I Signed Up for ...

Given that I love The Phillips Collection so much and have seen many great art shows - as well as attended the odd lecture or concert - there over the years, I finally signed up today as an individual member.

Truth be told, I have no idea why I never did this before.

Here are some of the perks of an individual membership at the Phillips. For an annual fee of $60, you get:

• Unlimited free admission to special exhibitions and the permanent collection
• Members-only preview days for special exhibitions
• Discounts on events, lectures, and eductional programming
• Two one-day member passes to share with friends
• 10% discount in the museum shop and cafe
• 20% discount in the shop during member holiday shopping days
• Subscription to the e-newsletter

If you have a partner or family you can sign up for a dual membership. And if you have deep pockets you can sign up as a patron who gets invited to swanky exclusive events for special donors who support the museum.

The main reason I signed up as a regular, individual member now is that I really want to try and make it to this upcoming "Bonnard vs. Matisse" lecture on August 21 at the Phillips.

This is also the final week to see the MADE IN THE USA exhibition that ends on August 31.

On a separate note, I love the look and feel of this blog from the Phillips.

Let there be art!

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.

Dutch Treat @ National Gallery of Art

There is still plenty of time to savor this rare Dutch treat at the NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, but I though I'd flag it up right here, right now, just FYI as worth seeing if you were passing through the NGA anytime soon:

CIVIC PRIDE: GROUP PORTRAITS FROM AMSTERDAM
(March 10, 2012 - March 11, 2017)

National Gallery of Art/East Building interior (Gryffindor/Wikimedia Commons)

The finest Dutch 17th-century painters were masters at portraying both daily and patrician life in the Netherlands during its "Golden Age" and their work, once you see it up close, is always mesmerizing (whether individual paintings belong to your own catalogue of personal favorites or not). These paintings tend to draw viewers in with renditions of people going about the business of life that are often so realistic as to make you feel as if you were right there watching this 17th-century scene unfold yourself.

Before there was Van Gogh, with his brilliant swirls of color considered virtually "insane" during his short lifetime, there were these guys.