The most prominent painting is Kehinde Wiley's "The Veiled Christ (study) 2008," which I definitely noticed as soon as it arrived. It portrays the stiff, clearly deceased subject laying on his back with his hand on his abdomen, a crown of thorns and metal stakes at his feet, against the backdrop of bright floral wallpaper with a black background, some of the same flowers coming to life in the foreground, dispersed about the body. Regardless of its size, the image itself is powerful and arresting.
On the facing wall next to Norman Rockwell and Grant Wood, hangs a Thomas Hart Benton: "Cotton Pickers, Georgia, 1928-29." In Benton's signature style, the squiggly characters float atop the wavelike landscape.
And just to the left, Andrew Wyeth's "A Crow Flew By, 1949-50" captured my undivided attention. The egg tempera on wood gives the painting a very rustic feeling — the shirt and hat in the top right corner are expertly painted to look worn out, and the expression on the man's droopy-eyed face is perfectly highlighted by the ray of light.
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I was just at the MET on Friday and I thought Kehinde Wiley's "The Veiled Christ" was AMAZING! As soon as you walked into the room you were drawn to it. Such a powerful image which is now my wallpaper in my iPhone. In that same room was another painting of a waterfall which great detail tuck inside if you looked hard. Do you recall what the painting was and who painted it? It was from 2005 is all I can remember and I am mad at myself for not taking a photo of the artwork and the painter.
ReplyDeleteThe artist's name is
ReplyDeleteStephen Hannock, and the painting is called "Kaaterskill Falls for Frank Moor and Dan Hodermarsky." I love the way he uses handwritten words and collage on his realistic-looking landscapes. "The Veiled Christ" actually took the place of Hannock's other painting, "The Oxbow: After Church, After Cole, Flooded, Green Light," which was really cool because the farm land in the foreground had lines of writing that made it look like rows in the fields.
First, Thank you! Hannock's painting was incredible. The amount of detail and subtle glimpses into things that meant something to him through life. I could spend quite a bit of time looking at his painting, trying to find and absorb all the subtleties. I see the same in "Oxbow" and the MET did a great job on the website presenting it there so we can enlarge sections of the painting. http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/modern_art/the_oxbow_after_church_after_cole_flooded_flooded_stephen_hannock/objectview.aspx?page=1&sort=3&sortdir=desc&keyword=&fp=1&dd1=21&dd2=0&vw=0&collID=21&OID=210013040&vT=1 Thanks again Lucy!
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