Results tagged “johnsingersargent”

After headbutting its way through the World Cup on Sunday, France seems to be in the spotlight this summer, especially here in Boston. The Museum of Fine Arts is hosting their new Americans in Paris 1860-1900 exhibit, which features painting by James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, and Mary Cassatt. It seems that American painters all flocked to Paris to attend art school, gain a reputation, and eat lots of crepes during this forty year span. They also happened to produce some great art, which will be on display through September 24th; the most well-known pieces in this exhibit are two portraits of ladies with extremely different styles: Sargent’s portrait of Madame X and Whistler’s portrait of his mother.

Bostonist decided to take a break from the MFA and head over to the Harvard Univerity Art Museums this past weekend; while we recall visiting the Peabody Museum on a high school field trip, we don’t recall ever wandering into any of the art museums that Harvard has to offer. The biggest draw right now is the Degas exhibit at the Sackler museum, which is home to the University’s permanent Asian, Indian, and Islamic art collections. Running until November 27, this special exhibit is dedicated to Edgar Degas, who is usually grouped in with the Impressionist artists, except that he didn't like all that "plein air" painting and often focused on portraits inside a studio. The exhibit features his works in pastels, bronze, and pencil, which focus on three main topics: ballerinas, horse racing, and nudes. While Bostonist mostly associates Degas with his drawings of ballerinas, he also spent much time focusing on nudes, especially women getting out of the bathtub. At first Bostonist had to ask “how were these women okay with being drawn getting out of the tub?”, but we got past that and went on to appreciate Degas's many sketches of the bathers. The only downsides to “Degas at Harvard” were a wish for more art on display and fewer people to appreciate it. We showed up at noon and had to wait until 2:00 p.m. to enter the exhibit. Tickets are $7.50 per person (free with your Harvard employee I.D. or Cambridge Library card; there are student discounts too); the admission gets you into all of the Harvard University Art Museums.

While expecting to find lots of older women lunching along side Renoirs and Monets, the Museum was packed with lots of middle-aged men and their wives and/or kids; there are two male-friendly exhibits currently drawing them into the MFA.