Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Christmas, 2016

We were blessed with another family Christmas in 2016. Rachel and Will flew out from DC and stayed nearby, and Rebecca and Jeremy hosted the events. We were parked in their driveway, as usual. The star of Christmas, of course, was five year old grand-daughter Penelope.

Decorating the tree

Santa examines P's Christmas list; best Santa
ever, Stanford mall

At American Girl

Much ballet this Xmas

Working on my form

Making Xmas cookies 

Xmas morning

Some favorite presents

And the new camera we'll be using in future
travels; thanks, girls!

All the usual Xmas traditions; not pictured...
the fondue(s)

At Pampas in Palo Alto, pre-celebrating my 70th

Family hike

Ditto, less Will; I'll post a few more pix later when I can find
them

Crystal Bridges Museum Of American Art, Inside 2

What follows is the tiniest selection of paintings from Crystal Bridges. We left impressed with the museum but also with our need to learn more about American art.

Karen LaMonte, Dress Impression with Wrinkled
Cowl, 2007; not in the main collection but so
impressive

Edward Dalton Marchant, Samuel Beals Thomas, with his
Wife..., 1830; love the shades

John James Audubon, Wild Turkey Cock, Hen, and Young, 1826

James Wooldridge, Indians of Virginia, 1675

George Catlin, Indian Encampment, 1852

Samuel F. B. Morse, Marquis Lafatette, 1829;
yes, that Morse, of code fame; he was a portrait
artist before becoming an inventor; good career
move...

Richard Caton Woodville, War News from
Mexico, 1848; President U. S. Grant characterized
the "Mexican-American" war as "that most
shameless of wars," a power grab of the strong
against the weak; visit Los Pinos to see what
Mexico looked like in 1848

John Frederick Kensett, View of Mount Washington, 1852

Thomas Moran, View of the Catawissa in Autumn

Albert Bierstadt, Indian Encampment

Thomas Moran, Green River Valley, 1878

Frederic Remington, Cowpuncher's Lullaby,
1906; among the specimens of the biggies...
but no Charlie Russell as yet

Mary Cassatt, Summertime, 1894; lots of Cassatts here

John Singer Sargent, Robert Louis Stevenson and His Wife,
1885; she's the tumble of gold on the right

Maxfield Parrish, The Lantern Bearers, 1908

Another Cassat, The Reader, 1877

Winslow Homer, Return of the Gleaner, 1877

Two Georgia O'Keefes

Add caption

Jim Dine, The Garden of Eden, 2003

Mark Tansey, Landscape, 1994

Felix Gonzalez Torres, a bunch of hard candy plowed into a
rectangle...

Tom Utich, Enassamishhinjijweian, 2009

Andrew Wyeth, Airborne, 1996

Duane Henson, Man on a Bench, 1977

A Warhol, of course

ill Barnett, Woman Reading, 1965

John Koch, Studio--End of the Day, 1961

Norman Rockwell, Rosie the Riveter, 1943

Crystal Bridges Museum Of American Art: Inside, 1

It's a month later, at least, and the passage of time will diminish my post on Crystal Bridges. Perhaps I'll come back later and edit-in some more material. The museum's collection is already noteworthy, and it is only in its infancy. With the financial backing it has received, one can hope for much more. Our tour began with a special exhibition on dance in American painting and then proceeded to the more general collection.

George Caleb Bingham, The Jolly Flatboatmen, 1846

William Holbrook Beard, The Bear Dance, 1870; an old
favorite of ours, a banner of which hung over our house in
Montana; the bears liked it

John Singer Sargent, Capri Girls Dancing on the Roof

Mary Cassatt, Bacchante, 1872

Arthur Frank Matthews, Youth, 1917

Robert Henri, Salome Dancer

Frank Myers, The Charleston, 1926

Thomas Hart Benton, Burlesque, 1930

Everett Shinn, The Green Ballet, 1943

Anne Estelle Rice, The Egyptian Dancers, 1910

Diego Rivera, study for the ballet H. P. (Horsepower)

Arthur Bowen Davies, Dances

David Shore, Terpishore and Euterpe