated over time and no attempt was made to preserve these historical canvases until 2013 when Mayor Amado Lim sent them to the National Museum for extensive restoration. Four years later, in 2017, Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the Manila City Council signed an agreement with the National Museum to leave the paintings at the museum so they may reach a larger audience in exchange for museum grade reproductions to replace the originals. Kasaysayan ng Maynila was later renamed Filipino Struggles in History and is now on display at the Senate Hall of the National Museum . Carlos "Botong" Francisco died in March 1969, a few months after completing the paintings. He is one of the first Filipino modernists and