The first three pieces of artwork that I found interesting were “Miners in the Sierras” by Charles Christian Nahl, “Mist in Kanab Canyon, Utah” by Thomas Moran, and “The Coast of Genoa” by Jasper Francis Cropsey. The first painting “Miners in the Sierras” by Charles Christian Nahl was created using oil on a canvas. The miners’ shirts in the painting contrast to the colors of the American flag colors of red, white, and blue. The miners are in what appears to be the Midwest where the land is formed through rock formations, trees and creeks. In my opinion, this painting can be seen as the forming of the American prairie lands. As the painting has a cabin that is surrounded by nothing but grassy plains with boulders. “Mist in Kanab Canyon, Utah” by Thomas Moran was also created using oil on canvas. This painting was interesting in the way the artist captures the beauty of the canyon. There is what appears to be a vulture flying over the fog laden rock formation that is the canyon. The realism of the creek that lay at the bottom of the canyon is amazing. The use of fog in this painting gives the onlooker a sense of being there. The final painting, “The Coast of Genoa” by Jasper Francis Cropsey. The first thing I noticed about this painting is the use of color and realism in the way the artist portrays the ocean that lines Genoa. The next thing I noticed is the excellent use of clouds and the way the clouds seem to be almost touching the mountain range that’s off in the distance. The architectural structures portrayed in this painting looks to be of ancient decent. I noticed there is a contrast of light and dark in this painting where the clouds seem to meet the mountains is light however where we begin to see the ocean waves rolling in is contrasted with darkness.
These artworks make the statement that America was and is founded on the sweat and tears of hard workers. In these paintings I see images of desserts, prairie life, old west, canyons, creeks, valleys, Australian coastlines, images of Italy and the Rocky Mountains. It reminds me of the show little house on the prairie, old westerns, and movies such as the land before time and the movie center of the earth. These artworks show the majestic landscapes of the world. They show how artistic perception of various places can cause one to think about how these places may have been or how it might feel if we were to visit such places. When I saw the first painting I just thought the miners were just wearing those colors because of the time period in which the painting seemed to be portraying but at my second glance I noticed the embedded theme of patriotism in the way the artist used red, white and blue for the color of the miners’ clothes.
When I visited the gift shop I found there were two parts, the gift shop and the book store. In the gift shop they sold American art books, games, graphic tees, Obama memorabilia, George Washington memorabilia, civil war art pieces, presidential plates/cups/trinkets, jewelry, sunglasses, sketchbooks, arts/crafts, rubber vases, bobbles, Elvis books/purses/pictures, Dado cubes, wind-up(Cranky) collectors, and abstract art. In the book store they sold photography books, art/painting books ( such as ones on impressionalism, and folk art), and history books (such as Witness to America, Best little stories from WW II and The Forgotten Man). In reference to the question of who decides what goes into the museum, I asked the information desk attendant. She told me that the curators decide. Curators are, according to dictionary.com, the person in charge of a museum, art collection. The attendant stated the curator for the American Art Museum is Elizabeth Brown and the curator for the Portrait of Art Gallery was Martin Sullivan. She stated that Mr. G. Wayne Clough has the ultimate say so after Ms. Martin and Mr. Sullivan. She told me that originally the current housing building was the Patent Building. She also stated that Donald Reynolds contributed to the renovations of the building, however, before they can do anything they have to solicit congress first. She later stated that the monetary funds for the money that is allocated for the museum is from various foundations and that generally 70 % of the funds comes from the government and the other 30% comes from private funds and foundations.
Miners in the Sierras
Mist in Kanab Canyon, Utah
The Coast of Genoa
