Providence

To catch everyone up on my trip, and to remember all the incredible things I saw, I will spend the next couple of blogs talking about places I visited this past week.

One place was the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence. I spent an afternoon browsing their amazing art museum. For a small school that not many people outside the art world have ever heard of, they have an astonishing collection, including things as disparate as ancient Roman sculpture, French Impressionist paintings, and contemporary video-art. I was really proud of myself when I was able to recognize an etching by Piranesi, similar to the ones I saw last weekend at the exhibit currently at the Cooper-Hewitt in New York.

Two displays struck me as especially nice. One is in homage of the "grand hall" found in old English and French houses: the long passageway from one wing of the estate to another, where the nobility would display their art collections from floor to ceiling for all their friends to admire. Unlike a dark old castle hall, the RISD's grand hall is painted a deep blue, and pictures are hung salon style, but not crowded to the point of fatigue. A long skylight as well as myriad spotlights illuminate the works, which range from serene landscapes to noble portraits, to impassioned religious scenes. Soft chairs in the center of the room provide a place for the viewer to contemplate the art and leaf through guides which inform of titles, artists, and media. The walls are refreshingly free of labels. When I was there, two actual monks were seated before a painting of a biblical scene, utilizing the power of the visual to convey spiritual meaning.

The other exhibit that I thought just wonderful is titled "American Idyll," the play on words an example of musuem curator humor, I guess. The selection here is quite thought-provoking. The idea of the show is to illuminate the stories of people and places overlooked in America's long tradition of using art to showcase the ideal, and show how they helped make this country vibrant. In portraits of Native Americans and African Americans, women and children, untouched wilderness and smog covered rooftops, the panorama of America unfolds before the eye. In telling their stories, the exhibition draws from so many directions, and references so many issues, that the message isn't immediately apparent, yet once I started to see the different threads and recognize the subtle way that artists have used their work to tell social stories, I understood. The best example is the dressing table and chair pictured above, which was made by the Gorham silver company for the 1904 World's Fair. It's hard to tell from my image, but this table, the most fabulous and masterful example of its kind ever made in this country, is a combination of French art nouveau, English rococo, Greco-Roman neoclassicism, and Asian marquetry and inlay techniques. It combines a variety of cultural influences into one masterpiece. Just like the 1904 World's Fair did. Just like America continues to do.

The third amazing thing at the RISD art museum is the historic "house" that is built into the museum, known as Pendleton House. Stepping into it is as if you are going back in time into the home of a wealthy and elite 18th century American. It's not a real house, as the built in display cases attest, but it simulates one in a gorgeous way.

I encourage everyone to visit Providence, a charmingly quaint city with street names such as "Pleasant" and "Benevolent" and the city motto "Hope." It's enough sweetness to make you sick except its so welcoming and idyllic that you never will want to leave. I didn't, but of course I did.