Travis Simpkins

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Research: Worcester Art Museum "Then and Now" by Travis Simpkins. Update #44

-The first photo, from 1920, shows a west-facing view of the center gallery wall in the first of several additions to the Worcester Art Museum. The Florentine School "Scenes at the Coronation of the Emperor Frederick III in Rome" hangs above a cassone amongst other works. This was a load-bearing wall, and it's removal necessitated the placement of the two large support columns in the center of the room today, in it's present use as the Museum Cafe.
-Last year, several of the paintings that were chosen to hang in the newly designed [remastered] galleries were removed from the adjacent Gallery 206. This comparison shows the gallery shortly after the paintings were removed, and when new works were brought out of storage to take their place.
-The sketch depicts the 5,000 year old Ancient Sumerian "Statuette of a Man" (3000-2500 B.C.). It is one of the oldest and most intriguing objects in the WAM collection. It is the beginning "50" in the collection's "50 Centuries of Art" tagline.

Cafe. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins

European Galleries. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins

Sumerian Statuette. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

In an ambitious move, after Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson agreed to return to the land created by J.R.R. Tolkien and film a prequel trilogy based on the author's 1937 novel, "The Hobbit". The first chapter, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) is sheer magic… with the first phase of Bilbo Baggins' adventure to help a group of dwarves reclaim their mountain home from a fierce dragon and sinister Orcs. The CGI and animation effects are astounding, the acting solid and the direction spot-on. On par with the earlier Lord of the Rings films, The Hobbit is sure to become a modern Classic. Tinged with elements of medieval and Celtic imagery, the armor, weaponry and battle scenes are reminiscent of (and inspired by) grand historical epics. The cast is great, including Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt and Elijah Wood.