NYC!

Friday I went to NYC on a bus trip for one of my art history classes- design history of the 20th c. It was amazing. Simply amazing.

One of the reasons why it was so great is that I finally had enough guts to explore the city by myself. I rode the bus down with friends, but they wanted to fart around the city and see Times Square while I just wanted to spend every minute in the museums.

We got dropped off at the MoMA, and I parted ways with the gals and walked about 15 blocks north to The Frick Collection (a museum that houses mostly 16th-19th c. European paintings, and some ceramic work). I had heard from my high school art teacher that the Frick was a great museum, but had always visited only the large museums when I went to NYC (the Met, MoMA, Museum of Natural History). Let me tell you though, the smaller, lesser-known museums are SO MUCH NICER. Less crowds=more intimate viewing of the artwork. Also, the guards did not seem to mind when I looked at the paintings from all sorts of weird angles to check out cracks and repairs.

Right now, I am taking a “Baroque art/ Northern Europe” art history class- which is all about Dutch and Flemish painters in the 16th c. (Rembrandt, Vermeer, Rubens). Lucky me, the Frick had several very important paintings from these artists that I have been studying. Standing in front of major paintings that you were studying in depth only a week before is really a changing experience. It reassured me that art history really is the right major for me, and that I definitely have an interest in working for a museum (not at a non-profit arts center or a gallery, like I had been leaning towards lately). The whole day made me feel like art from hundreds of years ago has a little more importance than most of the art that is being made today. (for example, the art that is in the Frick is more important than the work that is being shown at a local contemporary art gallery).

One other thing that I noticed during the day was how much nicer looking the Frick’s building was than the MoMA’s. MoMA looked stark and ugly in comparison to the beautiful mansion with marble floors and columns that was the Frick.

After spending a little over three hours at the Frick (I could have spent a week there), I had to move on to the MoMA. The transition between the two museums was jarring, because the work that they show is on two opposite ends of the history of art spectrum. The best way to show you this is in pictures! So here, enjoy a summarized version of what I saw at the two museums! See how the transition makes you feel- its quite interesting, I think ☺

THE FRICK COLLECTION
-Rembrandt- Portrait of Himself
-Rembrandt- The Polish Rider
-Vermeer- Mistress and Maid





THE MOMA (images from the current exhibition of Bauhaus designs)