Little Pictures, Big Lives: Snapshots from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art

Where: Archives of American Art

When: through October 3, 2011

The display area of the Archives of American Art is a room on the 1st floor of the American Art Museum, and because the space is fairly small, it's a great lunchtime excursion.

This display highlights the snapshots found in the papers and effects of American artists. They made photograph albums and carried around informal photos of friends and family, and this display puts many of these items together for public view. The description of the exhibit said that there is "a charm in capturing even the simplest of scenes," and I agree.

The snapshot album of Alexander Archipenko, a Russian sculptor, reminded me strongly of albums of my mother's. The careful labeling of pictures and the little corners stuck onto all of the photos were much the same. I suppose people don't really do this much anymore - everyone's pictures are on their phones or computers or in various emails.

I saw several photos of Alexander Calder, whose very interesting portrait exhibit just ended at the Portrait Gallery. I can see that the more exhibits I attend, the more overlap there will be between one show and another. A picture of the artist Walt Kuhn taken in 1911 in Ogunquit, Maine caught my eye. My husband and I visited Ogunquit once, and although the snapshot is now 100 years old (amazing a little snap could last that long), the view is not much changed.

Another quote from the notes that took my fancy: "As much as photographs appear to be a tissue of memory, they are also projections of all that we want to believe about ourselves and our connectedness to others." Photographs are faithful records of a moment in time, but how much that moment is reflective of the truth of our lives is another matter entirely.

Verdict: Do go see this small show. It's an easy lunchtime outing, and you'll probably have the space to yourself.

Artists at Work

Where: Ripley Center

When: through October 2, 2011

This show, on the walls of the concourse on the Ripley's 3rd floor, is a display of works of art by people who work for the Smithsonian. Some are full-time employees, others are interns, still others are volunteers. It's amazing to me how incredibly talented these people, most of whom are not professional artists, are. I don't think an exhibit of artwork by myself and my co-workers would be worthy of display anywhere, let alone at the Smithsonian.

Several pieces that caught my eye:

• Jooseal Lee's Nostalgia (Paper Clothes) was three dresses, made of paper, hanging on hangers on the wall. There was something creepy about the piece - those dresses in tatters, as if something sinister had happened to them.
• Laura Erekson's Lake Audubon - Erekson is an intern at the Hirshhorn, nevertheless, I liked her piece, a black and white of a lake with trees. I had to look closely to see where the sky ended and the water began.
• Doug Dunlop's Alchemical Consciousness - Dunlp is a metadata librarian, which I think means he works in cataloging. I wanted to like this piece, as he's a fellow librarian, but I couldn't quite manage to.
• Patrick Rizer's Orchids - a lovely piece in copper and bronze, it reminded me of the orchid exhibit I'd seen recently at the Sackler.
• Huston Dove's Untitled - despite the name, it's an interesting picture of water cascading out of the dam at the Prettyboy reservoir. Dove is a cataloger at the Smithsonian Library.

Verdict: It's a fairly large show, as shows tend to be at the Ripley, so allow plenty of time to look at everything. Well worth a trip, not just for the art, but also to appreciate the many talents of the people who bring us so many worthwhile things at the Smithsonian.

In the Tower: Nam June Paik

Where: National Gallery of Art, East Building

When: through October 2, 2011

I decided on my recent visit to the East Building's Tower exhibit space that it really functions as a mini-Hirshhorn. Everything that's really weird goes in there. Accordingly, I have lowered my expectations for the exhibits I see in the space, although I'm still miffed by the idea that I have to climb so many steps to see the weirdness; that's one thing you can say for the Hirshhorn, they don't wear you out until you're actually in the exhibit.

This offering, by the Korean artist, Nam June Paik, is plenty odd. There's one room that holds a lighted candle - an actual candle with an actual flame. The flame being real, it flickers, as flames do. This is captured by a camera, hooked up to multiple projectors which show the candle all over the walls of the room. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that all of the candles are really the same flame - some of the projections are at angles or upside down. Also in this room is an egg sitting on a table, which is also projected on a screen next to the actual egg. Then, next to that, is another projector with an egg inside it. It's very difficult to describe, but rest assured, it's as goofy as I'm making it sound.

All of this I can handle; yes, it's odd and over the top, but what the heck, it's not like I'm thinking of projecting images of candles on the wall - more power to him, I say. In the next room, there's a 19th century Chinese scroll with a illuminated red hand on it that blinks on and off - fine with me. What I do object to is the display of the artists' doodles and random scrawls. If he was passing these off as art, then truly there's a sucker born every minute. One person's scrawls are no more artistic than another person's in my view - perhaps this is because I'm not making a fortune selling my scrap paper to the National Gallery.

Also in this second room is a video about the artist and his partnership with a female cellist. He created a TV bra that she wore while playing the cello - the original boob tube, as he described it.

Verdict: If you need some exercise anyway, have a look at this exhibit. I enjoyed sitting in the room with the candles, but the scrawls are just irritating.

Glimpse of the Past: A Neighborhood Evolves

Where: National Portrait Gallery

When: through September 25, 2011

Although this is listed as being at the Portrait Gallery, it's really not - it's right in the middle of the museum, so neither Portrait Gallery nor American Art. I guess you could say it's a portrait of a neighborhood? The show features pictures and narrative about the Penn Quarter, the part of downtown DC that's between Pennsylvania Avenue and Chinatown. It happens to be the neighborhood where I work, so it held particular interest for me. Well do I remember the days when you hurried through the streets in daylight and didn't go there at all at night. My friends and I referred to this area as the peruquerie district, as it contained so many seedy wig shops.

In the early part of the 20th century, however, the area was thriving. Looking at the pictures from that time period, it was easy to recognize the blocks I walk down every day - the stores were different, but the atmosphere was similar. Suburbanization and the riots that occurred after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King led to the decline of the area, and by the time I first arrived in the city in the early 1980s, it was a very undesirable location. The pictures from that time were much harder to identify - the buildings were the same as they are now, but they all looked nasty - either boarded up or housing unsavory businesses.

There was a chromolithograph of the Patent Office, that looks just the same as it does today. Pierre L'Enfant had originally intended that the space be used for a national cathedral or pantheon of American heroes - the more pragmatic Americans of the time decided on a building to house the Patent Office instead. Amazingly, Congress considered tearing the building down on two occasions - when I think of the many happy hours I've passed in this building (it's now the home of the Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum) the thought is too dreadful to contemplate. Luckily, the first time demolition was contemplated, the local merchants were pacified with a widening of F Street, which necessitated the removal of a large staircase. The second time, in the 1950s, President Eisenhower was persuaded by David Finley, the director of the National Gallery of Art, to turn the building to its present purpose. I was heretofore ignorant of your role in enriching my life, Mr. Finley, but please accept the thanks of this grateful blogger!

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, senator from New York, was also instrumental in revitalizing the Penn Quarter area. He worked under four presidents to put forth his plans for rebuilding the neighborhood - I'm sure he would be delighted to see it so vibrant today. The exhibit contains a wonderful bronze of Moynihan, done by Pat Oliphant, which is worth the trip to the show all on its own. It really captures his expression and energy.

I also discovered that several historic buildings were demolished to make way for the MLK Library, which is described as a "decrepit eyesore." I could not agree more with this assessment - what that structure needs is a can of gasoline and a lit match. It stands out in the neighborhood like a sore thumb, and is ugly and depressing to look upon. One can only hope that in some future redesign, it will go the way of the buildings it replaced.

Verdict: If you have any interest at all in the Penn Quarter neighborhood, or DC history in general, do go see this small display. It's easily seen in a lunch hour, even if you dawdle!

Capital Portraits: Treasures from Washington Private Collections

Where: National Portrait Gallery

When: through September 5, 2011

Most of the pieces in this show have never been exhibited before, as they reside in private collections. People have inherited these pieces, or purchased them for their artistic merit or sat for them, but none of them belong to museums. The time periods displayed run through the colonial period through to the present day, and one gets a look at the changes in portraiture along with the portraits themselves.

One that caught my eye was of a family of women, a Mrs. Church, her daughter and her daughter-in-law. They are pictured sitting together, the daughter-in-law handing Mrs. Church a letter, which family history suggests was information that Mrs. Church's son, the daughter-in-law's husband, was in fact not her husband at all. He had been proved a bigamist, as his divorce from his first wife was never finalized. Why, I wondered would one wish to have this moment painted?

Another piece was of Phoebe Caroline Elliott Pinckney - I was struck by her resemblance to Jacqueline Kennedy. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, was it the expression, the smile, the eyes? Whatever it was, I found the likeness uncanny.

I also saw a sculpture by Hiram Powers, whose scultpure The Greek Slave was much discussed in the exhibit notes for the Capitoline Venus - nothing like having one's lessons reinforced.

Another piece of interest is a small picture of Mamie Eisenhower, done by Dwight Eisenhower. It's not great art, but he managed to get her expression very well, and isn't that what portraiture is all about?

Verdict: A nice show, but quite large. In order to do this in a lunch hour, you'll have to resist the urge to dawdle.

Declaration of Independence: The Stone Copy

Where: National Gallery of Art, West Building

When: through September 5, 2011

On the same day I went to see the Capitoline Venus, I also went to see this copy of the Declaration of Independence. It was created at the request of then Secretary of State John Quincy Adams
(who was not, contrary to current popular belief, a Founding Father). Adams realized that the original Declaration was showing signs of age and wear, and asked William J. Stone to create a facsimile. Of the 200 copies of this facsimile that were made and distributed to the living signers and other government officials, only 31 still survive.

Stone's original engraving is what is on display, in a small room filled, appropriately enough, with portraits by Gilbert Stuart, including pictures of the first five Presidents of the United States. Although the Continental Congress ordered that a large and legible copy of Jefferson's manuscript be made, I must say, reading the text was quite challenging. At my eye level were the signatures, and the famous and the forgotten are mixed in together, with John Hancock's name prominently at the top. Seeing this document, one remembers that the signers were taking their lives in their hands, and one is thankful they were willing to do so.

Verdict: Do make time to see this; although it's more history than art, it's a lovely item. Seeing this document and the Venus is quite easily managed in a lunch hour, and one will come away feeling it was time well spent.

A Masterpiece from the Capitoline Museum, Rome: The Capitoline Venus

Where: National Galley of Art, West Building

When: through September 5, 2011

For the first time since 1797, when it was seized by Napoleon and taken to Paris, the Capitoline Venus has left Rome. Happily, its current journey is a loan, rather than a heist, and it will return safely to the Capitoline Museum when its visit here is over.

The Capitoline Venus is one of the best preserved examples of Roman art in the world; it dates from the 2nd century AD. Found in the 1670s buried under a garden, it was in very good condition. It really is amazing how art can survive upheavals and cataclysms to delight viewers hundreds of years later.

The statue itself is beautiful, so lifelike you expect it to climb down from its plinth and walk about. There is much to appreciate here, both in its antiquity and in the talent of the sculptor.

I'm happy to report that, although the mad woman who attacked a Gaugin painting earlier in the summer returned to the National Gallery recently and tried to damage a Matisse, she apparently did not realize a naked statue was on display in the main rotunda. I understand from the newspaper accounts that she is now under lock and key, so our nation's collection of priceless art is safe from her insanity, at least for the moment.

Verdict: Do not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see this tremendous piece. I think it's marvelous that the Italians have lent the Venus to the National Gallery, and it was wonderful to see it.