After exercising and eating breakfast in the room, we headed to the Detroit Institute of Art. This was one of my favorite art museums ever (behind the Prado in Madrid, Spain). The collection was diverse. They had some big artists' work on display. And the building matched the work on display. The work was organized in different themes and with each theme came different flooring, walls, doorways, features, etc. to match the theme. It really added to the experience.
My husband enjoyed British artist John Hoppner and his many works of art on display.
The Diego Rivera mural was amazing. He lived in Detroit for a year from April of 1932 to March of 1933. Diego and his wife, Frida Kahlo lived in the Park Shelton Hotel near the museum. He used the Rouge Plan as his inspiration. It is a 27 panel and the manor in which it was painted (tempura paint on wet plaster) required that a panel be completed in one sitting. If they didn't finish or the paint dried out, they would have to start all over on that panel. This is the same technique used in Italy in places such as the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo so that the paint becomes a part of the wall and thus, stands up to time.
The subject matter of the painting is the auto industry and a political statement. It shows the divide between employer and employee and documents the day in the life of a factory worker. There is an image of a boss sitting at a desk in front of what looks like a giant ear. One of the art museum staff explained that workers were paid by the day and received their pay at the end of each day. This made it easy to let an employee go if they complained or for any other reason. There were so many willing to take their place. There are so many images and details that you can easily get lost in. Read more about it here.
I also really enjoyed three paintings that were inspired by poetry. I will have to spend some time with the poems. The first painting is by Joshua Reynolds titled The Cottages inspired by James Thomposn's poem The Seasons. The second was a painting by William Maw Egley titled Talking Oak inspired by a poem of the same name by Alred Lord Tennyson. And the third was a painting by Samuel Richards titled Evangeline Discovering her Affianced in the Hospital which depicts a scene in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie.
Paintings by some of the most famous artists include:
- Vincent van Gogh
- The Digger
- Portrait of Postman Roulin
- Still Life with Carnations
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- Graziella
- Clearing the Woods
- The Spanish Guitarist
- Pablo Picasso
- Sylvette
- Fruit, Carafe, and Glass
After a morning at the art museum, we planned to have lunch at a middle eastern restaurant half-way between the art museum and the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant but found that it was closed. So since we weren't all that hungry we just continued on as the snow was swirling around our feet and the wind blew.
I'm going to pass the computer over to my husband to tell you about the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant where we had a really neat tour about the Model T.
Today (1/17/16) we went to the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit. http://www.fordpiquetteavenueplant.org/
The plant/museum is usually closed this time of the year but was open because of the NAIAS (North American International Auto Show). We stood in the rooms where the Model T was designed and built by hand. They had preserved Henry Ford’s office, but it was said that he almost never was at his desk as he was out doing things. The only known picture of him in his office was on display. Right outside his office was a Model T, serial number 220, the oldest model known to exist (sorry about the poor pic, it was a cell phone quick shot as we forgot to bring the camera, the website shows pics inside the plant).
All Model Ts at this plant were built by hand and it took 12 hours to build one car. There were several stations and workers would bring the parts to assemble the car at each station. It was said that the plant once employed about 1,600 workers. Model Ts cost $850 when produced at this plant. Henry Ford wanted everyone to be able to afford his car and was struggling to keep up with demand so Ford built a plant in Highland Park in 1913 where Ford invented the automotive assembly line which ultimately cut the production time for a vehicle from 12 hours to 12 minutes! The lowest price the Model T sold for in the 1920s was $260 per vehicle which was only a couple months wages for most workers. You’ll note that the #220 Model T was Red, when the assembly moved to Highland Park it could only be purchased in black to keep costs down. The plant was idle when Ford vacated until Studebaker moved in and made cars until the Great Depression forced them to close. Since then the plant was vacant and occupied by 3M at one time, but mostly remained unchanged. The plant is owned by a not-for-profit organization who purchased the plant to preserve it and to open it for tours around the year 2000. They didn’t own a lot of cars themselves but they did own a late model Ford GT which was on display as well, amongst the various other vehicles such as Models A, S, etc. along with some of their competitors. They had the frame/shell of a Ford GT I got to lift one end of, I was amazed how light it was! The museum also contained a Mustang that was built for Henry Ford II.
At one point, in the neighborhood of the Piquette Plant there were 22 car makers competing with each other, when the Ford assembly line was invented, most of them went out of business.
It was interesting to hear that the Dodge brothers, Cadillac and Oldsmobile all either worked for Ford or were jointly in business with him at one point early on.
The plant was neat as it was simple and Henry Ford had some neat design touches to help avoid or mitigate the risk of fire, which was one of the biggest threats to businesses back then. Wooden columns were rounded off since fire clings to sharp edges and spreads fire (rounded edges thus slow the fire from spreading)! Also, there was a sprinkler system that used gravity and a water basin on the room and there were large fire doors slanting down and held by rope, so if a fire spread in that room and burned the rope, the doors would automatically close to avoid the spread of fire to the other rooms. There was also fire insulation in the floors and ceilings.
The tour guide was a younger, very knowledgable and enthusiastic person! He was very nice and found us a microwave so Rebecca could warm up her hand warmers as the plant was freezing cold and we had almost a mile walk back to the Art Museum where we parked.
We enjoyed a lunch/dinner at the Matador Restaurant. Although the chips and salsa were not that good, the food was decent. Just beware they put chili on many of their dishes. As a vegetarian, I was not impressed when my enchiladas came with beef chili poured over them. They were more than willing to fix it and sent us home with the wrong dish for my husband to enjoy later.
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