Welcome Back to the Third Floor

Where: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

When: through August 6, 2016

I don't know exactly how long the third floor of the Hirshhorn has been closed for renovations, but it has now re-opened.  I went to see their inaugural show, thinking that perhaps the exhibit spaces would be less sterile and off-putting.  Only one guess as to whether my hopes were realized.

Of course, it's every bit as uninviting as it was before the renovation, although I have no doubt that whatever needed to be fixed was attended to.  If you go expecting big changes in the look and feel of the place, you need to adjust those expectations.

So, given that the exhibit space looks just the same as it ever did, what about the show itself?  Well, it's the Hirshhorn, so it's pretty much the same mishmash of awful things, mixed with a few items that are not terrible.  How's that for a rousing recommendation?

As you enter the show, you are greeted by Big Man, an enormous sculpture of a naked man, crouching in a corner, looking at you with distaste.  Not the most welcoming figure, but I suppose we might as well begin as we mean to go on.  His expression is quite menacing if you view him from the side (his head is slightly turned, so he's looking at the viewer sideways), but rather less so if you view him straight on.  Of course, then you have a view of his manly bits, which makes one feel a bit like a voyeur, so it's an uncomfortable piece no matter how you slice it.

Early on, you get an actual treat - a Thomas Struth photograph of people in a museum.  I really love this idea, so am always happy to see one of this series.  This particular shot is very clean and open and airy; I feel good just remembering it.  I don't know if any of the Smithsonian museums or the National Gallery has had a show devoted to his work, but I wish they would.

Then we move on to a niche of de Kooning and Giacometti works.  It's all so ugly and unsettling; I can't understand why anyone would want to look at this stuff, let alone own it.  My response to it is to curl up in a ball, pull the covers over my head and think, "This too shall pass."  Since I was in a public museum, I decided to forgo the acting out and scurry off to another room.

Reynier Leyva Novo, an artist heretofore unknown to me, was represented in the show with a piece entitled "5 Nights."  Novo uses INk software to show the weight, volume and area of various texts.  He had five different works on display - all of them big black squares.  They were the works of dictators - Hitler was the largest by far.  I'm not sure if that's a profound statement about how awful he was, even compared to other tyrants, or if it's just that he was more long-winded than the others.  Either way, it's thought-provoking.

Then, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a work by my old friend, Yves Klein.  This is one of those pieces he made by getting women to come to his studio, get naked, roll around in paint and then press themselves against paper.  I'll hand it to him, no one was better at conning women into taking their clothes off than old Yves, but don't ask me to call this art.

Verdict: I would go up to the third floor just to see the Struth photograph, but the rest of the stuff is pretty hit or miss.  Mostly miss.

Bits and Pieces of American History

Where: American History Museum

When: through late August and early September

I went over to the American History Museum and saw several things, all easily managed in a lunch hour.

The first was a Tucker automobile, a great idea that flopped due to insufficient financial backing.  It stressed its safety features,  but what stuck with me was how great it looked.

Another small display is on the role of glass in science, in the center cases on the first floor.  The Smithsonian has a collection of over 1,000 pieces of scientific glassware, which is pretty impressive.  It makes you realize what a tiny fraction of the institution's collection you see when you go to the museums. 

Also on display at present is Prince's Yellow Cloud guitar, which I think is the guitar pictured in the portrait that was up at the National Portrait Gallery.  The black and white photograph really didn't do this instrument justice - when I say it's yellow, I mean it's YELLOW.

Verdict: If you're at American History, it's worth seeing the guitar and the car.  The glassware, well, that's more of an acquired taste...

The Comics Section Visits the American Art Museum

Where: Archives of American Art

When: through August 21, 2016

The Archives has a new show on; I suppose it isn't really new, since it opened in April, but this was my first opportunity to see it, so it was new to me.  It runs through most of August, so if you're planning a trip to the SAAM/Portrait Gallery, you've got time to give this a glance.

The wall notes tell us that, "Artists find inspiration everywhere," and this show is an attempt to document some of that inspiration.  One of the artists featured was Ben Shahn, who worked for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression.  His work was the inspiration for the photographers featured in the "No Mountains in the Way" show I saw last week.

Ray Yoshida collected newspaper comic "specimens" - pictured at left, they're not full comics, but pieces of strips.  I had a lot of fun picking out images I recognize from the paper - I'm a big fan of the comics, and read almost all of them every day.  Apparently, I'm not the only one who loves the funnies; the side wall is a large reproduction of these cut-outs, and the Smithsonian is using this image on their website.

Verdict: It's not a terribly exciting show, but it's interesting.  Worth a glance if you're in the building anyway.

Updating the Victorians

Where: National Gallery of Art

When: through August 7, 2016

I've been to the National Gallery probably hundreds of times, but I'm still not familiar with every nook and cranny of the place.  This week, I went into a room I've never visited before, in search of some photographs by Tom Hunter.

This room is on the Concourse level, just before you turn to walk into the area with the big gift shop and the cafeteria.  It's so tucked away that, even though I've walked past it countless times, I had no idea it existed.

The exhibit is five photographs, each a reworking of an iconic Victorian painting.  The location for all the works is Hackney, a working class area in England.  Apparently, it's gentrifying now, but when these photos were taken it was still a bit gritty.  Each photograph has a small picture of the original painting next to it, so you can see the reference.  I like this idea and hope the NGA will do more of it.

The one pictured here is based on a painting that was part of the National Gallery's 2013 Pre-Raphaelite show - I recognized it right away, with its lush greenery, and floating woman.  The original was of Ophelia, the character from Hamlet.  This photograph is a representation of a woman who fell into a canal after a late night and drowned.  As I said earlier, a bit gritty.

Verdict: Worth a look, especially if you like photography or Victorian painting.