Tag: Art 2019

Currently open at the Museum of Fine Arts in Second Life is the third part of a series celebrating les trois grandes dames of French Impressionism. Having featured Marie Bracquemond in the first part of the exhibition (see: The Museum of Fine Arts in Second Life) and then Berthe Morisot in the second (see: Berthe Morisot at the Museum of Fine Arts), this final part turns to the work of Mary Stevenson Cassatt (May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926).

Cassatt is perhaps the most unusual of the grand dames, in that she was born in the United States, the daughter of a stockbroker of French descent. Her parents were able to afford to provide her with a well-rounded education that included travel and study in Europe, where she gained her first exposure to music and the arts. It was at this time that she likely gained her first exposure to  some of the great masters including Edgar Degas, would later be both colleague and mentor.

Returning to the United States, she started to formally study art – albeit it against her parent’s wishes – a path that would lead her back to France in her early 20s. At the time, women were unable to the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris – one of the most influential schools of art in the country – and so sought be be privately tutored. It was this bias against women in a foremost school of art that likely further reinforced Cassatt’s support for equal rights, which formed as much a part of her life as her art.

Learning under the tutelage of Jean-Léon Gérôme,  Charles Chaplin and Thomas Couture, it was at this time (1868-1870) Cassatt had her first pieces of art accepted for exhibition. Following a visit home to her family in 1870/71, Cassatt returned to France where she enjoyed further success with exhibiting her art, although she became increasingly cynical and outspoken about the male bias against women artists event in many of the art salaons. In return, she was increasingly seen as “troublesome” for her views and straightforwardness – something that perhaps moved her more towards the Impressionist movement, who were just starting to mount their own independent (or “fringe”, as those practising more accepted forms of art may have regarded them) exhibitions.

It was at this time that she came directly into contact with Edgar Degas, who invited her to join their exhibitions and movement. With Degas she formed a life-long, if often strained, friendship, which included experimenting with form and colour, and she continued to enjoy moderate success.

In 1894, Gustave Geffroy referred to Cassatt as one of les trois grandes dames (the three great ladies) of Impressionism alongside Bracquemond and Morisot. However, by that time, Cassatt no longer regarded herself as part of any movement, but rather as an experimentalist and teacher. Similarly, her popular reputation is based on an extensive series of rigorously drawn and tenderly observed paintings and prints on the theme of the mother and child, works which she embarked upon after she had started to move away from the impressionist movement – which is not to diminish her role within the movement.

The exhibition of Cassatt’s art at the Museum of Fine Arts can – as with the previous exhibitions of Bracquemond’s and Morisot’s work can be found in the pavilion buildings, behind the main gallery. It is broadly split into two parts: the pavilion to the left (as you face them) is predominantly focused on Cassatt’s  work from the 1870s through her time in the impressionist movement, while the pavilion to the right  focuses more on her later work including the aforementioned series of mother and child pieces.

As is the practice at the gallery, the paintings are drawings are presented with wall-mounted information cards, and touching any reproduction will display the information relating to the piece in local chat. All the the pieces are also offered in scale with one another – which, as I’ve noted in past reviews, can make some pieces hard to fully appreciate. To counter this, the gallery offers some of Cassatt’s drawings to scale – but with a larger-scale version alongside to offer the opportunity for clearer appreciation. It’s a simple, but effective approach.

One of the attractive features of these exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts is that that bring together works  that might never all be seen together under one roof; as such, this is again an exhibition that connoisseurs of fine art will not want to miss.

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• Museum of Fine Arts (Jieut, rated Moderate)

Virtual Rhyming is a small, semi-interactive exhibition of Second Life photography and poetry by Sunset Quinnell and Guerreira Xue (Brazilian social media writer Hilda Milk in the physical world), two friends in both the virtual virtual and physical worlds. It features nine images by Sunset flanked on either side by a poem in both Portuguese and in English by Guerreira.

I took the photos in different locations in Second Life, then sent them to Guerreira so she could see them fresh and be inspired to write about them.

– Sunset Quinnell, describing the process behind the exhibition

The nine images with their accompanying poems are grouped into set of three, with one set focused on NevaCrystall’s Borneo; one set on Kekeland – Bardeco by Terry Fotherington and Bridget Genna and, between them, a triplet of pieces focused on the arts, and featuring pieces by Bryn Oh, Cherry Managa and Kicca Igally and Nessuno Myoo.

The approach of Sunset taking the photos and sending them to Guerreira, rather than them both visiting the locations together, perhaps gives the poems an extra level of sensitivity, approaching as they do each piece not just in terms of interpreting the scene presented, but possibly Sunset’s mood in taking the pictures. Thus, there is something of a personal sensitivity present in both words and images.

For those who are curious, seven the pieces have interactive elements: just click on the sign below them and follow the instructions that come up in local chat (in both Portuguese and English). These offer a mix of activities intended for a little fun, rather than necessarily adding to the interpretation for the image / poem.

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• Virtual Rhyming, Sunnylee (Othello, rated General)

Currently open at his Rill’Arts Gallery is In the Clouds, a series of stunning physical world images by Nils Urqhart of the French Alps either caught within, or against the backdrop of, cloud-laden skies.

Across just shy of thirty images, Nils paints a stunning portrait of the Alps – which forms one of the world’s stunning mountain ranging – that fully captures their intensely rugged, almost romantic, looks, and does so in a completely beguiling manner.

By presenting the Alps – slopes and peaks, capped by snow or naked – Nils has created a series of images that not only suggest the mountains are almost living, breathing entities, but that they are entirely otherworldly in their nature.

For example, in some, they seem to float as islands in the sky, breakers of clouds rolling against their flanks as they seem to float on a sea of white and grey. In others we are offered small glimpses of what life among mountains like this – to look out over forest coated rocky slopes whilst also overlooked in turn by the towering, stern presence of these huge rugged faces.

One of the fascinating elements of this exhibition from my perspective is the aforementioned sense of life given to the Alps through the sometimes rolling, roiling set of the clouds around them. In numerous shots, this play of cloud caught on turbulent winds colliding against the sides of the mountains not only looks like that vast ocean breaking upon the flanks of an island, but also the longs exhales of breath from the mountains themselves.

As always with Nils’ photography, this is a marvellous collection of images that are perfectly presented. Those taken by Nils’ work can also find it available for sale in the physical world through American Fine Arts.

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• Rill’Arts Gallery (Helvellyn, rated Moderate)

Currently open at the Boston Town Hall is Colors, an exhibition by Callum Writer, an artist I’ve come to admire for the breadth and depth of her work.

Callum found her artistic inspiration through the snapshot capability in the Second Life viewer. From this, she has worked to expand her artistic ability and expression to incorporate techniques such as fractals, collage, abstract, and mixed-media approaches. In all of this, her ability to express emotion, harmony and life through the use of colour is clearly evident, as can very clearly be seen with this exhibition.

Located on the ground floor of the town hall building, the exhibition feature 15 marvellous pieces of Callum’s work. Each and every one of them is stunning in form, colour and expression, starting with Portrait de Femme, to the left of the front entrance to the hall, and proceeding around the space on both the walls and free-standing easels.

The creativity seen in these images is stunning, making any selection of individual pieces meaningless to a degree – although I admit to being drawn in particular She and Dancers 14, alongside the aforementioned Portrait de Femme, because of the manner in which they meld colour, light, movement and life. However, it is impossible not to be taken by each and every piece on display.

An absolutely captivating exhibition – and one highly recommended.

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• Colors by Callum Writer (Atlantia New World, rated: Moderate)