Country Portraits 2 --- Day 15/197

Walk: Hood 

Distance: 4 miles

George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879), Boatman on the Missouri, 1843, oil on canvas, de Young Museum, San Francisco

Why did Ciwt choose this painting as one of her Portraits of America? Stay tuned...

There are so many wonderful Portraits of America and so many individual thoughts about which belong toward the top of the list of favorites.  Ciwt has decided to make her list from art in our museums right here in San Francisco.  Hopefully her choices speak for themselves but she might just add small comments.

Perhaps because she grew up near the fountainhead and banks of the Mighty Mississppi, her list begins with this scene of 19th century Midwest river life.  The Missouri and Mississippi were the main regional highways then, central to the economy and culture and serving as major transportation routes for goods and people.  (Ciwt herself had a great grandfather who traveled the Mississippi between his homes and enterprises in Minneapolis and Natchez).  

Who better to capture those times and 'rugged individualism' than initially self-taught frontiershman, politician, artist George Caleb Bingham, known as "The Missouri Artist?" 

At one point, to improve his art education, Bingham studied at the Dusseldorf Germany School of Painting, where he even  befriended Emanuel Leutze, the painter of Washington Crossing the Delaware. 

Country Portraits --- Days 15/191 - 196

Walks: Mostly Hood

Distance average: 3 (cold, windy, grey) miles

Ed Rusha, Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, 1963, oil on canvas

July 4 and America's 250th Anniversary are on the horizon, and the WSJ's art critic, Judith Dobrzynski recently reminded American History major and art lover, Ciwt, there are certain paintings that particularly capture our spirit.  Here is one, taken directly from her column.  Ciwt will add some of her own choices as holiday arrives.  If you're interested, stay tuned... Maybe you have some favorites of your own.

For better and worse, the automobile shaped American culture—encouraging the mobility that added vigor to the economy, creating the romance of the open road, prompting leisurely Sunday drives and offering drivers an identity marker. Americans grew car-obsessed. Ed Ruscha took ordinary photos of gas stations along Route 66, then painted "Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas" (1963), at Dartmouth's Hood Museum in Hanover, N.H. A spare image betraying Ruscha's roots in advertising, the station glows brightly in fluorescent lighting, beckoning drivers but also hinting at the ensuing blight of strip malls, shoddy motels, billboards and other adverse effects of the automobile.   ... Judith Dobrzynski, Wall Street Journal, 6/22/2026

Fathers Every Day --- Days - 15/186 - 190

 

Walks: Hood, Presidio

Distance Average: 4 Miles

Etc, Etc, Etc, Etc.........

Stumped --- Days 15/182-185

Walks: Hood

Distances: 3.5 miles average

Here Comes the Sun, Part 5/Finis --- Day 15/181

Walk: small hood

Distance: 1 teeny mile

Real Summer? No Thank You --- Days 15/171 -180

Walks: Hood

Distance: Average 3.5 miles

12:40 PM, San Francisco, CA

88 f

• 
  

• Precipitation: 0%
• Humidity: 35%
• Wind: 3 mph
• UV index: 11

88 degrees with little wind may not seem hot to many of Ciwt's readers.  But, like many other San Franciscans, Ciwt is still wearing down in  our 'summer' months.  Give us our fog and cold and wind; we're not prepared for the heat.  That comes in our glorious, sunny fall months.  

Can You Hear Me? --- Days 15/169 & 170

Walk: Opera Plaza Cinema & Hood

Distances: 4 miles

Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall in Tuner

So, Ciwt would give the thriller plot of Tuner maybe B-. Slow to get started and lots of holes when it did.

BUT all A's for moviemaking elements!

Acting:  Great to see Dustin Hoffman; it's been a while.  And to see him with the soon to be very important young star he once was: Leo Woodall.  Quietly riveting.  The third cast member, Havana Rose Liu was (also quietly) superb.

Sound:  Tuner isn't a quiet movie.  Well, sometimes it is.  In fact it makes the most original use of sound Ciwt has ever encountered in a movie.

Cinematography:  Again, wholly original.  Amazing use of color and perspective.

Overall, Ciwt was truly delighted to see the second of well made, grown up, serious movies in a row.*  Fingers crossed for more 

*See previous CIWT

Is It Raining? --- Days 15/167 & 168

Walk: Apple Cinema

Distance: 4 miles

Can you imagine Brendan Fraser as Ike?  Ciwt couldn't the entire time she sat watching him play that role in Pressure. But that's Ciwt.  Most audience members in reviews thought Fraser was outstanding as Ike. And probably they are younger than Ciwt who actually remembers Ike as both General then President. 

She also couldn't imagine being so riveted by a humorless, personality less, autocratic English military officer.  But she hung on every word and movement of Jack Scott playing just that type of man. To her, Scott and the 'pressure' of the tight and true D Day decision making plot pulled the movie together and made for informative, involving, tense watching.

Ciwt would recommend going. But she was also an American History major and has been a buff ever since. Many reviewers thought Pressure might be boring for viewers who don't enjoy history.

So, dear readers, the choice is up to you.  Pressure indeed.