Okay With Decay

Happy Halloween! I’ve been holding on to this spooky painting for months for your Haloweenie pleasure!

Zoom in and check out that creepy hand!!!

Last time we were at the Art Institute of Chicago, I was intrigued by Ivan Albright’s painting, That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (aka The Door) But I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture of it, because frankly, it creeped me out. My girls unanimously gave it a thumbs down for being depressing and eerie, and I have to agree.  On the other hand, it's a masterpiece. Look at the detail! Also, after reading a little about Ivan Albright, I really like him, which makes me like his painting too. Here are some cool things about The Door painter:

1.   I don’t know when people started calling this The Door, but I feel like Albright would be ticked off about it. He made a point to give his paintings unique titles. He said, “When I was a boy I met all of these artists and they would have titles like Boy Sitting by a Stream, The Sunshine on the Girl’s Hat, Girl Holding a Daisy, Boy Eating an Apple. I got pretty tired of them. I heard them from 1903 until 1920. I probably was the first one who decided not to have those titles.; I was going to have something that the painting said."

2.   He served in a French hospital during WWI. He helped doctors by drawing the injuries. It was noble and sad work. He continued to draw on that experience, as we can see from his future paintings.

3.   He’s a Midwesterner and a twin! (His brother was also an artist.)

4.  Albright's painting Into the World Came a Soul Called Ida was so named to protect Ida, in a way. He suspected people would think her ugly and of loose morals, and said, “… so I called her a soul. Not everybody can call a soul a prostitute.”

5.   He is from that Albright family. His daughter-in-law was Madeline Albright.

Is there any creepy art that you love? Do share! It’s Halloween after all!