Art Appreciation
Personal and creative growth sometimes come with a sudden flash of insight as though a light switch has flipped. But often growth comes in small waves like quiet awakenings in the middle of the night. You might simply roll over and go back to sleep or you might choose to get up and follow that impulse or thought.
Lately, I have felt this way. As though I’m being introduced to some part of myself that I have never met before. A part I did not know existed. I often hear the advice that old age is a time when we might return and find again the joyous child inside. We might actually give ourselves permission to have fun. And yet, I have found this exercise difficult. I do not easily recall a carefree childhood. And fun is not a word I would I would use to describe myself.
But when I study my creative work, that perception is challenged. There is evidence to the contrary. Perhaps I have been defining fun too narrowly. When I think of pleasure or relaxation or enjoyment, I always think of making or interacting with art in some form—cooking, music, movement, reading, watching, photography, hiking and walking in nature, handcrafts, and the like.
The more I study the photographs of others, the more I come to see the value of my own. I see through their eyes that I was indeed seeing something meaningful. It’s as though I need that reassurance to trust my own instincts, and while I wish that were not so, I treasure it still. Because now I can see for myself. I can stand back and take inventory of who I am, what I reflexively do, and how I might be instinctively tempted to side step discomfort. This self-knowledge helps me to avoid pitfalls (those stubborn forms of avoidance) and lay the ground work for success in my personal life and my creative life.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Edward Hopper Exhibit | Donna Hopkins, 2020
I came across a collection of moving photographs of people admiring art by way of Miss Moss, The Louvre and its Visitors.
“Brazilian photographer Alécio de Andrade lived in Paris for almost 40 years; working as a press reporter, Paris correspondent of the weekly Manchete and also as an associate member of Magnum Photos. But it was his photos of everyday life that had a certain magic element to them – beautifully capturing moments in the lives of couples, people, children, and animals. In 1992 he was awarded a grant to produce a photography book on the Louvre Museum, where he had been taking photos since 1964…
Photographer, but also poet, pianist and friend of writers and musicians around the world, Alécio de Andrade wandered the rooms of the Louvre Museum for nearly thirty-nine years, starting in 1964. From these walks, he left 12,000 photos. Each framing seems like a theatre scene in which we would be spectators over the artist’s shoulder and where the visitors would be the actors.” —Diana Moss
I have taken many photographs in this genre—museum visitors admiring art. I am fascinated by the quiet depth with which people experience art, how they find meaning, the emotions they feel, and what draws their eye. I find the connection between the viewer and the art to be as moving as the art itself, and oftentimes, even its own new creation. It feels good to be alive in this way.