Ships' Art Works

[Essiesmom]

5 hours ago, billbunger said:

Art appreciation is definitely in the “Eyes of the Beholder”, a masterpiece to some gaudy bathroom decorations to others.

In that case, I think you would not like much of the Art Deco masterpieces that remain on the Queen Mary hotel in Long Beach

[billbunger]

5 hours ago, ShipsAreTheBest said:

Here’s what these pieces looked like as installed in the Main Deck/A Deck foyer of the Nieuw Amsterdam:

 

I stand by my original statement. 

[billbunger]

4 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

In that case, I think you would not like much of the Art Deco masterpieces that remain on the Queen Mary hotel in Long Beach

I did not say I liked or disliked this style of art, for whatever reason you apparently thought I disliked it. Once again I will reiterate,  “Masterpieces” are in the eye of the beholder.

Edited July 21, 2020 by billbunger

[rkacruiser]

10 hours ago, bcummin said:

Thank you, cruisemom42, for making me feel better.  But I think that everyone is guessing about the fate of the Amsterdam's art works at this point.  It is hard to know what should remain on a ship and what should be treasured by Holland America.

 

Attached is the 1938 masterpiece.  I vaguely remember that It had left Holland America, but someone recognized it.  It was purchased and mounted by the entrance to the Crow's Nest.

Barbara

 

 

Just my opinion, but if there is just one piece of art that ought to be salvaged from the current HAL ships, this is the one.  It's the connection, although admittedly a fragile one, between what Holland America Line was when the S. S. Nieuw Amsterdam began her service and the Holland America Line of the 21st Century which none of us know what that will be like.  If indeed, it still exists.

[rkacruiser]

The Stephen Card paintings ought to be preserved as well.  If corporate does not choose to do so, (this will be considered a rather crass post by many I know), there are ocean liner memorabilia dealers and collectors who would be delighted to add these paintings to their collections and sales catalogs.  

[avalon1025]

2 hours ago, billbunger said:

I stand by my original statement. 

Maybe an illuminated beer sign is more your taste?

[bcummin]

Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder.

Barbara

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, billbunger said:

I did not say I liked or disliked this style of art, for whatever reason you apparently thought I disliked it. Once again I will reiterate,  “Masterpieces” are in the eye of the beholder.

I could not agree more. DW is an art teacher and I have learned to appreciate much more art than I ever expected. But there are limits. One of the ports on our very first cruise was Malta. She said there was a church with a museum we had to go to because it had the Caraveggio  painting The Beheading of St. John. I had nightmares for a long time after seeing that.

[bcummin]

Captain Albert added his feelings on this subject yesterday in his blog's last comment:

https://www.captainalbert.com/24-march-10-april-2020-panama-to-fort-lauderdale/#comments

 

Barbara

 

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by bcummin

[billbunger]

On 7/20/2020 at 10:31 PM, avalon1025 said:

Maybe an illuminated beer sign is more your taste?

Actually in my travels I have seen a good number of “beer signs” both electric (think neon) and  unlighted that could be considered Art Deco.

[rkacruiser]

On 7/21/2020 at 9:05 PM, bcummin said:

Captain Albert added his feelings on this subject yesterday in his blog's last comment:

https://www.captainalbert.com/24-march-10-april-2020-panama-to-fort-lauderdale/#comments

 

Barbara

 

 

 

I was unaware of this last post.  Thanks for bringing it to our attention.  For me, it's unsatisfying.

 

Captain Albert has a story to be told just as Captain Jonathan does as well about what has transpired in 2020.  Both should write a book.  

[DFD1]

33 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I was unaware of this last post.  Thanks for bringing it to our attention.  For me, it's unsatisfying.

 

Captain Albert has a story to be told just as Captain Jonathan does as well about what has transpired in 2020.  Both should write a book.  

 

I expect they will. Could be one of the reasons we have not heard from them since they left their ships.

[cruisemom42]

On 7/21/2020 at 8:49 AM, ontheweb said:

One of the ports on our very first cruise was Malta. She said there was a church with a museum we had to go to because it had the Caraveggio  painting The Beheading of St. John. I had nightmares for a long time after seeing that.

 

Oh I love that painting. I didn't get to see it on my first two visits to Malta because I was on a cruise and we stopped there on a Sunday, when the co-Cathedral is closed except for those attending church services. 

 

Caravaggio was a scoundrel but his paintings were sublime. I was supposed to visit an exhibit in Rome later this year featuring his works. 

[CJcruzer]

11 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Caravaggio was a scoundrel but his paintings were sublime. I was supposed to visit an exhibit in Rome later this year featuring his works. 

 

I am sure you have already visited, but the Borghese Gallery in Rome has wonderful Caravaggio paintings.   🙂

[cruisemom42]

52 minutes ago, CJcruzer said:

 

I am sure you have already visited, but the Borghese Gallery in Rome has wonderful Caravaggio paintings.   🙂

 

Yes -- I've been to the Borghese twice -- first time I was overwhelmed by the paintings; second time I spent more time with the sculpture.  I think it may be about time for a third visit....

[Storylady]

On 7/19/2020 at 12:33 PM, catl331 said:

I know I've seen pieces from the S-class Statendam and Ryndam that were moved to other ships.  I would think that the Card paintings of other HAL ships would not be desirable on the sold ships and would be removed, but ones of the same ship might stay.  (That is, a painting of the Amsterdam might stay on that ship under its new name, but a painting of Rotterdam would be removed.)  I recall on the Prinsendam there was a ship model outside the Crow's Nest with the former owner's name and colors. Can't remember what that was though!

All the artwork except the Stephen Card paintings stayed on the Prinsendam. That included the ship models. Phoenix Reisen wanted to keep the models that were temporarily displayed for the 2019 GV, but they weren’t on the ship at the time it was sold so Rene was able to remove them.  Hotel Manager Rene also packed up all HAL logo items such as the deck chairs.
 

We thought some of the containers removed from the Amsterdam were some logo items such as the deck chairs. But Captain Mercer said everything stayed with the ship. It would be sad if the Stephen Card paintings were not removed! But it doesn’t look hopeful.

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Yes -- I've been to the Borghese twice -- first time I was overwhelmed by the paintings; second time I spent more time with the sculpture.  I think it may be about time for a third visit....

 

I have never visited the Borghese, but your feeling of being overwhelmed was what I experienced when I first visited the Vatican Museum.  I specifically designed my second visit for a more leisurely and thorough attempt to "absorb" what I was seeing.  Much better appreciated by me the second time around.  But, another visit really would be worthwhile.  

 

I know its not possible, but I wish I could be left alone in the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel for 30 minutes each.  So much art, so much history to be absorbed.  

[bcummin]

 YXU AC*SE said:

One may hope  ...      Scott. 

source: https://gohal.com/app/uploads/2020/07/Trade-FAQ__7_21_20-Final.docx

 

 

This is the latest that I have seen on another thread about the Ships' Art Works:  "Except for a few select pieces, branded items and key ship memorabilia, the art will be sold with the ships."

Barbara 

[bobpatj]

Thanks, Barbara.

[grsnovi]

I tend to enjoy art in general. It's supposed to be a treat. It can simply be beautiful or it can inspire you to think. I've enjoyed the art on the HAL ships over the years. Here is one that I had to photograph on my last visit (since I didn't get one the first time out). It appears to be a scene out of a doll house however the apple on the miniature table is full size. The full size apple has a miniature sword stuck in the apple and there is a miniature apple wedge on a plate. What caught my eye was that the apple skin looks real. Perhaps it is a real apple that has somehow been preserved? I suspect it has simply been painted to appear real. In any case, I love it.

[frankc98376]

I haven't been on one of the new ships but after seeing a lot of pictures it appears the art has gone in a new direction.

 

If CCL is selling the art with the ships likely they want to move to a more modern art approach from the classic/antique style. I could see that on the VIsta and Signature ships however was more of a blend of both (the very odd benches on Oosterdam come to mind).

 

My guess is that they want to leave the traditional "ocean liner" feel to Cunard.

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, grsnovi said:

I tend to enjoy art in general. It's supposed to be a treat. It can simply be beautiful or it can inspire you to think. I've enjoyed the art on the HAL ships over the years. Here is one that I had to photograph on my last visit (since I didn't get one the first time out). It appears to be a scene out of a doll house however the apple on the miniature table is full size. The full size apple has a miniature sword stuck in the apple and there is a miniature apple wedge on a plate. What caught my eye was that the apple skin looks real. Perhaps it is a real apple that has somehow been preserved? I suspect it has simply been painted to appear real. In any case, I love it.

 

On which ship did you see this?

[rkacruiser]

7 minutes ago, frankc98376 said:

I haven't been on one of the new ships but after seeing a lot of pictures it appears the art has gone in a new direction.

 

Yes, it has.  On the Nieuw Statendam, none of the art had plaques with a title or a description of what the artist intended.  My opinion:  some of the art was quite interesting and innovative, but what was the message that the artist was trying to covey?  Some of the art was simply weird and I did not care for it.  (Maybe a title or some type of description would have helped me understand what I was seeing.)

[PromenadeDeckWriter]

Found this old post, but cannot respond to that as it has been archived, so this is my next option!

 

Trying to order the photos in the right order, but alas the photos are not showing up. I'm trying to remember the order of the paintings as shown on (the front?) the stairwell of the Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

Hopefully someone can match the right photo to the missing ones in the link: Nieuw Amsterdam paintings by Captain Card.

 

I do have two snapshots I took, but unfortunately the others didn't turn out well. (I'm updating my journal and wanted accuracy in the details, hence the request, as I'm writing a fiction book based on it). 

[shipgeeks]

I hope you will post information about your book!