Allentown Art Museum (10/2/2020)

Friday, October 2, 2020 (continued)

We were ready when the Allentown Art Museum opened at 11:00, with our advance reservation. One other young man was scheduled in the same time slot.

Allentown Art Museum (1901, as First Presbyterian Church,
1975 expansion by Edgar Tafel, 2010-2011
renovation by Venturi Scott Brown)

The Allentown Art Gallery was first organized in 1934 by Walter Emerson Baum, a Pennsylvania Impressionist painter. A gift of Renaissance and Baroque paintings from Samuel H Kress led to the purchase of the former church building as a permanent museum.

Wall Drawing #793A (designed by Sol LeWitt, executed by
a LeWitt studio draftsperson and three local artists)

Sol LeWitt developed conceptual art wall drawings to be temporary, which can be installed many times, yet be unique depending on the architectural space, and they are executed by others than himself.

Spacewhip Bench (2006, by Jeffrey Greene)

Portrait of Henrica Ploos van Amstel (1625,
by Paulus Moreelse) of the Kress Collection

View of Piazza San Marco, Venice (c 1740-1745,
by Canaletto) of the Kress Collection

Detail of Game Stall or Larder with Servant, Cook, Spaniel
and Pups (c 1635, by studio of Franz Snyders)
of the Kress Collection (KSS)

Portrait of George, Duke of Saxony (1519,
by Lucas Cranach) depicts a man opposed
to Martin Luther, a close associate of Cranach

Saint Jerome in the Wilderness (1515,
by Lorenzo Lotto) of the Kress Collection

Library from the Francis W Little House (1912-1915, by
Frank Lloyd Wright in Wayzata, MN)

Presentation Vase with Cover (c 1915,
by Albert A Southwick of Tiffany & Company)
was a gift to Charles Schwab, president of
Bethlehem Steel, on his 60th birthday

Seven-light Lily Lamp (c 1902, by
Emarel Freshel of Tiffany & Company)

Swimming Hole (c 1912, by Raphael L "Tod" Lindenmuth,
Allentown's best known artist)

Hiding the Liberty Bell in Allentown, Pennsylvania (1938,
by Gifford Reynolds Beal as a study for a WPA mural in the
Allentown Post Office) depicts the event during the
American Revolution when the Liberty Bell
was hidden in the basement of Zion's Reformed Church

Engineer's Dream (c 1945, by Gregorio Prestopino)

Lehighton Mural (1946, by Franz Kline) was rescued from
American Legion Post 314 in Lehighton, PA when the
plaster wall behind it began to crumble)

Winter Afternoon (undated, by Walter Emerson Baum,
co-founder of the Allentown Art Museum)

A friendly guard at the Allentown Museum gave us quite a bit of information about pieces in the museum!

Wagon Wheel Chair (1932, by Wharton Esherick)

Mr Darlington's Still Life (1890, by George Cope,
a Quaker known for his trompe l'oeil paintings)

Portrait of Thomas Wyld (1766, by Benjamin West)

Portrait of Ann Penn Allen (c 1795, by
Gilbert Stuart) depicts the granddaughter
of William Allen, the founder of Allentown

A few more sights in Allentown, PA.

Old Lehigh County Court House (1814-1819,
by Eber Culver and Gustav A Ashbach)

Trout Hall (1770, as the summer estate of James Allen,
son of Allentown's founder) is Allentown's oldest home

We noticed several old drinking fountains in Allentown (KSS)

Lehigh Valley Heritage Center (2005, by JMT Architecture)

Allentown City Hall (1962-1964, by Everett Associates 
in Modernism style)

We noticed that the trash receptacles were
Big Belly solar-powered trash compactors and
most were accompanied by a recycling receptacle

Next: Bethlehem, PA III.