The virtual exhibit that I found most interesting was the Nassau County Museum Exhibit Blue. Blue is the world’s most popular color, which represents a contrasting range of emotions and is associated with open spaces, freedom, imagination, and sensitivity.
The first artwork that I chose was The Old Guitarist, 1903 by Pablo Picasso. The dimensions of this piece are 122.9 × 82.6 cm and the medium is oil painting on canvas. Picasso used a monochromatic prussian blue palette to represent the suffering and sadness of the guitarist, also adding a warm brown hue to the guitar to represent the man’s hope for survival. The texture in this work of art is soft with visible strokes for details. The old guitarist is the main subject who is crammed in the frame with elongated legs and worn-out clothes with his eyes closed which implies that he is weak, poor, and blind. I selected this piece because, to me, it brings a positive message. I see that the guitar represents hope in life and no matter how bad things get, there is always something that can keep you moving forward.
The second artwork that I selected was Blue Nude II. 1952 by Henri Matisse. The dimensions of this piece are 116.2 × 88.9 cm and the medium is Gouache on paper, cut and pasted, on white paper, mounted on canvas. Matisse’s assistant pre-painted the paper using a singular color of blue and repeated the process of pinning and unpinning the bits of paper to create the female figure which was an important subject for Matisse. He effortlessly cut out shapes and layered them together for a simple and elegant composition. I selected this piece of art because I find the female body to be very beautiful in all shapes and sizes, and Matisse easily conveyed that using flat paper but with a 3-dimensional appearance.
The third artwork that I chose was Deep Blue Day, 2014 by Jeffrey Gibson. The dimensions of this piece are 49.5 x 15 x 15 inches and the medium is a vinyl punching bag, recycled wool blanket, repurposed painting, leather fringe, tin jingles, and beads. The colors used are blue, yellow, and white. The punching bag is the subject matter that represents his personal history of physical anger and frustration. He was inspired by his Native heritage, culture, fashion, and sports. I selected this piece because I have never seen a punching bag with beads and tin jingles so it was very different and unique.
I felt the virtual tour was effective in some ways compared to an in person tour. With the virtual tour, I took the time to search up each art piece and read more about each one that I wouldn’t find in person. In comparison to an in person tour, it’s better to see the small details of the artwork instead of looking at a photo.
