New moderns at the National Gallery of Art spark passions

Richard Artschwager, Piano/Piano, 1963-65/2011. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Collectors Committee/Patricia Leslie

Please, National Gallery of Art, throw a party with these artists and invite me. 

 
Four of the five are still living, and one's a woman.

Even for die-hard anti-moderns (I know a few), these new pieces, made possible at the National Gallery by its Collectors Committee, are worth a look, especially when you know a little something about the creators, like Hans Haacke (b. 1936 in Cologne) a leading political artist, whose specialities involve kinetic art, who helped birth institutional critique, or Ed Ruscha (b. 1937, Omaha) whose Stains (1969) include gun powder, cherry pie, and daffodils among 75 ingredients spread on different paper sheets.

The Collectors Committee has also acquired for the Gallery Piano/Piano,  1963-65/2011, by Washington's own Richard Ernest Artschwager (1923-2013) whose furniture business background helped steer him to artistic success.

The newest Artschwager consists of two laminated wooden pianos which intermingle in passionate embrace, an example of "synthetic cubism," according to the National Gallery, and on view in the East Building inside the interior "sculpture garden" near the Small Auditorium. Atschwager completed the piece for an exhibition last year in Rome.

Other new works come from Rineke Dijkstra (b. 1959, Sittard, Netherlands), the first of her achievements for the National Gallery, and Allan McCollum (b. 1944, Los Angeles) whose Plaster Surrogates, 1982/1989  (not on display yet), has toured the world.

McCollum is a self-taught artist who created his early works in a California storefront and then a parking garage after he tried acting, restaurant management, truck driving, and building crates for a West Hollywood art company where he mingled with art dealers, collectors and artists.  They influenced his artistic development and his direction into "quantity production." McCollum resonates with the history and development of local communities and their relationship to their particular geographies, as well.

Meanwhile, Haacke’s Condensation Wall, 1963-66/2013, stands in prominent position at the foot of the East Building’s main floor staircase. This example of minimal sculpture  and kinetic art becomes "a micro-environment contingent with its surrounding." Water collects and drops inside the sculpture, depending upon the temperature of the building, with the entire natural process and nearby art works visible through Condensation's transparent walls.

Hans Haacke, Condensation Wall, 1963-1966/2013. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Gift of the Collectors Committee/Patricia Leslie.  Behind Condensation Wall is Richard Serra's Five Plates, Two Poles, 1971, and Robert Motherwell's Reconciliation Elegy, 1978, another gift from the Collectors Committee.

 

 

One of Haacke's most famous works and an early example of institutional critique, Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, A Real Time Social System, as of May 1, 1971, was his attack upon a slum landlord in New York which caused  the cancellation of his solo show at the Guggenheim and the firing of its curator. (Ten years later it went up at the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.)

 
Powerful stuff, huh?

But back to D.C.'s Artschwager.  His mother studied at the Corcoran School of Art and helped develop her son's artistic interests, now associated with minimalism, pop and conceptual art.

He graduated from Cornell, married, and worked as a furniture salesman, then later a furniture designer.  Artschwager's future took a right turn after he received a commission from the Catholic Church in 1960 to "build portable altars for ships."  This production led to his use of wood and Formica to make small wall pieces and to larger objects.

Dijkstra is a photographer whose video, I See a Woman Crying (Weeping Woman), 2009, is based on Picasso's The Weeping Woman, 1937, which is not seen or labled in this piece.  Rather, Dijkstra's subject is Catholic school children who respond to Picasso's Woman on three screens. And it's on display in the West Building through Labor Day, September 2, 2013.   

Ed Ruscha, another artist associated with the Pop movement, says he was inspired by Jasper Johns, Arthur Dove, Marcel Duchamps, and John Everett Millais's Ophelia which, coincidentally, hangs in the Gallery's West Building through May 19, part of the enthralling Pre-Raphaelites exhibition.  (Don't miss it!)

The people wait for entry outside the West Building. The enlarged reproduction is John Everett Millais's Marianna, 1850-1851, one of the artists who inspired Ed Ruscha.  Many Millais paintings may be found in the West Building, part of the Pre-Raphaelites exhibition/Patricia Leslie 

Influenced by Hollywood films, Ruscha's art direction stems also from his training in commercial art, words and typography. His Words in Their Best Order, 2002, is a "site-specific" work of three panels, each 13 x 23 feet, found at the Gannett Building in Tysons Corner.

It's not easy to make out Ed Ruscha's Words in Their Best Order, 2002, at the Gannett Building at Tysons Corner, Virginia, but look closely (very closely) and the words may appear through the windows/Patricia Leslie

Ruscha has experimented with the use of gunpowder, vinyl, blood, red wine, fruit and vegetable juice, axle grease, chocolate syrup, tomato paste, bologna, cherry pie, coffee, caviar, daffodils, tulips, raw eggs and grass stains.

Would you not leap at an opportunity to meet these artists? I think I fell in love with Haacke, and I don't even know what he looks like, but what do looks matter when his art revolution can shut down an exhibition? He is the people's power Putin of the art world today. I wonder if he rides horses topless. 

Wikipedia quotes Ruscha: "Art has to be something that makes you scratch your head." After viewing these stimulations, you may not have any head hair left, but art is not a passive fancy, and aims to stimulate or please somebody, maybe, whether it's you or the artist. (Call me, maybe.)

What: Modern Art

When:  10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday - Saturday and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday

Where: The East (Haacke, Ruscha) and West (Dijkstra), National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets, N.W., Washington, D.C.

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

Metro stations:  Archives-Navy Memorial, Judiciary Square, the Smithsonian, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information:  202-737-4215

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Free 'Porgy and Bess' concert Wednesday at St. John's, Lafayette Square

Alvy Powell, bass-baritone

Alvy Powell, the bass-baritone who has sung the role of "Porgy" more than 2500 times across the globe from San Francisco to La Scala to Carnegie Hall to Australia, will sing selections from George Gershwin's opera, Porgy and Bess, in a free noontime concert May 1 at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square.

Accompanying Powell will be Michael Lodico, St. John's associate organist.

In 2007 Powell debuted with the Choral Arts Society of Washington singing "Porgy" which he has also performed with the Virginia Opera and with the Nashville Symphony which features him in its recording of Porgy and Bess.

Click here to see and hear Powell sing the duet, Bess, You Is My Woman Now with Charlae Olaker.

Other Powell achievements include Bartolo from Le Nozze di Figaro with The Virginia Opera, Sharpless from Madame Butterfly with the Connecticut Opera, Coline in La Boheme with the Tulsa Opera, and Opera Pacific, and as Timur in Turandot with Opera Carolina, Opera Grand Rapids, and the Cleveland Opera.

For the Vatican production commemorating the centennial of the death of Giuseppe Verdi, Powell was soloist in the Verdi Requiem with the Rome Opera. He is a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army and sings solo with its chorus.  Last week they performed at the dedication of the George Bush library in Texas.

His performance at St. John's is part of the church's First Wednesday Concert Series which begin at 12:10 p.m. and end at 12:45 p.m.  This year's series ends June 5 when Jeremy Filsell, artist-in-residence at the Washington National Cathedral, plays organ works by Bach, Dupre, and Rachmaninov.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square/Patricia Leslie
 

St. John's, known to many Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, is often called the “Church of the Presidents.” Beginning with President James Madison, who served from 1809 to 1817, every president has either been a member of, or has attended services at St. John's. A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War. 

The concerts are excellent respites from Washington's usual weekday harried cycle.  Food trucks are located at nearby Farragut Square so listeners may "eat and run" back to the office.

Who:  Alvy Powell, bass-baritone, and Michael Lodico, organist

When: 12:10 p.m., May 1, 2013

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much:  No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square or Farragut North or Farragut West

Food trucks:  Located two blocks away at Farragut Square

For more information: 202-270-6265

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Civil War art leaves Washington Sunday

George N. Barnard, Ruins In Charleston, South Carolina, 1865, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.  Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc./Michael Lamy

If you know little about the Civil War conflict in the U.S. (1861-1865), a trip to the Smithsonian American Art Museum this weekend will supply a quick education. And if you know a lot about the Civil War, this is a big show commemorating the war’s 150th anniversary you do not want to miss.

It is the presentation of the war’s pain and toll upon art and artists, said Eleanor Jones Harvey, SAAM's senior curator, who directed the show and wrote the catalogue. "What do these artists tell us?" about the way citizens felt after the war, she asked.

Generally excluded among the 57 paintings and 18 photographs are classic battlefield scenes which often come to mind when the War Between the States is mentioned. This exhibition, instead, provides rich detail about the common people and the war's effects upon them, told in mostly chronological order in arresting land and peoplescapes.

Some well-known artists represented are Winslow Homer (13 works in the show), Frederic Church (7), Sanford Gifford (8), Eastman Johnson (6) and Alfred Bierstadt (2).
Lesser known is Martin Johnson Heade whose Approaching Thunder Storm, 1859,  not only foretells the war but the style of Edwin Hopper (1882-1967) whose artistic fame came 75 years later.  

Martin Johnson Heade, Approaching Thunder Storm, 1859, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Erving Wolf Foundation and Mr. and Mrs. Erving Wolf, in memory of Diane R. Wolf, 1975

When speaking about slavery, President Abraham Lincoln used the words "coming storm," a term adopted by many abolitionist preachers for their sermons, one of whom bought this work.

Viewers will also find Uncle Tom and Little Eva, 1853, by Robert S. Duncanson, known as the first African-American artist to enjoy international acclaim and whose Still Live with Fruit and Nuts, 1848, was added last year at the National Gallery of Art.

While at the SAAM exhibition, leave several minutes to study Eastman Johnson's Negro Life at the South, 1859, which depicts blacks with various skin tones, alluding to mixed races.  See the white cat entering slave quarters.

Consider the significance of Julian Scott's Surrender of a Confederate Soldier, 1873.  The war had ended when Mr. Scott, a member of the Union army, painted a sympathetic portrait of his opponent to perhaps signify the unification of the country. 

 

Photographs by George Barnard show the "Hell Hole," at New Hope Church, Georgia in 1866, destruction in Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina at war's end, and the scene of General James B. McPherson's death July 22, 1864 near Bald Hill outside Atlanta.

Six photographs made of the aftermath of the Battle of Sharpsburg/Antietam  by Alexander Gardner are included.  The bloodiest single-day battle in American history only 70 miles from Washington, Sharpsburg claimed the lives of 22,717 men on September 17, 1862.  The pictures show bodies of Confederates upon the ground. Two weeks later President Lincoln visited the battlefield.

Alexander Gardner, President Abraham Lincoln with General George B. McClellan and officers, Antietam, October 3, 1862/Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons

 

The exhibition ends with giant land and icescapes which, at first glance, a viewer may think belong to another collection, another time, but they show the turmoil experienced by Frederic Church, among others, during and after the war, in works which capture "defiance, fear, despair, and hope."

Frederic Edwin Church, Cotopaxi, 1862, Detroit Institute of the Arts, Founders Society Purchase.  The Bridgeman Art Library

The collection moves to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where it will open Memorial Day, May 27, 2013.

Elizabeth Broun, SAAM's director, called the Civil War exhibition "one of the most important shows we've offered in a long time," and the "brainchild" of Ms. Harvey.

To obtain the art for the show took "elaborate negotiations" and persuading lenders to loan their works for the research-based presentation, said Ms. Harvey.

What:  "The Civil War and American Art"

When:  11:30 a.m.  - 7 p.m., through Sunday, April 28, 2013

Where:  The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Eighth and F streets, N.W., Washington, D.C.

How much:  Free admission

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

For more information:  202-633-7970 or 202-633-1000

patricialesli@gmail.com

A salute to Nashville's recycling star

The picture of Sherry Force on the plaque in her honor to hang at Granbery School

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood at Granbery School in Nashville on Earth Day where the memory of environmental heroine Sherry Force was honored with an outstanding tribute.

"Happy Earth Day" proclaims the banner hanging at the entrance to Granbery School/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Hundreds of Granbery students, graduates, parents, and friends, many wearing green, turned out for a celebration of Sherry’s life.

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The "Gecko Echoes," a Granbery teachers' chorus, sang We are the World and Sweet, Sweet Spirit in tribute to Sherry Force/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

Members of the "Gecko Echoes" who paid tribute to Sherry Force in song are Scott Adkins, Kate Affainie, Lana Bogie, Lanee Ferguson, Daniel Hayes, Theresa Hill, M.L. Morlock, Carol Scruggs, Angela Spiller, and Stacie Stark/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Chirping birds in the trees sang with the children's and teachers' choruses which made melody with the flutists and original poems students composed to commemorate the achievements of Ms. Force and the Granbery community over the more than 20 years she directed the school's recycling program. 

The Oliver Middle School Flute Choir, under the direction of Susan Waters, played at the memorial for Sherry Force at Granbery School/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In 1989 with a single newspaper bin, Sherry started up recycling at Granbery.

Her teachings over time about the values of protecting the Earth literally affected thousands of students who enlightened their families about new practices which soon became habits.

Long before anyone knew what "wet dry" was all about, Ms. Force implemented a food composting program at Granbery, a model copied by the Tennessee Department of Corrections which was able to reduce its solid waste budget by 75 percent.

Under her leadership, the school earned local, state, regional, and national awards for environmental awareness and action.  

Sherry Force/SEIU

Many recycle every Saturday at Granbery where Ms. Force never failed to show, come snow, ice, piercing sun, or holiday.  It didn't matter if Christmas Day fell on a Saturday:  She was there.

On cold winter days she served cups of hot chocolate to volunteers, and in the summer, popsicles.  Sherry's liberal leanings occasionally got her into trouble and almost cost her job, she said last June, but she grinned and bore it and proudly recycled on.

Last December she was felled by sudden illness, but her spirit and legacy did not die.  Her efforts will live for a long time as Granbery children educate their own children who will teach still more about the importance of preserving the environment and making it better.  Her spirit can always be found, floating around those bins.

Sherry Force died December 19, 2012 at Vanderbilt Hospice.

At the Granbery celebration these boys read poems they composed in tribute to Sherry Force/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Granbery students sang What a Wonderful World and This Land is Your Land/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Granbery kindergarten teacher M. L. Morlock sang In My Life/Photo by Patricia Leslie

These students read poems they had written to honor Ms. Force and said they learned "one person can make a difference," just like Ms. Force said/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Lori Donahue, Granbery principal, praised Sherry Force and announced the creation of a scholarship in Sherry's honor which will send a student to an environmental camp/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A representative from the mayor's office read a proclamation commending Sherry Force.

The students were perfectly poised and listened attentively throughout the 45-minute program/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A student held the plaque dedicated to the memory of Sherry Force/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Jessi Force, Sherry's daughter, greeted friends and families after the service/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Student ushers stand beside the dogwood tree planted at Granbery School in Sherry Force's honor/Photo by Patricia Leslie

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Crosses on the Mall

Crosses on the Mall April 12, 2013/Patricia Leslie

After a 24-hour vigil and the reading of victims' names, volunteers on Friday began removing from the National Mall, 3,300 crosses, Stars of David, and Islamic insignia, reminders of those killed by gun violence since the Newtown murders on December 14, 2012.

Crosses on the Mall April 12, 2013/Patricia Leslie

Groups which participated in the placement of the temporary grave markers on Thursday included the Sojourners,  Park View Kids Zone,  Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and PICO National Network (People Improving Communities through Organizing).

Crosses on the Mall April 12, 2013/Patricia Leslie

Their members were part of hundreds who converged on Capitol Hill to urge Congress to act to curb more gun deaths, and they made a difference:  16 Republican senators voted with 52 Democrats to continue the gun control debate, no small feat in times of heady money and influential lobbyists for the gun industry.

Crosses on the Mall April 12, 2013/Patricia Leslie

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Anti-droners rally at the White House

It was another pretty day in the neighborhood yesterday, another typical day with a protest out front of the White House with about four times the customary number of police cars available to handle the cherry blossom crowd and the protesters/Patricia Leslie

About 200 marched in front of the White House April 13, protesting the use of drones worldwide by the U.S. government/Patricia Leslie

The rally was organized by the ANSWER Coalition and was one of several demonstrations against drones held in major American cities/Patricia Leslie

At the anti-drone protest in front of the White House April 13/Patricia Leslie

 

The sign says "If you see something...Hello? I'd like to report my government."  He/she holds a telephone with the rest of the phone taped to the sign/Patricia Leslie

At the anti-drone protest in front of the White House April 13/Patricia Leslie

 

At the anti-drone protest in front of the White House April 13/Patricia Leslie

At the anti-drone protest in front of the White House April 13/Patricia Leslie

A "veteran for truth" at the anti-drone protest at the White House April 13/Patricia Leslie

Representatives from the Ivory Coast participated/Patricia Leslie

At the anti-drone protest in front of the White House April 13/Patricia Leslie

 

Words and symbols on the brown cardboard sign say "Make love, not drones"/Patricia Leslie

Among the victims listed on "Obama's Kill List" are the "Constitution, Rule of Law, Due Process, Magna Carta and the 10 Commandments"/Patricia Leslie

 

 

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State societies party with the Goo Goos

The longest serving member of the Tennessee State Society, Mary Lou Collector, partied with Sederia Gray, the Mississippi Cherry Blossom Princess, left, and Ashley Kimery, the Tennessee Cherry Blossom Princess, last week at Bobby Van's Grill on New York Avenue in Washington/Patricia Leslie

 

The number attending the 2013 Tennessee and Mississippi joint state societies' fete for their cherry blossom princesses at Bobby Van's Grill Thursday night was about half what it was last year, probably due to the omission of a third state society which swelled the 2012 crowd (Alabama). 

 

And maybe it was again lack of any munchies anywhere (not even little nuts or crackers at the bar),

 

Excuse, please, but "Goo Goos" (?) from Tennessee graced the tables. 

 

For hicks unaware, Goo Goos are chocolate pieces loaded with nuts and marshmallows, sure to please most everyone, especially mixed with beer and wine (?). Guess you had to be there to taste.

 

Mary Lou Collector, one of the party people always present, said she has been a Tennessee delegate to the National Conference of State Societies for 49 years.  A former resident of Copper Hill, Tennessee, Ms. Collector is a longtime resident of Washington.

 

Tennessee's cherry blossom princess, Ashley Kimery, is from Pasadena, California, and attends Vanderbilt.  Apparently,  the Tennessee State Society couldn't find any qualified native women from the Volunteer State to fill the bill and had to look elsewhere.  Someone needs to contact Cong. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis).

 

 

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