In January I visited the Denver Art Museum. I consider this museum to be exceptional in many ways: the permanent collections are wonderful, the temporary exhibits are always thought provoking, and the architecture always blows me away.
First, I want to comment on the architecture of the museum. The Hamilton building is reminiscent of the Rocky Mountains, with its sharp lines, peak-like angles, and dramatic inclines. The building doesn't seem to have any right angles which makes it eye-catching from a distance and a bit disorienting when you are inside of the building. The building is paneled in titanium, so it reflects the abundant Colorado sunshine. The North Building is completely different and thus offers a surprising juxtaposition. The North Building is castle-like and stands upright, as opposed to the Hamilton building which creates angles that are not normally seen in architecture. The North Building is a bit ominous, and the window-like rectangles make me imagine prisoners looking out over Denver.
My favorite permanent collection is the collection of Western American art. I have always loved landscapes and landscapes are one of the primary subjects of painters who captured the West. I love the geometry of the mesas because they seem so out of place, jutting straight out and up from otherwise flat land. Western art has always been one of my favorite genres because of the beautiful colors used to depict the land. Here, artists can use a variety of purples, blues, and greens that are not often seen in other landscapes. I especially like the way hills are painted because the shades of color deepen as the hills reach farther into the distance. I think that this method for achieving depth is genius and really captures the expansive beauty of open landscape. I think this is my favorite permanent collection because I love Colorado so much. I grew up in a place that lacks this type of natural beauty, but have experienced the awesomeness of Colorado every summer in Snowmass. Thus, these paintings of the great American West really speak to why I am here and why I love Colorado, so they spark some deep feelings for me.
The photography section of the Denver Art Museum was especially interesting to me during my visit because of the photography class I am enrolled in. I must preface this by giving some personal background. My father was a free-lance photographer while I was young and continued to be interested in photography after changing his career path. He took tons of pictures of my family and I am interested to see them now that I have a deeper understanding of his craft. He always took us to go see photography exhibits in Houston and I always found them to be quite boring. I didn't understand why pictures of ordinary things were framed and displayed on the walls of various galleries. Now that I understand the care that is taken in developing film and creating prints I have a deeper appreciation of photography. When looking at the photographs in the Denver Art Museum I was able to understand how the various photographers manipulated lighting, shutter speed, and development processes to create unique and interesting images. I particularly enjoyed looking at a room of black and white photographs because I was able to appreciate contrast. When looking at black and white photographs I now understand that the photographer carefully constructed the final product, making individual choices that impact contrast or lack thereof. I find these choices regarding contrast to be quite interesting because it provides a window into the mind of the artist. The final product portrays what the artist found interesting and how they thought the image was best presented, therefore leaving room for the audience to interpret why these choices were made and why this moment in time is meaningful.
In total, my experience at the Denver Art Museum was very interesting and entertaining. With my new respect for photography I was able to appreciate the medium more fully. I'm looking forward to my next visit.
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