Raphael's "The Alba Madonna" at the National Gallery

My favorite types of painting are Impressionist, Post-impressionist, Modern, and Contemporary. That's what I usually focus on when I visit museums.

However, this time I visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC a week ago Sunday, I started with looking at the older art. One of the many knockout pieces was Raphael's 1510 painting called The Alba Madonna. Not only is it beautiful and colorful, it is round! Here's the image from the website of the National Gallery which shows it without its frame, and also the photo I took which shows it in a very beautiful gold round frame. By the way, the colors did look bright as in my photo.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Childe Hassam at the National Gallery

I visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC on Sunday a week ago. During that visit, I came to appreciate Childe Hassam, and American Impressionist, as an Impressionist artist. I had not been particularly impressed with his paintings that I had seen before. At the National Gallery I saw a number of his paintings I liked.

Today's image is Childe Hassam's The South Ledges, Appledore, painted in 1913 and on view at the National Gallery of Art.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Pablo Picasso, "The Lovers"

One of artist Jay Rolfe's favorite paintings is this 1923 painting at the National Gallery in Washington DC titled The Lovers by Pablo Picasso. I like the colors, the theme of the lovers, and the composition.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

New paintings ... my journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso

Today Jay Rolfe built stretcher frameworks for 2 new 3DSSC paintings. Phew! That was a lot of work. You can see some completed expressions of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea on his website at www.3dssc.com.

The Sculpture Garden of the National Gallery of Art that I visited last Wednesday was about equal to the Sculpture Garden of the Hirshhorn Museum, although the average sculpture was more recent. Alexander Calder's "Red Horse" was cool - a stabile of his was in the Hirshhorn's Sculpture Garden. Louise Bourgeois's huge "Spider" was typically creepy. The large "Typewriter Eraser" by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen was playful. Roy Lichtenstein's "House 1" created an optical illusion, one of those optical illusions that even when you know it's not what it seems, it still looks like it is. I really enjoyed all of them.

That's today's step on the journey of Jay Rolfe From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso.

New paintings in the works ... my journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso

Today Jay Rolfe cut the wood for stretcher frameworks for 3 new 3DSSC (3-D shaped stretched canvas) paintings. It was a beautiful day outside, sunny, breezy, and in the high 70's. I moved my saws and saw horses outside to the driveway and worked near the beautiful crabapple tree in full bloom. It was a glorious afternoon. You can see some completed expressions of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Last Wednesday when I was in Washington DC, I went to the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden and the Hirshhorn Museum Sculpture Garden. I love large outdoor sculpture. Both Sculpture Gardens were fantastic. The Hirshhorn had 2 of my favorite Auguste Rodin Sculptures, "Monument To Blazac" and "Burghers of Calais." Both are also in the collection of the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, the second largest collection of Rodin sculptures in the world after the Rodin Museum in Paris. I also recall seeing "Burghers of Calais" at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena CA. There were a number of beautiful Henry Moore sculptures. I liked Arnaldo Pomodoro's bronze "Sphere No. 6" at the Hirshhorn. I also liked "Nymph" by Aristide Maillol. I've seen several similar, at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and LACMA.

That's today's step on the journey of Jay Rolfe From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso.

Jasper Johns ... my journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso

Jay Rolfe went to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC on Wednesday to see the Jasper Johns exhibit, "Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, 1955-1965." It closes today. It's wonderful to go mid-week, as there were very few visitors and I could park on the street in front of the National Gallery! The exhibit was ambitious in its exploration of 4 motifs of Johns' first decade, although it didn't include all of his motifs, notably leaving out maps and numbers. It was amazing to see so many variations all in one place, and of course there are others that weren't in the exhibit. I left with a greater appreciation of Jasper Johns as an artist and as an influence on subsequent painting. Here's a link to the National Gallery page on the exhibit. www.nga.gov/exhibitions/johnsinfo.shtm

At the same time, the National Gallery also had a large print exbibit titled "States and Variations: Prints by Jasper Johns." As had the painting exhibit, the print exhibit focused on 4 motifs, albeit different motifs than the painting exhibit. And the time frame was different, starting in 1960 with about 2/3 of the works from the 1960's, with the rest from the 1970's except one from 1982. It was an education. Here'a a link to the National Gallery page on the print exhibit. www.nga.gov/exhibitions/jasperinfo.shtm

You can see some expressions of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea on his website at www.3dssc.com. That's the next step on the journey of Jay Rolfe From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso.