At the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Yesterday, Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Susan and I visited the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

It was "Free Admission Day." There were many special events scheduled, from concerts to family art-making activities. Most importantly, from my perspective, it was the last day to see "Richard Avedon Fashion 1944--2000."

It was an absolutely beautiful, breathtaking and inspiring exhibition, despite often feeling like I was standing in a crowded subway car to see it. Here are a few photographs:

We also got to see one of my favorite series of photographs, The Brown Sisters by Nicholas Nixon:

Soon the noise of the crowd and the children and strollers took their toll on Susan and I and we fled to the second floor where we bathed in the beauty of Monet:

I then wanted to show Susan one of my favorite John Singer Sargent paintings. And for a few minutes I wandered the galleries looking for it. Was I dreaming I wondered?

Alas, I soon learned from a helpful museum guide, it had been moved into the new American Wing, which I might add, is quite beautiful and feels to this writer as if it had been there a long time.

The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit.

By this time my son, a senior at Northeastern, arrived and we continue to climb over children on the floor and around strollers and knapsacks and throngs of people milling about the galleries.

When I saw this Mary Cassatt painting I could not but think I could certainly use right now a cup of tea!

We spotted an amusing Edward Hopper and Susan explained that  Drug Store shows a brightly lit storefront on a deserted street at night, like the restaurant in Nighthawks. "EX-LAX" is prominently displayed across the drug store's eave, helping it stand out as it would if you needed EX-LAX. One day Hopper changed that to EX-LAS from fear that the painting would not sell. Instead, the sympathetic buyer insisted Hopper change it back to EX-LAX.

Daryl and I stopped to view a large Charles Sheeler painting while Susan spotted an Edward Steichen print. Slowly we walked and slowly we turned toward the final gallery of our visit where we enjoyed Modernist Photography 1910--1950.


Here, a print by one of my favorite photographers, Walker Evans:

And then, instead of tea, we enjoyed a Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale:

Susan and I said goodbye to Daryl and drove back home to Western Massachusetts. I took a self-portrait:

And.......I made a Meatball Pizza (The meatballs are based on this recipe, although to these I had added some grated carrot.):

I fell to sleep thinking someone might give me the book Avedon Fashion 1944--2000 for my birthday.

What do you want for your birthday?

I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me.