Art Show Catalogs

Where: National Gallery of Art

When: through September 16, 2016

There's a summer exhibit at the National Gallery's library, and it's on art show catalogs.

They span the centuries, from the late 1600s through the mid-twentieth century.  As different French artistic societies organized exhibitions, these catalogs provided a record of what was shown, often including pictures of the works.  Thus, they are important sources for art history and works of art unto themselves.

The display takes up two cases; all the catalogs on display are from the Gallery's collection.

Verdict: If you're interested in art history, this is worth a look.

Report from Far Afield

Where: Field Museum of Natural History

When: July 2016

Hello again faithful readers and apologies for my absence.  I was in the lovely city of Chicago this past weekend, at a law librarians' conference.  Yes, that's just as exciting as it sounds.

Amidst the wining, dining, meeting, and greeting, I found some time to go to a museum.  I realize there are people who go to new cities and don't go to a museum as their first activity, but I think they need to get their priorities in order.

I arrived on Friday afternoon, and within a couple of hours, was on my way to the Field Museum of Natural History.  I'd seen the Art Institute on a previous trip, which I blogged about here: The Art Institute of Chicago

My brother used to work at the Field Museum, and my grandparents had been very impressed with it when they honeymooned in Chicago in 1933, so I decided to honor my family connections and see it for myself.  Spoiler alert: it was well worth the trip.  From SUE, the world's largest and most complete T. Rex. who dominates the main entryway to Lucy, one of our human ancestors to the gem collection, to a display on lichen, to the mummies in the Egyptian room - it was all wonderful.  I could easily have spent an entire day there and still not seen everything.

The ultimate highlight was the special exhibition of The Terra Cotta Warriors.  I missed them when they were at the National Geographic Museum in DC, so this was a great second chance for me.  You don't get those often in life, so I decided to make the most of it.  The display was excellent - explaining the purpose of the warriors and their history, so that when you made your way into the room where several of them were on display, you understood what you were seeing.  The thought of thousands upon thousands of these pieces being buried for centuries and only discovered by accident just takes your breath away.  The enormity of it is awe-inspiring.

Verdict: If you are in Chicago, I highly recommend a visit to the Field Museum.  Allow a full day to see everything.  If you have limited time, download the app to get a highlights tour.

A Book is a Work of Art That You Can Hold and Touch

Where: African Art Museum

When: through September 11, 2016

It was so hot in DC yesterday when I went over to the African Art Museum to see this show that I felt like I'd walked all the way to Africa.  This is our first big heat wave of the summer, and I maintain the first one is always the worst.  One's body is not yet adjusted to the humidity, and one really feels it.  I'm looking forward to the fall...

The easiest way to get to this exhibit is to enter through the Ripley; it's just off the main concourse.  The cool temperatures so far below the ground were a delight, and the ordinarily quiet offices were buzzing with summer camp activity.  As much as the crowds of screaming boys who seem to live full-time at the Air and Space Museum get on my nerves, I do realize that children who have happy memories of the Smithsonian are likely to grow up to be adults who will support its funding (just like me!), so I sincerely hope the campers are enjoying themselves to the fullest.

The exhibit is an interesting one, showcasing a wide variety of different illustrated books.  The curators took a very broad view of what is an "artist's book," so these are books with lovely illustrations, or books where the illustrations are primary, with explanatory text, or books that are works of art in and of themselves.  The thing they all have in common is that they are either by African artists or about Africa.

In addition to the books, there is also a video running, of interviews with several of the artists.  If you have some extra time, this is worth watching.  I noticed that the wall notes seemed targeted to younger visitors, as I've observed in other of the museum's shows.  This is probably a good thing, in that children might not be inclined to go to an art museum (especially if Air and Space or Natural History beckon), so making an effort to make the art accessible to them is laudable.  It might not be what I would choose for myself, but I understand that it's not all about me.

Verdict: A nice exhibit, one that you could see with kids.

A Bit of Old Hollywood at the Portrait Gallery

Where: National Portrait Gallery

When: through September 11, 2016

The Portrait Gallery is offering viewers a walk down memory lane with this exhibit of TIME magazine covers featuring Hollywood stars.

The museum has a collection of the art featured on over 2,000 covers of the periodical, which I'm assuming must be the largest such collection in existence.  It makes for a rich source of exhibits, I'm sure; we've seen others before and will doubtless see more in future.

I do wonder, however, if this gives the publisher some free publicity - are these shows advertisements for TIME?  I realize that the art now belongs to the museum, so it's not as if they're showing works that are on loan from a private collection, which is frowned upon in museum circles.  Still, though, it did cross my mind...

As for the show itself, it's fine.  Nothing ground-breaking, famous Hollywood types that you've seen many times before.  The wall notes suggest that the pictures might stir memories of movies from yesteryear, so clearly, they're not targeting this to the younger set.

Verdict: If you're a fan of Hollywood celebrities, have a look.  Otherwise, not worth a special trip.

A So-So Show

Where: Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden

When: through September 5, 2016

I'm writing this on July 2 - how has half of 2016 gone by already?  I've seen some very fine things this year - WONDER stands out especially.  I wish I could tell you that this major exhibit of Robert Irwin works is another highlight of the year, but I am unable to do so.

It's certainly not the worst thing I've seen at the Hirshhorn, not by a long shot.  What it is, is forgettable.  I saw this just a few days ago, and I had to consult my notes to recall what I saw.  Usually, I look to my notes to remind me of the title of a particular piece or how to spell an artist's name, not to conjure up any recollection of the show at all.

There are a couple of works like the one pictured - they're really more shadow than anything else.  Not awful, not great.  Then there are some paintings with slashes of color across them; they're known as "pick up sticks" works.  Again, okay, I guess.  Eventually, there are fewer and fewer lines, until we're left with just a painted canvas in a solid color.  Sigh - I call this painting the living room, not art.

Then, we move on to "dot paintings."  These are exactly what you think - tiny dots.  You have to get very close to see them, and then all you're seeing is dots.  It's like some sort of anti-Seurat.  You have the dots, but no overall picture.

The show ends with something that is memorable, but very difficult to describe.  It's a site specific installation that I think is called something like "Squaring the Circle."  The idea is that it's a phony wall, made of scrim, that "squares" the circle that is the Hirshhorn building.  I wasn't sure what I was looking at, and the guards were so concerned that you not touch anything, that I felt sort of uncomfortable walking around it.  I noticed that at the ceiling, the wall seems to appear and fade as you approach and walk by.  Not a good description, I know.

Verdict: If you're at the Hirshhorn for something else, that final room is worth seeing.  Otherwise, you can skip this.  

From Start to Finish

Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum

When: through September 5, 2016

Every so often, I go to an exhibit not expecting very much and am surprised and delighted at what I see.  This Martin Puryear retrospective is one of those exhibits.  It's a collection of the prints and drawings he makes in preparation for his sculptures.  I'm not a big fan of prints and drawings, so I went more out of a sense of obligation (I go to see everything, so I'm going to go see this) than out of a strong desire to see these works, but I walked away a fan.

I think the most successful parts of the show are those in which either a finished piece or a model of the finished piece are shown along with the preparatory materials.  Seeing photographs doesn't really give you a sense of the final product the way a three-dimensional representation does.  This is sculpture after all, and it needs depth to work.

The piece with which I was most taken was "Face Down."  It's a bronze of a human head that is face down.  You don't see the face at all - in fact the thing that makes it a head, rather than a pitcher or other object are the small ears projecting from the sides.  I find that really fascinating all on its own - how one work can be a representation of divergent things, based on a small detail.

Then, to make this even better, in the next area of the exhibit space is a large wooden structure called "Vessel."  I realized right away that this is "Face Down" except in a much larger (and wooden) format.  I didn't notice any wall notes pointing this out, so I looked carefully to see if I was just imagining this, but, to my eyes anyway, the two pieces were identical.  The difference, other than the size and materials used, was that inside "Vessel" are a small wooden ball and a larger wooden(?) ampersand, covered with some sort of mesh with tar on it (I'm probably not describing this properly, but the point is that it's black, where as everything else about the piece is plain wood).

What does this mean?  I don't know, but I'd be very interested to find out.  I'm going to do some research and see if I can fine some analysis or explanation of his works.  They're tremendously intriguing, in that they draw you in, even if you don't exactly understand them.

Verdict: Go see this show - it's large, but not unmanageable for a lunch hour.

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.