YALE REVISITED (paper #3)

Today I took the time to visit the Yale Center for British Art and revisit the Yale University Art Gallery, starting with the British center. You can almost walk past the building because it blends in with the remainder of what's around it, it reminds me of an office or apartment building and had you not been paying attention you could overlook it. The gallery is located across the street from Yale Art, its a concrete modern structure, very cold looking; externally. The main lobby is very simple and sleek open room with tiled floors and maple wood walls. I chose to start my visit at the top floor gallery which houses most of the classical art. Large and medium sized oil paintings with gilded ornate framing, and a few sculptures and busts are placed here. The gallery is very uniform, beige fabric and maple walls and blinds, light carpeting and lots of natural light from the windowed ceiling. When you approach the gallery from the elevator you feel like you're in someone's home. Most of the art in this gallery was, initially, of no interest to me. For the most part the colors were dark and the subjects were the same. Lots of commissioned portraits commemorating or paying homage to some aristocrat or military official and landscapes. Surprisingly I found a few paintings that I really enjoyed there. The first, a nautical scene, Vice Admiral Sir George Anson's Victory off Cape Finisterre by Samuel Scott. Now it isn't the painting itself that I particularly like but the frame that drew me in. As a matter of fact I think the painting is ugly and the frame garish and somewhat intimidating, BUT it is interesting. It's designed to match the nautical theme. At the top of the frame is a captain like figure equipped with a looking glass/telescope, swords, daggers, and other features like shells and scrolling seaweed(?). He kind of reminded me of the Davey Jones (Octopus faced) character from Pirates of the Caribbean. Had this been located in someones home, maybe an older home, I'ld avoid it for fear that I might be spellbound or something. Lots of detail to dive into.
Another interesting painting, was an oil painting called The Deluge. Its a large painting in a simple frame, a painting of the perfect storm. I walked past it at first, then I did a double take. It was the red moon that caught my eye, then I looked around at the details of the passengers caught up in these waves. The colors were perfect for the mood, it was terrifying. Its mainly of these engulfing black waves and this small peek of moon, lots and lots of details, it has so much movement. I couldn't imagine being in something so horrible.
The gallery is set on a square that overlooks another open gallery below. Also the Long Gallery is attached on to one leg of the square, in it houses more ornately framed classics , mainly Elizabethan and Jacobean portraits and some landscapes. In this gallery were some beautifully crafted paintings. I've always been amazed at the ability, of artists, to replicate an image.
Down on the 3rd floor were the collection from 1850 and beyond. This gallery is again pretty uniform, light beige fabric walls and flooring. It is not an open room with high ceilings like the other, instead the ceiling is pretty standard and the lighting is dim, it is an enclosed gallery. I preffered the art here. Some very beautiful portraits and modern pieces were here, but it was an obvious movement away from the classical works on the 4th floor, I assumed that I would be that. This gallery was not as big as the other, but I spent a good amount of time there. There were quite a few that I loved in this room, but since I can't share them all, I'ld say that The Reception by John Frederick Lewis, Grace Rose by Frederick Sandys and The Irish Girl by Ford Madox Brown were my favorites.

The Reception is so beautiful to look at, it has so many fine details. The tilework, teh stained glass windows, tracery, the lighting and shadow, the reflections on the pool are all done to perfection. Honestly you feel like you can just walk right into the painting. It's more of a painted photograph, it is that incredible. I mean you can even mfeel the haziness and warmth in the picture.

I ended my trip here with the visiting exhibit, Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, natural science and the visual arts. No photos were allowed, so I wasn't able to capture the exhibit. But this was one of the most interesting exhibits I've seen. It seemed to be a study on Darwinism and evolution. The most striking of the series were the photos of the Aboriginies, Africans and other cultures and a collection of drawings of mythical creatures titled The Decent of Humankind. This collection of paintings, drawings, fossils, photos and sculpture, were more of an anthropoligic collection than an art collection, but they were wonderful and worked so well as an art collection. Overall I did enjoy the Yale Center for British Art, and it wasn't my first time there, but now I am able to appreciate the exhibits more. I would absolutely recommend a visit.