The Seattle Art Museum explores Edward Hopper's study of women's entry into the work force of New York in the 1920's. But Hopper didn't focus on the victory of women achieving a new level of social evolution. Rather, he shows us the internal woman, the introspection of these women as they entered a previously forbidden world. What did it feel like for two women daring to be seen eating in a restaurant together without a chaperone, why a sad face sitting alone in an automat contemplatively sipping coffee, another working into the night alone with the boss navigating through spoken and unspoken thoughts, and in a meditative pause before bed, rehashing the day's challenges or wondering what to do in the next? READ MORE ... Hopper in his Own Words

To me, form and design are merely a means to an end, the tools I work with, and they do not interest me greatly for their own sake. I am interested primarily in the vast field of experience and sensation which neither literature nor a purely plastic art deals with. One must say guardedly, human experience, for fear of having it confounded with superficial anecdote. I am always repelled by painting that deals narrowly with harmonies or dissonances of color and design.

My aim in painting is always, using nature as the medium, to try to project upon canvas my most intimate reaction to the subject as it appears when I like it most; when the facts are given unity by my interest and prejudices. Why I select certain subjects rather than others, I do not exactly know, unless it is that I believe them to be the best mediums for a synthesis of my inner experience.

I spend many days usually before I find a subject that I like well enough to do, and spend a long time on the proportions of the canvas, so that it will do for the design, as nearly as possible what I wish it to do. The very long horizontal shape of this picture, 'Manhattan Bridge Loop,' is an effort to give a sensation of great lateral extent. Carrying the main horizontal lines of the design with little interruption to the edges of the picture, is to enforce this idea and make one conscious of the spaces and elements beyond the limits of the scene itself. The consciousness of these spaces is always carried by the artist to the very limited space of the subject that he intends to paint, though I believe all painters are not aware of this.

The picture was planned very carefully in my mind before starting it, but except for a few small black and white sketches made from the fact, I relied on refreshing my memory by looking often at the subject. The preliminary sketches would do little for you in explaining the making of the picture. The color, design, and form have all been subjected, consciously or otherwise, to considerable simplification.

So much of every art is an expression of the subconscious, that it seems to me most all of the important qualities are put there unconsciously, and little of importance by the conscious intellect. But these are things for the psychologist to untangle."
The Seattle Art Museum | Back to the Top

Who are Cristo and Jeanne Claude? These are the stage names of Bulgarian-born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and his French wife, Jeanne-Claude de Guillebon. Together, they conceived and presented Marin and Sonoma Counties' "Running Fence," pink petticoated “Islands Off Miami,” a wrapped-up Reichstag in Berlin, thousands of Orange Gates in Central Park, and mushrooming umbrellas adorning the curvacious slopes of California.

Looking back at their previous works, it is easy to see that although their creations appear for a brief moment, they have much longer lasting effects. Their Running Fence. which appeared in California's Sonoma and Marin Counties, in is still a topic of conversation among locals, and photos of the fence still cause amazement.

The exhibit also includes the photographs Warhol used as source images, some of his initial sketches, and a preparatory collage.

Warhol never met any of the ten. When asked why these ten were chosen for this portraits, Warhol was evasive, stating to a reporter that he just liked their faces. The idea of Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century originated with Ronald Feldman, a New York gallerist, who commissioned it with Israeli art dealer Alexander Harari. Warhol first dubbed the series his "Jewish Geniuses." The ten chosen collectively touched most corners of human experience during the twentieth century.

This exhibit has perhaps a deeper concept level that some of his other portraits of pop culture. But like his portraits of Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe, Warhol has continued to blend the mass medium of photography with the "high art" of painting, blurring the line between fine art and pop culture.

The Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco and the Jewish Museum of New York who have put together this exhibition are co-publishing "Warhol's Jews: Ten Portraits Reconsidered." The 64-page book will include 50 color and 20 black and white illustrations. For the duration of the exhibition, public and educational programs will be offered. Refer to The Contemporary Jewish Museum website for more information. The Contemporary Jewish Museum's site | Back to the Top

Dr. Jan and Mary Ann Beekhuis display their extensive collection of "The Second Golden Age of Art" at St. Mary's Hearst Gallery through December 31.

During the 19th century, the newly won return of Dutch Independence was expressed by a rise in artistic creativity. The growing middle class began to acquire art and the number of artists increased dramatically. This exhibit is divided into three groups. The Dutch Romantic School includes pastoral landscapes, seascapes, and dimly-lit interiors. The Hague School has loosely painted still lifes and landscapes. The Dutch Impressionists are known for their bold brushstrokes and use of vivid colors.

The exhibit runs through December 13. Log onto the Hearst Gallery Websit for more information. Hearst Gallery | Back to the Top

• Booklets of our recent exhibitions are available. Pick them up at the gallery or send us your mailing address. Painters of the Desert; Regionalist Watercolors; 19th Century Paintings of Northern California; Painters of Carmel plus other Master Painters of the Sea.
  
• The gallery has a very large collection of reference material, including several videos about particular artists and artistic movements (plus Sister Wendy, of course), and many books including a huge volume about Edward Hopper. There are also various slideshows available, such as Milford Zornes. On a rainy day or any other gallery day, please accept our invitation to sit down and browse for a while, or have a DVD shown for you. Because of lack of shelf space and our use of these books elsewhere, usually the gallery has only a selection of volumes most pertinent to the current show, but please speak up and tell us in advance about what you may wish to look through. The DVD of the more extensive version of Steve Martin's presentation about Hopper is on order and should be at the gallery soon. We will put together a bibliography soon for you to access.
  
• See the video on our Alexander Dzigurski page entitled The Palette & Symphony.
  
• If you run across some interesting news from the art world, let us know. We may put it in the next issue.
  
• We have a good selection of small, affordable works by Alexander Dzigurski II. We are expecting some small works from Kathi Hilton and perhaps another artist.
  
• The main show that runs through November is "gallery favorites," with a selection from each of the gallery's specializations that ranges through time and artistic trends, and that emphasizes what has been of most interest to visitors, often representing local interest, and new acquisitions that haven't been shown previously. The principal groupings: Grace Allison Griffith and associated watercolorists; Nels Hagerup seascapes; impressionists such as Dedrick Stuber, Gustav Magnussen and Karl Schmidt; a small selection of desert painters; regionalists Ralph Baker and Milford Zornes; Alexander Nepote (very large) mixed media collages; many visitors' favorites Ralph Love and Joshua Meador.
  
• Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery is a member of the Sonoma County Gallery Group, which publishes a map of fine art galleries and has a website with information on a wide variety of current exhibitions. http://www.scgg.org .
  
• Our Archives page has links to our previous gallery exhibits and monthly newsletters. Back to the Top