Monday, May 7, 2007

Art History around town


I don't think this is the post you would guess it is from the title. The other day I jogged down to a local park in Keene, NH - and was admiring the park's carved wooden sign. We have a couple of very talented sign makers around here but I don't know what their names are. I've just seen their work around town. This sign is beautiful and this photo doesn't do it justice as it was just a camera phone. There is line work carved into the wood resembling the woodcuts from old books and then there is paint washed over it all which has worn off over time leaving almost a metallic look. The rippling water is just beautiful in person as are the trees in the background. That's not really why I'm posting this though. I was staring at this sign for a while with this niggling feeling that the people just seemed so familiar when it dawned on me! They are the people in one of my most favorite paintings of all time - Gustave Caillebott's Paris Street Rainy Day which I had the pleasure to see every day one summer when I worked at the Art Institute of Chicago where the massive painting hangs. You can even see that the woodcarver left a bit of the man's umbrella in there.

I'm not sure how much artwork I'm going to get to do this week as I have more gardening and more walls to paint inside but I'm hoping I will get to do a bit.

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