Where's Marty? Checking Out Joan Mitchell's Work At The Baltimore Museum Of Art
Hi everyone!
Simply put, the Baltimore Museum of Art is a world-class facility. And this is not news. From the time two Baltimore sisters, Claribel and Etta Cone, established the BMA's Henri Matisse collection, (over 600 works), the museum has continued to grow in stature. Picasso, Monet, Gaugin, Degas and others are on display.
Legit, people make coming to Baltimore and visiting the museum a destination vacation or trip. Tell ya what, here is the website, so take a gander. The virtual tours are just great. Then go for an in-person visit. As I like to tell people, put on a comfortable sweater and shoes and just go wander around awhile. By the way, on a beautiful day, the outdoor sculpture garden is a must visit. And adjacent to it is Gertrude's at the BMA, a great restaurant. Chef John Shields took his grandmother's Eastern Shore recipes and created a menu fit for a Marylander.
On display now, and the reason for today's "Museum Week" adventure, is the work of Joan Mitchell.
John Mitchell was a renaissance woman—part art visionary, part punk rocker and part world traveler. To say she had character is an understatement. When it came to Mitchell's era of creating (the post-war era then the the 50's and 60's) ,she did not break the glass ceiling—she absolutely shattered it. It has taken five years and cooperation with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to put together this 72-piece look at the work of an original. And the BMA is where it can be seen on the East Coast. Period. The next stop for this, by the way, is Paris.
Google Joan Mitchell and you'll find a trove of information that really frames why this artist's work in town is such a big deal. Of course, we want to thank the BMA for hosting us Thursday. And off-camera we discussed a few more trips to the BMA, including a behind-the-scenes look at what makes an art museum work. Wanna meet the team that hangs all this work? I do!
Until next time,
- Marty B!