BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART
John Singer Sargent - Watercolors
El Anatsui - Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works
John Singer Sargent is one of the finest painters known. He did not easily fit into a mode of painting but painted in his own personal style. Most of us know him as a painter of portraits. While his major paintings were oils on canvas, this exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art was of his watercolors. On his travels he carried materials to produce watercolors of landscapes and paintings of people and things around him. My guess is that watercolors would dry much faster than oils and were, therefore, much more portable in a timely fashion.
I'm not an artist and I do not paint, but I've seen a few paintings along the way. The exceptional component of this watercolor exhibit was that Sargent used techniques of transparent and opaque watercolors. I don't recall seeing many opaque watercolor paintings. These were not gauzy, airy, "washed", paintings. They were vivid, strong and filled with color and intensity. It was a great exhibition.
The large sculptures and wall hangings we saw created by El Anatsui were made from materials such as bottle caps, pull-top rings, segments of tin cans, ends of tin cans, etc. The pieces required a tremendous amount of repetitive work in assembling the structures of the pieces of art. With that said, the works were large, creative, colorful, and beautiful.
The Egyptian sections of the Brooklyn Museum are spectacular. We are committed to returning to visit the other parts of what is a really fine museum.
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