New Britain Museum of American Art

Kiya Clark

The Lost Files.

For my second museum visit, I chose to venture out and visit the New Britain Museum of American Art. It was rainy, and my six year and I both had the day of so why not?

 It was a little bit of a drive for me and the museum did cost $10, which I had no problem paying. The cost of the museum’s don’t upset me, seeing as we didn’t have to purchase a book but combined with the travel it can be a lot to manage but I’m enjoying the challenge. But back to the day, the front desk clerk was polite and efficient, seeing I had a little one she quick to tell what couldn’t be touched and what areas were most kid-friendly, which I greatly appreciated. Right away she asked us not to get too close to the sculpture near the door, my son and I were so confused. I asked what sculpture and she pointed it. It looked so real I thought it was a guard!

            The New Britain Museum of American Art’s “founding in 1903 entitles the institution to be designated the first museum of strictly American art in the country.”(NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART) The museum pride itself on buying pieces not too costly, keeping the museum afloat. The original directors took advice from some fellow directors, like Bryson Burroughs from the met, who initially suggested the museum focus solely on American Art in order to be as cost effective as possible.

            The museum overall was clean, appeasing to the eye, and pretty well-rounded off first impression. I really enjoyed the diversity in art pieces. Often I’ve been to museums and most of the painting specifically showcase Caucasians. The fact that right away one of the pieces my son saw was of two African American girls and he said “oh look mommy, it’s like you and annah” (what he calls my sister), was really important to me. It’s important to offer pieces that can relate to multiple people, ethnicities, and cultures, especially if it’s American Art.

Another strength of the museum was the collection of similar pieces in a designated area, going from room made it feel like leaving one artist’s vision to visit another. There was a few pieces by Neil Jenny in one room (I was later told by a bystander I wasn’t supposed to take pictures of the work in this area *oops*).

Neil Jenney(1945)

North American Vegetae (2006-07), Oil on wood in artist’s painted wood frame Courtesy of Artist.

            

Neil Jenney(1945)

Study(Dog)(1970),  Acrylic and graphite on canvas in artist’s painted wood frame Hall Collection.

Neil Jenney(1945)

Felis Catus(1970), Acrylic and graphite on canvas in artist’s painted wood frame Hall Collection.

The artist I chose to focus on is Dennis Hopper and the lost album. Hopper used a Nikon camera, specifically a 28 mm lens with black and white film to capture some amazing images. The images are showcasing hoppers experiences and encounters around the 1960’s. The images were taken and printed in black and white. The images are on the smaller size, looked like a range of 4x6-8x10’s varying in content. The exhibition of this famous selection of images was showcased in 1970 at the4 Fort Worth Art Center Museum with voiceovers of himself and colleagues. Hopper was an actor, and painter, along with being a photographer so he had many artistic ventures.

Most of his photography seemed to be portraits of people and places, the everyday encounters. The images are so simple at first glance, but offer such an experience into what life was like in the 1960’s. What women, men, kids, both ordinary, and extraordinary were doing on a day to day basis. Dennis was inspired by a fellow actor who encouraged him to take up photography to better prepare for becoming a director. He was said to be interested in the simplistic an basic-ness of walls and structures, which makes sense as to why his phonographs were so beautifully simple. His work can be categorizes as realism, leaving people and things just the way they are in his pictures.  I think Hopper’s style of portraits influenced some of the future black and white style photographers. His work ended up on some album covers, so I’m sure it offered some encouragement or inspiration to some of the music it accompanied.

            Hopper was also known to be a heavy drug user, and a majority of his photos show others using drugs recreational. This was even more popular in the 70’s, and his work could have been said to influence the showing of such activities. His acting career often suffered from his drug use, and the behaviors that were a result of it. Hopper’s work is beautiful nonetheless and conjures raw emotions because the images themselves are so raw.

References

NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nbmaa.org/museum-of-american-art/about

H. (n.d.). DENNIS HOPPER | OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF HOPPER ART TRUST. Retrieved from http://dennishopper.com/