Beautiful art has always been a joy of mine and visiting museums is such a pleasure! During our travels in upstate New York, Mike and I spent several hours at The Norman Rockwell Museum where his originals are on display. And although I would have been happier if it had been Matisse, who doesn't love Normal Rockwell??? And besides looking at all that "Americana," I enjoyed listening to the tapes where the children (now adults) talked about posing for hours while NR painted them. It was so hard they said to stand in one position for so long but NR would give them a nickle an hour which he dropped in a jarfor them. They thought it was worth it as they could then go to the local candy store and pick from a multitude of treats.
My love of art began, I am sure, with my mother. She was a talented artist but very seldom drew or painted after her children began arriving (7.) But she did see that we got an early and profound sense of art by taking us to art lessons every Saturday morning at the Cincinnati Art Museum at a very early age. I can still picture myself in one of those big rooms trying to copy one of the Masters. Hilarious to me, but it somehow worked with both my brother John who is an artist of sorts as well as my sister, Maureen. I dabble.
This brings me to my next subject on the same subject really. I have just finished reading two books back to back about art theft here and around the world, and have learned a great deal about a subject I knew little about, but which interested me a great deal. For one thing, art museums are the least protected places on earth, and it is (or has been) somewhat easy to walk in and steal a very rare and expensive painting right off the wall. I was amazed by this revelation but it really is true. Museums are underfunded and therefore, do not have enough security, and thieves know this. They often walk off with millions of dollars of rare art. The book that so fascinated me is called, "The Gardner Heist," The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft, by Ulrich Boser.
March 18 (early morning after St. Pat's Day for a reason), in 1990, two thieves broke into the Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and stole a dozen masterpieces including one Vermeer (there are only 36 in existence; perhaps now, 35), three Rembrandts and five Degas worth a total of $500 million. Almost two decades later, the art has not been found. This book coupled with a book I bought at the bookstore which I also loved reading was called "The Art Thief" by Noah Charney. Great reads both! There is a whole world of stolen art out there and these two books had me both fascinated and distressed by the easy access that the "unsavory" have to these rare and one of a kind art pieces. I am thinking of making a donation to my favorite museum, just a train ride away; the Chicago Art Museum and earmarking it for security. Suggest the same for anyone out there who feels as I do about protecting the Masters.