Creative Minds and Talented Hands

Review of Beauty and Bounty @ Seattle Art Museum by Bethany B.

Many different art exhibits travel through Seattle Art Museum. Some pieces take creativity of thought to invent and discover. A modern artist may only be able to draw a stick figure, but their brain has no boundaries or limits, and they can invent masterpieces. In the case of Beauty and Bounty, these artists have both creative minds and intricate talented hands. The pieces you see have the most stunning display and tiniest details.

Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast, Albert Bierstadt, 1870

These American Artists showcase pieces over the Pacific Northwest, like Mount Rainer and the Puget Sound. They also have America’s masterpieces, like Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls and so much more. Even if art museums aren’t your normal hangout, these works are such breathtaking portrayals of nature that you can almost hear the birds chirping and the water laughing. The exhibit is full of autumn trees, sunsets, and scenery that each artist has skillfully imagined. If you lean close to the paintings, you’ll find millions of intricate details on the rocks, trees and people. This art may not challenge your mind to think as deeply as contemporary pieces do, but the paintings will take your breath away nevertheless.

The photography that is also part of the exhibit is extraordinary as well. Each piece represents a different subject or emotion, and takes the simplicity of the scene, and challenges it. My personal favorite part of the photography is a room that holds around twenty frames, each having two pictures enclosed, that are exact copies of each other. There are stereo glasses in a bin, and if you use them to look at the picture, the photo becomes 3-D. They’re scenes of nature similar to the paintings, and are kind of fantastic. It’s true, minions or horcruxes won’t jump out at you like in Despicable Me or Harry Potter, but the work in the photograph is incredible, especially considering the time.

Beauty and Bounty is a truly fantastic exhibit at Seattle Art Museum, possessing a cabaret of American history and beauty. You will experience the masters of the 19th and 20th centuries, majestic nature, and countless other galleries if you get bored. Does this get any better?

Beauty and Bounty
Through September 11
Seattle Art Museum