ART

The Dents du Midi (French: "The Teeth of the South") is a mountain chain situated in the Chablais Alps in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is composed of seven distinct summits and reaches a height of 3257 metres (10,686 feet). Dominating the Val-d'Illiez and the Rhône Valley, to the south it faces the Lac de Salanfe, an artificial reservoir. Geologically it makes up a part of the massif Haut-Giffre. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dents_du_Midi Chateau de Chillon is a beautiful historic (thirteenth-century) castle on a small rocky island in Lake Geneva (also known as Lac Léman) near the popular Swiss resort/arts town Montreux (one hour by train from Geneva and a ten-minute car ride). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_de_Chillon FYI: some say this is the spot that inspired M. Shelly's novel Frankenstein, written during the year of no summer.

The first Impressionist painting in the Blanton's collection, Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin's Environs de Paris is on view at the Blanton Museum of Art's new location, as it was at the old location (since mid-2004). The work was a gift to Mrs. Johnson (Ladybird) from her husband, the late President Lyndon B. Johnson. It hung in the White House during the Johnson administration. Guillaumin, the last surviving member of the French Impressionist movement (he died in 1927), counted among his friends and colleagues Pissarro, Cezanne and Van Gogh. Called a "furious colourist" by some critics, Guillaumin is known for his landscapes with shimmering light and vibrant, otherworldly color, and super-heated skies. FineArts.UTesas.edu