It's not over till you're underground, it's not over before it's too late;

Today was a positively gorgeous day here in the Have, and I really had no excuse not to make good on that promise to myself and to you, loyal readers, to venture downtown and visit Yale’s two art galleries.  Both were designed by Louis Kahn, the famed architect who was the subject of My Architect, a documentary made by his son a few years ago.  Kahn also designed the Civic Center in Philadelphia, which  is this odd structure and the former location of the bigger events in the city, like the famed Flower Show and the Regional Science Fair, both of which I either attended or was involved with when I was in sixth grade.  The two buildings could not be more different from their exteriors–the Art Gallery is a mix of the traditional Yale style seen across campus with a mix of modernism, most easily visible from the side, and the British Gallery of British Art looks like…a giant block.

So join me in a virtual tour–gum, drinks and food are permitted, and while photography isn’t encouraged (because who photographs their computer screen?), you’re welcome to use these photos, provided that you give credit to me.

The easiest way to get to the Galleries from the apartment entails that I go through campus and approach them from behind (to invoke Michael Scott:  that’s what she said).  What’s funny is that the back of the Yale Art Gallery is…

Jump!

Yes, the Yale Art Gallery butts up to the Skull and Bones tomb.

The archway that is part of the structure.  When all of the renovations to the American wing are finished, we’ll be able to walk across.  Hopefully I’ll still be here to do that once.

 

The top of the stairwell within the Gallery of British Art.

The stairwell from the top floor.  This is similarly done in the other gallery, but it’s less accessible there.  They really, really want you to use the elevator there.

Now, onto the art!

Damien Hirst, from “The Last Supper”:  Steak and Kidneys, 1999.  Apparently, Hirst was obsessed with pharmeceutical packaging, and appropriately did a twist on traditional British fare.

 

John Minton, Cornish Landscape, 1946

Spencer Gor, Cambrian Road, Richmond, Surrey, 1913-14

Honestly, I spent more time taking pictures of the Yale Art Gallery than looking at the paintings in the Gallery of British Art.  I find it delightfully ironic that it’s easier to take pictures from the opposite location, but so it is.

Some shots:

When I was taking these shots, one of the elderly security people tried to insist that I pose for a pictures ”just to prove that I was there” but I refused.

Edward Hopper, Rooms by the Sea, 1951

I first was exposed to this work as it appeared next to the poem “Moving” by Robert Wallace, and was part of this compilation of great modern poetry meant for teenagers to relate to and then embrace the art form.  I discovered this book–Some Haystacks Don’t Even Have Any Needle–when I was thirteen years old.  When I was eighteen, I found it in a bag of books at the now-defunct Paoli Book X-change.  It’s one of my most prized possessions.

Joseph Stella, Spring (The Procession), 1914-16

An Italian-born American Futurist painter, he was apparently best-known for his portrayal of industrialist America.  How quaint that all is today.

Vietnamese ceramics, circa late-15th and 16th centuries.

Mask representing a horse, from Malai, late 19th century/early 20th century

Roy Lictenstein, Blam!, 1962

Mark Rothko, No. 3, 1967

Though this is not the painting used in a recent episode of Mad Men, it is similar to it, and I loved how it was so effectively used to ferret out those who “get” art versus those who were just synchophants.  Enough said.

A cast of Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker.

Edward Ruscha, Level, 2003

Pablo Picasso, Chien et coq, 1921

Pablo Picasso, Femme assisse, 1936

Jean Arp, Resting Leaf, 1959

Ellsworth Kelly, Charter, 1959

This painting was so large that i had to stand next to a sculpture to get this shot.

Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1967

Love, love Cy Twombly,  I urge you to see the series based off of the Iliad at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Joseph Stella, Brooklyn Bridge, 1919-20

Last image I saw, and easily one of my favorites.  Also, Elegy to the Spanish Republic, No. 78 was not on view (I checked–it’s in storage–blerg!) so that took the favorite out of the running.

And, oh yes, I got one nice shot of the Gallery of British Art as I was leaving:

 

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