While I was attending the watercolor workshops this past week in the North Carolina mountains, I wanted to go and see the Moses Cone mansion in Blowing Rock. I'd read about it before, but had never visited it until this past week.
Moses Cone and his brother were very wealthy, and they made their fortune during the era when textiles were important to North Carolina's economy. The brothers were very smart, because they recognized the importance of proximity of their raw materials (the local cotton plants) to their final product, (the textiles they manufactured.) Moses Cone became known as the "Denim King." Their mansion is still there in Blowing Rock (see below) but is now a Craft Center for artists' works from six neighboring states. Lots of beautiful pottery, jewelry, woven fabrics, quilts, glass work, etc are for sale in this building.
Two of Moses Cone's youngest sisters, Claribel and Etta, were fortunate enough to be able to travel, and they befriended Gertrude Stein and her coterie of ex-patriot friends in Paris. The sisters met a young man named Pablo Picasso and liked his art work. It happened that Pablo was enamored of cartoon comic strips, and they traded some of these cut-out comic strips for some of his art work! Over time, they amassed a huge collection of paintings by the likes of Cezanne, Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Gaugin, and they ultimately donated a fortune in their art to the Baltimore museum of art.
It's a tribute to their sense of taste that they gravitated towards these artists before they were known as "artists." They just liked what they saw and wanted to enjoy it! (Below is the view over the hillside from the Cone mansion porch.)
The grounds around the mansion are now a park with walking trails. We saw people riding horses along the hills as well. It's a beautiful spot--if you ever visit the area, you should go see it for yourself. It's a lovely place!
"Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in." (-Amy Lowell)Tomorrow is my older sister, Mary Kate's birthday--Happy Birthday, MK!!
xo
sue
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17 comments:
What a lovely serene place to visit Sue. You do visit some of the most fun things.
Wonderful post chere Sue...!
O love the quote from Twyla, she is a fave of mine.
Your watercolor of the corks is really stunning...love the use of multiple colorations in the subject and in the shadows as well.
Your post also gets me reved up as I am off on a road trip very early tomorrow to seek the tastes of the Diners and Dives of Illinois.
Bisous...
What a view! Will definitely have to add this to the itinerary the next time we head to Boone! Thanks for sharing.
A beautiful place to visit and view - thanks so much for giving us a sneak peek and some historical info, too. Someday I'll take a workshop at Cheap Joe's and be able to tour around, too - I hope.
Sue, You take us to such beautiful places I never have even heard of much less would see. Thank you for sharing it all. This place is just absolutly lovely and yes serene. I loved hearing about the History of the Collections. What a wonderful few days you had. Very inspiring to see.
PS. I love the painting too. :)
Did you do that there?
Holy cow! How did I miss this living in NC? Fantastic! Adore the cork watercolor.
Fabulous place, thanks for the history!
Sue,
What an interesting posting (and the art, as always, is beautiful). I think a side trip is in order the next time I visit my sister in Charlotte. It is interesting how we travel the world and are sometimes ignorant of the beautiful things closer to home. I just wrote on my blog about such a place in Michigan - a town called Idlewild - with a fascinating history and yet most people in Michigan have never heard of it.
Sue, those corks are simply out of this world, like a collection of indivual cork portraits, visually stunning! Where did you find such variety?
The Hydrangea in the vase picture from your garden is also exquisite!
The mansion, well, take me there, and I shall never want to leave again. ;-)
Great workshop posts, Sue. Your tea-set painting is just beautiful. Wonderful reflections.
I also had the same thing in my workshop with my largest sheet of paper being only 10" X14" and everyone else had huge shoots of paper. My paintings were dwarfed at the critiques.
I see you are coming to Maine for a workshop. Hope it stops raining. I'm sure you will be busy, but if you have a chance and you are anywhere near Portland, give me a call. I would love to meet for a drinks, eats, sketching or all three.
Jennifer
I love the little watercolour at the top of your post. What a lovely place to visit and all full of crafts too. Thank you for the tour.
What an interesting museum! Thank-you for sharing the journey, this week and always as you explore art. [Sometimes without leaving home,LOL!]
Thank you so much, everyone! I really enjoyed our trip to the mountains. This place was great. Hope you get to see it one day as well.
I LOVE the Moses Cone house, too, though it's probably been about ten years since I was there. I, like you, apparently, was there on a perfect June day. Thanks for reminding me of this gorgeous place!
Wonderful...
Thanks for the lovely photos. It is a nice reminder, for those of us who travel often, to look at and appreciate the beauty close to home.
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