Art in the Berkshires

The Berkshires are home to some seriously impressive collections of art. In Williamstown we visited the Clark Art Institute (free!) and the Williams College Museum of Art (also free!), the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art near Amherst, but unfortunately missed the MASS MoCA in North Adams.

The Clark

I was totally blown away by Sterling and Francine Clark's—heirs to the Singer sewing machine fortune—personal collection, which includes (to name just a few) Impressionist, Renaissance and Dutch works. Even a Botticelli! Are you kidding me?! Amazing.

Domenico Ghirlandaio (Domenico di Tomaso Bigordi) Portrait of a Lady, c. 1490, tempera and oil on panel

Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, modeled 1880-1; cast 1919-21, bronze

Claude Monet Rouen Cathedral, The Façade in Sunlight, 1894, oil on canvas

Lawrence Alma-Tadema The Women of Amphissa, 1887, oil on panel;
detail from Preparations for the Festivities, 1866, oil on canvas

Joachim Wtewael The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis, 1612, oil on copper

I think the security guard makes a nice fifth bust in this row, don't you think?

Williams College Museum of Art
This on-campus gallery houses works from antiquity to present day, including a Hopper! I don't think I've ever seen an original before! I love that exciting first impression of seeing the original of a painting I studied in school. You can get up close and see the detail, the brushstrokes, the dimension of the paint... there's just something magical about seeing the piece that they actually worked on—standing just as close as they once did—rather than a reproduction in a book. 

Seated Vairocana, gilt bronze from the Yuan Dynasty (1280–1368),
and Louise Bourgeois, Eyes (nine elements), 2001, bronze

Edward Hopper, Morning in a City, 1944, oil on canvas

Mary Cassatt Ellen, Mary Cassatt in a Big Blue Hat, c. 1905, oil on canvas

 
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
Other than baby piglets and llama hiking, this gallery was a major highlight for me. As you can tell from my Pinterest boards, I am drawn to illustration, specifically for children's books. For the last ten years the permanent exhibition has been The Art of Eric Carle: The Birth of a Book and a Museum about Carle's life and process, with the originals for the book Slowly, Slowly, Slowly said the Sloth. A very inspiring exhibit; I was excited to learn that he was a graphic designer too! The other exhibition space displayed paintings by Kadir Nelson from his latest book WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball. The Carle also has an extensive library of children's books and a fantastic bookstore—I could have easily spent all day (and all my money) with all those wonderful books.

Leo Leonni, Imaginary Garden, 1978, bronze

Street Art
After visiting the Carle, we went to Amherst to explore the lovely university town, and judging by the number of professors in robes and students in cap and gown, I'd say it was graduation day! Anyway, in Amherst we spotted this nifty street art: