Tag: blanton museum of art

American Modernism and ever-changing digital art at the Blanton

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A colorful stamp featuring abstract artwork by Marsden Hartley, with bold geometric shapes and vibrant colors, labeled 'forever' and 'usa'.

Above: “Flight of the Thielens,” Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975). “In September 1938, a disastrous hurricane barreled through a Martha’s Vineyard town…. Benton’s painting of the destructive storm depicts his neighbors – the painter Virginia Berresford, her husband, writer Benedict Thielen, and their cook, Josephine ‘Lucy’ Clarke – as they fled their home…. Unable to swim, Clarke was pulled out to sea by 25-foot waves…. Benton depicts her tragic final moments as she reaches up for help… just beyond Thielen’s grasp.” Blanton curatorial notes, “American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection.”

An interesting dip into American Modernism drawn from the private art collection of Charles Butt (Butt as in the “B” of H-E-B) is on loan to the Blanton Museum of Art until August 2. Eighty diverse works are assembled for the exhibition, “American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection.” A snapshot of these and several other current exhibits follows.

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Old and New World artistry merge in Hispanic Baroque

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A 1893 one-cent postage stamp depicting Christopher Columbus and indigenous figures, surrounded by an ornate border. The inscription reads 'Columbus in Sight of Land.'

Above: “Annunciation and Saints,” Jose de Paez, Mexican (1727-1790), oil on copper, 1750-1760.

“Spirit & Splendor: El Greco, Velázquez, and the Hispanic Baroque” surveys 150 years of Spanish art leading to the Baroque period with works culled from the collection of the Hispanic Society of America in New York City. Some of Spain’s most renowned and respected artists are represented in this ongoing exhibition at the Blanton Museum of Art, but don’t expect much more than a dozen of these works.

What I love are the pieces demonstrating the Baroque style translated by transplants and native-born artisans in the Americas. Artists took advantage of materials available in this so-called “New” World – copper, shells and, of course, more precious metals. They added a magical sheen to art designed to convert “pagans” to the foreign beliefs held by the Catholic conquerors.

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Contemporary Native American artists, plus a century of Surrealism

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Above: Detail of Martine Gutierrez’ “Queer Rage, Imagine Life-Size, and I’m Tyra, p66-67,” from Indigenous Woman, 2018.

Work by nine contemporary indigenous artists was assembled for “Native America: In Translation,” curated by artist Wendy Red Star and displayed at the Blanton Museum of Art.

No one was going to put me on the cover of a Paris fashion magazine, so I thought, I’m gonna make my own.”

Martine Gutierrez referring to her 2018 art magazine, Indigenous Women, Curator notes

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