An Art Blog to Honor My Dad, Kenny Wayne Greenberg (June 1, 1938-June 6, 2023)
A few of you know by now that my Dad died unexpectedly on June 6. Less than 48 hours before that, my sisters and I were talking about how to get the house ready for him to come home from the hospital and “negotiating” how soon he would be able to get back to his typical activities after he got there. Then, in the early hours of June 6, he essentially went to sleep and never woke up.
During planning his funeral, a couple of my sisters started going through things in the house I grew up in. They found an envelope in the nightstand next to his bed that none of us knew about; there was some cash in it. He made sure he was watching out for us even though he knew he wouldn’t be here. So, per his instructions in that envelope, we divided the money among the four of us (I have three older sisters).
Father’s Day this year was less than a week after his funeral. I knew there was NO WAY I could handle being on “home turf;"I doubt I’ll EVER be able to for Father’s Day, his birthday, and the day he died. I decided to take a road trip.
Horrible floods in Iowa City, Iowa in 2008 forced its art museum to close. Luckily, all the art was saved, and one of those pieces of art that was called at the time by art critic Clement Greenberg (no relation) “…a staple of modern art…” was the huge mural that Jackson Pollock painted for Peggy Guggenheim’s apartment in 1943. For a time, it was at the Figge Museum in Davenport, Iowa, one of the Quad Cities. I had seen only photographs of the painting and “the story” of how it came to be in the movie Pollock. **Spoiler alert…Jackson Pollock could not have painted that painting in one night, but that part of the movie is still cool!** Anyway, I decided to road trip not long after that to Davenport, Iowa to see it in person, and it absolutely blew me away. It’s the biggest painting I’ve ever seen and probably ever will see. It’s nearly 10’ tall and 20’ wide. After that, the decision was made to have people at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles do some work on the massive painting to clean it up a bit and to fix some damage done to it by previous curators through no fault of their own; at the time, they did the best they could with what materials and information they had. The great workers at the Getty were able to get Mural back to its full stunning glory the way Jackson Pollock, Peggy Guggenheim, and others saw it after he finished it. Mural then went on a world tour covering such venues as the Getty, the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and Peggy Guggenheim’s palazzo in Venice that’s now a museum of her fabulous collection of the art she collected.
Mural made its way back to its home in Iowa City, Iowa a little over a year ago in the brand new University of Iowa Stanley Art Museum. By the way, the story of how THAT painting ended up in Iowa City, Iowa of all places is a great story in and of itself; let me know if you want to hear it. OR, I might make it another blog. I used my share of the money in that envelope, reserved a hotel room, and road tripped to Iowa City after work on Friday before Father’s Day.
It was a perfect early summer day the next day. I got to the museum around 10 minutes before it opened, so I had a chance to explore the grounds and the great sculptures. I don’t know if I took the “correct” path through the museum, but is there REALLY a correct path? I found great works there! I now understand Pablo Picasso’s appeal for African masks and may try to paint some based upon what I saw that day. I also found wonderfully esoteric pieces and great works by Robert Motherwell, Henri Matisse, Elaine deKooning, and Lee Krasner. Literally, the last corner I took into the last gallery space was where Mural is. I’ll let my pictures and video speak for themselves.
I was that day and always will be grieving my Dad; that day, I was in tears more than I was dry-eyed. But, thanks to him, I finally got to see again the painting that eventually put me on the artistic path I’m on today. Dad would be glad I made that road trip, and I will absolutely be going back there again. It’s a great museum with a great collection. Admission is FREE, so GO if you get the opportunity or are nearby!
PS – that Saturday also happened to be Pride Weekend in Iowa City, so I got to see a decent chunk of their great parade!
Коментарі