Monday, October 12, 2020 – PICK A COLOR AND SEE WHAT WONDERFUL ART APPEARS
Monday, OCTOBER 12, 2020
180th Edition
ART BY THE COLOR
PICK A COLOR AND SEE WHAT
COMES UP
AT THE
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART
MUSEUM WEBSITE
TOMATO
We picked a color and it was TOMATO
Let’s see what wonderful pieces of art appeared.
John Haberle, Torn in Transit, ca. 1890-1895, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Sheila and Richard J. Schwartz, and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2018.6
FUN TO EXPLORE THE COLOR
THAT IS IN ARTPIECES
Kenneth M. Adams, Taos Indian Woman, ca. 1920-1930, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1993.48.1 Kenneth Adams painted his portraits of Pueblo Indians from life. In Taos Indian Woman, his sitter stares off into space, as if her mind wandered far from the studio. Adams draped her in a Pendleton blanket that many viewers might have mistaken for an authentic Indian textile. These blankets copied Native American designs, and Pendleton Mills shipped them from Oregon to the Southwest to be exchanged for wool, silver jewelry, and other handcrafted items. American Indians wove fewer textiles as they acquired more Pendleton blankets through trading, and unsuspecting East Coast tourists collected the blankets as souvenirs of the Wild West.
- George Widener, 28-28, 2014, mixed media on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Carl and Kate Lobell in honor of Graham Roach, 2015.20.2, © 2014, George Widener
- George Widener is an ace with numbers. 28–28 plays with a connection he had at the time between the numbers of his own birthdate (2−8) and this then-girlfriend’s: 4–28, or (2 x 2)-28. Widener explains that he sees the numbers in his mind and enjoys envisioning all of their possible relationships. He called this piece a “portrait/snapshot” of the two of them at the time it was made.
Eddy Mumma, Untitled (Figure with Green Face and Bared Teeth), ca. 1978 – 1986, oil on board, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Josh Feldstein, 2015.56.5
- Unidentified, Green Fish Decoy with Clackers, 20th century, painted wood, metal, and plastic, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase made possible by Mrs. E. C. Hobson, 1997.124.202
- Carved fish decoys are one of the earliest forms of American folk art. Hunters around the Bering Sea first used small bone or ivory decoys for ice fishing around 1000 AD. They believed that the decoys embodied the innua, or inner spirit of the fish. The practice spread to upstate New York and the Great Lakes, where it became a tourist industry with many communities growing around prime fishing areas. Ice fishing was banned in 1905, however, because the popularity of the sport had brought about a serious decline in large game fish. During the Depression, many hunters and fishermen turned again to fish spearing for survival. The decoys from this period are simpler, focusing on realistic shapes, colors, and movement rather than fanciful decoration (Steven Michaan, American Fish Decoys, 2003).
Alma Thomas, The Eclipse, 1970, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1978.40.3
- George Catlin, Mong-shóng-sha, Bending Willow, Wife of Great Chief, 1832, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.98
- “I visited the wigwam of [Great Chief] … several times,” George Catlin wrote, “and saw his four modest little wives seated around the fire, where all seemed to harmonize very well; … I selected [Bending Willow] … for her portrait, and painted it … in a very pretty dress of deer skins, and covered with a young buffalo’s robe, which was handsomely ornamented, and worn with much grace and pleasing effect.” The artist painted this portrait at a Ponca village in 1832. (Catlin, Letters and Notes , vol. 1, no. 26, 1841; reprint 1973)
Dodge Charger R/T, 1969 (model car, 1:18 scale), 1969, metal, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Albert H. Small, 2017, AHS.48
William H. Johnson, Red Cross Nurses Handing out Wool for Knitting, ca. 1942, gouache and pen and ink with pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.168R
Dickson Carroll, McGhee’s House, 1988, carved and painted poplar, fir plywood, and redwood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Beau, Linda, and Dan Kaplan in memory of Nora, 1998.19A-B
Vin Giuliani, “True religion shows its influence in every part of our conduct; it is like the sap of a living tree, which penetrates the most distant boughs.”–William Penn, 1644-1718. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man., 1961, painted wood on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.106
Andrew Balkin, Alistra from the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Portfolio, 2001, hard-ground, soft-ground, aquatint and lift-ground with hand-coloring on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Janet Ann Bond Sutter and Thomas Henry Sutter, 2008.10.1.1, © 2001, Andrew G. Balkin and Renee E.K. Balkin
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EDITORIAL
Let’s have fun with color and art. It is easy to see some of the art objects and paintings at the Smithsonian American Art Museum by choosing a color.
Hers is how to find the pages
Browse Artworks by Color
https://americanart.si.edu/art/colors
THIS PAGE WILL COME UP AND PICK A COLOR AND OFF YOU GO TO EXPLORE ART USING THAT COLOR.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky
for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
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TEXT AND IMAGES FROM THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM
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