Road Trip around Lake Erie: 21SEP – 26SEP
We were getting a little antsy not having travelled for
almost a year. So I mapped out a route
around Lake Erie where there were six galleries that have 16 paintings on the
1001 Paintings List. The cities on the
route are: Detroit (4), Toronto (2), Buffalo (7), Youngstown (1), Pittsburgh
(1) and Indianapolis (1). I contacted
all the galleries and learned that only six(!) paintings would actually be on
display. Buffalo was the biggest
disappointment because they have seven on the list and ZERO will be on
display. While this is bad it is not all
that unusual for many of our paintings to not be on display. I also checked out the baseball schedules
along our route and determined that we could see the White Sox play the Tigers
in Detroit on Tuesday the 22nd and Toronto play the Yankees in
Toronto on the 23rd, so it was going to be a win-win trip.
We left Monday morning and got to our hotel in Detroit in the early
afternoon. Detroit has a light rail
line, the Woodward Avenue Streetcar that runs a circular route through downtown
Detroit. One station was a short walk
from our hotel with a stop close to Comerica Park where the Tigers play. Sue got a recommendation for a place to eat
by the stadium from a Facebook friend, so off we went. We had to walk around a bit by the stadium to
buy tickets and get a few photos for the blog.
We went to Elwood’s Bar & Grill that is just outside the park at the
centerfield gate. The weather couldn’t
have been better so we sat outside and had a beer. The Tigers were handing out a Miguel Cabrera
bobble head doll. There were a ton of
people just going into the park to get the doll and then leaving; the Tigers
are in last place after all. We noticed
that there were long lines to get into the park because everyone had to go
through a security check. It was so nice
that we had dinner at Elwood’s and waited to go into the park until game time It was just a wonderful summer afternoon that
you wish would never end. When we
finally went into the park I couldn’t take my pocket knife in, so Sue went in
and I went back to the hotel to drop off the knife. I should have known better, but I’ve carried
this knife everywhere for almost 40 years, but times have changed. So the knife stayed in the suitcase for the
rest of the trip. When I got back to the
park Sue was in her seat about four rows from the right field wall near the
foul pole. She was the only person in
her row. On our drive to Detroit we
listened to the first game between the Sox and the Tigers and Samardzija
pitched a one hitter for the Sox that would have been fun to see. The Sox also won the second game but it
wasn’t as interesting. We left in the 5th
or 6th inning.
We got to the Detroit Institute of Art when it opened at
10AM. We were probably the first people
in the door. We visited the museum two
years ago to see four of the eight paintings at the DIA. Today we got to see two more: Georg Brandes at the University in Copenhagen by Harald Slott-Møller #548 and Ring
Gymnast No. 2 by Eugene Jasson #549. As we walked through the galleries I noticed
one painting that looked familiar, it was Annette by Alberto Giacometi. This artist has two paintings on the 1001
List, but both are in Private Collections.
One of his paintings on the list is titled Annette Seated 1958. It is very similar to the painting in the
book as you can see in the pictures in the attached album. So we are counting this one as #550. We didn’t stay long at the DIA because we had
a four hour drive to Toronto and we wanted to get to the Art Gallery of Ontario
before it closed at 5:30PM.
The first thing you notice about driving in Canada is that
the roads are sooo much better than ours.
We had to stop at the first Tim Hortons we could find. Tim Hortons is a Canadian institution, it is
a casual restaurant and donut shop. I
had an Iced Cinnamon roll that must have had a half inch of icing completely
covering the roll. It was so good I
didn’t even get a chance to take a photo.
I did have to wash up after eating it.
After our brief stop we were back on the road. We got to the AGO around 3:00PM. We went right to our painting on display Winter, Charlevoix County by A.Y. Jackson #551. We also found a substitute painting for the
one on our list that wasn’t on display.
Our Canadian friends who are also after the paintings on the 1001 List
have also visited this museum. They told
us that there are over 130 paintings by the other artist on the list Cornelius Krieghoff
on display at the museum when they visited. But not Habitants Sleighing that is on the
list. When I had called prior to leaving
on our trip I confirmed that our painting wasn’t going to be on display, and we
couldn’t arrange to see it in storage. There
were at least six paintings by Krieghoff on display that had the same subject,
i.e. a horse pulling a sled or sleigh.
So because I get to make the rules, as I say in the blog, we are
counting that we saw #552.
After the museum we checked into our
hotel, and then we walked about 5-6 blocks to the Rogers Center to buy our tickets. We went back to the hotel to have beer, what
else would you expect? Then it was back
to the park to see the game. Tonight we
were in right field, we actually like the view from the outfield. There were over 49,000 people at the game
because this game meant something. Both
teams are they fighting for first place in their division. The Yankees won the game in 10 innings, and
we stayed for the whole game this time.
Wednesday morning we were off to
Niagara Falls that was less than two hours from Toronto. We stopped at the Table Rock Centre on the
Canadian side to view the falls. The
Falls are impressive, if you visited then you know what I mean. If not I hope some of the photos will give
you a sense of what it is like. After
this stop it was on to Youngstown that was about a three hour drive. We weren’t able to get to the gallery before
it closed. So once again we were one of
the first through the door when it opened on Thursday. I had been corresponding with Kathy Earnhart
the PR Director for The Butler Institute of American Art. She met us and took us to the painting on our
list: Snap the Whip by Winslow Homer #553. Winslow Homer is one of the most important
artists in American Art, and this painting is probably his most well-known
painting. Katy was wonderful! She took
our photo next to the painting and was going to see if it would be put into the
Youngstown paper. She wanted to
introduce us to the Director of the Institute after we had seen the paintings
in the Institute. The Butler Institute
is a hidden gem. It is located on campus
of Youngstown State University. It is a
perfect size because you can see all of the art on display without feeling that
you have to run through the gallery to see everything. I took a photo and a video of one painting Dimensional
Homage to Van Gogh by Patrick Huges.
The video doesn’t do it justice but the painting appears to move as you
move it front of the painting. It alone
was worth the visit. We met the Director
Dr. Louis Zona and he was as nice as Kathy.
Meeting wonderful people is one of the benefits of our quest to see all
1001 paintings. The people at galleries
and museums love art and they are happy to share their interest with goofs like
us.
After our wonderful visit at The Butler
Institute we were on to Pittsburgh to visit The Andy Warhol Museum. This museum is almost next door to Three
Rivers Stadium, but unfortunately the Pirates were in Chicago to play the Cubs,
so no baseball game tonight. Andy made
at least eight paintings titled “Flowers”, and of course the one in
the book isn’t the one on display, but we counted the one we did see as
#554. This is another neat museum. We have all seen works by Warhol and all of
those works are here, but there is a lot more that I’m sure we haven’t seen
before. So if you’re ever in Pittsburgh
I would recommend taking time to visit.
So after our visit we of course went back to the hotel to have a beer. We of course checked out the bar menu and Sue
spotted a pierogi pizza, so of course we had to have one. It was pretty good.
We were up early Friday because the
drive to our next destination, Indianapolis was about six hours. I had made arrangements to meet the Curator
of Prints, Mr. Martin Krause at the Indianapolis Museum of Art to see painting/print
as a substitute for another painting on our list that is in a private
collection. He met us at the front desk
and took us to the print room to show us two prints by Hans Arp. The 1001 list has the print Teller,
Gabel und Nabel by Hans Arp #555 that is in a private collection. Indianapolis has two prints that are very
similar to the painting in the book: Configuration and Untitled Plate II. Once again we had a very nice conversation
with Mr. Krause about our hunt for these paintings and his experience in France
as a high school exchange student. He
then took us into the museum, for free (did I mention there are benefits to our
quest?) to see Jimson Weed by Georgia O’Keeffe #556. We had been to this museum the last weekend
in May when we were in Indy for a wedding.
But unfortunately Jimson Weed was out in Tacoma, Washington for a
special exhibit.
After the museum we checked into our
motel and then we visited Sue’s cousin who is in an extended care facility in
town. Her cousin’s Alzheimer’s is pretty
well advanced, I think she may have recognized Sue but probably not me.
We went out for dinner to a gastro brew
pub the Brugge Brasserie. For once at a
Belgium restaurant I passed on the mussels and had a hanger steak instead and
Sue had the beer and beef stew. Both
where excellent, as was the beer.
We arrived home
Saturday by about 1:00 PM. It was a
great trip, we drove just under 1,500 miles through seven states and two
countries. The next trip may be back to
New York and maybe Boston. We would
consider Washington, but we were there the last time the Republicans shut down
the government in 2013, and they may do it again in December.
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