Paper 1 - New Britain Museum of American Art

On June 2nd I visited the New Britain Museum of American Art. I had visited the museum once previously, a little less than a year ago, and was excited to return, for I had been rather taken by several works in their collection. I wandered through the museum with my mother and son, noting the sculptures and landscapes, but focusing, as I typically find myself doing, on paintings of figures and dramatic or meaningful moments. I seriously considered the lovely Cassatt on display (A Caress 1891),

Dean Cornwell for Philip Gibbs "Seargeant of Chasseurs" which had always haunted me
and The sunlight by Robert Lewis Reed.

All of these were lovely paintings, but no single one resonated with me as I had hoped. I entered the final room of the museum, and literally froze. Taking up the entire back wall of the museum was an exquisite painting that for all its beauty clearly held a more haunting message.

Although the size, classical feel and passion of the painting initially drew my eye, what froze me in place was the image of a small child holding a large model airplane against the rubble-strewn ground.

Perhaps it was the years of watching my small son smash his toy airplanes into the Lego buildings he’d constructed, or the conversation I had just the night before with my friend concerning her son’s recent animation of airplanes exploding into buildings, but one glimpse of the left side of that painting, and I not only understood its theme, but I related to it in a very personal and emotional way. September 11, 2001 has truly defined not only the foreign policy of our country, but on many levels, our collective social psyche as well. To me this is most apparent when observing children at their most unguarded moments, when they simply and purposefully attempt to make sense of this world in which they find themselves. Viewing the beauty of the innocence of childhood contrasted with the horrific reality of the world they are to inherit spoke to me on a very deep level.

According to the painting’s text plate, in 2002 Graydon Parrish, graduate of Amherst College, was asked by the New Britain Museum of Modern Art to paint a mural commemorating the bombing of the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001. Sponsored in part by the O’Brian family in memory of Scott O’Brian who lost his life in the World Trade Center bombing, the commission that took four years to finish encompassed the artist’s vision of how the country has dealt with this tragedy from grief to apathy. This largely symbolic work offers several messages that transcend even the tragedy itself including the passage of time, the loss of love and the brevity and frailty of life. The landscape itself represents Manhattan, and the painting includes such figures as twins that represent terror and tragedy and the twin towers themselves, and three female mourners that represent the three fates. This magnificent oil painting stands 8 x 18 feet and is painted in the painstaking classical style Parish is noted for. Historically, this style has employed iconography and Parish incorporates it in this painting by using the three fates. His magnificent attention to detail in the human form, and scenery, and his use of nudes and robes is clearly classical in origin. Additionally, it is easy to see why Parish includes Raphael and Jacques Louis David as artists he admires. Reminiscent of Raphael’s school of Athens or Triumph of Galatea, and David’s Death of Socrates, Parish imbues each aspect of this work with meaning so that the very composition itself expresses the work’s significance. Each figure’s expression, position, and stance reveal both its purpose and nature and fits seamlessly as part of the whole.

When first viewing this work of art, it is difficult not to be struck by the sheer size of it. Taking up nearly the entire back wall of the room, it compels the viewer’s undivided attention and gives one the overwhelming feeling of participating in the scene. It seems fitting that a work of art dedicated to commemorating the WTC bombing would have such magnitude. It not only reflects the enormity of the tragedy, it expresses the huge impact the tragedy has had on our nation and each one of us.

The painting itself is rich and luxurious, meticulously portraying exquisitely realistic looking images in plush, velvety colors. Parish’s use of oil on canvas combined with his skilled use of layering creates a work that is smooth, silky and simply glows from within. This makes one feel as though the meaning and heart of the painting is shining through to physically touch the observer. The background of the painting is obscured by smoke and the figures in the foreground create a triangular shape across the huge canvas giving a satisfying sense of balance that is both aesthetically pleasing and helpful in conveying the artist’s message. One’s eyes are immediately drawn upward to the two identical and illuminated figures in the center. I found this to be so for several reasons including their central placement, height, posture, and facial expressions, the lighting, and, most importantly, the line of the work. The smoky background casts a somber, shaded tone to the figures in the front, but it does not detract from the vibrancy of the colors Parish employees.

When studying the painting from left to right it can be divided into three sections. The left side depicts three children standing on an island littered with debris that I believe to be words from the declaration of independence.

These children are blind folded, which seems to depict innocence, and two of them are carrying toy airplanes, one of which is nose down on the island on top of paper with the words “Secure and Liberty”.

The child without the airplane has his blindfold partially off and is staring at a figure writhing in the center of the painting. The child has seen the tragic reality of the surrounding events and his face is a study in shock and horror, while the other two are expressionless in their ignorance. Although the children are beautifully painted, their coloring, and depiction so lifelike and delicate down to the muscles and shadows in their small legs, the folds in their shirts and the textured, individual hairs on their heads, it is a chilling reminder of our naiveté as a country and how easily we were attacked. Above them, thick, cloud-like, grey smoke billows on the left and right side of the work while behind them rises the shadowy and hazy New York skyline that starkly contrasts the figures with their lack of detail.

Moving to the right, one sees the focal point of the painting, two upright identical figures, symbolizing terror and tragedy, and of course the twin towers.

This line aptly indicates that all the events below are directly linked directly relate to these figures. They are blindfolded in innocence and straining, screaming to the heavens in shock, anger, and despair. Like all the figures in this painting, these twins are remarkably realistic, and beautifully contoured and their postures and expressions evoke fear and sympathy in the observer. They are illuminated to draw attention to thier significance, and directly behind them is the distinctive wreckage of the world trade center.

The debris in between them repeats “We the people” in what I see as an attempt to remind the viewer that everyone was affected by this tragedy and to demonstrate how our independence has been threatened by these events as well.

To either side of them on the sand are figures in despair. To the left, one writhes, blinded by the horror, and to the left, the three fates kneel amidst Victorian styled roses. These roses evoke feelings of both innocence and mourning.

The final portion of the painting reveals smoke that is darker and more concentrated than that to the left. This smoke almost obscures a blurred, and almost sinking Statue of Liberty, who is almost only discernable by the speck of light in her torch.

Below that lies an old man, clearly in the final stage of life lying upon roses that partially bury a skull.

The old man is tied to a young blindfolded girl that to me represents the various stages of life, and the cycle of life and death.

http://www.sandstead.com/images/artists/parrish/parrish.html
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/neo_classical.html

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/raphael.html