Saturday, December 31, 2022
National Gallery of Art: Sargent in Spain
John Singer Sargent is, perhaps, my favorite artist of all--and certainly when I am in the midst of his art, the others take a back seat. What do you get from him? Technique? Unassailable! It doesn't matter the medium. Pencil/charcoals? Check, Oils? Check. Watercolor? Check! Once he set to preserve an image to paper/canvas, the result was so imbued with life--that you cannot but stand in awe of it. I have never seen the smallest of sketches that did not speak volumes of Sargent's craft, insight, and love. I am convinced, that as easily as you or I breath the air, John Singer Sargent loved everything that he immortalized with his art.
The exhibition "Sargent in Spain" covers a handful of trips that he took there, a small representation of the images that he created there, and the influence of those trips and works on his final opus: The Public Library in Boston, Massachusetts. Sargent toured Spain three times in the late 1800's and again in 1903, 1908/09, and finally in 1912.
Sargent painted "The Infanta Margarita" after Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo in 1879.
The next room featured a range of works around his fascination with Flamenco dancing and the 19th-century master, Carmencita. She is the inspiration for a handful of large scale paintings, including the iconic "El Jaleo"--a centerpiece of the collections of the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston. The original was not part of the exhibition; yet several sketches and "studies" for the work were. And perhaps most interesting of all was the inclusion of a short film of Carmencita dancing from the Thomas Alva Edison early film collection in the Library of Congress. She is actually performing in the same yellow dress that Sargent painted her in.
Christmas Tree @ the Canadian Embassy, Washington, DC
Friday, December 30, 2022
Baltimore Museum of Art: Derrel Ellis -- Regeneration
Baltimore Museum of Art: Omar Ba -- Political Animals
One of the greatest things about the Baltimore Museum of Art is how it embraces its mission of bringing a full range of international and national contemporary artists to the public's attention. Currently the works of Omar Ba and Darrell Ellis are featured in focus exhibitions.
Ba is a Senegalese painter whose works reflect a limited palate and an intricate, intimate and engaging compositional style. Many works at first glance appear to have elements of tatted lace and embroidery work suggesting the idea of quilting, of assemblage of repurposed components, a constructed community, a redemption. When you read about the author's life and inspirations, you recognize aspects within the works reflecting the contemporary realities and controversies of life in a modern west African city like Dakar--issues inextricably tied to the larger world of international greed, exploitation and political power. A corrupt and unjust world. And yet, I was drawn to the tenderness and universal humanity expressed in the figures Ba nearly always builds this paintings around. It seemed to suggest the resilience of the people, their ability to retain their dignity and transcend these circumstances beyond their control. Like the proverbial onion, the more you peel one of Ba's paintings, the more you discover to wonder at.This is Ba's first solo exhibition at a major American Art Museum, it is hard to imagine that it will be his last. These 15 works will be on exhibit into April of 2023.
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Baltimore Museum of Art: Coming Attractions: The John Waters' Collection
Visited the Baltimore Museum of Art today with friends. One of the impetuses was a recent visit they had made from which my friend spoke of this special exhibition. "Coming Attractions: The John Waters' Collection" is not only a tongue in cheek nod to the Baltimore icon's work in cinema, but a reminder that the works have all been bequeathed to the BMA upon his death.
Among the works presented, the motif of the phallus is rather ... present...dominant...evident, swelling, throbbing, LARGE! throughout the works. Once you see it, and it does not take a genius to see it! You see it everywhere! From something as pedestrian and innocuous as a coat hook, to the facile column of a child's stuffed toy. As one of my friends agreed during a discussion of this, "The man loves his penises."
But what I loved most of all was that, works by artists like Andy Warhol and Peter Hujar notwithstanding, the collection features artists of little note in the wider world. This brilliant artist in his right, chose works that he found delightful regardless of what anyone else thought of them. And in time, the entirety of the collection tells a story that became immensely valuable. Interestingly enough, the Baltimore Museum of Art has a track record of this sort of thing. Their entire modern art wing is predicated on the collection of the Cone Sisters, who amassed a group of over 3,000 post impressionists European works when no one thought artists like Matisse and Gauguin would actually amount to much.
From the exhibit, "Coming Attractions: The John Waters Collection," selected works.
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Shakespeare Theatre Company: Jane Anger
Here's some more fun, Talene Monahon's play, "Jane Anger." In it she brings Jane to life in the writing room of Shakespeare's London apartment, along with an aspiring actor named Francis and Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. It is 1606, and yet another plague is raging. Shakespeare is a arrogant, cad with writer's block, Francis is a sycophantic, youth obsessed fan who becomes his servant, and Anne Hathaway is an overly earnest, chatterbox with suppressed violent tendencies. To be honest, all of these characters are so multi-dimensional, another person could rightly have described any of them in other terms without contradicting my assessment--it is the nature of farce! And this is a far-flung farce, full of fun and silliness and more than few pointed jabs at the state of misogyny in society both then and now.
This production with the same cast was first staged Off-Broadway at the New Ohio Theater last February and March to great critical acclaim. It is clear from the get-go that the quartet have a wonderful chemistry together formed over time, and rekindled here. Amelie Workman's Jane Anger sets the stage from the moment she first appears, addressing the audience directly and then never fully calling up that magical wall. The other characters play it straight, until one moment over halfway through the performance when in a peek of frustration, Jane calls up the house lights and announces, "Behold! The Audience!" Shakespeare responds with, "Have you been watching us this whole time?" The zaniness continues to spiral until in scene reminiscent of Monty Python, Anne Hathaway slices off one of her husband's arms. Torrents of blood spray forth, only to have the act repeated to his other arm by Jane Anger. Workman is commanding and compelling--the voice of modern reason trapped in an era when women had neither a voice or where thought to be reasonable.
The author herself, Talene Monahon, plays Anne Hathaway to great comic delight. Ryan Spahn's wit-challenged hanger-on-er is likewise funny, and endearing, and ready to grab the melodrama with abandon. Michael Urie's partner in real life, some of his sexual physicality with Urie's Shakespeare--who swings on whatever swing is at hand--somehow felt less bawdy, but that's no doubt the linger prude in me! And Michael Urie. Just WOW. I had seen him play Hamlet here back in 2018. Not up to the challenge. Not horrible, just lacking that compelling spark that you cannot fake with Shakespeare's leading characters. I wanted to give him a second chance--and I was honestly blown away. Comedy is clearly his forte. Laugh out loud funny, fearless, easy on the eyes and easy in the skin of the character. His every moment on the stage was just a joy.
I don't know what I expected from this play, but what I got was something else. Something with wit, intelligence, surprises even. Something better than I could have imaged. On stage until January 8th. I rate this one a go to.
Friday, December 23, 2022
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company: A Christmas Carol
What a delightful production! Just perfect for the Holidays.
I've only been to Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in Baltimore one time before to see "Measure for Measure." This was in the winter of 2020, pre-pandemic. I remembered it as an intimate space, but forgot just how intimate and magical it is. Built to fill up three stories of the cavernous lobby of one of Baltimore's leading 19th century Mercantile Banks, it embodies the spirit of Shakespeare's own Globe Theatre with three levels of 3/4 wrap around seating. On the stage level there are only four rows of seats straight on and stage left, and 3 rows stage right. Second tier mezzanine has two rows, and the third level mezzanine only one. The seats deserve a nod. They are two person wide (and amply measured) drop down upholstered benches without arm rests. They are hands down the most comfortable seats anywhere in the region! And a cash bar with soft drinks and snacks is open throughout every production with patrons encouraged to get up at any time to help themselves...in the absolute spirit of the Globe. In the two productions I've attended, everyone has politely waited until intermission. There is also always a lottery to give away a bottle of wine to one lucky patron.This production began with a carol sing-a-long of traditional songs like "The First Noel" and "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" led by three of the ensemble members of the cast. The Play was infused with lots of music. Scenes from the original story that are left out of every modern version I've every seen become an excuse to add in a Christmas sea shanty sung by sailors battling a storm on the open seas and a Black Gospel Christmas song sung by forgotten factory workers. Both are additional stops on Scrooge's even with the Ghost of Christmas Present. All the principles were ready and able to deliver bold and also, at times, nuanced performances. The only character that seemed at all stiff was a understudy for an actress who's run was cut short by Covid, and who performed a lesser role. Tiny Tim was also, ironically, stricken with the latest variant and had a sweet, if stilted young stand in. While the bio of the original actor described him as a 4th grader, this swing was, at best in second grade, a little lamb lost in the sauce, but ready to deliver the two zingers that are essential to the whole show.
The set was versatile and easy to spin from one scene to the next, transformed by the cast in due course with the story telling. The costumes were lush and luscious. Laura Rocklyn's adaptation was replete with the author's words in both dialogue and narrative delivered by members of the ensemble randomly yet woven together like a comfortable blanket. Stand out performances include the party led by Mr. (Michael Salconi) and Mrs. (Molly Moores) Fezziwig in the company of the Ghost of Christmas Past. Troy Haines-Hopper as the Ghost of Christmas Present delivered a joyous, ebullient and ultimate poignant performance. Although a brief role in the first act, J. Bradley Bowers portrayal of poor departed Jacob Marley with intense and really set the bar for everyone else. But the glue that holds the show together is Scrooge himself and Gregory Burgess as glues go was Gorilla Glue 100%. He was both every inch the embittered miser, and then inch by inch he melted into a new man, a better man, a repentant man. In moments of remorse and self-awareness, can I say, I wiped away tears? This is the power of the stage in hands of a seasoned actor with the skill and talent to bring to life the character they are embracing.
My seat was one in from the aisle on an angled bench, Row B, stage right. I was joined by a nice young Black man named Justin. We shared some casual banter before the show and at intermission. While the cast was interracial, the audience was over 90% white. The CSC offers a HUGE discount for attendees under age 25; it was Justin's first time at this theatre. I suppose he's exactly the demographic that they are hoping to snag. I tried to do my part to encourage him to come back. And except that today's performances are this production's last, I would have also tried to get everyone I know to buy a ticket and see it, too.
Some of the Press Photos from the show. Unfortunately, the bio pics in the program for a good third of the actors are older than the dust on King Tut's Tomb! Well, okay, not THAT old--but old enough to make me have to really think hard to connect the dots between the picture and the person I just watched perform on stage. This is a pet peeve on mine, it really is. If I ran a theatre company, and someone wanted to act in a production that was being staged there, they would have to have a certified head shot taken within 18 months of the show. Period. Not negotiable. No one attending should look at a picture in the program and thing, who the hell was that? Just sayin'...