NOMA, New Orleans, USA, 6th November 2014.

Some days after our first attempt, we came back to visit the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) when it was actually open. It is a small art gallery but the standard is very high.

This is inevitably a somewhat random selection of objects that caught my eye.  Of course there is little or no artistic merit in these images, the merit is in the objects they depict and the images cannot portray more than a shadow of the actual objects of art.

You can always click on an image to see it in larger size with more detail.

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Mukalinga, 18th-19th century India, Maharashtra (brass).

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Summer Landscape by Tokaku Aigai, ink on paper 1836.

A gentleman is accompanied by his servant, carrying a qin (a stringed musical instrument) as they begin their ascent of the mountain. 

A lone angler, symbolising the carefree life, fishes nearby.

Agai’s inscription reads:

“Why not bring your qin to the top of the rock

And play to the moon outside my window?”.

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18th century helmet and suit of armour (doramu type), Japan, Edo period (iron, brass, leather, lacquer).

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Slit Gong, Vanuatu (wood and polychrome).

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Lintel from a Zapotec tomb chamber, c. 300-500AD., Oaxaca, Monte Alban site, Mexico (Limestone).

This unusually deeply carved relief represents a Zapotec dignitary in a ‘swimming’ position.  He wears an elaborate anthropomorphic headdress and points to a glyph which symbolises water.

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Poro Society horizontal mask, Loma Peoples, Liberia/ Guinea border (wood, cotton, monkey fur, cowrie shells, feathers, leopard skin, metal, seeds).

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Drum from an Akan Popular Band, c.1960, Fante Peoples, Ghana (wood, pigment).

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The Love Potion, René Magritte, 1951 (oil on canvas).

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Portrait of a young woman, Amedeo Modigliani, 1918 (oil on canvas).

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On a Sailboat (Sur un bateau à voiles), Albert Gleizes, 1916 (oil and sand on cardboard).

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Snow at Giverny, Claude Monet, 1893 (oil on canvas).

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Floating Sphere in Japanese Temple, Jerry Uelsmann, 1980 (gelatin silver print).

A master darkroom technician, Uelsmann spends countless hours meticulously printing his images, pushing relatively old techniques like dodging and burning to new levels.  The floating sphere in this image, and its misplaced shadow, were both created by carefully controlling the light during printing.

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The Little Dancer.

This sculpture, now amongst Degas’ most beloved works, portrays Marie van Goethem, a young novice ballerina, or “rat” at the Paris Opera Ballet.  Degas began a suite of drawings of theyoung dancer in 1878, many in versions of the same relaxed fourth position.  When the wax model was first exhibited at the 1881 impressionist Exhibition, it was described by critics as “ugly” and “a threat to society”.  Her postures and attitude are both defiant and enigmatic; the lowest ballet “rat” has been elevated to a position of importance.  In 1922, several years after Degas’ death, the wax model of The Little Dancer, as well as other sculptures found in his studio, were cast in editions of at least 25.   This work from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is one of those casts.  The realistic treatment of her face and the use of unorthodox materials, including the fabric tutu and satin hair ribbon, highlight his desire for naturalism as an artistic standard.

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