Have you wondered about the monumental floral sculpture that went up in April on the 2700 block of Kirby Drive in Houston? The 38-feet high sculpture is “Tree & Three Flowers” by the legendary James Surls. The artwork, like examples that can be found on Park Avenue in Manhattan or Sunset Boulevard in LA, is bronze and stainless-steel and was commissioned by the Upper Kirby District. The $850,000 price tag, which includes the cost of installation, was paid for partially by funds raised by UK and by the City of Houston’s Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone fund. And this public work is not tucked quietly in a park, rather it is centered smack dab in a narrow boulevard for all to see. ...
Django Reinhardt from Lake Charles is an 11 year old Jack Russell Terrier. He’s a real hell raiser too. He likes to play in the back yard, bark at squirrels, and travel with his person Terry Donovan. Here his picture is snapped on his favorite patio chair while surveying his kingdom. And he does live a king’s life… in a way he is lawless. This one time while visiting me he was running amuck, up and down the streets and through yards. As his mom and I settled in with a glass of wine we heard a ruckus beneath the house. When we came out, Django’s bottom emerged from beneath the house and, after a bit more drama, pulled out ...
It is not an easy feat to eyeball an original Rembrandt. (Recommended reading: Troysart “And then to Rembrandt’s House” September 18, 2014.) Oil paintings by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) are so rare that only the best museums count one amongst the permanent collection. For decades (since 1977) the only Rembrandt painting that I know of on public display in Texas was housed at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. “Bust of a Young Jew” 1663, oil on canvas, is considered a character study rather than a portrait commissioned by an individual. The artist captures the sitter in a more relaxed and painterly manner with dramatic facial illumination. A little more than a decade ago the Museum of Fine ...
I was so grateful to make it back to my hotel suite in Amsterdam after the journey to the Otterlo. (Recommended background: TroysArt “That trip to the Kroller-Muller Museum”, September 17, 2014.) I crawled into bed and thought I was dying. Thankfully my impending death was not holding travelling companion Michael Anderson (aka Manderson) back from exploring the nightlife for which Amsterdam is famous. The next morning Manderson was packing a bag. “I’m headed to The Hague,” he announced with boundless enthusiasm. “Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is at Mauritshuis. Sure you don’t want to go?” I begged to die in peace and he was on his way. Time passed, whether days or hours—I didn’t know. I pulled myself to ...
A few years back while touring the Netherlands with fellow artist Michael Anderson (aka Manderson) he suggested that we visit the Kroller-Muller Museum. I had never heard of it, but I’ve never turned down a museum. The Kroller-Muller is located near Otterlo in the middle of the National Park de Hoge Veluwe, a 5,500 hectare area created in the last Ice Age with alternating woodlands, prairie, and sand dunes. Crazy rich Helene Kroller-Muller was one of the first major collectors to recognize Vincent van Gogh’s genius. In 1909 her husband Anton Kroller created the park and in 1935 she donated her whole collection to the country, thus establishing a museum in her name as the park’s centerpiece. This collection is ...
Well, let’s just get her out of the way, shall we? It’s the official TroysArt mascot, Delta Dawn! Delta Dawn is an English Springer Spaniel who is 1 1/2 years old. Her person is yours truly, Troy Broussard. Dog on Mondays is an exciting new weekly feature on TroysArt which began last week. If you would like your pampered pooch’s pic plastered on a page, use the contact tab and send me a message; I will instruct you where to send your photo. Artistic and funny pictures are especially wanted. And for those participants selected, there will be a special surprise in the near future… you could win an original Troy Broussard pet portrait!
Twenty-two years ago I found myself spellbound in front of St. Louis Cathedral as I gazed upon the most expressive, colorful, powerful, and emotional artwork I’ve ever experienced. It was something I’d never seen before. Atypical of work found in Jackson Square, I thought that this body of work was as raw and guttural as Vincent van Gogh’s must have looked in its day. I stood there for a while but the artist was nowhere in sight. I camped there. After twenty minutes an energetic guy, my age, in paint covered clothes came sprinting up. His name was David Baum. I spent an hour with him; we talked about art, especially Vincent van Gogh. We had so much in common, it was as if I was ...
One of the most intriguing houses in Texas is, until recently, one of the most endangered. The last of Galveston’s privately owned Gilded Age homes, the League-Kempner Mansion is in danger of loss without its determined new savior. At 1710 Broadway, the home was built by Galveston aristocracy John Charles League and Nellie Ball in 1893. It represents the last great house of the Broadway Castle District designed by Nicholas Clayton, architect of the Bishop’s Palace. Following League’s death in 1916, matriarch of the Kempner family Eliza Seinsheimer Kempner acquired the home. Eliza employed Houston architect to the oil barons Birdsall Briscoe to make additions in 1920. Upon Eliza’s death in 1947 the house passed to her son Isaac Kempner, ...
