I heard thousands of voices screaming, though nobody was talking when I entered the Yale Center of British Art. The sculptures, the paintings, the photos… all of them are talking about the stories, the feelings, and the myths behind themselves. Especially when I walked into the Long Gallery on the fourth floor, the scream of voices was deafening.
More than two hundred paintings, including those of beaches and coastlines, the British Empire, the British theater, families, gardens, “the horse and sporting art,” “into the woods,” portraits of artists, war and the military, and “women of distinction.”, fill the both sides of walls. My eyes were too busy to attend all of them. When the sunshine climbing on the walls, the true story they want to express exposed to the audience.
In the middle of the Long Gallery, sculptures of horses and figures are displayed on the grey tables or pillars. The luster shows the lively spirits hiding in the bronze and marble. Every figure is not frozen but it has just stopped moving momentarily, like a static movie frame. In a photo of an army at war, a soldier blows his horn to call on his people to fight. All of the figures in this sculpture are lively and this moment is captured by the artist.
Though the lonely chair is not a work of art, it implies another feeling of silence. Like a man waiting for his beloved girl, this chair is waiting for a person who can appreciate and touch the truth of art. I wish I could have more time in Yale Galleries, sit on the chair, enjoy the pleasantly warm sunlight, and listen to the silence from the art works.
