Visionary Art

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor features a unique selection of artists in the American Visionary Art Museum.  The museum, established by Rebecca Hoffberger, presents thematic exhibitions that change every year.  The current feature,The Art of Storytelling: Lies, Enchantment, Humor & Truth, is open til September 1, 2013.

Cosmic Galaxy Egg, Andrew Logan. 2004
Baltimore, Maryland

     There have been eighteen exhibitions with themes ranging from nature to politics, and to the spiritual.  Andrew Logan’s, Cosmic Galaxy Egg, was acquired nine years ago to coincide with the exhibition entitled Holy H2O: Fluid Universe.  In the exhibition catalog, Hoffberger explained that the eight foot high egg is “the mythological symbol for the cosmic source of all waters.” Logan’s sculpture is still located in a courtyard outside the museum. The mosaic pattern on the surface of the egg has a jewel-like quality and may be reminiscent of Antoni Gaudi’s style.

Cosmic Galaxy Egg (detail)

     Visionary artists are not expected to conform to the standards of academic art, and they are sometimes referred to as folk artists. However, these two terms are not completely interchangeable. So perhaps the best way to gain insight about the visionary experience is to accept a broad definition of art, and recognize everyone’s potential for creative expression.

References

American Visionary Art Museum. http://www.avam.org (accessed June 11, 2013).

Hoffberger, Rebecca. Visions, vol. 10 / Holy H2O.  American Visionary Art Museum, 2004.

Sculptures at Storm King

Storm King Art Center is located in New York’s Hudson River Valley. The Art Center, which is approximately an hour drive from NYC, encompasses five hundred acres and includes over one hundred sculptures.1 The wide open-spaces are a perfect setting for colossal sculptures by some of the most famous twentieth-century artists. In fact, the collection is an art history primer for “Who’s Who?” in modern art.

City on the High Mountain, Louise Nevelson. 1983 (steel sculpture on left)

Wide open fields of Storm King with sculptures by:

Menashe Kadishman, Suspended, 1977 (center foreground)

Alexander Liberman, Adam, 1970 (left hilltop)

Alice Aycock, Three-Fold Manifestation, 1987 (right hilltop)

The Art Center was established in 1960 with the donation of a museum building that included indoor galleries.2 Near the entrance to the museum is a large, black steel sculpture by Russian-born Louise Nevelson (1899-1988). She moved to the United States with her parents at the age of five. Her maiden name, Berliawsky, was changed when she married Charles Nevelson. After the birth of their son, she pursued formal artistic education at the New York Art Students League before travelling to Europe for additional studies.3 Louise had quite a prolific career that gained momentum after World War II.

XI Books III Apples,

David Smith. 1959.

Another section of the sculpture park includes seven works by David Smith (1906-65).  His mature style is characterized by geometric, cubic masses of stainless steel that are asymmetrically balanced.  The steel surface, as evident in his sculpture XI Books III Apples, is also abraded to deflect sunlight. This surface treatment produces a dazzling, shimmering quality that makes the solidity of form appear to dissolve.

In another area, the sculpture Momo Taro by Japanese-American Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was intentionally created to encourage interactivity.  Viewers are allowed to touch this stone, which is an exception to the rule in most museum collections. Noguchi celebrated his Japanese ancestry with this sculpture, since the title of the work refers to a Japanese folk tale.

Mark di Suvero’s welded-steel construction, My Father, My Father, is an open form that sparks imagination, and based on the title may raise questions about the relationship the artist had with his own father. Other major artists included in the collection are: Alexander Calder; Nam June Paik; Henry Moore; Barbara Hepworth; Richard Hunt; Kenneth Snelson; George Rickey; Richard Serra; Ursula von Rydingsvaard; Menashe Kadishman; Alexander Liberman; and Alice Aycock (just to name a few).

Momo Taro, Isamu Noguchi. 1977-78

Mon Père, Mon Père, Mark di Suvero. 1973-75

A machine aesthetic of twentieth-century industrial fabrication, merged with Abstract Expressionism is apparent in many of the outdoor sculptures. Art and nature enthusiasts will enjoy the opportunity to combine the serenity of a peaceful mountain with the enjoyment of the visual arts. 

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1. Storm King Art Center. 2011. http://www.stormking.org  (accessed May 14, 2013).
2.  Ibid.
3.  Duane and Sarah Preble, and Patrick Frank. Artforms, 7th ed. NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002.