John Constable, Cloud Study , 1822
Oil on paper laid on panel,
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
It is an example of an unedifying clich√© to be asked what single art object one would choose to save from a burning museum, but if I saw smoke wisping from Yale’s British Art Center, I must confess that I would snatch this small John Constable oil and as many of the others like it presently hanging there as I could tuck underneath my arm.
Paul Mellon often purchased in bulk, but these works from 1820 through 1822 were the result of separate acquisitions from varied sources, a clear sign of his particular passion. Each of them is a conviction of clouds, for which the term “study” is evasive and inadequate. In other of the Center’s Constable paintings too large to save from the flames, such as Hadleigh Castle, certainly, but even more Malvern Hall, Warwickshire, the landscapes are only an excuse to paint the air.
(An epilogue for Object Lesson #5: What was a temporary installation of a Jonathan Waters sculpture at Albertus Magnus has now been made permanent by the College’s purchase of the work. No deadline for seeing it any longer, though you can now extend the tour of his projects to several other sites in Stony Creek, Ivoryton and — with a folded metal piece of lurching confidence — the Sculpture Mile in Madison).
Object Lesson #13
Object Lesson #12
Object Lesson #11
Object Lesson #10
Object Lesson #9
Object Lesson #8
Object Lesson #7
Object Lessons #5 & #6
Object Lesson #4
Object Lesson #3
Object Lesson#2
Object Lesson #1
Ahhh. True Cloud Computing. I have always loved this painting and never wanted to analyze why. I think it is just succulent.