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This week we continue our series of videos narrated by Nicholas Penny, former director of the National Gallery, London, and author of the recently published catalogue Italian Paintings in the Norton Simon Museum: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. In this episode, Penny provides a close-up view of Interior of Saint Peter’s, Rome by Giovanni Paolo Panini from 1735. This imposing painting, created about a century after the basilica’s completion, conveys the beauty and remarkable grandeur of the building, as well as the variety of people who would have frequented it.
Watch the Previous Episode: Saint Joseph Embracing the Infant Christ
Nicholas Penny examines Saint Joseph Embracing the Infant Christ by Giovanni Battista Gaulli (“Il Baciccio”) from c. 1670–75. As he explains, an x-ray of this unusually tender, joyful painting revealed a very different composition beneath the surface, one in which Joseph is depicted in grief over his son’s future sacrifice. | WATCH
Meditative Moments: Color Meditation
Helen Frankenthaler was known for her groundbreaking “soak-stain” technique in which she poured diluted oil paint onto canvas laid out on the floor of her studio. Take a moment to study her 1968 painting Adriatic and let yourself be absorbed into the colorful composition. | MEDITATE
Art-Making Activity: Color Expressions
In this week’s step-by-step art-making activity, take inspiration from Kandinsky’s Open Green to create a colorful collage. Consider how different colors and shapes make you feel, then, using magazines, packaging or newspapers, cut out shapes and patterns to create your own collage components. Explore different ways of arranging your cut-outs onto a heavy paper or cardboard support, then glue down your final composition—an expression of yourself! | CREATE
From the Archives: Women Artists in the Collection
In honor of Women’s History Month, rediscover our 2020 Encounters with the Collection video series celebrating the lives and careers of some of the women artists represented in the Norton Simon collections: Rachel Ruysch (Dutch, 1664/5–1750), Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun (French, 1755–1842), Berthe Morisot (French, 1841–1895)and Liubov Popova (Russian, 1889–1924). | WATCH
What We’re Reading: An Art Revolution, Made with Scissors and Glue
Chief Curator Emily Talbot writes, “I typically prefer to read about art offline, but New York Times art critic Jason Farago’s recent essay on the Cubist artist Juan Gris opened my eyes to the potential of digital technologies for learning about art. As you scroll through Farago’s text, images zoom in and out, guiding the interpretation of Gris’s 1914 collage Still Life: The Table.
Gris made meaning out of the onslaught of new media by gluing pages from newspapers and novels onto canvas. There’s an interesting parallel in this essay, which, by the way it’s put together, creates something new out of technology I consume every day.” | READ
In Our Online Store: Celebrating Women Artists
The celebration of women artists continues in our online store, where we have gathered some of our favorite books and related products featuring women artists. From monographs and children’s books to calendars and notecards, browse our online store section dedicated to these trailblazers. | SHOP
