'Outliers' leave Sunday

 Pedro Cervantes, 1914-1987, Los Privados, 1937, Smithsonian American Art Museum

What will Mother think on Mother's Day?

If ever there were a better word to describe the huge eclectic mix of homespun art (and more) now at the National Gallery of Art, than “outliers,” what might that be?
 
Nine rooms, spread over "acres" it seems, contain many variable pieces of art in all forms of media.

John B. Flannagan, 1895-1942, Dragon, 1932-1933, Whitney Museum of American Art, and, in background, William Edmondson, 1874-1951, Noah's Ark, c. 1930, Robert M. Greenberg Collection/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I welcome opportunities to see the ways artists interpret their surroundings and life, and bring to viewers and themselves, that which stuns and sometimes stimulates, not all for the good. 

A mix of overlooked artists and those treated with disdain by the arts community over the last 100 years, is presented in this exhibition with more established names, like Marsden Hartley, Henri Rousseau, Edward Hicks, James Benning, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and Jacob Lawrence.

 William Edmondson, 1874-1951, Angel, 1931, Robert M. Greenberg Collection/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Some of it is disturbing and painful, like certain pieces by Forrest Bess (1911-1977), a paranoid schizophrenic who developed a cult following in the 1980s and conducted experiments on himself (with photographs) in his quest to become a hermaphrodite.

Many renderings document mental conditions, illnesses, and family backgrounds. Optimism is missing, a reflection of the time which the exhibition unfolds in three separate periods of turmoil, fast change, and revolution:  1924-1943, 1968-1992, and 1998-2013. 

William Edmondson, 1874-1951, Tombstone with Bird,  1934-1941, Newark Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The first period leads up to and includes the Second World War; the second, the anti-war movement and worldwide revolution, and the third blends the unschooled and schooled where difference is not a disadvantage but more traditional materials and practices balance the cosmos.
 
I must start with works by sculptor William Edmondson (1874-1951) from Nashville, my former home, and the growing reputation he has earned as his works continue to capture collectors' admiration.

 William Edmondson, 1874-1951, Jack Johnson, 1934-1941, Newark Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In January, 2016, at Christie's Mr. Edmondson's Boxer set a world auction record for a piece of outsider art, selling for $785,000, a price perhaps since exceeded. 

I well remember the press and accolades his sculptures received at a 1981 exhibition at the Tennessee State Museum, one of the first institutions to honor him, preceded in 1937 by the Museum of Modern Art when Mr. Edmondson became the first black artist to have a solo show.

His birth date is uncertain due to a fire which destroyed the family Bible where important events were kept.  Census records reveal that Mr. Edmondson, the son of slaves, was likely born in 1874.

He worked at various jobs and sold vegetables he grew in his backyard when, in 1934, a vision from God told Mr. Edmondson to begin sculpting a tombstone which he did, and kept going, using discarded limestone from old buildings to make decorative yard art, religious pieces, and more cemetery markers.
  
He never enjoyed much of a reputation while he was living, but public exposure was not a goal. He was driven by his heart to make godly things.

 Sister Gertrude Morgan, 1900-1980, Revelation 7 chap., c. 1970, The Museum of Everything, London

A photo of Sister Gertrude Morgan in 1974 by Joshua Horwitz

The show's catalog is about as big as the show itself with essays, excellent biographical sketches of all 80 artists, full color plates of their 280 pieces in the exhibition, and a handy checklist at the rear with names, titles, and dates. Once the catalog is opened, it is difficult to close. 

 Florine Stettheimer, 1871-1944, Father Hoff, 1928, University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Edward Hicks, 1780-1849, The Cornell Farm, 1848, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Joseph Pickett, 1848-1918, Coryell's Ferry 1776, c. 1914-1918, Whitney Museum of American Art

 William H. Johnson, 1901-1970, John Brown Legend, c. 1945, Smithsonian American Art Museum

 David Butler, 1898-1997, Untitled (Windmill with Rooster), c. 1950, American Folk Art Museum, New York

Eugene von Bruechehein, 1910-1983, both titled Crown, upper, 1940s, Lewis and Jean Greenblatt, and lower, no date, Philadelphia Museum of Art/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The show moves next to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, June 24–September 30, 2018, and then, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, November 18, 2018–March 18, 2019

The exhibition has something for everyone. No one will be bored. Especially not Mama on Mother's Day.  I can't wait to get back!

Besides those listed above, other artists represented are: Morton Bartlett, Mary Lee Bendolph, Anonymous, Steve Ashby, Henry Bannarn, Patrociño Barela, Camille Bombois, Roger Brown, James Castle, Bruce Conner, Henry Darger,  Roy De Forest, Sam  Doyle, Louis Michel Eilshemius, and Howard Finster.

Also, The Gansevoort Limner, Lee Godie, Palmer Hayden, Mary Heilmann, Morris Hirshfield, Lonnie Holley, Jesse Howard, Index of American Design, Malvin Gray Johnson, John Kane,  Greer Lankton, Lawrence Lebduska, Zoe Leonard, José Dolores López, Séraphine Louis, Al Loving,
 
And, Matt Mullican, Elie (Eliasz) Nadelman, Senga Nengudi,
Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, John Outterbridge,
Dominique-Paul Peyronnet, Elijah Pierce, Howardena Pindell, Horace Pippin, Noah Purifoy, Christina Ramberg,
Martín Ramírez, Barbara Rossi, Betye Saar, Judith Scott,
Nancy Shaver, Charles Sheeler, and Cindy Sherman.

Alan Shields, Lorna Simpson, Drossos P. Skyllas, Janet Sobel, Jessica Stockholder, Patrick J. Sullivan, James “Son Ford” Thomas, Edgar Tolson, Rosie Lee Tompkins, Bill Traylor,Type 42 (Anonymous), Kara Walker, P. M. Wentworth, H. C. Westermann, William T. Wiley, Joseph E. Yoakum, Annie Mae Young, and William Zorach

What: Outliers and American Vanguard Art

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. The exhibition closes Sunday, May 13, 2018.

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

Admission charge: Never at the National Gallery of Art.

Metro stations:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

Catalog:  Prices for the nearly 400 paged catalog in soft and hard cover start at $29.95 but a 20% discount with online orders over $100 may be obtained at this link.

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Last weekend for Michel Sittow at the National Gallery of Art

Michel Sittow, 1469-1525, Mary Rose Tudor (1496-1533), Sister of Henry VIII of England, c. 1514,    Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemaldegalerie, Vienna (Is she not the prettiest thing you ever did see?  She's angelic!  And with a quiet face typical  of many of Sittow's female subjects, the model who may the same model for many women Sittow drew. (You've got to see the show to appreciate this.)  Mr. Sittow's women never look you in the eye, perhaps due to modesty, and seldom do most of his male subjects with the exception here of the man and the cloth hat below.)  Three women are thought to be this subject, although one is likely not the subject, according to the catalog (Isabella, the Catholic).  The traditional subject was Catherine of Aragon, one of Henry VIII's wives but, more recent research shows the lady likely to be Mary Rose Tudor, Henry's youngest sister, who wears a "K" for "Karolus" or Charles, the future Holy Roman Emperor to whom she was betrothed but whose marriage did not take place because Charles got sick, Henry got furious, and Mary Rose Tudor quickly ran off and married Louis XII of France.  Royalty!

An exhibition of art by a court painter for Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus' voyage to the New World, will close this weekend at the National Gallery of Art.

Michel Sittow, 1469-1525, A Young Man in a Red Cap, 1490s  Detroit Institute of Arts. When looking at this, I want to say:  "Dude!  What's with the hat?  You goin' to church or somethin' and have to wear something on your head? (Like former ladies going into services at the Episcopal Church.) Did you have a bad hair day, too?" What does this make you want to say? I'll tell you what the catalog says, and this fellow is on the cover,... That it's similar to other portraits (with head covers) which painters made of themselves or their patron, Saint Luke. And the catalog essay says it may even be Mr. Sittow himself!  However and not withstanding to the contrary, there is still question whether this is a bona fide portrait by Sittow which must mean it's not a self portrait!

Thirteen of the known 25 paintings by Michel Sittow  (c. 1469-1525) which survive are included in the presentation which has a total of 21 works with three by other artists of the period and five attributed to Sittow.  Museums and private collectors from around the world loaned the pieces.

 Mr. Sittow of Tallinn, Estonia, is called that nation's "greatest Renaissance artist." He is associated with "Netherlandish" because of his style, training, and influences.
He worked in Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark, before he returned home where he died of the plague in 1525.

Michel Sittow, 1469-1525, Portrait of Diego de Guevara (?), c. 1515/1518, National Gallery of Art, Washington.  Diego de Guevara served the Burgundian court for more than 40 years and, based on his expression, they were not happy times. (But a study of several seconds of his mouth and eyes hint at a coming smile, so perhaps things were not as bad as supposed on first glance.  The skill of the artist to convey this change!) Mr. de Guevara was a diplomat, a collector and "probable patron of the arts." This painting with Sittow's Madonna and Child, 1515/1518, formed a "devotional diptych" and "rank among Sittow's finest paintings," says the catalog.


Sittow's works were not intended for public showing but for private collections.   Fragments of his past surfaced over the years in Europe but it took almost 400 years for a German curator to hypothesize that Sittow was the artist of the diptych of the Virgin and Child on one side and the Knight of the Order of Calatrava on the other. In 1940 documents in the Tallinn City Archive helped another German narrow Sittow's identity and name him, according to Wikipedia.

Michel Sittow, 1469-1525, Portrait of a Man with a Book, c. 1515, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerpen

  "Almost certainly" Sittow's first teacher was his father, Clawes van der Sittow, a painter and sculptor, according to the National Gallery.

After his father died in 1482, Sittow moved to Bruges, then part of the Netherlands, to study art, and when he was 23,  was appointed court painter to Queen Isabella with whom he traveled across Spain.  He was paid more than twice what any other artist in her retinue earned. 

 

Juan de Flandes, (active 1496-1519), The Temptation of Christ, c. 1500/1504, National Gallery of Art, Washington, one of my favs in the show, although not by Sittow.  Here the devil holds a stone which he demands Christ turn into bread.  (This is all from the catalog.)  The devil attempts to disguise himself as a monk but his horns and frightful webbed feet give him away.  This is the middle of three depictions of the devil and Christ, another on the right side and one on the left, in the backgrounds as the devil tempts Christ again and again, but those images are cut from this photograph of the painting by a bad photographer, me, who did not realize at the time the important portions I was cropping!  (You have to visit the exhibition to take it all in.) With an evil eye, the devil looks askance (at the guilty photographer?). 

 Sittow's tenure with Isabella's court ended with the queen's death in 1504 and ten years later he was in Copenhagen working on a portrait of the Danish king, Christian II. Later, Isabella's family hired Sittow to paint in Brussels where he lived until returning to his birth place, Tallinn, in 1518.

At the National Gallery, the atmosphere in the Sittow room is one of hushed reverence for the art and the period. 

The exhibition was curated by John Oliver Hand, curator of Northern Renaissance paintings at the National Gallery, and Greta Koppel, curator of Dutch and Flemish art, Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn where the show opens on June 8.
  
The Art Museum of Estonia organized the exhibition with the National Gallery.

The historic event at the National Gallery celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of Estonia and the near quincentenary of the painter's return to Tallinn which has been in the news this week. 

Across from Helsinki on the Gulf of Finland and about 400 miles from St. Petersburg, Russia, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is the location of NATO's Cyber Defence Center of Excellence which hosted more than 1000 persons from 30 nations in a cybersecurity exercise. 

What: Michel Sittow: Estonian Painter at the Courts of Renaissance Europe

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. The exhibition closes Sunday, May 13, 2018.

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

Admission charge: Never an admission charge 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

Catalog:  It's 100+ pages with many full-paged color copies, printed on heavy stock. $50.  Buy two online, and they are $40 each!  See the code at the link.



patricialesli@gmail.com 

Opera at the Bulgarian Music Society

Opera on stage at the Embassy of Bulgaria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Neighbors north of Massachusetts Avenue not far from the Cosmos Club may have wondered if the Washington National Opera was presenting an outdoor concert Friday night since stars came out to sing opera at the nearby Embassy of Bulgaria.

Sonya Argiro sings at the Embassy of Bulgaria, accompanied by pianist Ivo Kaltchev/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A principal artist for Metropolitan Opera, native-born Bulgarian bass, Valentin Peytchinov, sang a mixture of classical and popular music for the concert series of the Bulgarian Music Society with two sopranos, Sonya Argiro and Katrin Bulke, all performing solos and all accompanied by pianist Ivo Kaltchev.

 Katrin Bulke at the Embassy of Bulgaria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Mr. Peytchinov sang Mephistopheles Serenade from Faust (Charles Gounod, 1818-1893), Richard Rodgers' (1902-1979) "This Nearly Was Mine" from South Pacific, and, at the end, an encore from the Barber of Seville.

Ms. Argiro, who began her musical career in Bulgaria,
sang "I Mustn't Think of You" by Gheoghi Zlatev-Cherkin (1905-1977), "Don't You Sing, My Early Bird" by Dimitar Petkov (1919-1997), and the Odabella aria from Attila by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901).

 Valentin Peytchinov sings Faust at the Embassy of Bulgaria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Ms. Bulke's program included The Queen of the Night aria from The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and the Guiditta aria from Giuditta by Franz Lehar (1870-1948).

Mr. Kaltchev is the co-director and co-founder of the Washington International Piano Festival.

 From left, Valentin Peytchinov sings an encore from the Barber of Seville while Katrin Bulke and Sonya Argiro listen at the Embassy of Bulgaria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

All four performers are international stars who have starred in productions around the world, winning prizes and competitions.

Mr. Peytchinov said Bulgaria has more classical musicians per capita than any other country in the world (although an audience member, perhaps Finnish, took exception, whispering that honor belongs to Finland).

From left, Ivo Kaltchev, Valentin Peytchinov, Katrin Bulke, and Sonya Argiro celebrate their performance at the Embassy of Bulgaria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Preceding the entertainment was the screening of a film by Elena Dragostinova and Yordan Boychev, Making Dreams Come True, about the renowned Bulgarian opera star, Boris Christoff (1914-1993) whose former home in Sofia is now a cultural center, museum, and studio for opera students and other artists.  

In front of the Embassy of Bulgaria is a bust of Vasil Levski, 1837-1873, a Bulgarian hero who led a revolution to rid his nation of Ottoman rule/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In addition to opera and a film, photography was also featured at the embassy with a new exhibition by Svetoslav Tchoulin, a native of Sofia. 

Mr. Tchoulin photographs city life, and, in his pictures at the embassy, omitted people so that viewers may connect more deeply with the subjects, a speaker explained. According to program notes, his photographs "turn the trivial into original."

The performance was presented by the Bulgarian Music Society, the Embassy of Bulgaria, the Museum Boris Christoff, Concert Evenings in New York, and Vocal Productions NYC Corporation.

This fall marks the beginning of the Bulgarian Music Society's tenth year in Washington.



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Olney's 'Crucible' is unforgettable

Olney Theatre Center presents Arthur Miller's The Crucible now through May 20, 2018.

A theater classic, The Crucible, is a play to see before you die, or to see again, especially during this trial of national turmoil, and I'm glad to find Web lists agree with me on its importance.

Mia Rilette (Betty Parris), Guadalupe Campos (Mercy Lewis), Dani Stoller (Abigail Williams), and Yakima Rich (Susanna Walcott) in The Crucible at Olney Theatre Center (Photo: Stan Barouh)

The show, the Tony Award winner for Best Play of 1953, is presented at the Olney Theatre Center for the first time and chosen, the artistic directors told me, in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election.  

When a recent poll says the majority of Republicans believe the press is the enemy of the American people (quoting Donald Trump), it's time to sit up and take notice that the freedoms we value are under attack, like they were when Joseph McCarthy attacked persons he deemed suspicious, two who were executed.

Scott Parkinson as Reverend John Hale and the girls of Salem. (Photo: Stan Barouh)
   
Arthur Miller (1915-2005), the Crucible writer and usually considered one of the world's greatest playwrights, places a mid-1950s American tragedy in the context of an earlier crime, the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials of 1692 and 1693 when 20 were executed, their deaths stemming from hysterical young girls.

In his metaphor, Mr. Miller skillfully weaves the girls' frenzy as substitutes for those which gripped the nation during the McCarthy years of the 1950s and the "Red Scare." After The Crucible debuted and largely because of it, Mr. Miller was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify. Various organizations banned and boycotted his plays.

 Shpend Xani (Judge Hathorne), Dylan Fleming (John Willard), Dani Stoller (Abigail Williams), Chris Genebach (John Proctor), Jonathan Atkinson (Ezekiel Cheever), and Miranda Rizzolo (Mary Warren) in The Crucible at Olney Theatre Center (Photo: Stan Barouh)

He began working on his play the day he heard his good friend and director, Elia Kazan, at HUAC name actors and playwrights, including Miller, who Kazan thought had ties to leftist causes. (Read a fascinating account of their relationship and their back-and-forth productions here.)

Although Mr. Miller claimed that all his characters in The Crucible were actual persons from Salem, he blended some of their personalities and changed ages for others to better accommodate his script which took him about a year to write, according to a 1996 article for the New Yorker.

Scott Parkinson (Reverend John Hale) and Lilian Oben (Tituba) in The Crucible at Olney Theatre Center (Photo: Stan Barouh)

Olney's director Eleanor Holdridge deserves credit for the strong, persuasive performances she draws from the 19-member cast, notably, Dani Stoller as Abigail Williams, Chris Genebach (John Proctor), Scott Parkinson (Rev. John Hale), Rachel Zampelli (Elizabeth Proctor), and Paul Morella (Deputy Governor Danforth), the latter deserving special recognition for his realistic portrayal of a despised person who quickly conjures up hate from the audience.
 
To introduce the show and set the tone, scenic designer Andrew R. Cohen crafted angled pieces of wood to hang mid-air in stark fashion to greet theatergoers. Minimalist visuals throughout the performance permit the dialogue to dominate, as it should, including the second act when
ugly, low-hanging fluorescents give the stage a prison-like environment and grilling room, as the accused hear and argue their sentencing.

Applause to the graphic designer for the excellent logo for the play and to the choreographer, Kelly Crandall d'Amboise, whose dancing girls and antics never miss a beat in original composition, and none from director's notes, artistic directors Jason Loewith and Jason King Jones told me.

Excellent period costuming by Sarah Cubbage, effective lighting by Nancy Schertler, and original music by Patrick Calhoun all contribute to the success.
  
Other Crucible cast members are Jonathan Atkinson, Guadalupe Campos, Brigid Cleary, Dylan Fleming, Jessica Lefkow, Craig MacDonald, Bolton Marsh, Lilian Oben, Yakima Rich, Caroline Rilette, Mia Rilette, Miranda Rizzolo, Michael Russotto, and Shpend Xani.

Dori Beau Seigneur was wig and hair consultant, and John Keith Hall, production stage manager.

Today in Africa, "witch camps" exist, used to rid communities of older women who practice "witchcraft," reminding me of similar places in our own United States, like the Weston State Hospital in Weston, West Virginia, now called the Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum, a convenient place for men to dump the wives and "witches" they wanted to expel from their lives. The hospital closed in 1994, but you may tour it now (highly recommended).

Wikipedia defines crucible as "a severe test or trial; alternately, a container in which metals or other substances are subjected to high temperatures."

There was a whole lot of shoutin' goin' on.

What: The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832.

When: Now through May 20, 2018, Wednesday through Saturdays at 8 p.m., weekend matinees at 2 p.m., a 2 p.m. matinee Wednesday, May 9, and a sign-interpreted performance on Thursday, May 10, at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets: Begin at $47 with discounts for groups, seniors, military, and students.

Ages: Recommended for ages 13+ due to mature themes, extreme emotions, actions, and political allegories.

Duration: 2 hours and 45 minutes (which flies by) and one intermission

Refreshments: Available and may be taken to seats

Parking: Free and plentiful on-site

Post-show discussions: After matinees on May 12 and 19

For more information: 301-924-3400 for the box office or 301-924-4485

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