History, Art, Architecture and Paris in an Online Tour

The nave of the Grand Palais after restoration, 2012. Photo © 2015, Rmn-GP-Grand Palais201
It’s not like most of us have the opportunity to visit all the great museums even without COVID-19. But it is possible these days to get a “next best thing” tour of world culture thanks to the internet.
Let me be clear at this point that I’m not a great art connoisseur and have not been to most of the world’s great museums (yet). But I would like to learn more, and as the new year begins I feel a bit of an urge to learn and see new things; while the online museum experience has a lot of flaws, it also is better than sitting around the house watching cat videos on YouTube.
Let’s begin by saying frankly that most museum virtual tours are disappointing, for many reasons. Generally the art works are all presented as being the same size, so that a wall-size painting such as Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” (at the Art Institute of Chicago, www.artic.edu) looks the same size online as “Maternal Caress” by Mary Cassatt, which is about 10.5 by 4.5 inches.
Many museums offer virtual “walking tours” and Google street view visits to museum galleries, but they’re usually poorly lit, distorted and nausea-inducing if the camera pans around too quickly.
You are also unable to access many virtual tours unless you download Adobe Flash, which I have had some bad experiences with and won’t allow on my computer.
Google tries very hard to put its fingerprint on most of the world’s museums and cultural heritage sites through its Google Arts and Culture website. There you can find links to many museums and lots of activities, most of which are geared to young people. There are games and puzzles, and there are short videos of indie pop culture icons such as Grimes and Fiest talking about famous works of art, modern and ancient.
Most of it I found uninteresting or overwhelming but there are some glimmers of excellence. The one I liked best and that I’ll recommend to you here is a tour of the Grand Palais in Paris. If you go to the actual museum website, you just get the usual short teasers about their current shows.
But if you go to the Google Arts and Culture page on the Grand Palais, you get interesting history and photos of the creation of the building —which combines sculpture and classical architecture and a glass dome and an outdoor colonnade — for the Universal Exposition of 1900.
The photos and the history (in English) are clear and easy to absorb. For World War history buffs, there is an entire text and photo section on the conversion of the space (which is huge, on the scale of Grand Central Station) into a hospital for wounded soldiers.
There are four “views”of the exterior of the building, including a view of Paris from the roof. Unlike the dizzying videos in which a camera pans around a site, here you click on arrows that bring your progressively closer to whatever details you’d like to focus on.
And of course there are photos and short explanations of the photos and paintings in the museum’s collection.
No doubt there are many other excellent tours of art and architecture on the internet.
But in a three-hour search of the internet this morning, the website for the Grand Palais was the one I felt most like recommending. It was a nice mix of architecture and art; and it was a virtual journey to Paris, which is a city I’d like to visit if I had the time and money and there wasn’t a worldwide pandemic.
To visit the Google Arts and Culture tour of RMN-Grand Palais online, go to https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/rmn-grand-palais.
In case you’re wondering, RMN stands for Réunion des musées nationaux.
Waterlily (8”x12”) made by Marilyn Hock
It takes a lot of courage to share your art for the first time and Marilyn Hock is taking that leap with her debut exhibition at Sharon Town Hall on Sept. 12. A realist painter with a deep love for wildlife, florals, and landscapes, Hock has spent the past few years immersed in watercolor, teaching herself, failing forward, and returning again and again to the page. This 18-piece collection is a testament to courage, practice and a genuine love for the craft.
“I always start with the eyes,” said Hock of her animal portraits. “That’s where the soul lives.” This attentiveness runs through her work, each piece rendered with care, clarity, and a respect for the subtle variations of color and light in the natural world.
After painting in oils earlier in life, Hock returned to art when she retired from working as a paralegal with a goal: to learn watercolor. It wasn’t easy.
“Oils and watercolor are opposites,” she explained. “With oils, you build your darks first. In watercolor, if you do that, you’re in trouble.” She studied online, finding instructors whose approach clicked, and adapted to the delicacy of the medium.
“When I’m working, everything else falls away,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what’s going on in life. While I’m painting, time disappears.”
Her studio, formerly a home office, is now her sanctuary and the pieces in this exhibition are the result of three years of that devoted studio work. While this is her first full public show, Hock previously tested the waters at a small fundraiser at Noble Horizons, where one of her pieces sold. That experience — and the consistent encouragement from her family, especially her husband — pushed her to pursue a full exhibition. With gentle encouragement from her husband and family, Hock reached out to the Town Hall’s curator, Zelina Blagden. “My husband kept saying, ‘You’re as good as all those other people out there, why not show your work?’” And so, here it is.
All paintings in the show are for sale, though Hock admits a few are priced high — not because of their size or complexity — but because she’s not quite ready to let them go. “There are a couple I’ve priced high because I’m not sure I want to part with them. But we’ll see,” she laughed. “It would be nice to support the habit a little bit.”
As for aspiring artists or anyone hesitating to begin something creative, Hock’s advice is simple: “Go for it. If it fails, toss it in the basket and start over.”
The exhibit will be on view at Sharon Town Hall through Oct. 31 with an opening reception on Sept. 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.
Carissa Unite, general manager of Oblong Books in Millerton.
Carissa Unite of Millerton, began working at Oblong Books 16 years ago as a high schooler. She recently celebrated her eight-year anniversary as the general manager.
Unite’s journey at Oblong began even before she applied for her first position.An avid reader from a young age, she was a frequent customer at the store. During those years, Unite bonded with a former employee who encouraged her to apply for a position after connecting over their shared love of reading.
As a teenager, Unite enjoyed reading Ellen Hopkins, John Green and Ann Brashares. With the busyness of adulthood, she now favors the convenience of audio books. In the past year, however, she has made it a point to read more physical books.
With a preference for contemporary fiction, she raved about “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The story, set in the 1980s, follows two women who become astronauts at a time when women were not widely accepted in the field. A beautiful love story emerges between the two characters. Unite described the writing as sensational and commended Reid’s ability to tackle complex themes without them being muddied.
Unite has developed a deep appreciated for classic literature. Her two favorites are “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde. She was amazed by the philosophical nature of both words and the way their dialogue challenged her perspective.
In an effort to read beyond her preferred genre, she recommends the following:
“Some Desperate Glory,” by Emily Tesh, “Midnight Rooms,” by Donyae Coles and “Clear” by Carys Davies.
For Unite, the beauty of reading lies in its power to develop perspective, empathy, and compassion. Through books, readers learn that everyone is fighting different battles and no two stories are the same. She encourages people to choose kindness because you never know what someone else is facing.
Above all, reading brings Unite peace. If offers transcendence to another world, a pause from outside noise, and for Unite, it is where she feels most at home.
For anyone hesitant to being reading, Unite suggests: just do it! Read 10 pages a day and find the book that speaks to you. Any Oblong staff member would be happy to offer recommendations.
Oblong is located at 26 Main St., in Millerton and 6422 Montgomery St. in Rhinebeck.
Photographer Sarah Blodgett displayed her prints on canvas at the Souterrain Gallery of The Wish House during the Open Studio Tour in Cornwall.
The weather was perfect on Saturday, Aug. 30, for the 19th annual Artists’ Studio Tour in Cornwall, held each Labor Day weekend.
Organizer David Colbert said, “It has become quite a tradition.”
Colbert’s studio was one of 10 on this year’s tour.His large geometric works line a sculpture walk near the studio, which those on the tour were welcome to enjoy.
Another stop was at Tim Prentice’s barn and studio. Prentice is famous for his kinetic sculptures, which were on display in the barn and surrounding fields.Now in his 90s, Prentice held court in his nearby studio.With his eyesight failing due to macular degeneration, he has turned to drawing.
Prentice recently completed “a series of trees before the leaves come out and obscure the structure.I do them from memory.” Drawings on display in his barn were being snapped up by tourgoers, with profits going to help fight macular degeneration.
At the Souterrain Gallery of the Wish House, first-time tour participant and basket maker Tina Puckett sat outside demonstrating her art. Inside the gallery, her unique baskets were on display. “I think the studio tour is great for the public and for us,” she said.
Also, at Souterrain, another first-timer, photographer Sarah Blodgett, showed her work. Photographs printed on canvas were vibrant with colors.She said she works on these in the winter when she can’t be outside doing wildlife photography which, is “near and dear to my heart.”There were samples of that as well.
Other artists on the tour included shoemaker Lauren Brinker, photographer Stephan Sagmiller, potter Sanah Peterson, painters Magaly Ohika, Emily Waters, and Debby Jones, photographer Nick Jacobs, and poet/artist Sally Van Doren.
The tour is a unique opportunity to chat with artists, view and purchase their work, and see their studios.
For more information go to: https://cornwallct.org/event/cornwall-open-studio-2025/