Animated Thoughts: A surprising find in a surprising place

This past weekend, I flew to New Orleans for my brother-in-law's 60th birthday party--what we all were calling "John Con 2025" by the end of the weekend. Hadn't seen that side of the family for a while and John is a great guy, so when I got the invite, there really was no decision to make, just a little shuffling of cash from one account to another to pay for the plane ticket and hotel.

My sister, ever the planner, had a series of "group" events set up for everyone to celebrate John's birthday but there was also some free time available where we could wander New Orleans by ourselves and do a little exploring.

Fresh beignets

Well, true to form, she selected our first meetup at the Café du Monde on the north side of town. Not the one by the waterfront where I had been before, no, this was the one a five minute walk from the New Orleans Museum of Art. So after getting sugared up on beignets, it was time to get moving and walk off some of that breakfast. The pre-planned walking tour of the French Quarter wouldn't be until the early afternoon, so I had time to walk across the street to the New Orleans Museum of Art.

The first surprise was seeing a Claude Monet painting that I've never seen in person before. 'Houses' is a bit of a departure from the flowing pastels that I'm used to. But it's a welcome one as it still displays Monet's signature brushstrokes and stylization.

Houses on the Old Bridge at Vernon, c. 1883

Another exhibit I really enjoyed was their special exhibit on the history of glasswork. There were multiple examples of ceramics and glasswork all around the museum, but this exhibit was a more expansive history of glasswork from around the world with examples spanning a wide range of techniques and styles. If you're in the area, it's worth checking out. As I took the photos, my mind was going a mile-a-minute figuring out how I'd model them in 3d CGI.

"Tumble-up" cup and decanter, c.1860

Decanter, c.1880 - Uranium glass

Necklace with 19 minature Easter Eggs from
the workshop of Carl Fabergé

But the surprise of the visit was seeing a painting by artist Wayne Thiebaud.

Salmon Rose, 1966

On the placard, it stated "Disney animator", though my cursory research only revealed that he was an inbetweener for Disney during one summer before going on to producing commercial art, achieving a Masters degree in art history, and teaching at the University of California, Davis (among other accomplishments). [1]

Although I'm clearly biased here given the subject, I still think that it's the mark of a really good display that causes you to want to learn more about the artist, the art style or movement, or what influenced the artist when they were creating said artwork. Yes, I admit it, I'm one of those weirdos that you see in the museum, sitting down and looking at their smartphones while surrounded by priceless works of art. Well, more often than not, it's because I've seen something that sparks an interest and I want to know more about the artist or the times that they lived in. So rather than look it up later, I prefer to do my research immediately. If I take a couple pictures and promise myself that I'll do some research when I get home, well, more often than not life does tend to get in the way so better to capitalize on the moment.

So, I'd like to give props to the NOMA and their curators for putting together a very interesting collection of artwork. I wish that I would have had more time to enjoy their museum and sculpture park, but NOMA is now on my list of museums that deserve a return visit when I'm back in the area.

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[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20110428144554/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Wayne-Thiebaud-is-Not-a-Pop-Artist.html