Burchfield Penney Visit

1. The title of the exhibition is Time Share: An Historic Art Collaboration. The theme is artworks from the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society that show important Buffalo landmarks, events and people.

2. The lighting in this exhibit was low. Only the artworks had light directed on them. The walls are painted a blue-gray color. The area is pretty open so the viewer can easily go around the entire room and see all the works. There is little interior architecture except for a small wall about 8 feet by 10 ft that is placed at the entrance that holds a painting and the title of the exhibit.

3. The artworks are organized by subject and time for the most part. Mostly landscapes are in the first room and moving into the second room are more recent works, such as a photograph from World War I. The artworks are similar in that all show important landmarks, like Niagara Falls, events, such as the Pan American Exposition, and people, such as William McKinley, from around Western New York. They are different in the subject matter. There are landscapes, portraits and photographs. The artworks are in simple wood frames for the most part except for the portraits, which have more elaborate frames. Each artwork has a plaque next to it that has the title, artist, medium and if some information about the context of the work. The artworks are fairly close to each other; about 2 feet apart.

The left image is entitled White Man's Fancy: Maiden of Past. The right image is entitled Red Man's Fact: The Maiden's Sacrifice. Both images were created by James Francis Brown  in 1891 to juxtapose each other and show how the story of the "Maid of the Mist" legend is viewed by "white" men and "red" men. The left image shows a woman with wings that appears to be floating in the air and carefully balanced on a rock, with mist surrounding her. The right image shows a woman going over the edge of Niagara Falls in a canoe and a man in another canoe following behind her. Both images are well balanced and harmonious. The colors are somewhat muted. though the artist shows skill in the transparency he achieves in the wings and mist.  

This work is entitled Horseshoe Falls and Niagara Gorge by Raphael Beck. The medium is oil on canvas. It is a landscape work of Niagara Falls and the Niagara Gorge. The work captures the movement of the Falls and the Niagara River. It uses linear perspective. It also utilizes color, especially in the sky. It is also balanced and harmonious. The artist wanted to capture the beauty of the area. The artist did not live far from the Niagara Falls and wanted to paint his surroundings.