FOR JANUARY 28 -
FOR JANUARY 28 â
âSPAIN IN THE AGE OF EXPLORATION 1492-1819â AT NORTON MUSEUM OF ART â
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WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. â âSpain in the Age of Exploration 1492â1819,â will feature masterpieces from the collections of the Patrimonio Nacional of Spain and will be on view at the Norton Museum of Art February 2âMay 1. The exhibition features 133 objects, many leaving Spain for the first time, including masterworks by such artists as Bosch, Titian, El Greco, Velazquez and Goya.
Also included are sculptures, such as Berniniâs âCrucifix,â decorative arts, suits of armor, tapestries, scientific instruments used by the early explorers, early maps and first-edition books, including a rare 1494 account of Columbusâs âdiscoveryâ of the Americas.
âSpain in the Age of Exploration 1492â1819â charts the evolution of Spanish attitudes toward knowledge, exploration and faith during three centuries of Spainâs golden age beginning with Columbusâs first voyage in 1492 and ending with the signing of the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819, which ceded Florida and the Northwest Territories to the United States. The great majority of the objects in the exhibition have been selected from the collections of the Royal Family, which are now administered by the Patrimonio Nacional of Spain.
The Norton Museum of Art is open Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm, Sunday, 1 to 5 pm. For information, 561-832-5196 or www.Norton.org.
Book Review, Ranch Style Houses
The Ranch House, by Alan Hess, photography by Noah Sheldon, Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 100 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10011; 240 pages, 2004, hardbound, $45.
The ranch-style house is uniquely American; the Twentieth-Century ranch draws on the humble, utilitarian working ranch house of the Nineteenth Century American West for its origins. In the 1940s, 50s and 60s, however, it became the dominant style when Americaâs demand for single-family housing was reaching overwhelmingly high levels. A populist design, the ranch was identifiable by its sprawling plan, horizontal form, board-and-batten façade, broad eaves and, as designed in its modern evolution, characterized by an L- or U-shaped floor plan built around an outdoor patio area.
The ranch home was considered ideal for an outdoor/indoor lifestyle and great for families. Author Alan Hess contends the style worked beautifully when it spread across the country in the middle of the Twentieth Century and it still does. He sees a resurgence of the ranch house as todayâs younger generation finds what caught the attention of their grandparents more than 40 years ago.
Hess carefully traces the 75-year evolution of the ranch house and then takes the reader to 25 iconic examples of the ranch and demonstrates how it continues to fulfill the needs of the modern family. With period photographs of original ranch houses and some 200 new color photographs taken specifically for this book, The Ranch House leads us on a visual journey through the past century of homebuilding in America.              Â
 âAnne Kugielsky