Showing posts with label National Museum of Women in the Arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Museum of Women in the Arts. Show all posts

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Graciela Iturbide and "art chat" at the Women's Museum


The photographer, Graciela Iturbide, at the opening of her exhibition, Mexico, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Feb. 25, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The photographer, Graciela Iturbide, at the opening of her exhibition, Mexico, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Feb. 25, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Please keep this a secret so all the Friday afternoon classes  don't fill up before I can make my reservations, but the National Museum of Women in the Arts has free participatory art history sessions every week! 

And they're all sold out for the rest of June, but wait!  July comes, and the museum plans to keep up the chats 'til fall which are more popular than anticipated, wrote Adrienne Gayoso, the museum's senior educator and one of the "Art Chat" presenters.

Great news!
Graciela Iturbide, Pajaros, Nayarit, 1984. Collection of Joan and Robert Stein
Graciela Iturbide, Peregrinacion, Chalma, 1984. Masked figures surround a man dressed as a skeleton and there is a baby dressed possibly as an angel, these disguises worn as part of a funerary procession to represent life and hope. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The "chats" are all about women artists and their works which the curator presents over 30 minutes, soliciting opinions from the 20-or-so attendees who Zoom in from all over the world to attend, ask questions, and comment.

For art lovers, it's super-fantastic!

One week Ms. Gayoso led us in discussion of Rosa Bonheur (French, 1822-1899) and Niki de Saint Phalle (French-American, 1930-2002). Another week, Ashley Harris directed discussion of photographer Esther Bubley (American, 1921-1998), and Alma Woodsey Thomas (American, 1891-1978). 

Graciela Iturbide, Novia Muerte Chalma, 1990; Courtesy of the artist; © Graciela Iturbide. This is a man whose extended arm possibly represents his missing partner.

Then, the featured artist of an exhibition currently on display at the museum, Graciela Iturbide's Mexico, was the solo subject one Friday in a presentation by NMWA's Deborah Gaston.

(That show of 140 photographs is extended through August 30, after the museum's hoped-for-reopening date of July 7, according to museum director, Susan Fisher Sterling, quoted in the Washington Post: "We felt that setting the date helps us move toward our goal of serving the public.")
Graciela Iturbide, El Baño de Frida, (Frida’s Bathroom), Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, 2005
Courtesy of the artist; © Graciela Iturbide. In 2005 Ms. Iturbide was granted a one-week permit to photograph the life Frida Kahlo left behind at her "Blue House" in Mexico City where Ms. Kahlo was born and died (1907- 1954).

Graciela Iturbide, El Baño de Frida, (Frida’s Bathroom), Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, 2005
Courtesy of the artist; © Graciela Iturbide. Behind Ms. Kahlo's crutches is a photograph of Stalin. Reflected in the protective glass over the picture are more photographs of her bathroom in the Frida gallery at the museum.

 Graciela Iturbide, El Baño de Frida, (Frida’s Bathroom), Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, 2005
Courtesy of the artist; © Graciela Iturbide

The NMWA gallery of Graciela Iturbide, El Baño de Frida, (Frida’s Bathroom), Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, 2005 


Ms. Iturbide (Mexican, born 1942) is a cultural historian-photographer who for decades has pictured indigenous Mexican men and women in natural settings, amidst festival, funerals, everyday life, and their conflicts with modernityShe is "widely regarded as Latin America's greatest living photographer," according to the NMWA quarterly publication, Women in the Arts.

Born in Mexico City, Ms. Iturbide was the oldest of 13 children who received her first camera when she was 11.  After she married an architect at age 20, she had three children in rapid succession and at age 27 began her art studies. 

When her daughter, Claudia, died at age six, Ms. Iturbide's life reset. Photography helped to bring her some measure of comfort and peace. 
Graciela Iturbide, INRI, Juchitan, 1984. The museum label copy contrasts the standing woman with the man a viewer may not notice at first, lying drunk on the stones, roles evident in this society (and many others!). "INRI" is an abbreviation for Latin and means "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."
The photographer, Graciela Iturbide, at the opening of her exhibition, Mexico, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Feb. 25, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The photographer, Graciela Iturbide, at the opening of her exhibition, Mexico, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Feb. 25, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

You may recall Ms. Iturbide's enduring photograph of the lady with the iguanas on top of her head.  Five (?) of them at last count which we learned at the discussion were alive!  Mercy! (They are not shown here, but at the show you can see them to believe them.)
,
This is another show not to miss at the National Museum of Women in the Arts! You see how happy this makes me!  Whatever will be the effects upon you? I am going to Mexico City in February to visit Frida's house!

*To register for "Art Chat," go to the website>What's On>Calendar>Signature Programs.  I found the next open date is July 17, 2020.

Just remember, when it comes to "art chats," mum's the word! The sessions do zoom by! Thank you, National Museum of Women in the Arts!

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston organized the show.

Who: Various female artists including Graciela Iturbide

What: "Art Chats" and Graciela Iturbide's Mexico


When: Fridays at 5 p.m. for "Art Chats." (The museum's usual open hours are 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12 - 5 p.m., Sunday.)

Where: Online and soon, in person! The museum is located at 1250 New York Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much:  No charge for online sessions. Customary admission: Adults, $10; seniors over 65 and students over 18, $8; no charge for anyone under 18 or for members. The first Sunday of the month is a free-for-all!

For more information: 202-783-5000 or 1-800-222-7270

patricialesli@gmail.com

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Judy Chicago's death debut at the Women's Museum

Judy Chicago, Stages of Dying 5/6: Depression, 2015, courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, and Jessica Silverman Gallery

This show is not for everyone. (What show is for everyone?) I doubt everyone will be pleased. (Really?) I doubt parents will want to bring children, or, heaven forbid...grandparents! Or anyone close to death or thinking about it or, or ...

I have no doubts it will be controversial. (Yes.)  It will build traffic. The people will come to see it and discuss.  

Bravo for the National Museum of Women in the Arts! The home for the next four months of Judy Chicago's exhibition on death, The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction.
Judy Chicago at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sept. 16, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie
J
Judy Chicago, A Desperate Weariness, 2015,  courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, and Jessica Silverman Gallery

Judy Chicago, Stages of Dying: How Will I Die? #1,  2015, courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, and Jessica Silverman Gallery


There are people who like to talk about death. A lot of them. I've worked with most of them, I think. They are blue and gray with personalities to match. I hope they find out about this show for they will love the subject of almost 40 paintings on porcelain and black glass and two bronze reliefs.
In the galleries at the National Museum of Women in the Arts and Judy Chicago's The End:  A Meditation on Death and Extinction/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Judy Chicago, Stages of Dying: How Will I Die? #6 2015, courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, and Jessica Silverman Gallery
Judy Chicago, Stages of Dying: How Will I Die?#5 2015, courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, and Jessica Silverman Gallery


Ms. Chicago (b. 1939) is often associated with her celebrated Dinner Party, called by ArtNet News, "the most famous feminine artwork of all time." Once rejected by multiple museums, it now occupies a prominent place at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum where, it was announced last week at the Women's Museum, it's Brooklyn's biggest draw.

Wikipedia carries pages of description and discussion about the Dinner Party.

Judy Chicago, Extinction Relief, 2018, courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, and Jessica Silverman Gallery/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Judy Chicago, Smuggled, 2016, courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, and Jessica Silverman Gallery
Judy Chicago, Bleached, 2017, courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, and Jessica Silverman Gallery
Judy Chicago, Harvested, 2016, courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, and Jessica Silverman Gallery

That's what art is, right?  To stimulate, interpret, apply, enjoy?  Well, maybe not so much "enjoy," but the bigger the controversy, the bigger the crowds. Make it and they will come.

Ms. Chicago's newest exhibition is not only about her upcoming demise, but, more importantly, that of the Earth and its occupants. 

Three shadowy galleries of a makeshift funeral parlor contain the death works which mostly hang on walls, each under a single spotlight stream which augments the impression of being inside a cave (with no way out. Dream on, those of you who were expecting a brightly colored Wizard of Oz-like path to Heaven! It ain't here! This route to death is paved with doom).
Judy Chicago, Stages of Dying: How Will I Die? #9 2015
Judy Chicago at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sept. 16, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Judy Chicago at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sept. 16, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Judy Chicago at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sept. 16, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Judy Chicago, center, in the galleries at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sept. 16, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Judy Chicago, left, in the galleries at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sept. 16, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie
In the galleries at the National Museum of Women in the Arts and Judy Chicago's The End:  A Meditation on Death and Extinction/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Judy Chicago, Mortality Relief, 2018, courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, and Jessica Silverman Gallery/Photo by Patricia Leslie


In the first gallery, "Stages of Dying," Ms. Chicago takes a nude older woman (to contrast with the blithe, young female most male artists draw) through Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's five stages of death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. 
  
The second gallery contains the death mask, a bronze relief, of Ms. Chicago lying in the tomb. The third gallery has the second bronze and art of creatures threatened by humans who have acted in destructive ways to harm life

The Extinction exhibition runs adjacent to Live Dangerously, pictures by 12 photographers of women, mainly their bodies, mixing with nature.  Sometimes humorous, all stimulating and provocative, the pictures are a nice contrast to the somber environment presented next door.

On October 23, November 13, and December 4, the museum will host free noontime, 30-minute gallery talks about The End.  Reservations are not required. 

That the National Museum of Women in the Arts was chosen for Ms. Chicago's Extinction premiere is significant and helps focus attention on female artists whose works and presence have been ignored for centuries. 


The National Museum of Women in the Arts will join Penn State and Harvard universities to become online repositories for the Judy Chicago Portal which opens Oct. 17, 2019.

A catalog, New Views with 240 pages, is available ($49.95). 


What: The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction and Live Dangerously

 
When:
Both shows close Sunday, January 20, 2020. The museum is open Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and on Sundays, 12 - 5 p.m.

Where: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005


Admission:  $10, adults; $8, students and seniors over the age of 64.  Free for members and those age 18 and under, and free for everyone on the first Sunday of every month (October 6, Nov. 3, Dec. 1, and Jan. 5, 2020 for these shows).

For more information: 202-783-5000 or visit nmwa.org.

Metro stations: Metro Center (exit at 13th Street and walk two blocks north) or (better) walk a short distance from McPherson Square.

patricialesli@gmail.com


Saturday, July 27, 2019

Ursula's sculptures leave Women's Museum

Ursula von Rydingsvard on March 20, 2019 at the opening of her Contour of Feeling at the National Museum of Women in the Arts with Untitled (nine cones), 1976/photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard, Tak, 2015, cedar, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, gift of Wilhelmina Cole Holladay/photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard on March 20, 2019 at the opening of her Contour of Feeling at the National Museum of Women in the Arts with her little nothings (2000-2015)/photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard, little nothings (2000-2015) "experiments" that she collects and finds inspirational, sometimes leading to large projects. Among these elements are roots, corn, "knitting with pig intestines," a hat worn by her father in Ukraine, stomachs of cows (aided in one, by mice), a cutting from her brother's hair when he was three, and in the lower left corner, portions of a costume she wore on her arms to a party "with the nails being consequential"/photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard on March 20, 2019 at the opening of her Contour of Feeling at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, standing beside her Zakopane, 1987/photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard on March 20, 2019 at the opening of her Contour of Feeling at the National Museum of Women in the Arts with her Zakopane, 1987, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & CoThe pain of memory may cause her grimace, but art helps her conquer her pain/photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard, detail of Thread Terror, 2016, cedar and graphite, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co,/photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard, OCEAN VOICES, 2011-2012, cedar and graphite, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co./photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard on March 20, 2019 at the opening of her Contour of Feeling at the National Museum of Women in the Arts with her Droga, 2009, cedar and graphite, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co/photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard on March 20, 2019 at the opening of her Contour of Feeling at the National Museum of Women in the Arts/photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard, Book with no words II, 2017-18, cedar, linen, and leather, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co, /photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard, PODERWAC, 2017, leather, cotton, steel and polyester batting, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co.This is about 10.5 feet high x 8.5 feet wide/photo by Patricia Leslie
Ursula von Rydingsvard on March 20, 2019 at the opening of her Contour of Feeling at the National Museum of Women in the Arts with her Collar with Dots, 2008, cedar and pigment, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co/photo by Patricia Leslie

Compared to her favorite medium, cedar, Ursula 
von Rydingsvard is warm, vivacious and very much alive, adjectives which can also be applied to her cedar which is separated from its lifeblood, soil, when Ms. Rydingsvard works with it, enlivening it when she cuts, carves, slices, and glues it to fashion large-scale sculptures which can take a year to finish.

Cedar is Ms. Rydingsvard's lifeblood which she embues with her spirit and poetry to express her innermost feelings and emotions.  

She makes art for many reasons, including:
To survive living and all of its implied layers.
To ease my high anxiety, to numb myself with the labor and the focus of building my work.
     Because it's a place to put my pain,   my sadness.
Because there's a constant hope inside of me that this process will heal me, my family, and the world.
      Because it helps fight my inertia. 

For several months the National Museum of Women in the Arts has been the home of 26 of Ms. Von Rydingsvard's sculptures, nine works on paper, and a wall display. 

At the opening of the show, The Contour of Feeling, she led guests through a parade of her creations, large and sinuous, inviting observation and reflection upon her life which began in Deensen, Germany and continued in Poland where she, her five siblings, and parents lived in eight refugee camps over five years at the end of World War II.

After the war, the family was one of many rescued by the U.S. Marshall Plan  and Catholic charities, which brought the family to the shores of the U.S. and  helped it settle in Connecticut.

Art is a reflection of the lives of many artists, and Ms. Von Rydingsvard is no exception.  From her subconscious and memories of life in the refugee camps and the wooden barracks, it is no surprise that she uses wood to sculpt and release experiences which have shaped her life.

I believe most artists want viewers to interpret art for what it represents and means to viewers, not what it represents and means to the creators, a sentiment shared by Ms. Von Rydingsvard.  

On its web page, the museum quotes Mark Rosenthal, the guest curator and author of the exhibition catalogue who interviewed Ms. Von Rydingsvard:
Let it float and tell you what the piece needs to tell you, not what the curators are saying and not what the teachers are saying.

This is the her first solo exhibition in Washington and "the most ambitious" of her exhibitions to date, according to the museum. Her work is found in major museums throughout the U.S.

She received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Miami and a M.F.A. from Columbia University.

The show was organized by the Fabric Workshop and Museum.

Happy late Birthday to Ursula von Rydingsvard who turned 77 on July 26.

What: Ursula von Rydingsvard: The Contour of Feeling
 
When:
Closing Sunday, July 28, 2019. The museum is open Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and on Sundays, 12 - 5 p.m.

Where: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005
 

For more information: 202-783-5000 or visit nmwa.org.

Metro stations: Metro Center (exit at 13th Street and walk two blocks north) or walk a short distance from McPherson Square.

patricialesli@gmail.com