Randuwa II: Washington DC

Showing posts with label Washington DC. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

The Art of Maps!

There are four major highways that enter/pass through our nation's capital, Washington, D.C. If you treat them like rivers. Then back map them turning all the other major roads into tributaries. You end up with this beautiful work of art!

Thursday, August 8, 2024

Phillips Collection: Where We Meet: Selections from the Howard University Gallery of Art and the Phillips Collection

The final formal exhibition at the Phillips Collection was displayed in the old manor house on the third floor. It was a selection of works from both the host collection and Howard University's Gallery of Art. Howard University is the HBCU of record in the Nation's Capital, and boasts an impressive alumni roster. Not least among them is Vice President Kamala Harris.

Full disclosure, I didn't realize the H.U. had an art gallery, and that fact along shames me greatly.

The exhibit was meant to be a dialogue between works from both museums. My only complaint was that it was so limited--only two rooms. Here are images and highlights from those rooms and I place a key in brackets with each painting PC for the Phillips Collection and HU for Howard University. Enjoy!

"Exodus," 1948 [HU]

Wifredo Lam, 1902 - 1982

Cuban

"Bullfight," 1934 [PC]

Pablo Picasso, 1881 - 1973

Spanish

Two works by

James Lesesne Wells, 1902 - 1993

American

TOP: "Journey to Egypt," 1931 [PC]

BOTTOM: "Adoration of the Magi," 1950 [HU]

"Jennie," 1943 [HU]

Lois Mailou Jones, 1905 - 1998

American

"Lemons and Tangerines," 1913 [PC]

Albert Andre, 1869 - 1954

French

"Harlem Belle," 1952 [HU]

Ellis Wilson, 1899 - 1977

American

"Flight into Egypt," 1936 [HU]

Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1859 - 1937

American

Confession: there are some artists whose works resonate with me so profoundly that I love them on first site. I know them even if I've never seen them before. Tanner is one of those artists. The moment I saw this painting on the wall, I gasped inside. What an exquisite joy! What a wonderful way to end this little snap shot, in flight to Egypt.

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

Phillips Collection: Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage

Old friends and the little focus show aside, the big game in town was a large show focused on collage. Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage is an exhibition curated by the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. It is an amazing collection of works by artists that are rarely ever shown in museums and certainly not to this extent. I was actually kind of pleased that I knew a couple of the artists (Mark Bradford and Wangechi Mutu). But perhaps even better were all the new artists the exhibit introduced me to! And now I get to share a few with you. I've chosen the works of 12 of the many artists and hope that they are representative. There are a few photos of the exhibit with works that I do not identify. I've included them to give you a little perspective on what the galleries looked like. Also, because the craft of collage is often so detailed and the details matter, I have included some close-ups of a few of the works. Enjoy!

"Modern:Ancient:Brown," 2021

McArthur Binion, 1946 -

I've included the placard to give you a sense of the dimensions of this work. It may seem minimalist. I thought of the Gee's Bend quilters. But a closer look revealed a much richer construction.

DETAIL: "Modern:Ancient:Brown"

"No It Ain't, Yes It Is," 2023

Brittney Boyd Bullock, 1987 -

"C'mon Shorty," 2002

Mark Bradford, 1961 -

"Family Freedom," 2021

Rod McGaha, 1961 -

"Airborne Double," 2022

Derek Fordjour, 1974 -

The richness of the artist's technique was fascinating.

DETAIL: "Airborne Double"

"The Supernova Suite," 2023

Genevieve Gaignard, 1981 -

"...pink...red...striped...carnations...," 2021 - 2022

Ebony G. Patterson, 1981 -

To reuse one of my favorite metaphors, this work was like a pop-up book on LSD! It was a sensory explosion full of intricate and interesting details. The more I explored it, the more enigmatic the title became.

DETAIL: "...pink...red...striped...carnations..."

"Red Haze," 2021

Devan Shimoyama, 1989 -

DETAIL: "Red Haze"

"#BetterGardensandJungles" series, 2017 -2021

Lester Julian Merriweather, 1978 -

DETAIL #1 "#BetterGardensandJungles"

DETAIL #2 "#BetterGardensandJungles"

"The Healing: Untitled 1, 2, and 3," 2022

M. Florine Demosthene, dates unknown

DETAIL "The Healing: Untitled 3"

[L to R] "Shedding," "Irreducible convergence," "Away from prying eyes," and "Emergence I," 2020

Joiri Minaya, 1990 -

"Emergence I," 2020

Joiri Minaya, 1990 -

"Shaded by Trees," 2020

David Shrobe, 1974 -

In the end, I was deeply touched by how many of the works involving figurative subjects presented those images in degrees of anonymity. They seemed to call out and then form a chorus in my head saying, "You do NOT know me. I am more than you think. And I am not going to reveal myself casually."

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Phillips Collection: Up Close With Paul Cezanne

There was a little (one room) show featuring 6 of the museum's paintings by Paul Cezanne called "Up Close With Paul Cezanne". Over the years I've come to know a little more than the average person about this artist thanks to decades of "museum-ing" all across the U.S. He was a hot item right about the time that so many of the "Robber Baron's" were creating their legacy art museums. In particular, a "block-buster" exhibition that I saw at the Philadelphia Museum of Art back in the summer of 1996, and another featuring his portrait works at the National Gallery in 2018 did much to deepen my understanding and appreciation of his oeuvre.

My experiences have helped me to understand what his life's work about vis a vis his vision. He was very much a product of his limited geography, and aspects of that played immense roles in his life. The gallery is very much set up as a master class complete with text, diagrams and artifacts from his life. Furthermore, the little collection of these paintings does a lovely job of touching on the key ideas and inspirations of his work. I've seen them all before, but the two etchings at the entrance to the room were new to me. How exquisite.

Self-Portrait, circa 1898

Fields at Bellevue, 1892 - 1895

The educational placard that accompanied "The Fields at Bellevue".

A pair of paintings: L - a self-portrait, and R - a landscape featuring Mont Sainte-Victoire.

Throughout his life, Paul Cezanne was fascinated by (or fixated upon) the long dormant volcanic peak known as Mont Sainte Victoire. He produced dozens of paintings of this peak over his lifetime. In fact, it was on the slopes of this mountain that he fell ill only to die a few short days later. In my mind, I liken his obsession with Mont Sainte Victoire with that of Herman Melville's Icon Captain Ahab and Moby Dick. Both men chased an illusive obsession, and in the end both died as a result.

A portion of the accompanying placard that discusses the choices made between the under-drawing and the finished painting.

A table with artifacts in print and a timeline of the paintings in the exhibit above.

Sunday, August 4, 2024

The Phillips Collection: Introduction

Living in Washington DC is a gift. There are so many wonderful things, accessible things to challenge one's mind, soften one's heart, deepen one's understanding, and inspire one's imagination. It can be a thinking person's city. I wonder sometimes just how much those who don't live here can even imagine the real Washington, DC. Popular media isn't going to help you, that's for sure!

One of the true gems is an intimate art museum called The Phillips Collection. It was started in the home of Duncan and Marjorie Phillips (children of the Robber Barons of the 19th century) back in 1921. The family wealth came from involvement in the steel and domestic building glass industries. At the time it opened, it was heralded as the first Modern Art Museum in the United States. Keeping in mind that it was showing works of the Impressionists, post-impressionists and budding movements like the Ashcan School here in the U.S.

By APK at English Wikipedia

I have a personal connection to the place, too. Back around the turn of the millennium, my ex- worked there. It was a connection that afforded me a lot of access and opportunities of which I advantaged myself. I remember getting free tickets to annual award honoree lectures by the Sculptors Deborah Butterfield (think amazing life-sized horses made from found objects like scrap metal and drift wood) and Martin Puryear (the first African American artist to represent the United States at an international biennially exposition). I came to know the museum and its collection well.

However, with familiarity comes complacency. It had been before the pandemic since I'd visited. And things at the Phillips are changing--and for the better. Back in 2018, The Phillips Collection hired its first CDO (Chief Diversity Officer). In 2021, they received a gift of 2 million dollars to endow the position. Part of the goal was to better serve the diverse community and elevate works of marginalized groups and artists. The exhibits that I saw today would suggest that the transformation is bearing much fruit. But before I share some of those images and impressions, let's just take a moment and a snapshot of some works from the museum's rich collections.

I started my return tour on the second floor of the Annex and almost immediately encountered the crown jewel of the collection. At the time of its purchase, I seem to recall that advisors of Duncan Phillips were against buying "Luncheon of the Boating Party". Too pedestrian of subject matter. Thankfully, he trusted his own instincts in the end, for it is hard to argue that there is a more beloved painting by Renoir.