#604 Museum shows: The Autry Masters

The Masters of the American West at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles opens this Friday, Jan. 30.  

The prestigious show is one of America's most important exhibitions of representational art.  

Eighty of the nation's most prominent painters and sculptors participate in the annual juried invitational, 

which runs through March 8.

http://TheAutryMasters

Shown below, are the four sculptures and one painting that I am exhibiting in the show.

More information about the gala opening and event in next Sunday's blog.

Taurus Rex
19"H 16"W 8"D
6,300

 The Taker
19"H 18"W 11"D

Requiem for the Fallen

16"H 33"W 8"D

All Ears
11"H 22"W 8"D

Below,  since art school and my days in commercial art, I  have enjoyed oil painting.
 They are not to be found in galleries . . . but every year I create one painting
for the Autry Masters miniature wall.

Running Rooster

6" x 8"

Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#603 Paris: comparative anatomy museum at the Jardin des Plantes

Please see the previous blog for more information about this post.

The comparative anatomy museum in Paris - Galerie de Paleontologie
et d'Anatomie Comparee - consists of two floors in an enormous building in the Jardin de Plantes, and is unlike any natural history museum

 I've ever visited . . . I could spend weeks there and I will return.

I've never been so overwhelmed entering a room . . . there were hundreds of skeletons identified by hand-written cards from the 1800s.  There were skeletons everywhere in the huge atrium . . .  a dizzying array of skeletons of every shape and size.   The academic ambiance was perfect for a figurative sculptor and collector of bones
and skeletons such as myself.  Osteology has long been
an interest and passion . . . I was in heaven!

Every imaginable species could be seen . . . including dinosaurs.  Glass cases and cabinets
filled with an astonishing array of bird skeletons and more.  I took hundreds of pictures and made
many sketches with notes.  Only a few students were there on the day we attended and as the image
shows below, I was able to sit on the floor and get great photographic angles of the specimens.

The collections derive from the great expeditions of naturalists of the 18th and 19th centuries as well as specimens

 from the zoo (menagerie) on the grounds of the Jardin des Plantes which we had visited the day before. 

 Barye, Bugatti, and Fremiet had worked in not only the zoo, but in the vast room we were standing in.

 I'm concluding every blog about our trip to Paris last month with a glimpse of life in the beautiful city.

The first photo depicts Sacre Coure on the bluff of Montmarte, looking north from the Musee d'Orsay on a rainy day.
We stayed in Montmarte . . . our hotel room overlooked Sacre Coure and the next photo, shows the view from our room.
 Our mornings started with coffee, croissant, and fruit in the room . . . the day's adventure before us.

Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#602 Paris: The menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes

Please see the previous blog for more information about this post.

The Jardin de Plantes in Paris which includes the menagerie (zoo) expanded dramatically
 in the early years of the 19th century and the definitive sculptor of animals,
 Antoine-Louis Barye was a frequent visitor.  Throughout his life it was a source of
 reference and inspiration and provided the basis for his scientific approach to sculpture.

At various times, the menagerie had exotic animals such as Asian elephants and lions.  When the animals died, he would attend their dissections, make a multitude of drawings
and spend hours taking measurements and recording detailed proportions.

He put his years of self-study at the zoo and his knowledge of anatomy to good use . . . emphasizing the musculature of animals in a bold and energetic manner.
 His idealized, stylized, and dramatized sculptures of animals are without equal.

Below, is an image of Barye's sculpture taken in the menagerie
at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris last month.

While exploring the menagerie and experiencing the animals, I was consumed
with the realization that Barye, his good friend, Delacroix, and many other great artists
such as Bugatti and Fremiet, walked the same paths and trails in years past.

 Below, are images.

Below, I'm concluding every blog about our trip to Paris last month with a glimpse of life in the beautiful city.

Christmas time in Paris is magic!  One sunny morning, Trish and I walked from the Place Concord
along the Champs Elysees to the Petit Palace Museum.  After our museum visit,
 we continued to the Arc Triomphe then back to the Tuileries.

The Champs Elysees is lined on both sides with kiosks and outdoor kitchens serving every food and drink imaginable.
We enjoyed a hot wine and a raclette, which is a sandwich served by warming the top of a large cheese wheel
with a heating device then scraping the melted cheese onto a baguette with ham and optional potatoes.
The long walk back to the metro was welcome after a late lunch!

Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information. 

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#601: Paris: Barye, Fremiet and the Natural History Museum of Paris

While in Paris last month, Trish and I spent most of the three-week stay in museums and tracking down the 

notable sculpture and monuments that the beautiful city is famous for.   While all art viewed was meaningful, 

we concentrated on Greek sculpture and art from antiquity and importantly,

 the work of the French Animaliers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

The focus of this blog is the Natural History Museum of Paris and two important Parisian born Animaliers:

 Antoine-Louis Barye (1796 - 1875}, and Emmanuel Fremiet ( 1824 - 1910).  Historians regard the Romantic sculptor Barye, as having the premier position as the finest and most original in the field of animal bronzes and I'll return 

to his sculpture in upcoming posts.   Additional info can be obtained by going to Post #593, Dec. 21, 2014.  

Many books have been written about his work and much can be learned about him by going online.    

Below, are sculptures by Barye.

The Jardin des Plantes or great botanical gardens of Paris
was founded in 1626 and is located on the left bank in a
complex that includes the Natural History Museum of Paris,
the zoo or menagerie of wild animals,  the Museum of Comparative Anatomy, Museums of Evolution,
of Palenontology, of Entomology, Museum of Zoology,  

and other libraries, laboratories, exhibits, and lecture rooms.
The Jardin was high on our list of places to visit and we spent several days there.  Had we spent the entire three weeks,
we would have only seen a small part of it. 

More about the zoo in next Wednesday's post.

Both Barye and Fremiet were frequent visitors to the Jardin des Plantes and the Natural History Museum of Paris 

and spent many hours, studying and modeling their sculpture from zoo animals, skeletons, and taxidermy.   

During the last years of his life, Barye was professor of animal drawing at the Natural History Museum of Paris 

and was succeeded by Fremiet in 1892, several years after Barye's death.  

Fremiet's most famous sculpture is the gilded "Joan of Arc", erected in the Place des Pyramides in Paris. 

 My personal favorite is his sculpture of an elephant in front of the Musee d'Orsay. 

Below, are images.

   

As in previous posts about last month's trip to Paris,
I'm concluding the blog with a glimpse
of life in the elegant and inspiring city.

Travel in the winter and off-season definitely has advantages.
We took a boat ride on the Seine on a rainy day

 and were the only passengers on the boat . . .
just us and the bartender, captain, and mate! 

Below, are images taken from the railing.

Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information. 

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#600: Throw on another log . . . the influence of Bugatti, con't

Throw on another log is a commentary and opinion about art
and this blog is a continuation of the previous post . . . 

Please scroll back to blog # 599,  posted Jan. 11, 2015.

I welcome your comments and observations.

Since the last post,  I've received several comments and inquiries from
former students and others about the influence of Bugatti regarding my
 work.  Years ago, I purchased the big Bugatti book - cover shown at right -
and while it had a definite presence in the studio, it was not a
"go-to" source of reference during the early, formative years . . .

 There's no clay on the pages which attests to the fact.

 The trip to Paris last month has directed my attention to this incomparable sculptor of animals.  I was mesmerized by his plasters at the Musee d'Orsay,  (shown in the previous post),  and spent hours in the Petit Palais,
(also shown),  with his sculptures . . . captivated and influenced.

Bugatti died young - he committed suicide at age 31 - and during his short life he created over 300 sculptures. 

 He explored many different methods and styles while creating a multitude of masterpieces . . . each one a classic observation of the animal . . . in gesture and in spirit.  Every sculptor would be well-served to study his work.   

While I can't say my work has been grounded and influenced by Bugatti over the years, since returning from Paris,

 I'm haunted by the memory of experiencing his sculpture in the museums.  This morning, I created a study of a walking panther - shown below -  that would not have been on my radar to do without being under his spell.  

Every artist is the sum total of their interests, experience, knowledge, and feelings.

Artists and their styles evolve naturally while searching various possibilities of design.

Style, like feelings, cannot be forced.

Shown below, are images of Bugatti's cats.  Note the various surface treatments and styles.

I'm concluding each art blog about our trip to Paris last month with a glimpse of life in the beautiful city.

Below, the morning sun streams through the window of the upper level cafe as Trish and i enjoy coffee,
a baguette, and cheese at the Musee d'Orsay . . . an enlightening day, experiencing Bugatti.

Also shown is the incredible Sorolla painting that is close to the cafe.

Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information. 

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish