Lots of Photography

Where: National Gallery of Art

When: In Light of the Past runs through July 26; The Memory of Time runs through September 13

On May 3, two photography shows opened at the National Gallery of Art.  One, In Light of the Past, is in honor of the 25th anniversary of the museum's photography collection (yes, 1990 is 25 years ago, I can't believe it either); the other, The Memory of Time is a survey of pieces collected with Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund.  I liked both of these shows, and both of them are worth your time, but if push comes to shove, In Light of the Past is a good show, and The Memory of Time is a great one.

Light is a historical survey of photography from the early 1840s to the late 1970s.  The first piece you see is the one pictured here - a still life by Roger Fenton, establishing the genre's connection to painting.  The dark color chosen for the walls also makes you feel as if you're looking at a room of Old Master pieces.  My favorite works in the first two rooms were some photographs of the American West; I was reminded of a show I saw at American Art on this topic and how it made me want to travel there.

One of the most interesting things in this exhibit is how the look and feel of it changes between the second room and the third.  It made me realize that I don't think I've ever been to a show before where the color scheme is one thing to start and another to finish.  It makes sense, since the third and fourth rooms contain more modern art, and the light walls and different font for the wall notes goes along with that.

The other great thing about this show is that I saw some "familiar faces" on the walls.  Artists or photographs that I'd seen before made me realize how often I come to the National Gallery and how much of each show I do retain in my memory.  Very gratifying, I must say.

Memory is also photography, but a very different show than Light.  This is all modern art; there's nothing older than the early 1990s.  This is truly photography as art, about as far away from the photos of your kid's birthday party as it's possible to get.

In the present day, everything can be shared with everyone, and photography is no longer the last word on "what really happened."  Of course, for those of us who saw the National Gallery's Faking it, we know that photographs have been capable of being manipulated for as long as photography has been around.  Still, now everyone can use Photoshop to create a new record of the past, and a new way of looking at the present.

There was something interesting or intriguing or unexpected in every room of this show, from the ghost-like photos of David Maisel to the "Houses of Parliament, London" (pictured above) by Idris Khan that recall Monet's Parliament paintings.  So much creativity, so many ways of using photographic equipment; I'm hoping to see this show again, just so I can marvel at it all anew.

Verdict: As I said above, both shows are worth your time.  If you can only get to one, see The Memory of Time.

Heavy Metal at the National Gallery

Where: National Gallery of Art

When: through July 26, 2015

Before I saw this exhibit, I'd never heard of metalpoint, a drawing technique that began in the Middle Ages and continues to be practiced today.  The National Gallery's website offers this description of the technique:

An artist working in metalpoint uses a sharp, pointed 
instrument (a stylus) with a metal tip to draw on paper, 
parchment, or wood that has been specially coated. As 
the stylus travels across this slightly abrasive ground, a 
small amount of metal is scraped off and remains behind,
 creating a line.

Pieces done in metalpoint have a precision to them that I like very much.  You can see how painstaking the artist has to be to create in this medium, and that's after the ground is prepared.  To see all the work that goes into making a surface that will receive the metal, check out this video from the Gallery's website, which is also playing in the exhibit itself: http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/audio-video/video/silver-gold-johns.html.html.

I was especially glad to see pieces by Albrecht Durer, with whose work I had become familiar in a National Gallery show from 2013.  His "Dog Resting" is wonderful - you almost expect the animal to rise up when you approach.  The other piece that caught my eye was one by Andrew MacCallum, "Forest of Scots Firs."  It's a landscape, which is unusual for metalpoint.  What I liked best was the highlighting on the trees - you can almost feel the sunlight.

Also on display is a stylus, so you can see the instrument used to create these pieces - a nice touch, since I can only assume that others are as unfamiliar with this technique as I am.

Verdict: An interesting show, manageable in a lunch hour.

Lots of Yasuo Kuniyoshi

If you are a fan of Yasuo Kuniyoshi or, like me, you've never heard of him before, but would like to know more about this major figure in American modernism, head right over to the Smithsonian American Art Museum for two exhibits on this Japanese-American artist.

Because the small show put up by the museum's archives closes in July, and the major retrospective in the museum proper closes in August, I went to see the archives exhibit first.  I would recommend this, especially for anyone who, like myself, is unfamiliar with Kuniyoshi and his work.  By seeing the archives show first, you get a sense of him as a man, as an artist and as an activist which will stand you in good stead when you go to the see the big show.

Kuniyoshi was born in Japan, but came to the United States as a teenager and spent the rest of his life here.  He had intended to stay a short while and learn enough English to return to Japan as a teacher.  Instead, instructors at the high school he attended noticed his artistic talent, and he stayed in the United States, becoming a member of artistic circles in New York and Ogunquit, Maine (a lovely small town in the southern-most part of the state that I have been fortunate enough to visit).  Considered one of the most brilliant painters of his era, he was named an "enemy alien" during WWII, and was deprived of his camera (Kuniyoshi was a very talented photographer, as well as a painter and printmaker), his radio and his binoculars.  He was limited in his movements and under the eye of the U.S. government for the duration of the war.

This feeling of alienation, of being outside the mainstream, of separateness from society comes though in his works.  Many of his paintings are of circus performers, another group on the outskirts of American society.  The picture above is of a strong woman and a boy, perhaps her son.  Neither of the figures look directly at the viewer; they keep their distance, even while being put on display.

Many of his paintings show pain and alienation; I found myself enjoying the show, but also feeling a sense of sadness as I looked at the pieces.  One of a group entitled "Maine Family," I found reminded me of a Charles Addams drawing, and the Addams family is nothing if not unlike the run-of-the-mill suburban parents and children.

Verdict: Worth spending some time in both shows.  The archives display is very manageable in a lunch hour; you'll have to move quickly to see everything in the big show in a short amount of time.

We Three Kings

Where: National Gallery of Art

When: through July 5, 2015

There's nothing I like better than seeing works of art that haven't been seen in a long time, or won't ever be seen outside of their home country again or haven't been together in many years.  The three paintings by Rubens meant to represent the "Three Magi" who came to bring gifts to the infant Jesus were painted around 1618 for a friend of Rubens (who had been named after one of the kings; his two brothers had been named after the others).  They currently reside in three different museums and haven't been on display in one place in over 130 years.

The National Gallery owns the middle aged king and is the reason they aren't often together.  The terms of the gift of the painting from Chester Dale mandate the the painting not only never be sold, but also that it is not allowed to travel to another museum.  I have no problem with stipulating that a painting can't be sold, but to insist that it never be loaned?  That seems wrong to me.  So many people will never have an opportunity to travel to Washington, why not make a piece available to other museums in other places?  What if some other museum was putting on a big Rubens show?  Wouldn't it make sense to get as many pieces together as possible?

Oh well, I'm fortunate enough to live here in the DC area, so I can take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity and see all the kings on one wall.  Even though these are not portraits of actual kings, they are certainly realistic.  The young king with his bright eyes and glowing box; the middle aged king with his fine robes and the old king, with his kindly expression of having seen much in his lifetime all are more then symbolic - they look like real people.

In Antwerp, where Rubens' friend lived, the story of the Magi had great resonance.  It was a city that operated for international trade, so the idea of traveling monarchs carrying goods was one that the city adopted readily.  The old king, whose portrait now resides in Puerto Rico and the middle-aged king are now far distant from Belgium, but the young king remains in Belgium.

Verdict: How could you pass up the chance to see these paintings in a group?  The only thing better would be if it were Christmas time!

Hawaii by Air

Where: National Air and Space Museum

When: through July 2015

Hawai'i is one of the most remote places on earth.  If you look at a map, it's in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, many hours flight, even from the West Coast of the United States.  There are 120 islands in the chain, which is far more than I realized.  In addition to the major islands that make up most people's vacation itinerary, there are numerous smaller atolls and islets.

People have been traveling to Hawai'i for hundreds of years, mostly by water.  Although it was originally used by sailors as a way station, some visitors went purely for pleasure, including, in 1866, Mark Twain, who fell in love with the islands and included a description of them in his book Roughing It.  In 1898, the United States annexed the islands and the number of visitors increased.  In the 1920s wealthy travelers took luxury liners to see the sights, and Waikiki Beach became a tourist destination.  For those who couldn't make the journey, Hawai'i came to American homes via a radio show called "Hawai'i Calls," which featured island music.

Flying clipper ships replaced ocean liners, and passengers traveled to the islands in first class - the only class there was.  After World War II, more airlines were able to fly to Hawai'i, and the trip became both faster and cheaper.  Now, it's hard to think of Hawai'i as remote, as so many people have made the trip.

The display is informative and well done; I was delighted to see several signs directing visitors both to other exhibits at Air and Space, as well as to other displays on the Mall.  Finally, a little cross-referencing!  Was that so hard?  One can only hope that other museums will pick up on this idea.

As much as Air and Space is not my favorite museum, I have seen some intriguing shows there, and happily, this one was located on the west side of the first floor, which is much less crowded than other parts of the building.

Verdict: If you're at all interested in Hawai'i or the history of travel generally, have a look at this small show - easily managed in a lunch hour.

Our Lives: Contemporary Life and Identities

Where: National Museum of the American Indian

When: through July 6, 2015

This is one of the major display areas of the NMAI, and I'm assuming it was formerly a permanent exhibit.  It's quite good, although too large for a lunch time visit, unless you work across the street from the museum and can waste no time in travel to and fro.  I work a good distance from this part of the Mall, so I'm always in a hurry when I visit.  That's why I like the shows in the Sealaska Gallery so much: they're small enough that I can see them without rushing.

The exhibit is well-organized; in the middle of the very large space is general information on the current-day lives of Native Americans.  Around the walls are information on individual Indian tribes from around the country.  There's even a group (who are not officially recognized as a tribe) in Virginia, which was news to me.

Each group lives differently and faces different challenges in incorporating their traditional way of life into modern American society.  Two of the tribes must deal with living on opposite sides of borders: one group in the United States and Canada and the other group in the United States and Mexico.  When the boundaries between the nations were established, the tribe members were given the right to move freely back and forth, but maintaining those rights has been a struggle over the years.

One can only wonder what will go in this space after this show closes next July.  The issue of how Native Americans hold on to their culture, while living in the United States is one that I think would resonate with many people whose ancestors came from other countries and had to decide how much of their old ways to abandon in order to become Americans.  We can only hope something equally thought-provoking will move into this area on the 3rd floor.

Verdict: You've got plenty of time to see this show before it closes next summer.  You may want to take a couple of lunch hours in order to see all of it.