July 4, 2026 --- Day 15/204

Walk: Presidio

Distance: 3.5 miles

Happy Anniversary, Americans, wherever you are!

And our animals too!

And our animals too!

Country Portraits 5 --- Days 15/202 & 203

Walks: Hood and Downtown

Distances: 4.5 average

Frederick Remington (1861-1909), Bronco Buster, 1895, bronze, de Young Museum, San Francisco

So, Where's the Cute? --- Days 15/200 & 201

Walks: AMC Kabuki, Hood

Distances: 4.5 miles average

So Ciwt went to Toy Story 5 daycamp recently.  The movie was pretty good even though Ciwt, not having kids, didn't know several generations of the starring toys.  

It was the generation of AI, CGI, VR, AR - whatever they are - that didn't work for her.  Toy Story 5 was preceded by 1/2 hour of upcoming animated movie previews.  And they all looked exactly the same.  Exact same fully drenched colors, same fleshy, rounded characters, same skies, clouds, insects, etc.  Somehow the charm of animated characters has disappeared.  And, without the old cuteness and artistic wonder factor, contemporay animated movies come across almost as plain old grown up movies - only with stuffed and talking animals, toys, cars, etc. in the main roles.

Country Portraits 4 --- Day 15/199

Walk: Asian Art Museum

Distance: 6 miles

Grant Wood (1891-1942), Dinner for Treshers, 1934, oil on board, de Young Museum, San Francisco 

 

America was a nation of small farmers (and shop keepers) and Ciwt loves how this painting captures some of them having their big meal in the middle of the day.  The work is tricky to present because it is long, narrow, and meticulously (one could almost say obsessively) detailed.  In the enlargement you can (barely) see the 'farmer's tan' - tan on their lower faces and near white above where their caps have covered their foreheads during long hours in the sun.  Hopefully you might get to our de Young Museum to see all the other details that are so telling about their routines and relationships.

Her midwest family weren't farmers, but there were many farms nearby and visible from the the highway.  Likewise her Connecticut home and schools weren't in farm country, but the tobacco tobacco fields and sheds covered much of the ground near the airport.  Interesting the things we absorb without realizing it in our childhoods.

Country Portraits 3 --- Day 15/198

Walk: SF Golf Club Presidio

Distance: 3.5 miles

Gustav Grunwalde (German American, 1805-1878), Niagra Falls diptych, 1832, oil on canvas, de Young Museum San Francisco

detail

Ciwt was only at Niagra Falls once - in her high school years - but she still carries vivid memories of the deafening sound and powerful roaring energy the tiny visitors on the overhanging rock are experiencing.  The only thing missing from the painting is the freezing cold, drenching spray.  She was actually frightened and absolutely can't imagine wanting to go over it in a barrel - which numerous 19th daredevils did (with varying success)

Possibly before it was popular in America, Niagra Falls was the premiere travel destination of Europeans. After sailing over, they could continue to the Falls on the newly completed Erie Canal (1825).  

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.........