Degas/Cassatt Show @ NGA

I can't wait to see this Degas/Cassatt show at the National Gallery of Art, which is still on through Oct. 5.

The museum's description of the show made me realize that both artists preferred to paint the human form versus landscapes and came from similar, highly educated and wealthy backgrounds. I also was not aware they were such good friends and champions of each other's work, which is quite touching really. I previously wrote about Cassatt for this blog in 2012.

If you stop by the NGA before Sept. 18, you can also still see this Van Gogh painting now on loan to the museum from the Netherlands.

While the National Museum of the American Indian arguably boasts the best museum cafeteria dining experience in Washington, the NGA would certainly be a close runner up, with healthy and tasty fare on offer - albeit for a slightly higher price than the more greasy fast food available at many of the Smithsonian museums just a stone's throw away on the National Mall - in a delightful indoor cafeteria setting with an excellent gelato and espresso bar (some people just go for the gelato!).

A more formal cafe and a small cafe with coffee, wine and snacks at the museum's delightful sculpture garden round out its culinary repertoire.

Here are some impressions of the sculpture garden, from a time when I was going a bit overboard with my amateur Photoshop skills while I was enrolled in a cool weekend multimedia journalism program at the University of Maryland, which really made my life at the time ... :

Metropolitain

Spider

Silver Tree

Must-See Show: Ballets Russes at NGA Through October 6

Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929: When Art Danced with Music

Nuit Blanche in DC on Sept. 28, 2013

Nuit Blanche DC: Art All Night

Boundless in DC

I love this featured photo recently highlighted at welovedc.com, created by a diverse group of creative folks who all have one thing in common - they love DC, including its various "scenes" (cocktail, theater, fine arts, etc. etc. etc.). This site makes me proud to be a native Washingtonian (via various places my parents came from, incl. Germany + PA via - some three centuries prior - Scotland, Wales and the Netherlands).

Song 1 @ Hirshhorn

As a reminder to myself - and anyone else who might be interested in this - Doug Aitken's Song 1 is still on view nightly at the Hirshhorn through May 20. The Washington Post approved recently of its extension by another week. (It was originally set to end on May 13.)



Geeta Dayal, moreover, in an April 18 review for Wired was also full of high praise for Song1: "Wrapping the outside of a circular building in seamless 360-degree video projections took some work. But with Song 1, artist Doug Aitken transforms the drab concrete exterior of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., into a one-of-a-kind audiovisual spectacle."

(Let's just overlook her use of the word "drab" in this context - native Washingtonians do not like to hear "drab" applied to any structure within, or aspect of, their city. We get a little sensitive about stuff like that.) 

Friends of mine who have checked this out say it's pretty cool. Aitken projects film clips and images on to the Hirshhorn, using the circular outer shell of this modern art museum as a movie screen of sorts.

"The Hirshhorn 360-degree projection is a new form of film ... one that defies categorization." - Doug Aitken

So now this spectacle is still on view every night through May 20 after the sun sets (my favorite time of day - I have always loathed mornings and loved nights).

Among the "related events" listed on the museum's website, there is a funky Happening tonight (Friday, May 11) from 8 p.m. to midnight at the Hirshhorn featuring live performances. (You can buy $25 tickets to this Happening here.)

En Plein Air, The Art of Jason Berger

A view along the "Promenade des Anglais" in Nice at night.
Picture taken from the hotel Suisse.
(Photo: W.M. Connolley/Wikimedia Commons)

Here's an interesting DC area art update I received today from a friend (thanks Susan!):

"From April 13 to May 4 'En Plein Air: The Art of Jason Berger' will be on exhibit at the French Embassy in Washington, DC.

On Friday, April 13, over 120 people gathered for an opening reception to celebrate the event.

VisionArt, an art consulting company based in Washington and owned / operated by Melissa Himmel Twomey has orchestrated the art exhibit which shows 50 of Berger's remarkable paintings.

Most of the paintings in the show are vivid landscapes of France, the place where he spent most of his adult life as an artist. All of the artwork is for sale in the exhibition.

Berger passed away in 2010 and this is the first large exhibition since his death and the first in Washington, DC.

The exhibit is open by appointment Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm or evenings can be arranged as well. Please contact Melissa Himmel Twomey of VisionArt Consulting at melissatwomey@gmail.com to make an appointment."

I must confess I had never heard of Jason Berger (1924-2010), before, but his work looks interesting - colorful, vibrant and full of "joie de vivre," as the French would say. Surely if the French Embassy is showcasing his work, it must be good, "n'est-ce pas"?

According to his website jasonbergerpainter.com, Berger was "a Boston area painter who was connected to the Boston Expressionists. He painted en plein air landscapes in the United States, Europe and Mexico and used those motifs in abstracted studio paintings."

On May 11, moreover, La Maison Francaise/House of France DC - the cultural center located on the grounds of the French Embassy - will at 7 pm host a free reception (registration required however) for 'Unforgettable - A Painter's Brush - With Iranian Female Artists - Works by Nurieh Mozaffari.'

Only 5 Days Left to See Colorful Realm!!!

Anyone hoping to check out Colorful Realm at the National Gallery of Art needs to do so in the next five days.

Two friends of mine viewed this exhibition last Sunday and said it was a MADHOUSE. This exhibition was so crowded that it was hard to really take it in, they said, which was a shame as it is a rare treat. (This is the first time these beautiful scrolls have been exhibited outside of Japan.)

Arriving very early, very late, or perhaps not on the final day of the exhibiton (April 29) might do the trick in avoiding the worst of the crowds.

Here's the latest info. from the NGA:

Colorful Realm: Japanese Bird-and-Flower Paintings by Itō Jakuchū (1716–1800)
March 30–April 29, 2012

Hours Extended
Open until 8 p.m., April 27, 28, 29
Use the 6th Street and Constitution Avenue entrance

Spring Fling: Street Photos, African-American Art, Howard Theatre

Jazz at the Howard, ca. 1941: Ray Bauduc, Herschel Evans,
Bob Haggart, Eddie Miller, Lester Young, and Matty Matlock.
(Photo: William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons)

The Washingtonian in its April 2012 issue flags up a few great new exhibitions in DC, including one I've already mentioned called "I Spy: Photography and the Theater of the Street, 1938-2010" (April 22-August 5) now on show at the National Gallery of Art.

At the same time, The Smithsonian American Art Museum is exploring a pivotal turning point in American history through "African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond" (April 27-September 3), which includes works by Robert McNeill, Richmond Barthé, Romare Bearden, and 40 others.

On April 9, moreover, Washington's Howard Theatre (built in 1910) reopened "after a $29 million restoration that has turned the landmark into a state-of-the-art venue and revived its architectural glory," Sarah Wildman reported for The Washingtonian.

Located near the corner of Seventh and T streets in DC's historically African-American Shaw neighborhood it "was once an incubator of great music," according to Wildman. "Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, the Supremes, and Marvin Gaye all played at the Howard Theatre early in their careers."

The theatre reopens with a new lineup including Wanda Sykes, the Roots and Chuck Brown.

Joan Miró @ Kreeger

Joan Miró in 1935 (Photo: Carl van Vechten/Wikimedia Commons)

This Joan Miró (1893 - 1983) exhibition at the Kreeger Museum looks like it could be fun to check out. The Kreeger is one of Washington's hidden art gems. Nestled along Foxhall Road in the picturesque Palisades neighborhood near Georgetown, this former private residence is located nowhere near the National Mall which during the summer months is always teeming with tourists, most of whom will never set foot inside the Kreeger. I would highly recommend a tour of the permanent collection with one of the excellent and elegant docents who devot their free time to guiding visitors through the museum.

I interviewed the museum's director, Judy Greenberg, once for an article I wrote a few years ago about a citywide celebration of DC's own Color Field artists, of which Morris Louis was perhaps the most famous. It was a rare treat to meet her and hear about the genesis and ongoing plans of this very fine museum, which also features many music programs related to its exhibitions. (The Art Dossier also interviewed Greenberg in 2011.)

Although I'm not super familier with Miró's work, I've always found it quite whimsical, the same way Paul Klee fascinates with his quirky take on the world.

Stovall, Matsuyama @ AU Museum at the Katzen

American University Park (Photo: James Hare/Wikimedia Commons)

I am unfamiliar with the District-based artist Lou Stovall, but really intrigued by his current spring crop of colorful works now on display at the American University Museum at the Katzen.

As the museum, located across the street from the university's main entrance on Massachusetts Avenue, states on its website:

"Nature has been explored throughout DC-based artist Lou Stovall’s 60-year career and its representation has evolved considerably. Stovall’s latest iteration, his 'vertical views,' take form in silkscreen monoprints reconstructed into three-dimensional collages."

At present two other exhibitions at the Katzen celebrate Japanese art. "Floating World: 19th Century Japanese Woodblock Prints" is part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. And "Thousand Regards" showcases more contemporary works by Japanese-born, New-York based artist Tomokazu Matsuyama.

All three exhibitions run through May 20.

(People who live in the heart of DC may view AU as a distant place beyond the National Cathedral, but it is located quite close to Tenleytown and not far from Friendship Heights metro stops, where shopping and dining options abound. Some dining options are also available not far from the AU campus on Massachusetts Avenue. This is also the location of the Spring Valley Crate & Barrel store which I find hard to resist visiting at least a couple times per year. Even if I lack the space/income to totally re-furnish my tiny flat with their huge American furniture, it is fun to check out the designs there, including lovely glassware made in Italy and fun Marimekko fabrics from Finland. I bought a Marimekko tablecoth there once which I ADORE. I am clearly plugging Marimekko products here, but they deserve a plug because they place a premium on design and quality. Nice fabrics can be art too!)

Theater of the Street @ NGA

NPR's "Art Beat" recently flagged up what seems like a MUST-SEE SHOW for all lovers of urban photography.

As a lifelong city dweller and photography fan, I CANNOT WAIT to go see THE THEATER OF THE STREET (April 22 - August 5) at the National Gallery of Art.

Artomatic @ Crystal City

Peep my Artomatic (Photo: Jon Sullivan/Wikimedia Commons)

Artomatic is a super fun way to discover loads of different DC area artists.

Past Artomatic shows have inlcuded paintings, sculptures, glass panels, photos, illlustrations, mixed media, installations, and pretty much anything else that could be construed as art, such as marshmallow peep dioramas, comicbook-style storyboards festoooned with garishly neon-hued superhero action figures, or wacky wall hangings made of unconventional fabrics such as knitwear or lace. (The list goes on an on - Artomatic makes you realize that almost anything can be turned into art!)

In the past, Artomatic has also featured events such as concerts and dance performanes, as well as a gift shop.

The next Artomatic, which bills itself as "DC's biggest creative event", is due to opens on May 18 in Crystal City. (This really is a good enough reason for non-Virginians such as myself to head back over to VA - Crystal City is close to downtown DC.)

Any artists interested in registering to participate in Artomatic can still do so now on the Artomatic website.

Anyone interested in touring Artomatic exhibitions might moreover want to check back with this site, which has yet to update its events calendar and artist catalog.

NEXT @ Corcoran

The Corcoran (Photo: APK is gonna miss Jeffpw/WikiCommons)

Washington's Corcoran Gallery of Art is now showcasing through May 20 fresh young talent via NEXT at the Corcoran, which presents works from the Corcoran College of Art + Design class of 2012.

"For more than 120 years, the Corcoran has educated and trained students—the next generation of America’s artists—while displaying the most important works of the time," the museum states on its website.

Admission to the NEXT exhibition is free of charge.

Hokusai @ Sackler + Jakuchū @ NGA

With the National Cherry Blossom Festival in full swing (even though we've already, alas, lost the blossoms!) there is some great related art to be seen in DC.

I really want to see the Hokusai exhibit at the Sackler.

There's also an exhibit on at the National Gallery of Art showcasing Japanese bird and flower paintings by Itō Jakuchū that looks to be lovely.

Easter Monday @ National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

Yesterday (Easter Monday) the National Mall and the museums that make this city so marvelous were jam-packed with tourists viewing everything from aircraft to live insects to whisper-weight vintage silk gowns once worn by first ladies.

The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden provides a welcome oasis of calm and is a great place to stop and rest inbetween visiting other museums on or near the National Mall.

The sculpture garden is an oasis of calm (Photos by Karen Carstens)

One of several entrances to this marvelous magical garden that enchants young and old alike.

Even the iron gates of the garden are like works of art.

The fountains and pool at the center of the garden invite people to relax and while away a few minutes - or hours - in reverie. La Reve. Der Traum. Il Sogno. Something we all long for.

These diagonal lighting effects were captured unintentionally, but I kind of like them.

The sculptures on view inside the garden never cease to fascinate - revisiting the garden is like rediscovering them every time. (Each sculpture is followed by its description stone - these little plaques are discreetly yet visibly placed near each work of art.)

This rabbit (Thinker on a Rock, 1997) could have many connotations - Rodin's famous "Thinker" of course springs to mind, as does Alice in Wonderland and even Giacometti (the Paris-based sculptor from the Italian Swiss Alps - he had several brothers who were also artists and designers). But it also reminds me of that outlandish "Donny Darko" film in which a juvenile yet deeply disturbed Jake Gyllenhall was haunted by that evil rabbit which represented death/the grim reaper (?) It's a Mad World!

Could this be a stair- um "chairway" to heaven?

This playful and quirky "Cheval Rouge(" (Red Horse) by Calder makes me think - only because of its title - of the Blue Rider Expressionist movement that was centered around Munich in 1911/12. When Franz Marc painted his famous "Blue Horse," people were shocked. Today it is a modern masterpiece.

Google Art Project @ White House & Beyond

"Thanks to Google Art Project, you can visit @White House whenever you like."

First Lady Michelle Obama with U.S. President Barack Obama and their daughters Malia (left) and Sasha (right) at the White House. (Official press photo from the White House website.)

This was tweeted today (April 3, 2012) by First Lady Michelle Obama, who is one of nearly 250 individuals, media outlets, or organizations I presently follow on Twitter. (My Twitter "handle" is @Carstens71)

If you click the tab that says "Featured" in the lower lefthand corner of the Google Art Project website, one of these items invites you to "Explore the White House with the First Lady of the United States of America."

Yet even after signing in with my gmail account password, it was hard to enter this new White House tour on the site - perhaps there was either a temporary glitch or something was wrong with my (likely outdated) PC browser.

Leaving aside my initial confusion at navigating this site, it clearly serves as an excellent online compilation of high-resolution images of artworks located in museums and galleries all over the world, from the Acropolis Museum to the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.

In Washington, D.C., for instance, the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries have also been included.

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and Frick Collection were moreover among the first museums included on the site.

Google Art Project, a real treat for anyone who wishes to view great art online, was launched in 2011.

Snapshot of Snapshot @ The Phillips

So I made it to the Phillips Collection for an excellent art talk yesterday, which I have not had much time to blog about today.

Suffice it to say for now that the Snapshot exhibition is a rare treat because it not only involves some great paintings by post-Impressionist masters such as Vuillard and Bonnard, but it juxtaposes these with original photographs taken by the artists with the earliest Kodak cameras ever made. (Kodak, alas, declared bankruptcy just about a week before the show opened!)

As one of the curators who spoke at the March 22 art talk I attended underscored, this is a truly unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these photos up close - and adjacent to the paintings by the artists that were sometimes inspired by them - before they go back into the "vaults" of family or museum archives. (Most of the images were culled by the exhibit's curators directly from the descendants of the artists in Europe.)

I plan to expound more on this exhibit at a later date - right now, however, I would like to recommend it to eveyone who is in DC right now - go see it! (I implore thee!)

Artful Evenings @ The Phillips

A quick glance this morning on my office PC at The Phillips Collection website has yielded yet another treasure trove of possibilities, including a panel discussion moderated by Phillips Director Dorothy Kosinski on the Snapshot show I've cited in an earlier blogpost.

Anyone working near the Dupont Circle area, or passing through there on their way home from work, would be well advised to check out the Phillips sometime, whether for a Thursday evening event or just to see some great art.

As I've also gushed about via this forum in the past, Spotlight Tours of individual artworks moreover provide quick, mini-tours (and mini-breaks from your daily grind!) at The Phillips on weekdays at high noon.

Mary Cassatt @ National Gallery of Art

Mary Cassatt: Maternal Kiss (1897)

Pennsylvania-born MARY CASSATT (1844-1926), who spent most of her adult life in France, was one of the few female painters to achieve the same level of recognition as her male counterparts when Impressionism flourished in 19th-century Paris.

Throughout the ages, the imaginations of male artists have been inspired by enticingly compliant muses or wildly unpredictable sirens - or both!

(I will omit a 1970s-style, radical-feminist analysis of the biblical virgin/whore stereotyping of women by men that continues in western society - most notably in some radically conservative segments of American society - until this very day. Just read Margaret Atwood's brilliant dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" or contemplate what really might lie behind new "policies" implemented in various US states ***recently*** that affect women's ***reproductive rights*** to imagine just how far some folks could "run" with this stuff, and why groups like Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women are still relevant today.)

Mary Cassatt: The Child's Bath (1893)
(Photos: Wikimedia Commons)

Some legendary male artists of Cassatt's era produced slightly voyeuristic visions of nude female models, dancers, or prostitutes that tended at times to take on an erotically charged flavor. This frisson of excitement, however, often breathed great life into their works (think Degas' dancers, Lautrec's ladies of the night, Manet's bold-faced "Olympia", etc.).

Cassatt, by constrast, primarily went about portraying people in more intimate, familial settings. And by people I mean mostly mothers and daughters (men are largely absent from her work). Cassatt painted scenes of women and children who led quite sheltered, Victorian-era, upper-crust lives (she was a woman of means herself). These touching maternal scenes were often set in interiors and conveyed the simple joy of tender daily moments, such as bedtime, bathtime or playtime for young children, their mothers looking fondly on or coddling them affectionately.

Inspired by my own recent blogpost on the National Museum of Women in the Arts, I decided to revisit one of my all-time-favorite Cassatt paintings, which just happens to be part of the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. (I would "bien sur" recommend going straight to the source to see the original work - no photographic reproduction of a painting can ever quite do the original justice. I also highly recommend the NGA cafeteria, gift shop and the gelato served at the coffee bar - a tasty summertime treat!)

The painting is called Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878) and I absolutely ADORE it. I love everything about it, especially the perspective used to depict a bored, dressed-up little girl slumped down into a huge armchair, her limbs all askance in a distinctly child-like, floppy way, and the tiny dog resting with an equal look of resigned ennui in another chair nearby. I also love the way still more chairs are cropped in the background (perhaps under the influence of Japanese-style painting, which was en vogue at the time and also inspired many of Cassatt's works). This close cropping, brings the viewers gaze back to the little girl and the tiny dog, and helps the eye to focus on the brushstrokes that indicate a floral pattern covering the blue chair the girl is sitting in in the foreground of the painting, which also does a good job (even if inadvertently) of observing the "rule of thirds" popular in modern photography.

Mary Cassatt: Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878)

When I was much younger I actually found Cassatt's work kind of dull compared to that of, say, Van Gogh, or even Monet, Degas, Seurat, Pissaro or Manet, whom I am particularly fond of. I really could not for the life of me understand when I was 18 or 19 why my own mother, who studied painting and sculpture at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in the 1960s, was so particularly moved by Cassatt's maternally infused impressionistic stylings. I wanted to see more crazed swirls and explosions of color along the lines of Vincent's works, or that of the brilliant French artist Andre Derain.

But NOW I get it - Cassatt's paintings are timeless classics and jewels in the crown of the entire impressionistic ouevre.

I could stare at "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair" for a really long time.

Women Artists @ NMWA

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653):
Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (Wikimedia Commons)

The National Museum of Women in the Arts is well worth a visit, and can be combined with any number of other dining, shopping or cultural offerings in DC's once half dead and now always bustling Penn Quarter/Chinatown neighborhood.

Right now the following exhibition sounds particularly cool at the NMWA:

ROYALISTS TO ROMANTICS: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles and Other French National Collections

Vive la France et Vive les Femmes!

(I once, incidentally, saw a film called "Artemisia," about a female artist trying to paint - and avoid being branded a scarlet woman - in male-dominated, 17th-century Italy. It attempted to chronicle the little-known life of Artemisia Gentileschi, who has fascinated many art lovers and artists over the centuries.)