Narcisse-Virgile Deaz De Ea Pena

       Clearing in the Forest

( French, 1807-187)

Adolphe Charles Edouard Steinheil

       Study of Poppies

(French, 1850-1908)

Jack Whitten

       9.11.01

(American, 2006)

I always enjoy going to Baltimore Museum of Art. I tend to be more drawn to realistic paintings. Hence why I picked the paintings Clearing in the Forest and the Study of Poppies. These are two of my favorites in the BMA. But this visit, I saw a piece I never saw. It is 9.11.01. It is a mural size piece. This piece was tinted yellow on edges and the center there was black paint under black tiles. The clear black on black paint was a very intriguing visual, pulling people in and the clear parts were able to show emphasis and outline the materials placed in them. The glitter blue sky emerges with the grey tiles. I thought this was to show the smoke rising into the sky after the attack of 9/11. The black triangle is a pyramid which memorializes the dead and is also on the back of the U.S. dollar. This piece is very symbolic, as each piece references to another aspect, but they are all merge together to emphasis the feeling Whitten felt viewing the attack from his studio. The destruction of what he had seen is shown at the bottom of the pyramid, the remains of man. Bones, blood, ash, foot prints. The silver tower pieces stick out from the pyramid. Whitten casted objects such as the footprint, pieces and ash from the world trade center. He also added real bones and blood to signified the horror of the attack. The extreme texture and cluttering helps express the chaos and confusion during that day. What draws me in is that even with the destruction there was glitter on top. To me it was a little message that hope is there. The darkness mixing with the glitter gave me an exotic feeling. This piece was like seeing what whiten felt, not what he saw.