hand to ear the statue

hand to ear the statue

leans forward listening to

the girl chat on the cell phone --

standing on one foot for ages,

witnessing the living

Led by our art teacher, Bill Teeple, we are touring the St. Louis Art Museum. After hours of watching slides of paintings on the flat wall of his studio, how wonderful to see the originals close up. Well, at least as close as the tape on the floor and the ever-present attendants will allow you to lean and point. As a painter, I marvel at the luminescence of a Titian, the quick brush strokes of a Monet water lily pond, the life-like gaze of a Corot portrait, the subtle color blending of an O'Keefe flower, the silence created by a room full of Rothko abstracts. But all the while, as a photographer, my eyes keep roving to the people around me. Because everyone is taking photos of the artwork, mostly with cell phones and notebooks, it's fairly easy to take candid photos with a small zoom lens camera.

A slender Asian girl in a wide-brimmed white hat and short lacy white dress takes a photo of a white marble statue. The marble woman has one hand to her ear, as if she is listening to the conversations going on around her while she stands frozen on one foot on a pedestal. The girl sits on one of the black couches to retie the crisscross laces of her platform shoes and talk on her cell phone, while a blue-shirted guard reads the information about a painting on the wall behind them.

A man in a black wheelchair, dressed all in black with a black bowler, his arms tattooed with twining roses, holds a yellow, red and blue satchel on his lap -- a work of art himself.

Another man dressed all in black, without a chair on wheels, takes a break on a bench.

A woman in a black and white striped skirt, holding the man's arm, stand so still gazing at a Thomas Hart Benton, they are like statues compared to the liveliness of the farmers making hay.

Another couple, both wearing blue jeans, except the woman's jeans are cut-off shorts revealing long bare legs above high heels. The king in the painting is also wearing high heels, but the only bare skin is his face.

Another person in shorts and long bare legs, this time a man, who has to lean far over to read the sign about the ornate cross in the display case.

A young girl in shorts and sandals takes a photo of an abstract sculpture, her face glowing cell phone blue.

Three ladies stand in a row for a long time, quietly contemplating a large, extremely detailed painting of a cathedral on the opposite wall. The tall one in the middle gestures as she explains to the others what she likes about her favorite painting.

A young mother engages in the age-old practice of lulling her baby with motion. Keep walking, no time to even look at the prints on the wall. 

Taking a close up with her cell phone, this lady is as colorful as the abstract painting.

Here we see the same lady apparently inside a display case!

And here she's multiplied inside a maze of mirrors.

It's so much fun . . .

Two friends take a turn.

In the Rothko exhibit, a woman mirrors the colors of one of the artist's small, earlier paintings.

Our teacher is happy to pose in front of a painting by his favorite artist, George Murandi.

In the gift shop, a lady in a black and white chevron skirt and coral top is definitely a modern work of art.

Outside, a scene in gray and blue, as our teacher checks his smartphone for a good place to eat dinner.

A wedding party leaves after their reception in the museum.

A family gazes over the wall at the formal fountains below. Happy 250th Birthday, Saint Louis Art Museum!