April 21: The Birthday of John Muir

This spectacular painting by German-born Luminist Albert Bierstadt (1830 -1902 ) seems a fitting image with which to note the birthdate of naturalist John Muir (1838-1914). Its subject, Hetch Hetchy Canyon, was the site of Muir's last, unsuccessful battle to preserve the natural splendor of the West.

First proposed in 1903, the O'Shaughnessy Dam on the Tuolumne River was begun in 1913 and completed 10 years later. The Hetchy Hetchy Reservoir, which provides drinking water and electricity to 2.4 million Californians, is still opposed by the Sierra Club, which Muir co-founded in 1892. Bierstadt's painting of the unspoiled valley is an emblem of the effort to restore Hetch Hetchy, which continues nearly 100 years later(http://www.hetchhetchy.org/artistic_visions/bierstadt_holyoke.html).

Bierstadt's painting, completed in 1875, was the founding gift to the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum the next year. Like many of Bierstadt's works, it is of a stunning scale and utterly mesmerizing glow, especially in the modestly-sized galleries at my alma mater's fine museum. An unrepentant Italophile for the entirety of my undergraduate career, I ignored this fine and important painting, a lapse which I now repent and for which hereby attempt in some small way to attone.

March 15: The Return of Christopher Columbus

On March 15, 1493 Christo-pher Columbus returned to Spain after his first voyage to the New World Even before it transpired, the voyage sparked the imaginations of many, notably King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, depicted in the painting here by Eugene Delacroix of 1839 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_columbus). His return from his "discovery" of a hitherto unknown part of the world, specifically the Bahamas, further inspired not only the Spanish monarchs but also many other explorers. Having hoped to find a route to India ("the Indies" becoming the misleading label for the lands he happened upon), Columbus brought back not the lucrative spices that were the valued commodity he sought, but instead examples of the gold artifacts and exploitable human resources he found.

The Toledo Museum of Art acquired this picture in 1939, an event that attracted the attention of the UP and that was published in at least one distant newspaper (http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1977&dat=19390223&id=WpI0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=I6sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4890,4931380).
Somewhat atypical of the loose, dramatic brushwork and dramatic and exotic subject matter for which he was most famous, The Return of Christopher Columbus is nonetheless Romantic in its luminous color and theatrical depiction of the faraway and glamorous. Its pendant, Christopher Columbus and His Son At La Rabida, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, is a deliberately more restrained work depicting the uncertainty and hardship that preceded the uncertain voyage http://www.nga.gov/collection/pdf/gg93en.pdf.)

January 6: Gustave Dore'

Most sources will list Gustave Dore', born on this date in 1832, as an illustrator. And indeed, he was a brilliant wood and steel engraver, best known for his illustrations of the English Bible (1866) and of Cervantes' Don Quixote (1863).

But I know him best as a painter through one particular and surprising work. One familiar with his popular illustrations would hardly suspect him as the author of Scottish Highlands, a large oil on canvas that is among the most popular paintings at the Toledo Museum of Art. Brilliant color, deft brushwork, and a brooding, evocative mood make this a compelling--if entirely non-threatening--work for novice and sophisticated museum visitors alike.

This picture took on a very surprising role on September 13, 2001. At 9 in the morning, a devastated TMA staff (of which I was then a member) gathered in the galleries to try to process what had just happened to our nation and world through our deepest common language: art. My cherished colleague Susan, the best gallery educator in the business, first led us through our own reflections on a very difficult Anselm Kiefer painting that uses a (literally) burnt image of Hitler's Berlin Chancellery courtyard to evoke man's inhumanity to man. And then, our sadness, grief, disbelief, outrage, despair all aired, she moved us to the Dore'. Here we wandered together, in the cool, unspoiled atmosphere of this vast and quiet place, surrounded by powerful mountains and transcendent clouds. Through the shared experience of this fictional space, we experienced calm, hope, the awareness that the world is bigger than we are and that it will last beyond our immediate crises and concerns.

So I am grateful to Susan, still, and to Gustave Dore', for the healing power of art in this unexpected picture.

September 30: Babi Yar

On September 30, 1941, 33,721 Jews were shot by invading Nazi troops and buried at Babi Yar ravine (near Kiev) Ukraine--the largest single massacre of World War II. Mass executions of civilians, mostly Jews and Roma people, continued there until 1943. By some estimates, 120,000 people were murdered at Babi Yar.

The Mizel Museum in Denver, Colorado, in partnership with the city and the Babi Yar Park Foundation, is leading the construction of a 27-acre memorial to those who lost their lives in these atrocities. The park is a peaceful place intended to reinforce our collective resolve that such horrors will never be repeated. See the Mizel Museum's website, http://www.mizelmuseum.org/Babi_Yar_Park.html

September 29: Washington National Cathedral

Washington National Cathedral (officially the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) was begun on this date in 1907 and completed on this same date in 1990. An Episcopal cathedral, it is the seat of both the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the bishop of the Washington Diocese. British architect George Frederick Bodley designed this enormous structure, but several others also helped bring it to completion over the 83 year span of its construction. Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., the designer of Central Park in Manhattan, created the cathedral close, or grounds. A complete article about the church may be found on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_National_Cathedral)

The Cathedral was designated by Congress as the National House of Prayer. President Theodore Roosevelt gave a ceremonial speech on the occasion of the laying of its cornerstone, and the state funerals of four presidents have taken place there.

Despite its many connections to the political scene, however, the separation of church and state is very much in force at the National Cathedral. I discovered this, happily, during a visit to Washington in late 1995 that coincided with the shutdown of the federal government. Most of the museums were closed, but the National Cathedral, easily reached by public transportation, was open as always. A rewarding visit that I encourage other art tourists to make, especially if the museums are closed (heaven forbid) or the Mall becomes overwhelming.

September 28: Caravaggio

Michelan- gelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born on September 28, 1573. Personal confession: it's very difficult to blog about an artist one believes to be one of the best in the world, ever. He had a short, rough life and left relatively few paintings. The best remain in situ in the churches for which they were painted.

This one, The Beheading of John the Baptist, was completed in 1608 for the oratorio of the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valletta, Malta (image source: http://www.postkiwi.com/images/2009/7/beheading-of-john-the-baptist-caravaggio.jpg). The figures are life-size; the impact of the brutality is immediate and visceral. No chubby baby angels wave palm fronds. It's not your typical Baroque martyrdom; it's a hit.

I studied this picture for many final exams. I knew what it looked like, knew it was in that chapel (it had just returned, with some fanfare, from conservation and an exhibition in Rome in July 1999). When I walked into the space, it affected me as if I did not know what it looked like, did not expect to see it. After 25 years as an art historian, few works of art could make me burst into tears. This one did.

September 27: Lewis Carroll, Photographer

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, was born on this date in 1832. The author of Alice in Wonderland and other children's books, Dodgson was also an accomplished photographer. Some of his favorite subjects were children. This tiny (3 3/4 in. x 2 3/8 in.) portrait of Xie Kitchin (Xie was short for Alexandra) is in the collection of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, an anonymous gift acquired in 1989. (See http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?id=S-MUSART-X-1989-SL-1.67%5D1989_1.67.JPG )