Book review: Blake Gopnik exposes Albert Barnes

In The Maverick's Museum: Albert Barnes and His American Dream, art critic Blake Gopnik tells us, in his well-documented tome, all about Philadelphia's modern art collector and philanthropist (1872-1951) who established the Barnes Foundation, who grew up in an impoverished childhood, leaving him keenly aware, sensitive to and devoted to those less well-off than he became.

From the lower socio-economic classes like he had known, he hired many who worked for him for years. He appointed them to various positions on his board, providing mortgages, higher education, medical bills, scholarships.

Years ahead of race-consciousness and sensitivity to people of different color, Barnes was a keen and sincere (for the most part) practitioner of equal opportunity.

His goal was to have art enthusiasts look at art the way that he did and improve society (?).  No free thinking allowed, s'il vous plait!

It was not to be, but for some, it endured...for a while.

That Barnes carried a chip on his shoulder seems obvious, and a possible inferiority complex, too, like his one-time friend, philosopher Bertrand Russell, claimed. 

When Russell was “down and out,” Barnes hired him to teach at his foundation, but later grew disgruntled after Barnes deemed Russell’s wife too haughty. By lawyering, Barnes found a way to sue Russell for breach of contract, but Russell countersued and won more than Barnes owed him.

It was an outstanding example of the typical adverse relationship Barnes seemed to enjoy, many fights he had with notables and others he encountered, who he thought denigrated him in some way (the Philadelphia Museum of Art was one institution), insulting them with horrible words (a la Trump but with a much broader vocabulary).

Barnes made his money early in life by the invention of the drug, Argyrol, he developed with a German scientist, Hermann Hille, which was used to treat infant eye infections. 

For a while, he searched for ways to spend his accumulating wealth and voila! With the help of schoolmate and artist, William Glackens, Barnes found it in art.

His collection grew to include more Renoirs than found anywhere else in the world (181; Barnes particularly enjoyed the artist's female flesh works), 69 Cezannes (more than found in France), 59 Matisses, plus works by Manet, Degas, Seurat, Prendergast, Titian, Picasso and Van Gogh.  (Alas, Barnes turned down Van Gogh's Starry Night, now hanging at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.)

There was a Mrs. Barnes, but she occupies a small portion of the book, notably towards the end, a horticulturalist who received awards for her interest. Her general absence from the book leaves the impression that she was merely another piece of art hanging on the wall, but one of less value.

The couple had no children.

The book is slow to begin but picks up speed after a few pages and is an excellent read for art lovers, for Philly residents, for visitors to the Barnes, and others who follow eccentric personalities which I guess most of us are. 

You can't visit the Barnes Collection the same way again, and I can’t wait to get back, equipped with this background.  

Note: For the second edition, may I suggest an inversion of the title: The Museum's Maverick.

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Celebrate! Ukraine's Independence Day!

They unfurled the Ukrainian flag on Ukraine's Independence Day in Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025, across the fences from the White House/By Patricia Leslie

The moderator in red and white with a speaker at Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025. Another speaker urged those present to contact congressional representatives often to let them know of support for Ukraine. One speaker said a congressman from Michigan (?; unsure) changed his support for Ukraine because he had received 800 phone calls opposing support so if the 40,000 Ukrainians in Michigan called their congressman urging him to change his mind, maybe he would/By Patricia Leslie

This injured Ukrainian soldier, blind and a double amputee who was helped to the podium, spoke at Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

Some injured Ukrainian troops are treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. These Ukrainian troops attended Ukraine's Independence Day celebration at Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025. The cardboard sign reads: "Please Send Patriot Missiles."/By Patricia Leslie

Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

At Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, this woman draped in a Ukrainian flag, like many, said she was born in Lithuania. She addressed the crowd at Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025 /By Patricia Leslie

Entertainers at Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025. See the police behind them in front of the White House, but no National Guard members were observed/By Patricia Leslie

This speaker said he was 85 years old and a U.S. Army veteran who supports Ukraine's independence and U.S. support for the nation. At the Ukraine Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

A speaker at Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025, with the moderator in red and white/By Patricia Leslie

Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

U.S. veterans who support Ukraine at Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

At Ukraine's Independence Day celebration, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025, this man later spoke. The rally was set to continue with a 30 minute walk to the statue of Ukrainian hero and poet, Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) on 22nd St., NW, followed by a concert/By Patricia Leslie

Meanwhile, over on nearby 17th Street, N.W. at Farragut Square, another rally was underway to honor Muhammad's grandson (?). This group made their way to Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025 to compete with Ukraine's speakers/By Patricia Leslie
At Farragut Square, Washington, D.C., August 24, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

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Book review: Mary was a 'Captive Queen'

Jade Scott, is a specialist on Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587), and the secretary of the Scottish History Society and an associate fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Dr. Scott's dissertation increased her interest in Mary, imprisoned for almost half her life (19 years) by her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603).

These cousins never met. 

Although she signed the papers for Mary's execution, Elizabeth was supposedly unaware the death sentence would be carried out and became angry with her ministers when she learned of it. The irony, of course, is that Mary's son, James (1566-1625) became King of England after Elizabeth died and had his mother's body exhumed from Peterborough Cathedral and re-interred in 1612 near Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey.

James was less than one year old the last time he saw his mother and 13 months old when he was crowned King of Scotland. Mary wrote to her son often.

According to an interview with Dr. Scott, Mary wrote and received thousands of letters. Dr. Scott's book, 

Captive Queen The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots sheds light on 57 newly encrypted letters which describe Mary's many attempts to escape but never presents proof that she intended to participate in the murder of the Queen, a plot which was Mary's downfall.

Some of the letters were exchanged with the Spanish and French ambassadors. If you are familiar with the Babington Plot, Dr. Scott's book has more for you to read.

The most interesting chapter was Mary's everyday life in prison, luxurious by commoners' standards, with meals served on silver plate and in crystal glassware, prepared by her French chef who offered her a choice of 32 different dishes, wine and beer (up to 20 gallons daily for herself and her servants).

The English are different from you and me; and so are the Scots! Did you know they had their own language? Nor did I, but the author mentioned that a few times. 

So many names! Jumping hither and yon, it’s hard to keep track of all the characters, even with the dramatis personae at the beginning and how is that arranged, please?

Alphabetically, non.

Chronologically, non.

Type of person? Conspirators, courtiers, women, to name a few differentiated "types," but even within those segments, their arrangement is ...? I never could figure it out.

The end of the book has an excellent, extensive chronology of Mary’s life.

Captive Queen is not so much a great book for the lay, but it is more appealing to academicians and her "deep scholars." Still (being of the "lay" persuasion), I can’t seem to get her out of my mind.

For more on Mary and photos of her life, go here.

Former burial place of Mary, Queen of Scots, Peterborough Cathedral/Wikipedia and Derek Voller

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Still another book on Tsar Nicholas II, but this one ...

Tsuyoshi Hasegawa professor emeritus in history at the University of California at Santa Barbara has written many books on Russian history, his latest, The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs, an academic book for scholars and Romanov addicts, always interested in Russian history (like me).

As the revolution ignited, a practically hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute detail of the last days of Tsar Nicholas II's reign before, during, and after his abdication unfolds.

The breathless accounting of the anxious hours and moments in 1917 of the tsar’s train ride from the headquarters of the Russian Imperial Army at Mogilev to St. Petersburg, hundreds of miles away and where the tsar's family awaited him, is as tense as any Stephen King fiction.

However, being surrounded by “yes” men as he was, Nicholas was not privy to lurking dangers as the imperial train inched toward Tsarskoye Selo, knowledge which also escaped some of his commanders. The train was forced to detour around the revolutionaries and disloyal troops, growing in number by the hour.

Because of blockades, the train's route added more than 200 kilometers (approximately 125 miles) and ran on five different lines rather than one.

The Imperial Train seen through trees during the years of occupation/from "The fate of Nicholas II’s Imperial Train" by Paul  Gilbert  

Well documented, of course, The Last Tsar has a through description of Russia's entry in World War I, its military campaign, how ill prepared the country was: short on ammunition, officer training, and leadership, believing the war would not last long. (I must admit I skimmed most of this section, being not of the military strategist persuasion.)

Dr. Hasegawa quotes extensively from  Nicholas's diaries which affirm the tsar's detachment and uninterest in matters of the day, acting as though immune to outside forces, if he knew what they were.

For a laywoman like me, all the names were difficult to differentiate and became rather "weedy."

An excellent genealogy of the Romanovs spreads over two pages, but nowhere is it listed at the front, in the back, in the index that I could find, but it is possible that I overlooked its listing to which I constantly made reference. It includes the many family members killed by the Bolsheviks.

Nor could I find anywhere in the book, listings for the helpful maps (p. 202 and 230)showing the train's route to St. Petersburg and the detours.

The goal was not to overthrow the monarchy but the tsar; both were achieved. The book ends before the Romanovs were transferred to Siberia in 1917.


Although I chuckled and welcomed the reference Dr. Hasegawa made comparing Trump's MAGA cult to Rasputin's, Jim Jones's, and Charles Manson's cults (p. 33), all the reviewers I found who mentioned this reference thought it cheapened and damaged the book's credibility. 

Go here and here to see the first two of the Romanovs' burial sites. They were last buried in 1998 in the Cathedral of Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg.

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Tire art at the National Gallery of Art

Chakaia Booker (b. 1953), It's So Hard to Be Green, 2000, rubber tires and wood, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 2, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

Chakaia Booker at It's So Hard to Be Green and the opening of her Treading New Ground at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 2, 2025/By Patricia Leslie



Ask anyone in the art world about the sculptor who fashions art from old tires and they'll say her name immediately: Chakaia Booker (b. 1953) who is also a fantastic recycler!

In the Tower of the East Building at the National Gallery of Art, three of her creations are on view in an exhibition named appropriately enough,"Treading New Ground."  It's a "must-see," a wonder and a definite draw for environmentalists.

Detail of Acid Rain, 2001, by Chakaia Booker (b. 1953), rubber tires and wood, loaned by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, at Treading New Ground at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 2, 2025.  You can almost smell these /By Patricia Leslie

Detail of Acid Rain, 2001, by Chakaia Booker (b. 1953), rubber tires and wood, loaned by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, at Treading New Ground at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 2, 2025. This reminds me of handcuffs and the materials ICE uses on immigrants/By Patricia Leslie

Exhibitions made of recycled materials are always an inspiration to me, marveling at the many ways creators can fashion art from most any old thing, producing results for others to see and admire and set us thinking about ways we can do the same to reuse materials and help "save the Earth" and combat climate change at the same time.

Rather than winding up in landfills, tires, which Chakaia repurposes, have extended lifelines, like manufacturers who use them in "rain gardens, roadways, construction materials, and cement manufacturing" to name a few ways the National Gallery cites. 

If you are so inclined, many other uses can be found on the internet for remaking tires, like tire swings, rubber mulch for landscaping, mats, and playground surfaces. (Check here for more. Hmmm, all those Weather-Tech ads you see?  You think its products come from recycled tires? Weather-Tech should consider a commission for Ms. Booker who could become its brand artist.) 

At the opening of her Treading New Ground at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 2, 2025, Chakaia Booker's attire included her colorful headdress/By Patricia Leslie

Chakaia Booker's materials for her art works include pieces of old tires from trucks and cars which visitors to the exhibition are invited to touch. The label says 
"we may find beauty and inspiration in an ordinary tire" but I am still looking. At Treading New Ground, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. April 2, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

Walking through the streets of New York in the 1980s, Chakaia noticed abandoned and discarded tires and the spaces they occupied. She considered all the different ways they could be used, and voila!  An art medium was born! 

Her website says she also creates works from stainless steel  for interior and exterior public spaces.  She exhibits all over the world, including the 2000 Whitney Biennial and her works are found in about 50+ museums in the U.S. In 2005 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Did you know that when tires hit the roadways, pollution in the form of tiny particulates containing neurotoxic and carcinogenic compounds that directly endanger the health of both humans and water wildlife are released in the air? So says the National Gallery of Art.

Rather than space ships, EVs, and Republicans, maybe Mr. Musk can wrap his head around making an alternative for our vehicles. Who's working on this?

"My intention is to translate materials into imagery that will stimulate people to consider themselves as a part of their environment, as one piece of a larger whole." Chakaia Booker

Kanitra Fletcher, associate curator of African American and Afro-Diasporic art, curated the exhibition with Claudia Watts, research assistant, both of the National Gallery of Art which organized the show.  Thank you very much, ladies!

What: Chakaia Booker: Treading New Ground

When: Through August 2, 2026, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. seven days a week. Closed on Christmas and New Year's days.

Where: The Tower at the East Building, National Gallery of Art, between 3rd and 4th on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington

How much: Admission is always free at the National Gallery of Art.

Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: (202) 737-4215

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905


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'King John' is another Shakespeare to see before you die

Charles A. Buchel (1872-1950), Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852–1917), as King John in 'King John' by William Shakespeare, Victoria and Albert Museum/Wikipedia

Australia's national Shakespeare theatre company, Bell Shakespeare calls William Shakespeare's King John, one of his five most underrated plays "to see before you die," and lucky for those of us in the DMV, there's still time to see it before the play closes July 26 at Washington's Shakespeare Theatre Company.

“No, I defy all counsel, all redress,
But that which ends all counsel, true redress.
Death, death, O amiable, lovely death!
Thou odoriferous stench, sound rottenness,
Arise forth from the couch of lasting night,
Thou hate and terror to prosperity,
And I will kiss thy detestable bones,
And put my eyeballs in thy vaulty brows,
And ring these fingers with thy household worms,
And stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust,
And be a carrion monster like thyself

So speaketh Constance (Molly Malone), the mother of Arthur (Sadie O'Conor), lamenting his death and her own reasons for dying when she succumbs to "madness."

King John hosts matters from its 13th century timeline to today by way of power and the begetting of more. 

Arthur was the nephew of King John (Eric Lane) who went to battle with the French King Phillip II (Amber Mayberry) who thought the English throne belonged to Arthur. King John, a suspected interloper to the crown, thinks France belongs to him. 

Enter the Pope's Cardinal (Maryanne Henderson), the church angry with John over his refusal to acknowledge the Archbishop of Canterbury and excommunicates the king, siding with Arthur's claim to the throne. 

John's mother, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Tracy Coffey) is a powerful women who dies and so does Arthur, leaping (or thrown a la Russia?) from a castle's walls after his capture by John. 

At the urging of the Cardinal, the French Dauphin Louis (Reese Cowley), who has married John's niece, Blanche (Layali Aljirafi) attacks England. John becomes ill from poisoning (by a monk) and hides in an abbey where his son, Prince Henry (Alex Ross) arrives to witness his father's death and be crowned king amidst peace.  

Got all that?  Good.  

There's lots more to the story, of course, and director Aaron Posner brings out the best in his King John  students from the Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy, a stunning class of soon-to-be graduates of the Master of Fine Arts program STCA conducts in conjunction with George Washington University. 

The performances belie the short time, one year, the students have spent at STCA.

Throughout the production, interjections of lively choreography (by Nikki Mirza) with lip syncing and mime to contemporary music (by Matt Nielson and others) mixes today with yesterday and desired appeal to a younger audience. 

Be great in act, as you have been in thought, King John encourages his nobles to act and not let dreams wander  without action. 

King John's tomb in Worcester Cathedral, England/Greenshed at English Wikipedia

The play is presented in repertory with The Taming of the Shrew,  the final acts for the students in the program. 

Other in the cast are Elizabeth Loyacano as Hubert; Michael Burgos, Lord Bigot; Cammiel Hussey, Angiers citizen and Pembroke; Edie Backman, Earl of Salisbury and executioner; and Sydney Sinclair, Chatillion and Count Melun; and Ali Karambash, Duke of Austria.

Minjoo Kim's lighting is especially effective. The set is the useful remains from STC's Frankenstein. 

Others on the creative team include Renea S. Brown, assistant director; Becca Janney, costumes; Lisa Ann Beley, props; Robb Hunter, fight director; and Bess Kaye, intimacy director. 

What:  King John

When:  Through July 26, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in repertory with The Taming of the Shrew 

Where: Klein Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, 450 Seventh St., NW, Washington, DC 20004

Tickets: $20 

Audience: For adults and mature children 

For more information: Call the Box Office at 202-547-1122, seven days a week, 12 – 6pm. The Box Office windows remain open until curtain time.

Duration:  About 2.5 hours with intermission 

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Four great audiobooks by Dolly, Mel, Rod, and Billie Jean

They would be Mel Brooks, Rod Stewart, Dolly Parton, and Billie Jean King, talking about themselves in their autobiographies (or in Dolly's case, talking about her costumes) which are all spot-on good and often hilarious!

I listened to their audiobooks on my phone, compliments of the Fairfax County Public Library, and they are listed in the order I listened. 

Except for Stewart's, the authors read their own works which is sometimes a rarity that an author reads her or his own book, but the author adds more credibility, depth, and true emotion to the product and it's a highly desirable feature.

In her charming East Tennessee voice, Dolly (b. 1946) lays it all out about her costuming, her hair, her appearance with the perfect title of her book to boot:  Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones (2023, 4.5 hours).

And you know it's all got to be true since Dolly says it. 

She talks about the designers, how she met them, hired them, and how she fits inside their creations. She even has her own archivist, Rebecca Seaver, who helped with the production of the book, with Holly George-Warren who, presumably, interviewed Dolly in the Q and A style presented. 

Is it true that Dolly wears makeup to bed? 

That she bucked the era's styles and hairdos at an early age won't surprise anyone who knows the least thing about her. Dolly insisted on her own wants and comfort in her clothing and skin. To heck with fashionistas and styles. Dolly Parton has always been her own woman and listening to this book can instill a lot of confidence in readers. 

She talks about her fittings which, one time, didn't go so well when she popped out of her costume on stage (those danged buttons!), but a rush job to refit her quickly was (not surprisingly) successful and away she flew back to the audience.

Natch, the book has a lot of country music history in it.

The book by Billie Jean King (b. 1943) All In: An Autobiography (2021) with Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers, 18 hours, is excellent, about her upbringing, her supportive parents, her growing tennis passion as she matured, and she reveals for the first time the assault she endured by a friend's father when Billie Jean accompanied the family on a trip when she was a teenager.

The book is long and mostly worth every minute of listening (with the exception of the lesbian relationships which I mostly skipped since they were unappealing to me).  

The portion about her 1973 match with Bobby Riggs could be a separate book itself! 

Her honesty, like Dolly's, like all of them here (!), shine through pure and simple.

This is a must book by anyone serious about tennis, especially women.

Rod Stewart (b. 1945) - oh, my! In Rod: The Autobiography (2016), read by Simon Vance, 11.5 hours, the subject admits he is a bad boy....quite an understatement.

With so many encounters with women I’m surprised he’s still kicking.

He's now on marriage #3 and relationship, # ???  His children (eight by five women) don't seem to mind though, since they've recently gotten together for a group photo.

He doesn't leave much hidden and talks about his youth and how important and supportive his loving parents were.  That Rod was the youngest of five children may have played a role in his success.

Now, at age 80, he's on a world tour, including a six-night stand in Las Vegas this fall. 

And then there is Mel Brooks (b. 1926; 99 last month!), making me laugh almost all the way in Mel Brooks: All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business (2021), 15 hours.

He's as hilarious as you'd expect, beginning with his childhood and gradually growing into a comedian's role, including an Army stint. He describes his nurturing family background, his brothers, learning and life on Broadway and movie productions, of especial interest to me with small knowledge of how they're done. 

His magical marriage to Anne Bancroft (1931-2005) and their loving relationship are what many of us can only dream about, but a 2021 interview in (I think it was) the Guardian reveals her death is still too painful for him to discuss. 

He says almost nothing about his first marriage (to Florence Baum) although it produced three children, with whom it appears he gets along. Mel's attention to offspring is devoted to his and Anne Bancroft's son, Max (b. 1972 ) the one who, during covid, encouraged his dad to write his autobiography for "what else are you gonna do?"  

In all the hundreds of people Mel Brooks worked with in film and theater, the book or audio contains nothing negative about anyone, that I recall. 

If you have any interest in performing arts production and/or Broadway, this is a must read/listen book.

Treat yourself to some fun and diversion and listen to these;
I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

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