Excellent 'doubts' are sown in Vienna

 

From left, Gayle Nichols-Grimes as Sister Aloysius and Danielle Comer as Sister James in Vienna Theatre Company's Doubt: A Parable/Photo by Matthew Randall

From left, Danielle Comer as Sister James, Jacquel R. Tomlin as Mrs. Muller, Bruce Alan Rauscher as Father Flynn and  Gayle Nichols-Grimes as Sister Aloysius in Vienna Theatre Company's Doubt: A Parable/Photo by Matthew Randall

This is about a nasty nun on a tirade to get rid of a priest, all because of her suspicions.

With prescient timing, the Vienna Theatre Company presents Doubt: A Parable about the spoils of innuendo and rumor.  It doesn't take much to apply the message to the inhospitable environment in today's world.

One must ask: What role does doubt play in today's society?

"They look smug like they have a secret," says a nun, castigating even poor old Frosty the Snowman who can't escape the malicious net. 

From the beginning, Father Flynn (Bruce Alan Rauscher) delivers a convincing message from the pulpit, an introduction to serious matter.  

With her strong performance and from her first appearance on the stage, Gayle Nichols-Grimes as Sister Aloysius is immediately able to stir audience wrath.  We can only guess at her background and insecurities to want to take down a priest and create more madness in her world. 

Enter Sister Aloysius's weak sister, Sister James (Danielle Comer) who offers her doubts about actions of the father towards a student, the only black pupil at the parochial school where Sister Aloysius is principal. 

And here comes the student's mother,  Mrs. Muller (Jacquel R. Tomlin), another weakling, at least, at first.

Momentum builds as the story advances; battle lines are drawn. The roles call for each actor to gain force and they succeed, amidst powerful silences which increase the tension.

Who would you suppose is the victor at the end?  It's left to the audience to ponder its own doubts and insecurities.

More than once during the performance I was reminded of the Salem Witch Trials and suspicion in the late 17th century which killed 19 persons.

That a large attendance surrendered a beautiful Sunday afternoon for a darkened hall of serious theatre in Vienna was surprising and worth it.

Applause to Tom Epps (co-producer with Laura Fargotstein) and his lighting, always right on target to the second.

Beverley Benda's costumes are appropriate, mostly all in black (surprise!) save Mrs. Muller's lovely hat and lavender outfit which contrast like springtime flowers on this stage of unhappy people.

The nuns' caps brought to mind the Salem Witch Trials' costumery which may match contemporary Catholic costumery for the little I know.

Director Joanna Henry has the performers use their hands to wring, wither, grasp and point to emphasize their words, and they work!

Steve Ross and Helen Bard-Sobola have designed Sister Aloysius's office in harsh design and properties, a stark reminder of her unforgiving character. Her domicile counterbalances the pleasant garden which lies nearby and serves as a place of reflection.

The experience of live performance becomes more enjoyable with Alan Wray's sounds of an approaching storm, bells, and children laughing, in hallways, and in the gymnasium.

I look forward to a reversal of the play when the priest is the antagonist and the nun, the moral superior. Is it always the woman's fault? Beginning with the Garden of Evel (sic), the scripts are written that way. By men.

Other production staff members: Anna-Kathleen Camper, Lauren Markovich, Nick Friedlander, and Heather Plank, stage managers; hair and make-up, Kendel Taylor.

Doubt: A Parable is a 2004 play by John Patrick Shanley which won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play.  It won all five Drama Desk awards for which it was nominated. The play was adapted as a movie in 2008 and starred Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was nominated for several Academy Awards.

According to the program: "The Vienna Theatre Company has been inspired by recent events to intensify our efforts to be a vibrant diverse company dedicated to fine entertainment."

Special free Post-Show Talk Back this Saturday following the Nov. 5 show!  9:30 - 10:15 p.m. with the director and actors.

Language: All "G" at the church!

Audience: For mature children and adults

What: Doubt: A Parable

When: Friday and Saturday nights, at 8 p.m., Nov. 4 and 5, 2022; Sunday matinee, 2 p.m., Nov. 6, 2022,

Where: Vienna Theatre Company, Vienna Community Center, 120 Cherry St., SE, Vienna, VA 22180

Tickets: Online at Vienna, VA – WebTrac Ticket Search (myvscloud.com) or in person at the Vienna Community Center during open hours or before each performance, if available. $15.

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Book review: 'The Columnist' by Donald A. Ritchie, highly recommended for journalism scholars

Who's the Drew Pearson now? I can think of no one who fits the bill.

Drew Pearson (1897-1969) was a muckraking journalist who helped send four members of the U. S. Congress to prison, had two U.S. senators censured and was not timid when it came to writing and broadcasting scandals, making a few mistakes along the way, but, hey! Who's perfect?

The Columnist: Leaks, Lies, and Libel in Drew Pearson's Washington is a must for journalism students and 20th century American history buffs who need or want another revealing look inside what makes Washington tick.

Mr. Pearson was a man who dug deep, who persisted, who was hated by most of the presidents he covered, including
President Harry S. Truman who threatened to shoot Mr. Pearson because of the columnist's criticism of Truman's daughter and wife. (Pearson predicted a Thomas Dewey win.)

Pearson was unafraid of lawsuits and was sued many times, losing only once.

The infamous Joseph McCarthy, feared by most, bore the wrath of Mr. Pearson's writings and broadcasts.
Pearson stood firm in his denunciation of McCarthy but Pearson had advantages most did not: He had a bully pulpit with his column, radio and TV broadcasts, comparing McCarthy's tactics to Salem's witch-burnings.

At Washington's fancy Sulgrave Club, the demagogic McCarthy physically attacked Pearson at a dinner party until stopped by none other than U.S. Senator Richard M. Nixon.

Some of Pearson's sponsors were intimidated by his attacks on McCarthy and dropped his radio broadcasts. His anti-McCarthy crusade
cost Pearson his friendship with the columnist Walter Winchell whom Pearson labeled a "McCarthy cheerleader."

Upon Pearson's death, Jack Anderson (1922-2005), a Pearson protégé and Pulitzer Prize winner, took over the column and renamed it, "Washington Merry-Go-Round. Although Wikipedia claims it's the longest-running column in American history, the most recent column I could find is dated July 15, 2021.

The book has a striking cover, is well researched, and its 367 pages include 90 of index, an extensive bibliography, and notes. The author, Donald A. Ritchie, is historian emeritus of the U.S. Senate.



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Salem's witches, worth a trip

 

The Salem Witch Trials 1692  was on exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts which featured era pieces, belongings of the participants, and paintings, several shown below. Another witch exhibition is set at the Peabody this fall, Sept. 18, 2021 through March 20, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

The entrance to the Peabody Essex Museum where popular witch exhibitions enlighten museum goers/Photo by Patricia Leslie

What has captured the attention of these children at the Peabody Essex Museum?/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It was the Examination of a Witch, 1853 by Tompkins Harrison Matteson (1813-1883), Peabody Essex Museum/Photo by Mark Sexton and Jeffrey R. Dykes

Detail of Examination of a Witch, 1853 by Tompkins Harrison Matteson, Peabody Essex Museum, which the artist depicted 160 years after the event. Note the animal-like claws of the hands of the woman in red kneeling on the right as she examines a victim whose skin eruptions gave the witch police proof the undressed woman was evil. The woman in center with the red kerchief has the look of a witch herself as she points to imperfect skin on the back of the young woman. Behind her, a helmeted soldier holds a spear used to hold back curious crowds. At the Peabody exhibition, a similar spear hung on the wall and may be seen above in the photo of the children on the floor. Mr. Matteson based his painting on an event in Boston which occurred in a public tavern, a common location for these testimonies.

William Drage (c. 1637-1669), Daimonomageia: A Small Treatise of Sicknesses and Diseases from Witchcraft, and Supernatural Causes, 1665, Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum. Mr. Drage was an English physician and apothecary whose thinking about witches came to America with settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Cures for witchcraft included hanging rosemary, ivy, and mistletoe inside the house. You can forget about kissing under the mistletoe, unless ..../Photo by Patricia Leslie

This book, Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, 1677, was written by John Webster (1611-1682), a witchcraft skeptic who nevertheless believed some could practice the craft naturally using the sciences of astronomy, botany or alchemy. (The spotlight in the left corner is from overhead lights.) From the Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

These are the walking sticks belonging to George Jacobs Sr., an elderly man put to death by testimony from his granddaughter, Margaret, who recanted...too late.  They were a gift in 1918 to the Peabody Essex Museum from Allen Jacobs, presumably related to Mr. Jacobs. In the background is a rendition of Mr. Jacobs's trial by Tompkins Harrison Matteson.  (Please see below.)/ Photo by Patricia Leslie

The granddaughter of George Jacobs, Sr. sentences her grandfather to death in Tompkins Harrison Matteson's Trial of George Jacobs, Sr. for Witchcraft, 1855, which the artist painted 163 years after Mr. Jacobs's trial and execution.  Although Margaret recanted her testimony, she was too late, and her grandfather, shown in the lower right with his hands extended, begging for mercy, was led to the gallows. The woman with her outstretched arms to the right of Margaret may be her mother, Rebecca, also accused of witchcraft. Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of R. W. Ropes, 1859/Photo by Mark Sexton and Jeffrey R. Dykes

Detail from Tompkins Harrison Matteson, Trial of George Jacobs, Sr. for Witchcraft, 1855, Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of R. W. Ropes, 1859.

On the wall at the Peabody is a quote from Thomas Maule's 1695 Truth Held Forth And Maintained/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It was not until 2016 that Proctor's Ledge was confirmed by researchers from the University of Virginia to be the site of the hangings of 19 "witches.' Scientists were led to the place by the findings of Salem resident Sidney Perley who, in 1921, questioned the long-identified summit of Gallows Hill on the outskirts of Salem as the hanging place. Mr. Perley said his research pointed to what is called, for unknown reasons, Proctor's Ledge which is at the base of the hill. He was proven right.

A dedication of the memorial was held July 19, 2017, the 325th anniversary of the hangings of Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, and Sarah Wildes.  Millions of Americans are related to the "witches" hung at Salem, including my own children, related by their father to Rebecca Nurse.

The 19 victims' names are carved in stone in a semi-circle around a "single oak tree, as a symbol of endurance and dignity," according to the city's website. The crooked sign in the upper left is a reminder to wear masks during covid times/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Proctor's Ledge, the memorial to the witch victims in Salem, MA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

Proctor's Ledge, the memorial to the witch victims in Salem, MA, where from the left, victims' names are Bridget Bishop, hung on June 10, 1692, and Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, and Rebecca Nurse, the latter four hung on July 19, 1692. Outside the picture is the name of Sarah Wildes, also hung on July 19, 1692/Photo by Patricia Leslie

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Proctor's Ledge stones are dedicated, from the left, to the memories of George Jacobs, Sr., whose granddaughter, Margaret betrayed him, John Proctor, Sr., and John Willard, all of whom were hung on August 19, 1692/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Proctor's Ledge, the memorial to the witch victims in Salem, MA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Proctor's Ledge, the memorial to the witch victims in Salem, MA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A day ends in Salem, Massachusetts which my sister says is a haunted and crowded place at Halloween/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Just when you think you've heard it all,
a Michigan politician calls female competitors in his state, "witches" to be burned at the stake.  

Like me, he must have been the only person older than 50 years who lives east of the Mississippi River who has not visited Salem, Massachusetts, the location of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 and 1693 where 25 persons were killed or died as the result of mass hysteria. 

Nineteen of the witch victims were hung; one man, Giles Corey, was literally "pressed" to death with heavy weights as punishment for his "craft"; five victims died in jail.

One was an infant, Mercy Good, who never knew life outside the prison where she was born and where she died before her mother, Sarah Good, was hanged.

Mercy had a sister, Dorothy, who was also confined to the jail with inadequate circulation, a dirt floor, and crude sanitary facilities. Dorothy was incarcerated for more than eight months, chained to prison walls and although she wasn't put to death like her mother, family members said she suffered from the effects of her imprisonment for the rest of her life. 

Dorothy was five years old when she was jailed.

The witchcraft scare in Salem began with the telling of tall tales by a slave, Tituba, to young girls, confined to their home prisons during the harsh winter and having nothing better to do than to listen and spin yarns of their own.

As a child of about nine years old, I recall stumbling across this sad chapter in American history in an encyclopedia which I never forgot. I can still recall the illustrations and as an adult, the absurdity of it all and man's inhumanity to man, much like Ron Weiser.

Thanks to an excellent display at the Peabody Essex Museum right in the heart of Salem, visitors can become better educated about the hysteria, rumors, and seizures which can overtake crowd behavior and expand. The Peabody is hosting two exhibitions about the witches this year, with remnants and artifacts from the trials and the people involved.  

I was at Salem about the time Ron Weiser was spewing his female hatred like a snake. For him, I highly recommend a visit to Salem and to the Peabody Essex Museum to see this fall's shows which may cause Mr. Weiser to shed his snake skin and rethink his poison and what it can become. 

May I be so bold to suggest "GoFund Me" for his visit with excess funds to be donated to female candidates? 

The Peabody Essex Museum was founded in 1799, only 37 years after the trials, and prides itself as the country’s oldest continuously operating museum.

On a different note, at Turner's Seafood Restaurant, my pal, Maureen, and I had an excellent dinner outdoors in 37 degrees, but the wind was calm, we were dressed warmly (made comfortable by the restaurant's nearby standing heaters), and the warm chocolate lava cake provided its own pleasures.  

Salem is about 30 minutes north of Boston's Logan Airport.

What: The Salem Witch Trials, Sept. 18, 2021 through March 20, 2022.

When:  Open Thursday-Sunday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Where:  Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970

Tickets:  

Adults, $20; seniors (65 and older), $18; students (with i.d.), $12, youth 16 and under, Salem residents, and members, no charge. 

For more information:  978-745-9500, 866-745-1876 and visit pem.org. 

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Press \\ Press Releases

PEM announces fall exhibition schedule

 

Ships from the Dutch Golden Age at the National Gallery of Art

Willem Van De Velde the Younger, 1633-1707, The Dutch Fleet Assembling Before the Four Days' Battle of 11-14 June 1666, 1670, on loan from Moveo Art Collection. This depicts the Dutch ships, the Liefde (Love) on the left and the Gouden Leeuwen (Golden Lions) on the right, as they sailed on the North Sea to wage war on the British during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667). Although the Liefde sank during the engagement, the Dutch won the battle, the longest and largest ship fight between the two nations.

 

Above is one of the 17th century ship models in the exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. This model is on loan from the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts. The artist is unknown. Iceboards attached to the sides helped stabilize the ship, especially in shallower waters, indicating this yacht was intended to stay closer to shore rather than venturing out to higher seas, according to the label copy/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 
Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age at the National Gallery of Art came down last Sunday,  but here, you may read about it and see some of the 50 odd pieces in the exhibition which included ship models, paintings, prints, and drawings portrayed by artists from the 17th century and the Dutch Golden Age.

Then the Dutch stood at their height of realm and rule, the most prosperous nation in Europe, emboldened by their mighty seas and waterways which were used for commerce, battles, and pleasure,  and drawn by their artists.

Breaking from religious themes and styles, Dutch painters drew subjects from everyday scenes, people, landscapes, animals, flowers, still lifes, historical events, ships, and water. Rembrandt van Rijn was represented by six of his etchings and drawings.

Adam Van Breen, 1585-1640, Skating on the Frozen Amstel River, 1611, National Gallery of Art, Washington. Waterways were not only used for commerce but for pleasure, too. See the dancers on the ice shaking a leg after, perhaps, imbibing in some Amstel Light beer. At the bottom near the center to the right of the dignitary in red, is a lad carrying a stick over his shoulder to play kolf, a combination of golf and hockey. His red and black shirt identifies him as an orphan.

Hendrick Avercamp, 1585-1634, A Scene on the Ice, c. 1625. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Here you can see couples in love, couples, maybe out of love, a playful dog, a horse-drawn sleigh, and children playing the precursor of hockey, kolf.

Rembrandt van Rijn, 1606-1669, View over the Amstel from the Rampart, c. 1646-1650, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Rembrandt van Rijn, 1606-1669, The Bathers, 1651, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Abraham Blooteling, 1640-1690, Admiral Egbert Meesz Kortenaer, c. 1665. One of the most interesting in the show. The admiral lost his lower right arm and left eye in the First Anglo-Dutch war in 1652 in the Battle of Dungeness. He continued to serve his nation until his death in 1665 at the Battle of Lowestoft when the Dutch were defeated near the coast of Suffolk, England. Look at the confidence in his eyes and his strong grasp of the telescope or baton (what is it?) in his left hand, a force demanding reckoning! He is buried at Rotterdam at the memorial (pictured below) which is engraved with a poem by Gerard Brandt.

By Josh at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org

The Hero of the Maas, bereft of eye 
 and his right hand
Yet of the Wheel the Eye, Fist of 
the Fatherland 
KORTENAER the Great, the terror 
of foe's fleets
the forcer of the Sound by this grave 
his country greets

Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656, Ice Scene near a Wooden Observation Tower, 1646, National Gallery of Art, Washington. See the horse-drawn sleigh on the ice on the left and men pushing carts. The tower provided a mark in the horizon to help sailors navigate waterways. During bad weather and at dusk, the tower was a lighthouse.  The time period is what is known as the "Little Ice Age."

Hendrick Cornelis Vroom, 1566-1640, A Fleet at Sea, c. 1614, private collection. The label copy said Vroom was the first Dutch painter to specialize in seascapes. He was a frequent sailor who survived a shipwreck and applied his experiences and observations to the canvas.

Cornelius Verbeeck, 1591-1637. A Naval Encounter between Dutch and Spanish Warships, c. 1618-1620, National Gallery of Art, Washington. For ten years these two works led separate lives  until technical analysis revealed they belonged together, according to label copy. A Spanish ship on the left fires cannons on the Dutch on the right. The Dutch ships were usually smaller and more easily navigated, especially by their skilled and experienced crew, testimony which can be seen below the Dutch vessel where a destroyed Spanish vessel is battered by waves.

Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age at the National Gallery of Art, Washington/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The curator for the exhibition was Alexandra Libby, the assistant curator of northern Baroque paintings at the National Gallery.

What and when: The National Gallery of Art is open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday.

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

Admission charge: It's 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
 
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Women composers featured at free noontime concert, June 6, St. John's, Lafayette Square

Composer, organist, and teacher Margaret Vardell Sandresky of Winston-Salem, N.C.

Selections by three women composers are the program for a free concert Wednesday, June 6, at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square beginning at 12:10 p.m.

The three composers are  
Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969) from Poland, Clara Schumann (1819–1896) from Germany, and a living artist, Margaret Vardell Sandresky (b. 1921) from Salem College, Winston-Salem, N.C. 

The U.S. Air Force Strings under the direction of
First Lieutenant Philip Emory will perform Symphony for String Orchestra (Bacewicz), followed by organist Ilono Kubiaczyk-Adler to play Prelude and Fugue in B-flat major, Op. 16 No. 2 (Schumann) and Dialogues for Organ and Strings (Sandresky).

Organist Ilono Kubiaczyk-Adler



 
Dr. Kubiaczyk-Adler began studying piano at age 8 in her native Poland and started organ studies at 16. A winner of national and international competitions, she holds a doctorate in musical arts (Arizona State University), two master's degrees, and professional diplomas. She is the associate music director at All Saints Episcopal Church in Phoenix.

Lt. Emory is a flight commander based in Washington, who began violin studies at age 4. He holds a master's degree in conducting from the University of South Carolina and has traveled the world as an artist.

                     

St. John's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

Wednesday's performances will conclude St. John's First Wednesday series for the year.  Look for an announcement of next year's artists and save first Wednesdays on your calendar.

St. John's was founded in 1815 and is known to Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square. It's often called the “Church of the Presidents” since beginning with James Madison, who was president from 1809 to 1817, every president has attended services at the church, and several have been members. A plaque at the rear of St. John's designates the pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War.

Benjamin Latrobe, known as the "father of American architecture" and the architect of the U.S. Capitol Building and the White House porticos, designed St. John's Church in the form of a Greek cross.

The church bell, weighing almost 1,000 pounds, was cast by Paul Revere's son, Joseph, in August, 1822, and was hung at St. John's that November where it has rung since. Wikipedia says two accounts report that whenever the bell rings on the occasion of the death of a notable person, six male ghosts appear at the president's pew at midnight and quickly disappear.

Dolley Madison, wife of President Madison, was baptized and confirmed at St. John's, according to the National Park Service, which calls the church "one of the few original remaining buildings left near Lafayette Park today."

For those on lunch break Wednesday, food trucks are located at Farragut Square, two blocks away.

What: First Wednesday Concert featuring music by women composers by organist Ilono Kubiaczyk-Adler and the U.S. Air Force Strings 
 
When: 12:10 p.m., June 6, 2018

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 (White House exit), Farragut North, or Farragut West

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico at 202-270-6265 or Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org or 202-347-8766
 

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'Sally Mann' has left the building, headed to ...

R. Kim Rushing, b. 1961, Sally with camera, 1998, Collection of Sally Mann

Sally Mann:  A Thousand Crossings is going to Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Paris, and Salem, Massachusetts, after a successful three-month run at the National Gallery of Art. (Please see tour dates below.*)

If you missed the big exhibition in Washington, here are a few photos from the show organized by the National Gallery and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.

The title for the presentation comes from a poem by John Glenday, "Landscape with Flying Man" with this line: "The soul makes a thousand crossings, the heart, just one."**

Sally Mann, b. 1951, Easter Dress, 1986, Patricia and David Schulte

Despite appearances in the scene above, it was not spontaneous but rehearsed numerous times, until Sally Mann could get it just right , according to the label copy. In the picture her daughter, Jessie, wears a white Easter dress worn by Sally Mann and her grandmother, Jessie's namesake.

Sally Mann, b. 1951, Blowing Bubbles, 1987, High Museum of Art, Atlanta

It's a really big show, about 110 photographs taken by Ms. Mann of her beloved South and its complexities, beauty, hauntings, and landscapes which her cult adores and who filled the galleries every time I went to the National Gallery which explains why I was never able to get a seat to see the continuously running film about her at work.  

Sally Mann, b. 1951, Jessie at Nine, 1991, National Gallery of Art, Washington 

Sally Mann, b. 1951, Deep South, Untitled (Valentine Windsor), 1998, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.

This is all (above) that remains of the Windsor Mansion, the largest antebellum Greek Revival house in Mississippi. Built between 1859 and 1861, it had four stories, 25 rooms, 25 fireplaces, and a basement with a school room, dairy, and supply rooms. It is likely that Union troops did not torch it in the Civil War, as they did so many others, because they used it as a hospital. 

After the war, Mark Twain stood in Windsor's observatory and viewed the Mississippi River, observations he used in Life on the Mississippi. Later, when a guest dropped a cigarette in the house on the afternoon of February 3, 1890, the ensuing fire and flames burned it to the ground.  

Windsor Mansion has been the set of several movies, including Raintree County (1957) with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Cliff.  See it today on Highway 552, 12 miles from Port Gibson, Mississippi.

Sally Mann, b. 1951, Battlefields, Cold Harbor (Battle), 2003, National Gallery of Art, Washington

The battle of Cold Harbor (above) was fought in 1864 ten miles from Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy.

The exhibition spanned several galleries and was divided by five themes: Family, The Land, Last Measure, Abide with Me, and What Remains.  I find Mann's photographs neither inspirational nor uplifting and they speak of a languid, bygone era which no longer exists, save the sad landscapes which continue to wither.

A friend in Blacksburg asked me if the show was, she paused before she said "depressing," we both, familiar with Mann's typical subject matter.  Yes, I said, and bleak, like they usually are.  

Or, that's how they strike me.  How do they strike you?  Perhaps, it's the black and whiteness. But for the younger generation, and heavens know, that's the only market (!) for everything, it's what they seem to want, a reflection of their existence.

*Tour dates are:
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, June 30 - Sept. 23, 2018 
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Nov. 20 - Feb. 10, 2019
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Mar. 3 - May 27, 2019
Jeu de Paume, Paris, June 17 - Sept. 22, 2019
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Oct. 19, 2019 - Jan. 12, 2020.

A catalogue with 320 pages and 230 illustrations is on sale for $45 at the National Gallery of Art. 

Audio and video of the show with interviews are available at the National Gallery's website. 

**"Landscape with Flying Man"

I read about him that was given wings.

His father fixed those wings to carry him away.

They carried him halfway home, and then he fell.
And he fell not because he flew

but because he loved it so. You see
it's neither pride, nor gravity but love

that pulls us back down to the world.
Love furnishes the wings, and that same love

will watch over us as we drown.
The soul makes a thousand crossings, the heart, just one.

By John Glenday from Grain (London: Picador, 2009)

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