The Ever Expanding MFA

Jesus, the  joint’s bigger every time I go or so it seems. On my visit there with Felicity yesterday, I came down with a bad case of Museum Fatigue and we hadn’t even gone through all of the
Art of the Americas wing yet.

Still and all, I got to see the Robert McCloskey (of Make Way for Ducklings fame) exhibit. Did ya know, he began as a “serious” painter and turned to children’s book illustration due to dismally low sales (I can relate!).

There were some brill Hudson River School works on display including Martin Johnson Heade’s Sunset on Lynn Marsh as well as a few awesome Bierstadts.

I’d never seen this Diego Rivera drawing before. Very cool.

I happened on John Wilson’s powerful, tremendous drawing and prints quite by accident. They lined a long hall which we were passing through on our hunt for coffee. The line of Martin Luther King etchings, each slightly different than the one before, is inspiring, thought provoking, impressive and wildly compelling. They just flat out slayed me.

I got to view a few Max Beckmanns that I’d never seen before. Nothing earth shattering and, generally, I prefer the ones over at the Fogg in Cambridge (The Actors and his Self Portrait in Tuxedo) Even so, the MFA’s Still Life with Three Skulls (below) always makes me smile.

And I found someone new – Hyman Bloom. OK, not so new – he’s been dead for several years now. Still, I'd never seen his work before and I think I’m in love. NEED to see a LOT more of his work. Below is his very large (68 3/8” x 36 3/8”) piece, Female Corpse, Back View. Looks kind of angel-ly to me.

One more interesting bit about the new ginormous, always growing MFA – there are four different eateries. Two cafes and two full blown restaurants. All but one serves wine too.  There's also three different shops selling books, general museum-y merch, fashion accessories and toys. AND you can boogie down here too. Joe often attends the First Friday events here. Dancing in the museum – wow!

Ya know, if they build another wing, it oughta be a hotel. That way visitors (like ME!) could spend a few hours looking at cool shit, grab lunch, a nap, shop, socialize, trip the light fantastic and then go gaze at some more awesome art – all without ever leaving the place.

Seems like the next evolutionary step, don’t it?