Well as you know, the rich have always been the patrons of the arts. They certainly were for my uncle during his life. And think of the Medici family in Florence! They practically single-highhandedly financed Renaissance art.
Snowmass sounds like a great place to hang, I have never been there and have never skied out West. What a great family memory to snag while you can. Let me know if you ever make it to the gallery and if you see my Uncle's exhibit. Here is a link to his art there: http://www.slam.org/emuseum/code/emuseum.asp?collection=6732&collectionname=American%20Art&style=Browse¤trecord=1&page=collection&profile=objects&searchdesc=American%20Art&quicksearch=joe%20jones Even without the personal connection I love his work. I just bought a book the museum put out on his work after a 4 year project to collect information about him. Uncle Joe really moved to his own drummer only. He was famous for turning down better paying commercial work to do things he thought were more important. And he was just as subject to the vagaries of the public as artist's today. You know how TV talent shows play up the personal struggle angle in their back stories? When Joe moved on from his angry young man period of art, he lost much of the press's interest. But his later work was in many ways even more interesting than his more provocative pieces. Here is one of my favorites being sold as a lithograph: http://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/detail/8159/Joe-Jones/Head-Lights-and-Tail-Lights --- In [email protected], "seventhray27" wrote: > > > --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" wrote: > > > > Hey Steve, thanks for the reply. I agree that FFL is a great place to > be inspired to write daily. I used it that way for years. > > > > Your story about the ill fated trip to the museum as a sketch expert > has a funny connection for me. My late uncle (not by blood > unfortunately) was Joe Jones who is a pretty famous St. Louis painter, > and whose biggest collection of work hangs there. He was like Woody > Guthrie as a painter in the 30's and was famous for exposing the dark > underbelly of oppressed people. He made some big waves with this > painting titled "American Justice" > > > > > http://artandsocialissues.cmaohio.org/web-content/images/Jones_Am-Justic\ > e_pg.jpg > > > > Here is a short documentary on his art. > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBvCEdBewo8 > > > > I may have to make a trip out there to see his work in the museum. He > has some stuff in the DC National museums but they are in rotation and > very limited. People where more interested in his socially conscious > stuff and not as interested in his more abstract work as he evolved as a > painter. I have some of his stuff on my walls including a beautiful one > of the ocean at Mantoloking NJ done for my parents. He had been a > communist in the 30's and this caused him lots of trouble, both when he > took up the cause and when he dropped out of it. > > > > One of my few memories of being age 5 is a weird scene the year before > he died at age 54. We were at the beach together at my Grandfather's > place in Mantoloking NJ (tip of the hat to Alex). He was trying to > convince me that he really was my uncle and I was having none of it. It > really upset him that I thought he was putting me on since I had not > spent time with him. I guess that is why it stuck in my young mind > because he went to get my father to get me to accept him as a relative. > I suspect any meeting with some God after death will go the same way! > > > Curtis, that is so cool. I just watched the documentary. This will give > me some excuse to visit the Art Museum. > > To have rubbed shoulders with an artist as a young child, and an artist > of this caliber seems pretty remarkable. > > I guess I put artists on a pedestal. > > The family was in Snowmass CO. over Christmas, which is just down the > road from Aspen. One evening, we walked through town as we like to do, > and stopped in some fancy art galleries. The art there was just > fantastic. And I'm not talking about weird stuff. But rather these > abstractions that you refer to. And not outlandish abstactions, but > rather, projecting something just out of the ordinary in a remarkably > alluring way. > > I mean, people may view Aspen as a place with a lot of pretention, but I > will say that the art we saw that evening was remarkable. > > And some of the clientele we saw were also quite remarkable. >
