A New Way to Look at Art

 

There is a new feature in the New York Times that gives the reader a 10 minute challenge to look at a work of art for 10 minutes to see if you see things you didn't see at first and to get an idea of the mood of the piece.  I tried it with the painting they presented in the paper and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.  Later that same day, I met a friend at the Western Spirit Museum of the West in Scottsdale so I decided to use a similar practice to look at a piece of art in a new exhibit at the museum.  

This painting is called "Pride of the Nez Perce" and it was painted by John Clymer. 

I don't think I actually studied it for a whole 10 minutes after all, I was in a busy museum, however I did look at for a long time.  

The painting is about the Nez Perce Tribe and their expertise in breeding the much admired appaloosa horses.

I looked at all of the details of the painting like this closer look at this fellow surrounded by horses and wearing colorful clothing.

To the far right of the painting I saw this dog watching what is going on and then another dog in the shadows.  There is also a woman working on something in the teepee.

To the far left of the painting I see a group of people all going about their daily chores.  There is a child playing, a woman carrying a basket on her back and even a little papoose on her mother's back.

In the middle of the painting is a group of Native Americans who I believe are admiring the horses with a thought to buy one or two. I think some horse trading is going to happen.

I enjoyed this challenge very much. I have always loved art and this is going to change the way I look at artistic pieces.  I may end up spending even more time in museums that I do now.