The Rhine River

Williamstown and Lenox

The last two weeks we have had to cancel plans to visit Kingston, New York because of bad weather and poor sleep. Instead, we went to Williamstown and Lenox, MA. I don't feel like giving extensive comments because they are places we have visisted before. Besides, I have some contempt for the ignorantly arrogant patrons of Lenox. This is a view of Williamstown.



We looked at art at the Clark Institute in Williamstown. They have a good collection of impressionism. They also had a special exhibit dedicated to a collector of romanticism, with some excellent paintings by Delacroix (you know, the Sakai of French painting). Afterwards, we walked on the beautiful grounds that overlooked Williamstown.


Trees that are dead and that have been split by lightning always make good subjects.



In Lenox, we visited Ventfort, an estate that once belonged to the Morgan family. It is being presented as the "Museum of the Guilded Age". In reality, it is a work in project: the house still requires extensive restoration, and the tour revealed only a few good rooms. The exterior is beautiful--done wonderfully in Dutch baroque style--beautiful gables that made me wish I were in Europe.


We also went to Frelinghuysen-Morris House and Studio, the home of two patrons of modern artists who were also lesser-known artists themselves. I wish I had taken some more pictures of the house itself--an excellent example of Bauhaus sensibilities. The house had some wonderful art by the like of Legèr, Miro, Arp, and Paul Klee (collectively, our favorite artist). This is a mural painted by the husband, based on native life (he painted this several times, each time the painting became more abstract).



We also walked around the Frelinghuysen grounds, which were beautiful in their own right.

posted by Nathanael @ 8:49 PM