Boston Art Inspiration~ The Lost Art of Allegory
Allegorical Painting by Puvis de Chauvannes at Boston Library
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Yesterday, I took a new student to view the murals at Boston Public Library. The blue summer sky filtering through vaulted windows exquisitely complemented the yellow marble that frames the Chauvannes Allegory of Inspiration. In this perfect illumination, the color harmony of the mural is shimmering.
It has been 30 years since Bob Hunter, who taught Art Appreciation at Vesper George School of Art brought our class here. I thought then, and am certain now, that this commissioned decoration, was truly Art in its most noble form. Inspiration and genius seemed worthy ideals to express. And the imaginative element captivated my spirit, dispatching me from the mundane in the same way that “once upon a time” stories transported me through childhood.
After many years of painting and seeking, I appreciate the poetry of Chauvannes, his decorative soul and intellectual skill, his sense of the harmonic and his willingness to be a channel of the Spirit. And so, I pass this on. I hope these Muses will always speak to young artists, that they will continue to be discovered amidst the graffiti.
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Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, Ma; North Shore Arts in Gloucester, Ma; and Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, Pa.
Phaneuf maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops, continuing the Boston School lineage.
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