Hallelujah!

My third and final blog post concerning our recent visit to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, will focus primarily on their tremendous Folk Art collection.  But before I get to that, I want to highlight two other pieces from their permanent collection that literally took my breath away.

The first piece is this white marble sculpture of Rebekah (Isaac's wife from the Book of Genesis) titled: The Veiled Rebekah.  It’s gorgeous!  How anyone can carve a rock to look like a woman wearing a sheer veil is beyond me.  Phenomenal. 

The Veiled Rebekah by Giovanni Maria Benzoni

The second piece (also a sculpture) is a stainless steel, concave dish titled: Untitled, who’s surface is patterned with fractured triangular reliefs.  I loved walking past the dish and watching the reflection of the hardwood floor trickle over the surface of the metal.  It was kind of mesmerizing! 

Untitled by Anish Kapoor

Admittedly, I kind of hurried through the European and American Art collections so I could get up to the Folk Art collection and begin drooling on myself.  The High strongly supports folk and self-taught artists from the South and it’s the only general museum in North America which has a full-time curator dedicated to folk and self-taught art.  At nearly 800 pieces, it’s easy to see why!

My favorite piece was a carved wooden church door painted by Herbert Singleton to depict the events of a New Orleans jazz funeral.  Complete with mourners, gravediggers, angels and Jesus greeting the soul of the departed in his afterlife, as well as musicians, buck jumpers and line dancers, the celebration of life (as carried-out by the Cajun culture of New Orleanians) is clearly illustrated.

Hallelujah Door by Herbert Singleton

See more images after the jump!

Here's a couple more images from the Folk Art collection.

Church Revival by Carlton Garrett

George Washington by Howard Finster

Untitled (Bust of Shakespeare) by Howard Finster

I would have posted more photos, but of course, they’re too blurry!