'Light of the Silvery Moon' dims at the National Gallery of Art

Warren De La Rue, Full Moon, 1858-1859, stereoscopic glass transparency, printed 1862, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon, National Gallery of Art

If you missed the moon show at the National Gallery of Art, you may see some of the photographs here and more of them at the National Gallery's website.

Last year marked the Golden Anniversary of the first moon landing by humans which the National Gallery commemorated with a display titled By the Light of the Silvery Moon: A Century of Lunar Phonographs showcasing 50 historic moon shots spanning 100 years.

Lewis M. Rutherfurd, Photographie de la lune a son 1er Quartier, March 6, 1865, albumen print, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon and Patrons' Permanent Fund, National Gallery of Art

In a mostly chronological arrangement, the exhibition began with a stenographic print made of the moon in 1858 and continued on with pictures from the 1960s Space Age. Pictures made by the first lunar astronauts and notable visuals from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration hung on the walls and lay in display cases.  They are part of the National Gallery's vast photography collection of more than 16,000 works. 

Charles Le Morvan, Carte photographique de la lune, planche XVII.A (Photographic Chart of the Moon, plate XVII.A), August 27, 1902, photogravure, printed 1914, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Earthrise across Mare Smythii, July 16-24, 1969, chromogenic print, gift of Mary and Dan Solomon, National Gallery of Art

A photograph in the exhibition by Warren De La Rue (1815-1889) of Great Britain opened the show.  He began his moon picture-taking in 1852 and is credited with making the first stereoscopic moon prints (1858).

American lawyer Lewis M. Rutherfurd took a moon shot in its first quarter in 1865. His moon passion led to him to technological advancements and clear lunar pictures.  (Mr. Rutherfurd built an observatory at his Manhattan residence.) 

The French entered the picture with the 1862 publication of Our Satellite by Dr. A. Le Vengeur d'Onrsan (1800-1899), the first of a planned series to define the Moon's mapping ("selenography"; try that on a logophile), but, alas, the good doctor was accused of stealing Mr. De La Rue's pictures and Our Satellite never saw completion.

Gallery curators Sarah Greenough and Diane Waggoner spent hours studying and researching photos from the collection before making final choices for this presentation of American achievement.

Mugs, puzzles, jewelry, stationery, photographs, and more moon merchandise are still available in the Gallery shops.

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Historic photo show closes Sunday at the National Gallery of Art

Henry Peach Robinson, She Never Told Her Love, 1857, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Paul Mellon Fund 

For a glimpse of 19th century American cultural history, one could do well to visit The Eye of the Sun, a display of rare photographs from the collection of the National Gallery of Art which children will find fascinating, too. 

Amelie Guillot-Saguez, Portrait of a Girl, c. 1849, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund.

The label copy for Portrait, above, says that although many women were employed in the photographic industry as hand painters, Ms. Guillot-Saguez made and painted pictures at the same time. She was one of the earliest to own her own studio which she opened in 1844, just five years past photography's debut. In 1849 Ms. Guillot-Saguez won a Bronze Medal at the Exhibition of Products of French Industry. 

Attributed to Hippolyte Bayard, Georgina, dead at age 20, c. 1852, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund. Although the sitter looks well enough here, the label copy says this was likely taken "not long before her death."

Andrew & Ives, Frederick Douglass, 1863, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund

American 19th Century, Sojourner Truth, 1864, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund

The label notes that abolitionists, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, used the means of photography to depict themselves with "dignity and grace" in their campaigns to rid the nation of slavery and uplift African Americans. Mr. Douglass may have been the most photographed man in the 19th century.
 
Rather than the photographer owning the copyright, Ms. Truth was the first to copyright the subject, herself, leading to her control and distribution of the its image and distribution. (You go, girl!)

Francis Frith, The Pyramids of El-Geezeh, from the South-West, 1858, National Gallery of Art,Washington, Patrons' Permanent Fund. The photographer visited Egypt three times between 1856 and 1860 and took pictures for his fans of British armchair travelers. The sizes of the pyramids contrasted with the human figures in the foreground give a viewer an idea about their dimensions.

The title of the exhibition comes from a critic, Lady Elizabeth Eastlake (1809-1883) who described the magic of photography and its quick ascent to popular conversation only 20 years after its introduction in 1839. 

Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901) was so taken with the medium that she had her picture taken with her children in 1852,  but, displeased with her appearance, she obscured her face by scratching it out, not unlike some subjects today who may object to their own likenesses. (In another photograph made two days later by William Edward Kilburn, the queen turns her face and hides it with a bonnet. You can see it in the show.) 

John Reekie A Burial Party, Cold Harbor, Va., 1866 albumen print from Alexander Gardner's Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War (1866), National Gallery of Art, Washington, Patrons' Permanent Fund A few pages from this rare book lay open inside a glass case at the exhibition.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), Xie Kitchin, 1869, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mary and David Robinson.  Could it be?  Yes, it could, that same "Lewis Carroll" who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Might this be his Alice?  She fits the part, but, alas, Xie is not.  See pictures of the real Alice at the exhibition.  Mr. Dodgson was a mathematics lecturer at Oxford University before he took up photography seriously..

The exhibition is mounted on the occasion of the 180th anniversary of the founding of photography, and the addition of 80 new works to the Gallery's collection, many, on public display for the first time.  It's one of the finest collections in American, the National Gallery touts on its website, and rightfully so!

Thomas H. Johnson, Waymart, c. 1863-1865, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund. Here the photographer shows the scarred landscape resulting from America's rapid industrialization as housing goes up to accommodate laborers working to deliver coal on the Northeast route.

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Sir James Campbell of Stracathro, Tullichewan Castle, Vale of Leven, Scotland, 1857, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Purchased as the Gift of the Richard King Mellon Foundation

Charles Marville, Grotto in the Bois de Boulogne, 1858-1860, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund. Mr. Marville was hired by Paris to photograph the renovated park which it became after Napoleon III transformed the area from royal hunting grounds.

Roger Fenton, Moscow, Domes of Churches in the Kremlin, 1852, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Paul Mellon Fund. You've seen one Moscow dome, you've seen them all. Not really, but not much change over 150 years. It's good that Russia doesn't disrupt all its history by removing historic landmarks like what is happening now with some monuments in the U.S.

Pierre-Ambrose Richebourg, Assembly of Troops for Napoleon III, Place Bellecour de Lyon, 1860, albumen print, Purchased as the Gift of Diana and Mallory Walke

William Henry Jackson, Central City, Colorado, 1881, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Amon C. Carter Foundation Fund and Buffy and William Cafritz Fund.  One of America's leading landscape photographers, Mr. Jackson shot the "booming" town, founded in 1859 after gold was discovered in them thar hills.

Viscountess Jocelyn, Interior of Room, c. 1862. National Gallery of Art, Washington, R. K. Mellon Family Foundation

 

Alexander Gardner, A Sharpshooter's Last Sleep, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1863, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon and Patrons' Permanent Fund. This photograph was included in Mr. Gardner's Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War (1866). Unannounced but discovered by a sharp eye, according to the label copy, the photographer moved bodies around from one place to another for greater effect and mistakenly positioned this dead soldier with a musket rather than a sharpshooter's rifle.

American 19th Century, Portrait of a Girl Postmortem, c. 1850, daguerreotype image, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund

American 19th Century, Portrait of a Girl Postmortem, c. 1850, daguerreotype image, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund  
 
The first 50 years of photography when "profound change" embraced the world are covered. (Prithee, when does "profound change" not embrace the world? Is there ever an "unprofound time"? Maybe, the 1950s? But women were beginning to see the light of a new day then. )

Except for the first Sun gallery (there are five), the layout is thematic (unlike that found in this post where the photos are mixed from several galleries).

Included are works by William Henry Fox Talbot, who was one of photography's inventors, Anna Atkins, Édouard Baldus, Gustave Le Gray, Charles Marville, George Barnard, Roger Fenton, Hill and Adamson, John Moran, Eadweard Muybridge, Charles Nègre, Andrew Russell, Augustus Washington, and Carleton Watkins, among others.

The show is rather like a viewing party of a large family photo album of Western culture and practices from the time of photography's inception in 1839 to post (U.S.) Civil War. Upon an initial visit, it may appear that the pictures are laid out happenstance, but that perception contributes to its charm, as a viewer stands and walks to peer into the lives of others, captured by visuals.

What: The Eye of the Sun: Nineteenth-Century Photographs from the National Gallery of Art

When: Now through December 8, 2019, The National Gallery is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and on Sunday, 11 a.m.- 6 p.m.

Where: The West Building at the National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

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

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

For more information: 202-737-4215


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David Levinthal's little toys mean a lot at the Smithsonian

David Levinthal, Untitled from the series Barbie, 1998, Smithsonian American Art Museum

David Levinthal with his Untitled from the series Barbie, 1998, Smithsonian American Art Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 6, 2019

David Levinthal, Untitled from the series Baseball, 2004, Smithsonian American Art Museum. This is Roberto Clemente, the first Latin American and Caribbean player to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  A noted philanthropist, Mr. Clemente died in a 1972 plane crash in Nicaragua while on his way to deliver aid to earthquake victims, the label notes. Reflected in the glass are other photographs in the exhibition/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 6, 2019

 David Levinthal, Wagon Train, 2018/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 6, 2019

David Levinthal with his diorama, Wagon Train (in right background)/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 6, 2019

Detail from David Levinthal's Untitled from the series Wagon Train, 2018, Donald S. Rosenfeld Collection

David Levinthal, Untitled from the series American Beauties, 1990, Smithsonian American Art Museum, from creations of what were once deemed "beautiful" by male makers. The black background contrasts with the dancer's image and creates unease, notes the Smithsonian, while the shadowy snake shape at the dancer's feet adds to the tension.

David Levinthal, Helicopter from the series History, 2014, Smithsonian American Art Museum. If this reminds you of the Vietnam war, that's because the lifelike scene stems from the movie, Apocalypse Now.

From left, Joanna Marsh, Smithsonian American Art Museum curator and head of interpretation and audience research, David Levinthal, and Stephanie Stebich, SAAM director, at the opening of American Myth & Memory: David Levinthal Photographs Smithsonian American Art Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 6, 2019

David Levinthal with his Untitled from the series Barbie, 1998, Smithsonian American Art Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 6, 2019

David Levinthal with his Untitled from the series Baseball, 2004, Smithsonian American Art Museum. The photograph is of Lou Gehrig, dead at 37, from what is now known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He played 2,130 consecutive games, and his number "4" was the first to be retired by a baseball team/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 6, 2019


David Levinthal (b. 1949) is one lucky dude: He's never had to give up his childhood playtime with cowboys and Indians. He's been able to saddle up and ride with them his whole life as they became objects in his lifelong photography career, a portion which is on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum through Monday.

Mr. Levinthal's photographs of figures from the old West and others cut from popular American history are from his collection of 400 which he's donated to the museum. In the exhibition, American Myth & Memory:  David Levinthal's Photographs, 74 are shown.

Images of past ideals of American post-World War II society, the beauties, the pinups, the ball players, the wild west, and war, or, at least what artists and advertisers who shape our thinking would have us believe, are included. 

At first glance, all seems relatively well in this land of mostly make believe perfection, but not all is beauty and play. Unsettling backgrounds may escape a viewer's first glance.

Look and you shall find more stories and deeper meanings embedded in the images from yesterday's world. 

Today's pictures of ideals have changed dramatically since the last century, and while we may not practice ideal acceptance and tolerance, at least most of us are aware of their concepts and the importance of trying to understand.



 What: American Myth & Memory:  David Levinthal's Photographs

When: Closing Monday, October 14, 2019. The museum is open from 11:30 a.m.- 7 p.m. every day.

Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th and F streets, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20004

How much: No charge

For more information: 202-633-1000 or visit the website.

Metro station: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

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Birmingham photos close Easter at the National Gallery of Art

Dawoud Bey (b. 1953), Michael-Anthony Allen and George Washington, 2012, 
The Birmingham Project, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. The complete photo series may be found at the National Gallery website here. 

When he was just a boy of 11, Dawoud Bey (b.1953) saw a photograph in a book his parents brought home which profoundly affected his life, haunting him, and laying the foundation for his pursuit of photography as a profession.

Now, his works are collected throughout the world and are found at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Barbican Centre in London, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the High Museum of Art, London's National Portrait Gallery, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington where an exhibition, the Birmingham Project, by Mr. Bey is displayed through tomorrow.

 

Dawoud Bey (b. 1953) with Betty Selvage and Faith Speights, 2012, The Birmingham Project, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., September 11, 2018/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The life-changing photograph showed a girl near Mr. Bey's age who lay in a hospital bed, her eyes covered with cotton balls, blinded in one eye, her face embedded with glass, caused by the bomb explosion at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963.

The Ku Klux Klan attack on the church took the life of the girl's sister and three other young girls as they got ready to sing at church.

Dawoud Bey at the exhibition, The Birmingham Project, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., September 11, 2018/Photo by Patricia Leslie


The exhibition includes diptychs of photos of four adults who are the ages the children would be today, and four children at ages the victims were in 1963.

Mr. Bey spent seven years on the project which includes a video of two screens which shows scenes in slow motion the girls might have seen from a car on their way to church that Sunday morning, and every day city sights from 1963 in Birmingham. Original music composed by Mr. Bey's son, Ramon Alvarez-Smikle, accompanies the presentation.

Dawoud Bey introducing the exhibition, The Birmingham Project, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., September 11, 2018/Photo by Patricia Leslie


The girls who died were Addie Mae Collins (age 14), Carol Denise McNair (11), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (age 14).  All but Ms. McNair were born in April, 1949 which would make them 70 years old this month.

Seven hours after the Ku Klux Klan's bomb killed the choristers, two more black youths, Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware, were shot to death in Birmingham. 


It took the U.S. government 14 years to prosecute the first murderer, and one of the four suspects was never tried.

The photograph of Sarah Collins is included in an 11-minute interview with Mr. Bey which is shown in a nearby gallery and may also be seen here. He says that the Sarah Collins photograph "shook me to the core." In his research, he discovered the two boys' deaths have mostly been overlooked.

The children's deaths outraged the public and helped produce more support for the passage of the Civil Rights Act the next year.

With continuing public exhibitions and education about the tragedy and infinite focus on the lives of innocents taken by intolerant extremists who live among us today, the legacies of six Birmingham children live.

What: Dawoud Bey:  The Birmingham Project

When: Now through tomorrow (Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m.to 6 p.m.). Open on Easter.

Where:  Gallery 22 on the ground floor of the West Building between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission charge: No charge

Metro stations closest to the National Gallery of Art are the Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives and L'Enfant Plaza.

For more information: 202-737-4215
 
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