Monday, April 8, 2013

National Archives: 'Ain't I a Woman?'






President Abraham Lincoln "showing Sojourner Truth the Bible presented by the colored people of Baltimore, Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., Oct. 29, 1864"/Library of Congress


No women will be represented on a panel of four with a moderator when the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration hosts a discussion April 11, 2013 about the 100 years between President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation issued in 1863 and the 1963 march on Washington.

On its calendar of events, Archives says the talk will focus on "the continuing struggle for freedom, justice, and equality during Reconstruction, as well as the Tilden-Hayes Compromise and Jim Crow laws."

The four scheduled panelists are C.R. Gibbs, Clarence Lusane, Roger Davidson, and Frank Smith. John Franklin will be moderator. I suppose Archives couldn't find a
qualified woman historian from the approximately 6,000 who teach history in postsecondary institutions to join its panel. Oh, that's right: Women's History Month was last month.

President Lincoln's proclamation applied to all slaves, men and women, one of whom affected was
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), an abolitionist and a woman's rights advocate who worked tirelessly to improve conditions for former slaves and for women. In 1864 she visited the White House and met President Lincoln. No doubt she would be surprised to learn that more than 150 years later, women are still overlooked for important roles, even by federal agencies which are supposed to lead the way, I thought, for the rest of the nation.

Sojourner Truth was the first black woman to be honored with a bust at the U.S. Capitol (2009).
 
Ain't it 2013, National Archives?  

Below is a portion of Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" speech delivered at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron in the 1850s, as recalled by Frances Dana Barker Gage, and cited at Wikipedia:

"Dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place everywhar. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gibs me any best place!"

And raising herself to her full height, and her voice to a pitch like rolling thunder, she asked. 

 'And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! (and she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power). I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear de lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen 'em mos' all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?"


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Saturday, April 6, 2013

Mozart and Tchaikovsky on tap tonight at Dumbarton Concerts





A Far Cry/Yoon S. Byun
 
The Washington premier of Mason Bates's Icarian Rhapsody will debut tonight at Dumbarton Concerts'  last presentation of the season with a performance by A Far Cry, a 17-member string orchestra from Boston where it serves as the chamber orchestra for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Mason Bates, a native of Richmond, Virginia, is the composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Tonight's program at Georgetown's Historic Dumbarton Church includes Mozart's Eine Kleine Nacht Music, Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C, and Piazzolla's Two Tangos.

Dumbarton Concerts, celebrating the conclusion of its 35th season, "is dedicated to assembling the most talented ensembles from around the world to create a concert season of the highest quality."

Tickets may be purchased online or at the door.  
Historic Dumbarton Church in Georgetown/Patricia Leslie

What:  A Far Cry at Dumbarton Concerts

When:  Tonight, April 6, 2013 at 8 p.m.

Where:  Historic Dumbarton Church, 3133 Dumbarton Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007

How much:  $33, general admission, or $29, seniors and students

Parking:  Limited free parking is available at Anthony Hyde Elementary School at 3210 O Street, N.W. beginning at 6:30 p.m. until 30 minutes after the show's conclusion, or arrive in Georgetown early and drive the blocks until you find a spot. (You will.)  This is Georgetown, after all, where Metro rail is prohibited, however, buses may pass.

An hors d'oeuvre bar with beer and wine is available.

For more information:  202-965-2000

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Friday, April 5, 2013

National Archives stings again

 
The sun sets near National Archives/Patricia Leslie
 
Dear National Archives, the least you could do is let the commoners, the peasants, standing out in the wind (gusts up to 29 mph) and the cold know that all we could have possibly hoped for Wednesday evening was nothing more than a video. 
 
No more than one stinking lousy video which we could have seen at home. 
 
On YouTube.

We were not going to get in the auditorium to see Rumsfeld and friends talk about their days at the White House since the Aspen Institute and the press had taken all the seats.  (“She’s from the London Times!" you exclaimed.  "Let her in!” Said my new line friend:  “Oh, where are our press passes?”) 

Why couldn’t you, National Archives, tell us in the first place that you had no serfs' seats left?

An "overflow" ticket for Wednesday's event at National Archives.  Contrary to the wording, "free tickets" were not distributed until 6:30 p.m./Patricia Leslie

Why couldn't you have saved our standing in line for one cold and breezy (wind chill = 44 degrees ) hour which we could have used more judiciously by walking up the street and attending an actual event, namely, the Civil War talk at the Smithsonian American Art Museum?

National Archives, you remind me of Marie Antoinette:   “Let them have video.”

Seeing a video of a live event is like seeing a picture postcard of Salvador Dali’s Last Supper. It cannot compare to standing in front of the real thing (on view at the East Building of the National Gallery of Art).  You just don’t get it, National Archives.

No, I did not hang around.  Yes!  I am angry at the wasted time, at my missing the Smithsonian talk which I would not have missed had you only said an hour earlier:  All that’s left is “overflow.”  Good grief.  You think "overflow" is a prize?

This was not the first time it has happened.

When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke a few months ago, one of your representatives came out and told us on the concrete, the weary, the tired, the oppressed, that Thomas had essentially filled up the house with 120 of his staff members, and the rest of the seats were taken by the press.  And we left.

Woe to the line standers, the taxpayers.

National Archives, why don’t you take a cue from the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum?  When their events are “oversold” and their auditorium is filled up and all that's left is "overflow," they tell the people ahead of time.  Because we hear the truth ahead of time, we can leave pronto if "overflow" is undesirable.  We don't stand around anticipating a seat to the actual production only to be disappointed at show time, like we are at your house. 

National Archives, please contact colleagues at the Smithsonian. Thank you.

Sincerely,

A Wannabe Guest Who Stood in the Cold

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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Free organ concert Apr. 3 at St. John's, Lafayette Square


 
Benjamin Hutto, the director of music ministry and organist at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, and director of performing arts at St. Albans and National Cathedral Schools, will play Organ Treasures Old and New, an Easter recital of music by Bruhns, Handel, Stanford, Dubois in a free concert April 3 at St. John's.

Also in the program is Edward Hart's La Joie de Printemps (2012) which Mr. Hutto performed last year in its world premiere at Bethel Methodist Church in Charleston, S.C.  Mr. Hart teaches at the College of Charleston.

Benjamin Hutto, organist at St. John's, Lafayette Square
 
The concert will begin at 12:10 p.m. and end at 12:45 p.m.  It is part of the church's First Wednesday Concert Series which includes:
 
May 1: Alvy Powell, bass-baritone and Gershwin interpreter

June 5: Jeremy Filsell, artist-in-residence at the Washington National Cathedral, performing organ works by Bach, Dupre, and Rachmaninov

Nov. 6: Bianca Garcia and Michael Lodico performing Stephen Cabell's Kokopelliana (re-scheduled from last month's "snow day")

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 James Madison, president from 1809 to 1817, every president has either been a member of, or has attended services at St. John's, including the Obamas who worshipped here on Easter Sunday. 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 concert is an excellent refresher and break from what normally may be a pressurized lunch.  Food trucks are located at nearby Farragut Square so you can "eat and run" back to the office.

Who:  Benjamin Hutto playing Organ Treasures Old and New

When: 12:10 p.m., April 3, 2013

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

How much:  No charge


Duration: About 35 minutes


Wheelchair accessible


Metro stations: McPherson Square or Farragut North or West

Food trucks:  Located two blocks away at Farragut Square

For more information: 202-270-6265

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Monday, April 1, 2013

Dear National Gallery of Art: 'Tear down this wall'

 
The wall which screens a trailer at the West Building of the National Gallery of Art.  To the left is the Washington Monument and hiding in the trees on the right is the dome of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, all on the National Mall/Patricia Leslie
 
You know I love you, National Gallery of Art, or I wouldn't bring this up, but that old rotting, wooden fence on 7th which I've thought for years was temporary, is, for years, still there. The one that screens the landscaping equipment. The one with the ripped, chipped, buckling and peeling paint. It shows wear and tear. 
The warped and dilapidated fence at 7th and Madison at the corner of the West Building at the National Gallery of Art is an eyesore. The promotion on the fence promotes the current Color, Line, Light exhibition.  Have the Dykes seen this fence? Maybe a benefactor would pay to uproot it/Patricia LeslieDavid-Apollo couldn't take the feeble fence any more, and he left/Patricia Leslie

David-Apollo's maker would not approve, and, after seeing their furnishings, it's inconceivable the Kaufmans (a must-see, in the West Building) would hang around digs like this, but they are still there, waiting, I suppose, like the rest of us for this canker to heal.

The "privacy fence" at the West Building at the National Gallery of Art/Patricia Leslie

Have the Kaufmans seen this fence? May I suggest a "Friends of the Fence at the National Gallery of Art" to take it down/Patricia Leslie

It is so out-of-character for you, National Gallery of Art, contrasted with the beauty and glamour of your distinguished buildings and their contents!  This fence does not flow here.  It would flow at a junkyard in West Virginia (please excuse me, West Virginians, but you know what I mean). I don't think zoning laws permit junkyards within the confines of the District of Columbia.

It may look like a modern piece of art, but it's the deteriorating fence at the West Building of the National Gallery of Art/Patricia Leslie

Patricia Leslie

Since you are getting a face-lift at the East Building, can the doctors come down and uplift the old fence right outa there?   

The fence at the West Building of the National Gallery of Art/Patricia Leslie

I am surprised the National Park Service has not complained.  Are trailer parks allowed in D.C.?  Ones that stand for years? Did you know the trailer and fence show up as out-buildings on Google maps?

From a distance, the trailer, the peeling paint and age of the fence are not noticeable, so please stand back and do not look closely.  This is not a work of art/Patricia Leslie

What about planting some trees or big bushes as a privacy hedge? Your landscaping team does a magnificent job, but the fence, I imagine, is out of their hands.  

Your beauty is impinged by this eyesore. It's like the Mona Lisa with a band-aid across the corner of her chin.  It's time for the masters to come in and do their thing.  Surgeon:  Please heal this scar!

With deepest affection,
Patricia

I ask you:  Which is more attractive?  Greens or peeling paint? The vehicles and equipment could be stored at the U.S. Capitol which is usually empty most months of the year/Patricia Leslie
 
Greens and pieces of the Earth are more attractive than the eyesore of a fence which has been standing for years at the West Building of the National Gallery of Art/Patricia Leslie
 
 

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Rumsfeld to talk at Archives Apr. 3

Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld with President Gerald Ford/Wikipedia
 
Donald Rumsfeld, former defense secretary under Presidents George W. Bush and Gerald Ford, and Ford's chief of staff from 1974-75, will talk about his role as chief of staff with four other former chiefs at National Archives on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The public is invited, and there is no charge to attend.

Other White House chiefs scheduled for "Inside View" are John Podesta (chief of staff for Bill Clinton, 1998-2001), Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty (another Clinton chief of staff who served 1993-94), Kenneth M. Duberstein (for Reagan, 1988-89), and Joshua Bolten (for George W. Bush, 2006-09).

David Gergen, former presidential advisor for four presidents and director of the Center for Public Leadership, will moderate.  The Aspen Institute is a co-sponsor.

Seating at the William G. McGowan Theater will be on a first-come, first-served basis.  Formation of a line outside the entrance at the corner of Seventh Street N.W. and Constitution is expected to form around 5 p.m.   Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., however, free tickets are often distributed to those standing in line before then.

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Stamp Committee snubs Washington galleries


Gerald Murphy, Razor, 1924, copyright, Honoria Murphy Donnelly/licensed by VAGA and at the Dallas Museum of Art
 
Of the 12 modern works of art that are reproduced as commemorative stamps released this month by the U.S. Postal Service, none are found in Washington's galleries, although ten of the artists are well represented here, and in some cases, by several hundred pieces.

Five of the twelve works come from New York institutions, and copyright for five others belong to New York firms, making New York the site or copyright owner of almost 90 percent of the compositions.


The stamps were issued in conjunction with the centennial celebration of America's first large display of modern art, known as the “Armory Show,” the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art in New York organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors.

Besides New York, other locations where the 2013 featured works hang are Texas (2), Yale University (1), Colorado (1), Ohio (1), New Mexico (1), and Philadelphia (1).

Three of Washington’s galleries with works by the ten have free admission where thousands may view art:  The National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  The Phillips Collection charges $12.

New York admission prices reach $25 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. Try getting in the Met without paying the “suggested” price of $25, and see where you land. Try the street.).

Of the remaining locations, only Yale (Joseph Stella) and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Ft. Worth (Aaron Douglas) have free admission.

The Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee which selects and approves stamp designs with the approval of the Postal Service, says: "Stamp selections are made with all postal customers in mind, not just stamp collectors." And yet the Committee promoted galleries that cater to more elite purses than many citizens carry.

In addition to Douglas, The Prodigal Son (1927;) and Stella, Brooklyn Bridge (1919-20), the other featured artists and their works are: Stuart Davis, House and Street (1931), Whitney Museum of American Art; Charles Demuth, I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold (1928), the Met; Arthur Dove, Fog Horns (1929), Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912), Philadelphia Museum of Art; Marsden Hartley, Painting, Number 5 (1914-15), the Whitney; John Marin, Sunset, Maine Coast (1919), Columbus Museum of Art; Gerald Murphy, Razor (1924), Dallas Museum of Art; Georgia O'Keeffe, Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico/Out Back of Marie’s II (1930), Georgia O'Keeffe Museum; Man Ray, Noire et Blanche (1926), the Met; and Charles Sheeler, American Landscape (1930), Museum of Modern Art.

At the unveiling of the stamps in New York (where else?) Richard Uluski, U.S. Postal Service vice president, Northeast Area Operations said: “We understand the power in these miniature works of art to celebrate American heritage history and culture." The stamps, he said, are "a lasting tribute to 12 amazingly talented artists."

The "most consistent supporter" of Arthur Dove was Duncan Phillips, the founder of the Phillips Collection in Washington which has 185 or the majority of Dove's works, according to Wikipedia, and yet, the Committee chose to go to Colorado Springs and its Fine Arts Center for its single Dove painting, Fog Horns, for which a New York firm holds the copyright.

Michael Howell is the collections manager and registrar for the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and was unaware the commemorative stamp of Fog Horns had been released until I contacted him.

The two artists missing from the collections of the four Washington institutions I checked are Aaron Douglas and Gerald Murphy. 

Douglas (1899-1979) was "a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance," and sometimes called the father of African American art. He founded the art department at Fisk University where he taught for 27 years. Wikipedia says Douglas was encouraged by his mother to pursue his passion and inspired by the black painter, Henry O. Tanner. Douglas ”refused to compromise and see blacks as anything less than a proud and majestic people."

But who is Gerald Murphy? (Howell didn't know, either.)

Not that Gerald Murphy? The husband of Sara Murphy? The good friends of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald who played a prominent role in Tender is the Night? That Gerald Murphy? He painted, too?

Well, he painted some, for eight years between 1921 and 1929, before he died in 1964. The Murphys suffered the deaths of their two sons and endured financial problems which may have been factors in Murphy's conclusion of his art output. 

Whatever the case, only 14 of his works are known to have survived, "owing largely to his [Murphy's] own indifference," wrote Peter Schjeldahl in the New Yorker about a Murphy show at Williams College Museum of Art in 2007. Now, only seven or eight are extant.


"At any rate, it’s unlikely that Gerald, had he continued, would have improved" for whatever he had, he had in the beginning, because "he was a man who wasn't really an artist," Schjeldahl wrote. Murphy and his wife collected folk art.

When the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts announced in 1960 it would host a show of Murphy's works, the artist said, according to Schjeldahl:  "I've been discovered.  What does one wear?"

Gerald Murphy was "amazingly talented"?

Who chose Gerald Murphy's work for the one of the 12 modern art stamps?  And why?

If the Stamp Select Committee were truly honoring “amazingly talented” artists like the postal official said, why didn’t it consider more of the 120 artists from the 1913 Armory show, many who are familiar names, but, rather than art appreciation or recognition, perhaps the Committee meant to educate the people.

The Committee might have chosen, too, more than a single token woman artist (O'Keeffe), like Marguerite Zorach, Marie Laurencin, Ethel Myers, Mary Cassatt, Mary Foote, Grace M. Johnson, Gwen John, Margaret Hoard, Bessie Marsh Brewer, Aileen King Dresser, Edith Dimock, May Wilson Preston, Frances Simpson Steven, Louise Pope, Hilda Ward, Edith Woodman Burroughs, Anne Goldthwaite, Edith Haworth, Florence Dreyfous, and Sherry E. Frye, some of the women who exhibited at the 1913 launch.

Or how about the Murphys' friend, Zelda Fitzgerald? She painted, too. But she was from the South. Two strikes! And where is her copyright?  Three strikes!

A Postal Service website, the USA Philatelic, calls the artists "significant American modernists all of whom were at the forefront of embracing new modes of expression that began in Europe and developed into uniquely American perspectives."

Rather than the "Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee," why not call it what it is: the "Select Stamp Committee."

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