In Praise of...Museums

[Jeffrey]

Speaking of Corning, the Rockwell is an excellent small museum of American art with an emphasis on Native American and Western art. A must visit place when we go to Corning, my wife's home town.

Strongly agree! What are your favorite pieces in Rockwell’s collection? Do you like the Ed Mell “Jack Knife” sculpture outside?

[rsvman]

Also, the Lieber Collection in East Hampton, NY is amazing and fascinating.
Yes, it is an entire museum of purses. But they have to be seen to be believed. The grounds are charming, too.

[Duke Blue Lemur]

Strongly agree! What are your favorite pieces in Rockwell’s collection? Do you like the Ed Mell “Jack Knife” sculpture outside?

That is a hard question, there are so many nice pieces. The painting of Mt Whitney by Bierstadt that you see directly in front of you when you come up the stairs is stunning. There is so much good work on display by contemporary First People artists. And I am partial to southwest pottery. The temporary exhibits are always good. My wife remembers seeing the artwork on display in the Rockwell department store before they created the museum. They had a temporary home for the collection in an old hotel before the town hall was converted. I visited that but mostly remember a ton of Carder glass. I think the glass ended up in the glass museum. I am embarrassed to say I had not seen the Jack Knife sculpture across the street despite driving by so many times. I think I am always looking at the Rockwell and the bison bursting out of the front of the building. I'll check it out when we go up this summer.

[wilson]

Wow, I have quite a lot to say about this…to the extent that I’m on an ongoing museum quota whilst traveling with my wife.
…which I’m doing currently, so I’ll begin with the following brief remarks on the subject:

“Well, duh” Division
-Metropolitan Museum, NYC
-Art Institute of Chicago
-MoMA
-basically everything Smithsonian
-Field Museum, Chicago

International Division
-Musée d’Orsay
-National Maritime Museum, London
-Louvre
-British Museum
-Edo-Tokyo Museum…um, Tokyo
-Edinburgh Castle, Scotland
-Tower of London
-The Settlement Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland

Off the Beaten Path Division
-Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago
-NYC Fire Museum, NYC
-South Street Seaport Museum, NYC
-Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria, OR
-North Carolina Museum of Art
-High Museum of Art, Atlanta
-City Museum, St. Louis (more a playground than a museum, but holy $#!+ it’s awesome)
-Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, Cape Disappointment, OR
-Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, VA

[Bob Green]

This is an interesting one in Singapore that I visited during a USS Kitty Hawk port visit:

https://www.battlebox.com.sg/

The decision to surrender Singapore to the Japanese was very controversial.

[Jeffrey]

That is a hard question, there are so many nice pieces. The painting of Mt Whitney by Bierstadt that you see directly in front of you when you come up the stairs is stunning. There is so much good work on display by contemporary First People artists. And I am partial to southwest pottery. The temporary exhibits are always good. My wife remembers seeing the artwork on display in the Rockwell department store before they created the museum. They had a temporary home for the collection in an old hotel before the town hall was converted. I visited that but mostly remember a ton of Carder glass. I think the glass ended up in the glass museum. I am embarrassed to say I had not seen the Jack Knife sculpture across the street despite driving by so many times. I think I am always looking at the Rockwell and the bison bursting out of the front of the building. I'll check it out when we go up this summer.

Thank you for your very informative response!

A friend (Mark Sublette) owns a couple great galleries (Medicine Man) in AZ and NM. He is an expert on SW pottery. You might enjoy some of his YouTube videos.

[Duke Blue Lemur]

Thank you for your very informative response!

A friend (Mark Sublette) owns a couple great galleries (Medicine Man) in AZ and NM. He is an expert on SW pottery. You might enjoy some of his YouTube videos.

Thanks! I'll check the videos out.

[Jeffrey]

Thanks! I'll check the videos out.

My pleasure!

Mark is one with the earth and nature. For example, if Mark is driving and sees a rattlesnake in the road, then he pulls over, gets a stick, and moves the rattler to a safe place.

[Neals384]

Chihuli Glass Art, Seattle


https://www.chihulygardenandglass.com


Evergreen Air & Space Museum, McMinnville OR, home of the Spruce Goose
My
https://www.evergreenmuseum.org


North American Bigfoot center, Boring, OR


https://northamericanbigfootcenter.com




Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles, Lexington, NE.


https://www.heartlandmuseum.com

[mpj96]

Arabia Steamboat museum in Kansas City is another small but great museum in a city with more than its fair share of excellent museums.

[Bob Green]

Western Australia Maritime Museum in Fremantle:

https://visit.museum.wa.gov.au/maritime

[camion]

Has anyone visited the MOBA (Museum of Bad Art) in Somerville, MA.

It's fascinating in a car crash/train wreck sort of way.

[OldPhiKap]

Just went to the traveling Van Gogh immersion exhibition. Very cool.

[cspan37421]

Has anyone visited the MOBA (Museum of Bad Art) in Somerville, MA.

It's fascinating in a car crash/train wreck sort of way.

That is comedy gold.

[Jeffrey]

Just went to the traveling Van Gogh immersion exhibition. Very cool.

Did you leave your house?

Back in the good ‘ole daze…..

[OldPhiKap]

Did you leave your house?

Back in the good ‘ole daze…..

This would have been a trip and a half in the good ‘ole daze.

[House P]

Has anyone visited the MOBA (Museum of Bad Art) in Somerville, MA.

It's fascinating in a car crash/train wreck sort of way.

The Museum of Bad Art is one of my favorite places in the Greater Boston area. I have been there many times - not necessarily because I am a connoisseur of bad art, but because it is located in the basement of the wonderful, old-school Somerville Theater which is about a mile and half from where I live. A quick visit to the bad art gallery is a must after seeing a movie, especially if you are in jovial mood after watching a comedy. More than once, I have left the gallery with tears of laughter streaming down my face.

There are lots of places where you can see art by Grandma Moses, but the MOBA is the only place I know where you can see the work of Grandpa Roots.

The art itself is often humorous, but the museum's descriptions are what really makes it special. Here is an excerpt from the description of the "Grandpa Roots" piece.

The wild westerly wind that devastated this peaceful bucolic landscape was strong enough to denude mature trees, grossly distort fair weather clouds, rend the fur from a cow, bend a wrought iron weather vane, and induce panic in a basset hound whose ears and tongue point due east.

In a note accompanying his donation, Mr. Roots wrote, "... I was happy with the way the barn turned out. It was when I started the animals and people that [I realized] I was having problems with proportions..."

One subtle, but important, thing about the museum is that they attempt to avoid kitsch and art which is deliberately bad. Instead they try to showcase genuine artistic efforts which have gone horribly awry in either execution or concept.


There is lots of good stuff in the link camion provided. Since this is a basketball forum, I'd like to highlight a piece clearly inspired by the work of Leroy Neiman.

They Must Be Giants.jpg

[lmb]

Seminary Ridge Museum - Gettysburg, PA
https://www.seminaryridgemuseum.org/
It focuses on how the battle affected locals and also has a great insight into how both sides justified their cause through religion and the bible.

Zippo/Case Museum - Bradford, PA
https://www.zippo.com/pages/zippo-case-museums
Really fun museum with massive displays of Zippo lighters and Case knives. You can also see techs at work repairing damaged Zippos. Lifetime warranty, you know.

Swigart Auto Museum - Huntingdon, PA
http://www.swigartmuseum.com/
America's Oldest Antique Auto Museum - around 150 beautiful cars

National Air Force Museum on Wright Patterson AFB - Dayton, OH
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/
This place is so huge! My husband has been twice and only seen a small portion of it.

[jimmymax]

While historic, the museums flogging war, or even technology, don't do it for me. Not surprisingly, older cities tend to have amazing museums. Someone up thread said something about walk 100 feet in London. Same is true for many cities outside the US.