Robin Dunbar: THE BATH

Thursday, January 5, 2012

THE BATH

Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre, 1868, oil on canvas

Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre, The Bath, 1868 oil on canvas.
Image courtesy of The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia.

One of my favorite painting is the 1868 oil on canvas by Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre, The Bath. Gleyre, a Swiss artist and teacher, taught young artists like Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir and James Abbott Whistler. He was known for spending years on his paintings and only a few are in the United States today.

The Bath depicts a Roman household of two beautiful women bathing an angelic baby boy. Gleyre derived the subject from a terra-cotta relief and produced several sketches. It was painted for John Taylor Johnston, first president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a well-known New York art collector.

I'm inspired by Gleyre's hard work ethic and his color pallette. The peaches and cream skin tones are gorgeous. This painting offers wonderful details to fill my imagination of a time long ago. I encourage you to visit Bay Babies and the Chrysler Museum to discover more treasures.

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PROFILE

Eco-Artist ♦ Environmental Educator ♦ Storyteller

Career path centralizes on the marriage of art and science and views all work as an opportunity to create.

Since 2000, Robin has worked for The Elizabeth River Project in Portsmouth, Virginia, where she portrays her home river's namesake, Princess Elizabeth Stuart educating audiences about the Elizabeth River, one of the most polluted rivers on the Chesapeake Bay and is the Deputy Director of Education.

As a storyteller, she captivates young audiences using creative methods that incorporates her art. Performances include table top theaters, hand-painted tapestries, puppets, costumes and treasure boxes.

Along with her royal role, her projects include the LEARNING BARGE, the world's first floating wetland classroom and America's Greenest Vessel, WETLANDS in the CLASSROOM where students nurture 7,000 native plants in the classroom for Elizabeth River wetland restoration sites and RIVER STAR SCHOOLS recognizing over 180 schools and youth organizations for implementing environmental projects that have a positive impact on the Elizabeth River.

Robin is a full-time Old Dominion University graduate student working towards a Masters of Arts in Humanities in Cultural & Human Geography. Thesis focus is on marine debris.

Art project in the works: Painted a 14-ft mermaid sculpture for City of Norfolk as a gift to Kochi, India. Eco-art items utilizing cardboard.