DC1223: 1day/3muse: Corcoran

How could you knock a place that has “Dedicated to Art” over its doorway entrance?

The Corcoran is one of the museums in Washington DC that is private and you must pay for. The original housing for the collection was in today’s Renwick building (seen below, left). If you have a North American reciprocal card with your local membership you should be able to get in for nothing, same as the Women’s Museum or the Phillips. The Phillips may have an “extra” exhibit, many do, that almost negates this by making you pay extra. Luckily, if you do pay, it is only $10. A bargain next to the New York museums.

As history echoes itself last year, the Corcoran’s claim to shame comes in the 80s when it backed down on showing Robert Mapplethorpe’s work in light of a very hostile Right wing in both Congress and the White House. That was at a time when lunatic un-Christians felt that gays “got what they deserved with AIDS.”  So much for that dedication to art.

If you are outside the museum there is poster of the classical painting of a reclining seminude male, which is even more arresting because of the presentation, which is lined up on the floor, its scale and technique. This image was part of the 30 Americans, the show at the Corcoran, of the artworks of many contemporary African American artists, many who have become museum staples (Kehinde Wiley, Mickalene Thomas) in most contemporary collections in progressive American museums. As I have written a lot about both of them, including Kara Walker, another one of my favorites, but am not sure which piece she did. It is less about who they are now, but how they will evolve that interests me. There is a Basquiat. I always think of Basquiat, as I think of Janis Joplin, which is where would they have evolved. The trouble with aging, is you find yourself doing that each decade.

The layout of the show is a little confusing, so of course, I would take at least one illegal shot of an intriguing installation. At once, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, as we confront our not to0 recent past, as we are reminded that Hitler patterned his propaganda (Jews as a “race”, public sanctioned murder) upon our dear old post-Reconstruction days. We think we have gone past those days, but when I think of all the hateful things people say and do, who have no business getting involved. But that has nothing to do with the overall show. –Or does it?

Stained Glass from the Cathedral of Soissons

The Corcoran is a good all around museum. While you have a lot of contemporary going on, you also have traditional work and craft, which gives a more pertinent view as to what art could be. The little Remington (below), although more illustration, is a pleasant diversion.

Frederic Remington’s Off the Range  (Coming through the Rye)

I was happy to go through the rooms and see both abstract expressionists and early pop. Hofmann gains more ground as his work ages. I remember when he was strictly NY. Two of my professors were disciples of his. Ironically, not yet 20, I dropped both their classes!

Hans Hofmann‘s Golden Blaze (left) and Helen Frankenthaler’s Hurricane Flag (right).

Mitchell’s reevaluation seems normal in the age of post-feminism. Her color, a little toward tints, does not compromise but enhance, her bold brushwork.

Joan Mitchell’s Salut Tom

Ad Reinhardt’s Red Wall (left) and others

Jane Hammond’s Hand Held

Raymond Saunders’ Red Star and Andy Warhol’s Mao

Chalgrin’s The Salon Doré

Most museums have some recreation of a room or rooms, but nothing is quite like this for the authenticity and the freedom to be inside it. The beauty of this room is that it was imported once from Paris from the hôtel de Clermont to a New York apartment, then again to the Corcoran. Originally built by Count D’Orsay in the 1770s in honor of his fiance, it was moved to New York by Senator Clark in the late 19th century with some modification. It is on the level of Versailles, with beautiful understated decoration and gilt embellishment.

Giuseppe Croff”s The Veiled Nun

Some sculptors invent with a material, let’s face it, stone is not flexible. After working for years in clay, I admire the carvers. Good ones, Michelangelo and some of the Spanish and German woodcarvers, have an interesting ability to truly visualize three dimensionally in that block of material. This wonderful little piece creates the illusion of a veil, while retaining beautifully the features and subtleties of light, especially around the eyes. It reminds me of some of those beautiful Vogue shots in the early fifties which were the last of veiled hats for women.

Rembrandt’s Heinrich Schutz may be questionable for portrait name, and perhaps artist attribution

Within a few rooms sits the likes of several wonderful painters: Delacroix, Corot, Daubigny, Diaz de la Peña, Constable and Gainsborough. These painters would have effect on what would become Impressionism. The paintings, most of them are small and wonderful studies after those overly large historical things one see in the National Gallery and the Met.

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Who am I to argue a little wall of Corots?

Ooh la lah, a little Corot nude!

Eugène Delacroix’a Tiger and Snake

Diaz de la Peña’s In the Forest

Daubigny’s Sunset on the River

There was an interesting photographic show adjoining “30.” And after seeing the above, I caught sight of the modern American painters of the twentieth century who predated Abstract Expressionism. These few were shot a little better than the others.

Lois Mailou Jones‘ Indian Shops, Gayhead, Massachusetts

Charles Demuth’s Rooftops and Trees

Arthur Garfield Dove’s Space Divided by Line Motive (left) and Marsden Hartley’s Berlin Abstraction(right)

Edward Hopper’s Ground Swell

Wonderful Hopper. A rare use where the figures don’t seem like architectonic ornaments. Check out the use of negative space within the figure grouping. Hopper does Perugino to Cezanne type space in the blink of an eye in this one. Odd color, although I have seen that coloring in New England.

John Singer Sargent’s Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherford White (above) and Marie Buloz Pailleron (below, left).

I don’t believe there is really any painter like Sargent. I have always admired his brushwork and the detail above (above) is one of the reasons why. He has unfortunately inspired many of those learn how to paint books, because they try to use his technique. He must have been very facile at that, because you have to be a terrific draftsman to lay paint down like that and get that effect. His drawings, robust and broad in a classical tradition, do not really expose what you will see in his painting. This technique to me is more like in some of the looser style of Jacob Jordaens. I also think of what a debt he owes to Delacroix, who really began to structure color against color, for optical effects. Sargents pop up in all museums in the U. S. If I get a chance this summer, I’ll go back and dig up the shots of murals he did for the Boston Public Library, and a few in the MFA.

When I came down the steps I saw this classical statue of a pretty woman with a lovely behind. I humorously smiled, as this was once the tradition for fine art. It came from a day and age, where any “decent” lady was covered from neck to toe. Only sometimes did this lady have a little décolletage showing, or a little adornment, a train or a bustle, attached to her backside. We go forward sometimes, then backwards. Sometimes not.

And the winner is. . .

I was watching Newt this morning, knocking Obama. This is the guy who called Romney a liar. After spending weeks watching the Republicans eat and beat each other up, a commercial for the REAL interests behind them.

Be sure to click and watch the video.

DC331: Broken Blossoms

For a second we thought we had missed it altogether.

Having arrived from Vienna, we never thought much about the cherry blossoms by Jefferson Memorial. I have seen them around the Smithsonian, but not here along the river.

But there were a few trees left, along the Potomac and a little further in on the grounds. It became festive. Tourists literally surrounded and interacted with the blossoms freely, making for some interesting Kodak moments.

1123 DC, 1 Day, 3 Museums: Underrated Women’s

Real estate being what it is, it must be very hard to rent or buy space in metropolitan DC. With that said, the National Museum of Women in the Arts sits on the other side of the White House, away from other museums: Corcoran, Renwicke, Americas and DAR. Coming into the Grand Hall is the only sour note for me. It is as if a second generation Italian was trying to open a restaurant, which looked authentically “Italianate.”

That said, the rest of the museum is first rate.I wish someone had been kinder and donated more work to this wonderful museum. I would love to see this gallery filled with work. Fortunately, the paintings there are traditional and of extremely high quality. I would love to see some traditional drawings in these sections.

Two extremely beautiful pieces are Lavinia Fontana’s  Portrait of a Noblewoman and Elisabetta Sirani‘s  Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy.   Judith Leyster’s The Concert (left), self-portrait to the right.

Judith Leyster must have loved music and musicians, for her work has a lot of it. Her self-portraits are always a little scary, but like Hals, she always shows us how good life must have been for the emerging middle and professional class Dutch. Having been to Amsterdam and marveled at the still standing residences (although she, like Hals, was from Haarlem) seventeenth century Dutch life must have been something.

That said, the rest of the museum is first rate.

Contemporary fare.

Obligatory Nevelson, Reflection of a Waterfall, II and Shonagh Edelman’s Vivienne.

The Guerilla Girls are correct. Gender has a lot to do with showing. It is a shame that museums are so male dominated, that you have to have a museum like this, but the only other place I have seen so dedicated to female artists is the section dedicated to women at the Brooklyn Museum.

Alma Thomas’ Iris, Tulips, Jonquills and Crocuses (top left), Elaine de Kooning’s Bacchus #3 (top right), Lee Krasner’s The Springs (center), Helen Frankenthaler’s Spiritualist (bottom left) and Joan Mitchell’s Orange (bottom right).

Recently, I noticed in the New York ABS show, that there was representation of Joan Mitchell, as well as Lee Krasner. Here, in one mouth watering moment in one little area is Krasner, Mitchell, Frankenthaler, de Kooning (her) and Alma Thomas. A few others but I messed up the shots. Luckily, the one below, I did not mess up.

Nell Blaine’s Troubadours retains it beauty even in a photograph. Wonderful color, huh?

There is in that vicinity a wonderful painting by Cèline Marie Tabary Terrasse de café, Paris

There were the two beautiful textile pieces. It was a funny day, I came to Washington to think about my next unit on texture, and all the pieces that struck me were by women. In the Renwicke, Karen Lamonte’s Reclining Dress Impression with Drapery. or at the Portrait Gallery, Mickalene Thomas’ Portrait of Mnonja piece and here two beautiful textile constructions. The Benglis’ piece I showed to my students and there was a lot of comment on it.

I will eventually work in Magdalena Abakanowicz’ Four Seated Figures

Pat Steir’s Waterfall of a Misty Dawn

There was a lovely Pat Stier. I always like her work, OMA has one. They always look technically simple, but I have a feeling that is deceptive.

The are also photos by Louise Dahl Wolfe, here Model in a Dior Suit

You would expect to see both Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jack-in-the-pulpit no. 2

But you would be happier to see the rare Lois Mailou Jones Africa and Suzanne Valadon’s Bouquet of Flowers with an Empire Vase

I had never heard or seen Jane Peterson’s Tower Bridge or Martha Walter’s Bathing Hour

You could say that the museum has much in the way of counterpoint. Here, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard’s Portrait of an Unknown Sitter compared to Alice Neel’s TB Harlem.

Sarah Bernhardt’s Après la tempête (After the storm)

I was surprised to learn that Berhardt was also a visual artist and even showed in the Salon. From Wiki I read that by 1869, when her star continued to rise, actress Sarah Bernhardt began painting and sculpting. By 1874, she was exhibiting her sculpture regularly at the Salon until 1886. She also had time to come to America and perform in person. Something people in the day and age of cable and cell phones could not believe anyone would have time for.

There was a show going on, but again, another no photo thing. This was one thing I was not overwhelmed by, perhaps too tired at that point. But no separate admission, like some museums try to pull! But at least you got to see a terrific Joan Mitchell on the way downstairs.

Joan Mitchell’s Sale Neige

Don’t forget the books on the first floor. It is set off in a small room, but well worth a look.

Elisabetta Gut The Firebird (from Stravinsky) (top left), Claire van Vliet The Gospel of Mary (top right) and Kara Walker Freedom: A Fable, A Curious Interpretation of the Wit of a Negress in Troubled Times, with Illustrations (bottom).

It costs $10 to get in. A spit compared to MoMA. If your are holding a local museum card with a North American reciprocal agreement, you get in for nothing (the Corcoran and Phillips, too in DC). Go, you will not be disappointed, it is a good collection.

1123 DC, 1 Day, 3 Museums: DAR Museum

This was on the front, but you will be directed further down to the museum.

I was on my way on 17th Street to the Corcoran, with a limited amount of time, I first spotted the Red Cross building and further down toward Constitution was this Neoclassical structure and here I found the Daughters of the Revolution. I am curious about anything that dubs itself a “museum.” Not everyone can be is supposed to be the Louvre or the Met. My back also went up a little bit, that it was the DAR, as I thought of a snobby bunch of ladies concerned with their own genteel lineage. But a museum is a museum, and you can’t be a snob. It is always interesting to see what people want to show you. And when I walked into to Americana, via folk art, I felt that this would be worthwhile, especially since it was FREE. They are asking for nothing, except you to come in.

The interior reminds me of parts of the Atlanta History Museum, which is wonderful, and should be covered in a blog, but here it is a small area of 2 rooms. But within those rooms under “folk” you Above, Reuben Rowley’s double portriats of Chloe and Lucas Cushing, 1826.

can find some portraiture, a landscape by Grandma Moses (Battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777, above), a silver teapot by Paul Revere (circa 1790-1800, above), furniture and sundry items, samplers and my favorite, quilts. Quilts are the most underrated artform in the United States. Everything that becomes “graphic” is a kickoff from the American quilt. Quilts are the ultimate in collage before Matisse. Quilts, with the finesse in stitchery and knowledge of fabric, are haute couture before Chanel and Voinnet. The quilt is a revolution in design and egalitarian, as fine arts are not. There are many fine examples, the two above one African American, the other Pennsylvanian in origin, predate both early twentieth century design and mid-twentieth century fine art.

Some in glass pull out cases, which most people did not have the inclination to look at.

Nancy Clark Sampler, 1818 (left), Ann Hurd Coleman Sampler, 1835-40  (right).

The samplers are even more curious, as they reflect a way of life totally bygone and unconnected to us, where little girls were taught these things to eventually suggest a right of passage. In our world of cell phones and x-boxes, these embroideries are far away from us.

Butter presses, basket  (top). Surprisingly modern English Annular ware, 1830 (lower left),   a 1690s English teapot and  a Tin glazed earthenware plate,  1760 (lower right).

The giant tooth vaguely reminds me of the crazy giant hot dog building and such out of the twenties. As Americans, we must have always had this strange affinity for “pop” art.

DC 1223: Walking around

There are always such nice hints of color, when the holidays come. In the north the sky is sometimes at its bluest.

DC1223: 1day/3muse: Art Museum ofthe Americas

The Art Museum of the Americas is a free venture into traveling shows. It is housed in a small building on 18th Street at the corner of  Constitution Avenue. This visit was Chilean art, and as I get a little smarter–not much–I am seeing some interesting South American visual ideas especially the Chileans, which is distinct and classical.  These pieces are more involved with developing concept, rather than a final outcome. This kind of art generally leads, down the line, to some very innovative art, but at the moment the thinking is alive and still in progress.

With Traveling Light a group of artists  (Catalina Bauer, Rodrigo Canala, Rodrigo Galecio, Gerardo Pulido and Tomás Rivas) transport themselves, rather than artwork, to make an on site showing. The results are interesting and most work together in the show. It is not a show of producing “great” art, but of an approach on how to produce art projects with students.

The bottom shot shows the beautifully colored work, Gerardo Pulido’s Lapi lázuli en pintura al temple v/s Pino Melis al esmalte spray, the crocheted piece by Catalina Bauer and Rodrigo Canala’s Banderines vacíos (Empty Banners) occupies two doorways.

For me, the more important show is Common Place by Justine Graham and Ruby Rumié. The project consists of photographing dozens of pairs of women, who have not known each other but come together filling out a mutual survey. In some shots subjects connect, some not. They are photographed from in front and behind. Do the women connect, what do the portraits show? It is one of those great conceptual projects, like we used to do in college. In this case, the thinking and research involved could lead to a still greater project, and it would be fun to watch where the artists will take their thinking.Unrelated to this is a beautiful vestibule covered in blue tile and Aztec type imagery, which has a beautiful appeal. There is a floor plaque commemorating the building in that spirit of “pan-Americanism” of yesterday, signed off by Teddy Roosevelt and sponsored by Andrew Carnegie. How much our relationship with South and Middle America has changed.

Check out the sculpture that sits outside in case you can’t find the building.

DC: 1223, one day.

I was actually walking to the Corcoran Gallery, via the White House area on Pennsylvania, when I caught a demonstration which I knew little about, but the people were very adamant (below). Since it involved calling upon Obama, I thought it was interesting.

Then along came this man, I had camera in hand (top, above) asked him if I could photograph him, and he showed me this sign. Politics and political discourse, are alive and well in DC.  I see that in McPherson Square Park, the protestors are still in a majority and their signage more visible (below).

I hope somebody reads this and gets some info out of it.

1123 DC, 1 Day, 3 Museums: The Renwick

The Renwick Gallery is part of the Smithsonian art museums, but it is not on the Mall or directly near it. The Renwick sits on 17th Street, near the White House, north of the Corcoran Gallery. It is not a huge museum, but was more like a residence. What is exciting about it is it echoed, although greatly predated, the Callanwolde (see link video, bottom) in Atlanta. That kind of grandiosity that wealth seems to spread around. This as an odd counterpoint only a few blocks away, to the reality of a McPherson Square tent city aimed against that kind of guilded age wealth. Although this was the original Corcoran Gallery, not a residence. The building was actually the original Corcoran Gallery and was designed by James Renwick whom “The Encyclopedia of American Architecture calls him ‘one of the most successful (i.e. not best) American architects of his time’.”*

The interior stairs leading to the Grand Salon and other rooms, from both sides.

Ryder’s In the Stable (left) and Harvest (right).

In the Grand Salon (shots directly below), you can see two neat unstrange, little Ryders and a few other gems, but overall you will have to have an undying love for things American turn of the century. The room, however is a beauty.

The wild part is while the downstairs exhibition is one of those “no photos” of many object of art from the White House, the real pieces overspilled into other rooms, which were looked as if they were once assigned for living. The structure of museums seems to come from real living spaces, palaces. The Prado and the Louvre. The beautiful great houses in England. The older  Savannah’s Telfair Museum and Jacksonville’s Cummer were once residences and still have the air of it.

Frank W Benson’s Still Life (top left), Carl W. Peters’ Little Village (top right) and George Hitchcock’s The Flight into Egypt (directly above).

No one ever talks about George Hitchcock. I first think I saw his work at the Telfair, and admired his feathery brushwork. So much is said for Morse and Hassan as “American” Impressionists, and Hitchcock for technique goes pretty much unnoticed.

Within the same room as these paintings is Karen Lamonte’s Reclining Dress Impression with Drapery.

The piece of Lamonte’s actually was created in Czechoslovakia. Here is where the fun comes in, like the National and the Portrait Gallery, comes a bevy of Modern and post-Modern works within this very sedate housing. So while Henri and Sargent are displayed in the halls, contemporary artists are displayed elsewhere.

John Singer Sargent’s Betty Wertheimer (left), Viola Frey’s Lady in Blue and Yellow Dress (center) and Robert Henri’s Portrait of Dorothy Wagstaff (right).

 

 Larry Fuente’s Game Fish (left, detail right).

Lino Tagliapietro’s Mandara (left) and Sheila Hicks’ The Silk Forest (right).

I think one of my favorite pieces was a glass installation by Beth Lipman called Bancketje (Banquet) (below). Layers of glass pieces are stacked high, in a hommage of those still lives done by the Dutch.

Beautiful art, and an interesting interior, full of bygone detail, make it a pleasant way to spend some art time.

With its rose colored walls and stacked art work, it is a history lesson on how art used to be displayed, before white walls and large spaces. It is free, which makes it even more special.

*See Wikipedia, where I took this quote.

DC/NYC 1011: Incredible, the Portrait Gallery.

One of my favorite shows ever in a museum was the one in the SFMOMA two years ago. It was a reduced Thursday admission and they had Avedon, I have never seen people so wild. The Black List  (above) has some of the same qualities. Large photos of the who’s who in African-American culture today. And the shots are great, and so is the show!

I got to see what Kara Walker looks like, you know the artist who does the silhouettes!

You must excuse me, when I refer to it as the National Portrait Gallery, for the structure very openly houses two museums: The National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Both are wonderful (see shot directly below). It is a museum to go to if the others seem a little too artsy. It is progressive and interesting, yet see-able for people who may not like the standard art museums. The American Art museum is progressive and interesting almost always. The two museums merge and it is always fun to go and see what’s doing especially their exhibitions.

When I was young, I read Stein, like kids eat candy. Some of it was incomprehensible to me, young idiot that I was. But Melanctha still plays in my head, as I read it about 4 times and began to understand the cyclical structure sometimes used in the works of female writers. I still admire Stein, as she had the same kinds of perceptions Warhol had two generations later. Too much is made about her very impressive personality and not enough about her work. This show (no photos, please) are a series of 5 galleries including a photo of the sculptor Jo Davidson (who did a sculpture of her head) and I think the Lipschitz statue of her. I have lost my notes for the time being.

Isn’t it fun to watch people in museums looking over the work?

This bunch was going nuts in the Watch This! exhibit.

Those intriguing Alex Katz-like images (hm, when was Katz quite that intriguing?) in the Watch This! exhibition.

A two camera set up, where a guy makes a hole through a wall and then sticks himself through, as the footage is overlapped and shown simultaneously. Nice idea.

Included is yet another installation of Nam June Paik. This one, Megatron Mix (1995), I went and put some still together for a quick video to give you some of the flavor (directly below).

Ray Yoshia Partial Evidences II and Roland Ginzel Untitled

I might have been a little tired after all the National Aquarium, the National Gallery, the Hirshhorn and now all this, but I was a little less impressed by Made in Chicago: The Koffler Collection. As I had spent a good part of the day trying to be away from easel painting, here was a show of smaller, well crafted, nicely done images. It is kind of like that Breakfast at Tiffany’s party scene, with a very nice normal couple, you are trying to have a simple conversation with!

After all look at all the other work in this structure:

The 1903 Steinway piano with the painting America receiving the 9 muses by Thomas Wilmer Dewing

Louise Nevelson’s Sky Catherdral

Three views, The Curtain by George Segal

I temporarily lost my bearings when another patron became very concerned if I was using flash, when I used the automatic focus light to shoot the Segal. I know the National Gallery is the only one to allow flash in its museum, having abandoned the mid-20th century lightbulb-will-explode-theory so prevalent for years and continued into the 21th century. While light is not good for watercolor and tapestry, it has no effect on most sculpture. They used to advise putting oil paintings in the sun a little, to lighten the forever darkening varnishes.

Note the resemblance of the model.

Mickalene Thomas’ Portrait of Mnonja

The darling of New York, just keeps getting more darling. Mickalene Thomas images become more intriguing with their quilt like use of pattern and texture. Note (left) the wonderful use of texture in her work with the beading.

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El Chandelier by Pepón Osorio

This piece has small toys interspersed, a lot like another piece I have just seen in the Renwick. It is a shame, I knew a boy at Pratt 40 years ago doing this kind of stuff, better than Conrad. I often think what became of him.

The idea of this installation is a good one, from someone who has worked on stage setting. Below, is my lame attempt again at trying to photograph the Hockney piece, set under changing stage light.

Snails Space as Vari-Lites: Painting as Performance               by David Hockney

I love how Jobs gained obligatory sainthood, not unlike Michael Jackson. The National Portrait Gallery, of course, complied. These two sat across walls from each other.