A morning of inspiration from Hopper, Lichtenstein and Winslow Homer!

This morning I spent time with the masters!  I was lucky to find the Dayton Art Institute museum while in that fair city!  What a gem!  Their own collection (what small portion on display at this time) was amazing.  I am a big fan of 20th century art and they had a nice collection of American artists for me to enjoy.  In the pic below, the Indian in the distance is an Andy Warhol.  Say what you may about him, but he was innovative!  This gallery was primarily contemporary abstract art.  I love seeing pieces like these for the first time. 

This next piece is a Lichtenstein.  I have always enjoyed his bright colors and hard edged style.  I know you are supposed to look at art from a distance to really enjoy it, but I always have to examine 'how did they do that' up close and personal.  The best part was that I pretty much had he place to myself.  Probably because they were preparing for their Oktoberfest this weekend and there was no parking!

The piece below is by Edward Hopper, another artist I really admire.  I love his use of light in his pieces.   I get my love of light from him though we are miles apart in style.  Check out this site for more info on Hopper Artsy's Hopper Page.

 They had a wonderful special exhibit of Winslow Homer etchings.  Homer became a wonderful watercolorist later in his life, but he began as an professional illustrator for Harpers weekly and other publications.    His knowledge of graphic design allowed his drawings to be easily adapted to wooden etchings for printmaking.  This entire exhibit was lent to the museum by a single doner.  I was lucky enough to have her there this morning talking about her collection.  She was very proud of the pieces and had something to add to each one.

It was a great morning and I loved that I was there alone to be able to take my time.  Museum gift shops always have the neatest stuff too!  Thanks for sharing a little piece of what I saw today.  BTW - it was OK to take photos of their collection w/o a flash.   I was surprised about that - luckily I had my trusty blackberry!