Reflection on the Art Institute Trip

Top five hints for a trip to the art museum

1. Look at the drawings.  What was the purpose of the drawing? Was it to plan for a much larger painting (e.g., grid lines)?  Was it to experiment with shading (e.g., chalk)?  Was it drawn as a finished product in and of itself (e.g., close attention to detail not necessary for planning purposes)?  Note that signature (ha ha).

2. Explore the broader room you are in.  What was the curator thinking and planning when they assembled the artistic contents of the room?  For example, the "Age of Exploration" gallery contained paintings of merchants, along with small decorative items, or so-called "cabinets of curiosity" from their journeys or contacts abroad (e.g., coconut cup or Peruvian gold rattle). Why are the objects paired with the paintings?

3. Likewise, what is the broader context of the works, what was their purpose (e.g., art as a tool of religious worship for Byzantines), what was the plan of the artist, who commissioned them (and/or rejected them), and did the artist achieve that which they planned? Could it have been done differently?

4. Make sure to look at the painting or the object from many perspectives, from far away, right up close, and in between, right and left.  In the sculpture of the horse and the lion, the artist depicted the flesh and muscle of the horse with close anatomical detail, which revealed the veins on the horse's face as he strained away from the lion. Similarly, the artist depicted how the flesh would bunch together in the lion's mouth as he grasped it with his teeth.

5. Finally, be brave and justify your own taste. Why do you like what you like? How do you figure out what is better or more successful?  This one has always made me the most uncomfortable, which is odd because I have very specific and articulable taste when it comes to the art in my home, most of which we bought over several years at the School of the Art Institute Annual Show.  I think that means I really know: it's just that I'm worried I'm "wrong."  Take risks . . .