Peter Blume

4 Pages 1037 Words

While on vacation in New York City, I stayed with my former high school teacher and friend, Gregg Ninos. After attending the celebrated Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gregg asked “Do you like the Denver Art Museum?” My reply was, “I used to.” The
Met was by far the most impressive art museum I have ever experienced. Others, such as the Denver Art Museum, only pale in comparison.
I did not attend the featured exhibit while I was there, for the wait was over two and a half hours. I did, however, visit many of the different wings of the museum. The wing I wish to talk about is one that I have trouble liking. The more I look at and discuss it, however, the more it grows on me. The modern art wing has many paintings, architecture, sculpture, and drawings dating back to 1900. Artist’s paintings that caught my eye were done by Braque, Picasso, Charles Sheeler, Piet Mondrian, and Grant Wood.
There was one artist whose painting I enjoyed the most, and which I spent nearly twenty minutes attempting to break down its meaning. Peter Blume’s South of Scranton, done in 1931. Peter Blume was an American painter, though he was born in Russia in 1906. This painting is a beautiful oil on canvas that helps illustrate its exceptional detail. It is done in the modern style.
The composition of this piece is creative and very busy. From what I can tell, there is more than just one idea being portrayed in this painting, but it shares a similar scheme. It either shows a man in movement jumping off of something into something, or many men jumping. They are on what seems to be a battle ship, because of the tower, gun, and spotlight. They overlook a main street in a small town. The painting has a single point perspective. The street and the buildings on it meet at the same point in the middle of the painting. Nothing in the painting fits with anything else. They are all their own idea, which makes me speculate why they are in...