Pat Lodge Professor Julie Hicks LBST 1105-H72 November 6, 2012 Bechtler Response

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art was situated in an absolutely astonishing building designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta. The most intriguing facet of the building was the enormous swelling column supporting the protruding fourth floor. Also, natural light fills the building through the glass atrium stretching the museum's core. These aspects along with many more provide a serene atmosphere that allows a connection to the dynamic art on display. At the time of our visit the Bechtler was presenting a large collection profiling the works of Alberto Giacometti in the large fourth floor gallery. This gallery was full of the magnificent works of Alberto, his younger brothers Diego and Bruno, and his father Giovanni. The first piece I have chose to evaluate is actually a work Giovanni entitled Snowy Landscape. The painting depicted a line of light colored snow covered mountains in the back with soft curving lines. Towards the bottom the shadow of the mountains and the reflection of the sun fade together on the blank canvas of the snow to create a brownish red color. In the forefront of the image there are a couple bright greenish yellow cabins with heavy, white snow covered roofs. The snow also appears to be piled high up the exterior of the lodges and lies flat and smooth as if it has yet to be disturbed. Beyond the cabins a dark green tree line illustrates the base of the mountains. The trees seemed to almost mold into each other as they are not clearly portrayed. This can be used to show the depth of the mountains in comparison to the cabins. The brilliant sky above the supple peaks of the mountains are full of magnificent yellows

and oranges. The direction of brush strokes also makes a dramatic change as we move into the sky. The snow at bottom of the painting was created using a majority of horizontal brush strokes, but the sky above clearly consisted of many more vertically oriented strokes. This aspect gave flow through the entire painting without disrupting the image. Culturally, I feel as though the tranquility of the image is to move others to stop and think, just think. Think not of money, business, or power but of the beauty of the world around us. The fact that the snow has not been disturbed also goes to show how some things should be left alone in order to maintain their poise. I personally was drawn to this piece by the large amounts of snow and all of the colors that could be found within something I assume to be white. The snow reminded me of some of the more recent winters back home in New Jersey. Specifically, one in which there was snow covering the ground practically all season. I particularly remember this since I had to run outside every day after class let for wrestling practice. Something about the snow always will bring me back to a mental image of myself running down the sidewalk wearing at least four layers of clothes and on either side there are mounds of icy, hard snow half my height that has been collecting from all of the plowing and shoveling. Writing about it now is even making me eager to go home for Thanksgiving break, since I will be continuing an unspoken tradition of alumni returning for the first practice that weekend. The next piece that I chose was actually one that I did not find until the very end of our visit. Since the guide brought us directly to the fourth floor, it was not until our group explored the second floor on our own that I happened upon Hans Falk's Fading Blue. Hans Falk is a profound Swiss painter and Fading Blue a large, oil painting on canvas. In the right of the canvas was a blue ring with a thick, intense red line striking through the middle. The blue ring is surrounded by a lot of dark blacks and browns that fades to lighter shades of tan on the left of the

frame. At the bottom beside the blue ring are two large squares, one black and one a light purple. Just above the black square there was a blotch of bright orange that helped draw the viewer from the bold circle to the rest of the painting. When thinking of a cultural connection it was difficult to find without taking into consideration the name, Fading Blue. With this in the back of my head the juxtaposition of the blue circle within darks could be viewed as the depression within a life of hatred and anger. The red slash is the last stand against this life as we move to the left of image where the purple square and orange splotch provide inspiration and hope. Finally the end goal is reached in the normalcy of the tan encompassing the majority of the left side of the painting. Here relaxation is found, but there will always be a strive for pure white. I relate this to some of the principle lessons of my pledgeship to my fraternity. We were taught to always strive for the best of the fraternity as a whole. With this we know that perfection can never truly be reached, but we will attempt to be as close to perfection as possible. When going to the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art I was somewhat intimidated by what I will be viewing and whether I will be able to continue to make connections with art. I do not think it a wise decision for the guide to take us straight to the fourth floor, because the second and third would have served as a great transition into modern art. Then the prominence of the Giacometti's could fully be appreciated. All in all, the Bechtler was a great experience with the works of modern art and it left me excited to be visiting the Mint the following week.