As promised yesterday, here are a few shots of some of the galleries at the Huntington complex. There were several different buildings, each with a different emphasis. There was no photography allowed inside the library itself, so I don't have of that building. Above is the main gallery in the European collection. At the far end, you can see their most famous exhibit: Gainsborough's
Blue Boy. I have to admit it was pretty impressive to see in person, though the emphasis on portraiture in this collection did get a little monotonous to me.
The European collection is in a building that was once a home. In addition to the paintings and sculptures on display, the furniture and architecture were no less impressive. This hallway includes a broad curving staircase just out of view on the right.
Above is a room with some nice inlaid tables and desks, and various ceramics displayed on the walls. These were nice, but I must admit that I prefer paintings-- the vases and pots all start to look the same after awhile to me.
Here's one of the rooms in the house that shows how the artwork was integrated into such useful items as chairs (check out the upholstery), screens, tapestries, etc.
This was my favorite painting of those I saw at the Huntington. This is called
State Fair, by John Steuart Curry, one of the American regionalists of the twenties and thirties , along with Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and others. I've always considered Curry a cut below those other guys (his most famous work is probably
Baptism in Kansas), but this picture really knocked me out. It's quite large, and the detail and energy of the scene is very impressive. It reminds me of the kind of things Reginald Marsh or Paul Cadmus were doing at the same time (a kind of urban, as opposed to rural, regionalism), both of whose work I like very much. Anyway, this painting made me think of Curry as more than a country primitivist-- so now I'll have to go and take another look at the rest of his stuff.
As promised yesterday, here are a few shots of some of the galleries at the Huntington complex. There were several different buildings, each with a different emphasis. There was no photography allowed inside the library itself, so I don't have of that building. Above is the main gallery in the European collection. At the far end, you can see their most famous exhibit: Gainsborough's Blue Boy. I have to admit it was pretty impressive to see in person, though the emphasis on portraiture in this collection did get a little monotonous to me.
The European collection is in a building that was once a home. In addition to the paintings and sculptures on display, the furniture and architecture were no less impressive. This hallway includes a broad curving staircase just out of view on the right.
Above is a room with some nice inlaid tables and desks, and various ceramics displayed on the walls. These were nice, but I must admit that I prefer paintings-- the vases and pots all start to look the same after awhile to me.
Here's one of the rooms in the house that shows how the artwork was integrated into such useful items as chairs (check out the upholstery), screens, tapestries, etc. 
This was my favorite painting of those I saw at the Huntington. This is called State Fair, by John Steuart Curry, one of the American regionalists of the twenties and thirties , along with Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and others. I've always considered Curry a cut below those other guys (his most famous work is probably Baptism in Kansas), but this picture really knocked me out. It's quite large, and the detail and energy of the scene is very impressive. It reminds me of the kind of things Reginald Marsh or Paul Cadmus were doing at the same time (a kind of urban, as opposed to rural, regionalism), both of whose work I like very much. Anyway, this painting made me think of Curry as more than a country primitivist-- so now I'll have to go and take another look at the rest of his stuff.
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