Amon Carter Museum

[November 7, 2018]

This week we visited the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth to see nature paintings that, unfortunately, turned out to be temporarily put away. The landscapes and other natural objects that we did see painted depictions of still caught my eye and I'm grateful we still made the trip. I have attached pictures of some of my favorite works from the museum. It was my first time visiting the Amon Carter and it had much more sophisticated, classical-type art than I expected. I remember being similarly surprised the first time I went into both the Kimbell and the Meadows Museums as well. I never would have thought there was this sort of demand for traditional painting in North Texas.

When I look at the painting of the sailboats near the shore in "Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay" (1868) by Martin Johnson Heade, I am reminded of home. I have spent a lot of time on Cape Cod and on the Rhode Island coast so the landscape looks comfortingly familiar. I am drawn to the contrast of light from left to right in the painting. Even in the darkest corner, you can still make out the white of the sails. It amazes me how up close, artists layer and swirl different colors of paint in seemingly messy globs and fits of randomness. Yet, when you take a step back, the whole and final result is one of incredible realism and logic. It almost looks like a picture not a painting. According to the plaque hanging beside this work, the artist was attempting to juxtapose the turmoil and threat of the storm with the calm of the sea. I don't feel well-versed enough in art analysis to draw these conclusions myself, but after having read the museum's contextualization of the piece, I more fully understand the artist's intent and careful craft.