Harry Callahan photographs at the National Gallery of Art

Harry Callahan
Detroit, 1943 gelatin silver print
overall (sheet, trimmed to image): 8.3 x 11 cm (3 1/4 x 4 5/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Callahan Family
© Estate of Harry Callahan, courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York

Harry Callahan
Eleanor and Barbara, Chicago, 1953 gelatin silver print
overall (image): 19.5 x 24.45 cm (7 11/16 x 9 5/8 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Promised Gift of Susan and Peter MacGill
© Estate of Harry Callahan, courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York

Harry Callahan
Atlanta, 1985 dye imbibition print
overall (image): 24.4 x 36.7 cm (9 5/8 x 14 7/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Callahan Family
© Estate of Harry Callahan, courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York

Not far from DC's core is a photography show which is capable of soothing a busy mind by means of a mental massage.

On the ground floor of the West Building, near the Seventh Avenue entrance at the National Gallery of Art, it is the exhibition of 100+ photographs spread over five galleries in celebration of the 100th birthday of the artist, Harry Callahan (1912-1999), "one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century" who produced "highly experimental, visually daring and elegant photographs," the National Gallery says.

Much like staring at the ocean and its horizon, the still, linear portraits allow the mind to wander aimlessly about a city, along a shore, beneath stark, wintry trees. Scenes of urban life, a captivating 1965 shot of pedestrians on a town sidewalk moving in two directions, a 1956 collage, and "Cutouts" (1956) carry the viewer from romantic influences "back down to earth."

Callahan was fond of lines and undecorated designs without much detail, able to skillfully convey haunting images of nature, city life, and his wife, Eleanor.

Five galleries of his photos are arranged chronologically and thematically, according to his life.

Hanging in the first gallery of the exhibition are black and white 1940 scenes of Detroit where he was born. Like today, Detroit looks rather bleak and bare (although word on the street says a revival in Motor City is presently underway). Found also in this gallery is an unusual self-portrait, a shadowy silhouette of Callahan's face superimposed on his shoes in multiple images which he made in 1942 in homage to Albert Stieglitz.  It is one of 45 photographs given to the National Gallery by Eleanor and their daughter, Barbara, in honor of the exhibition.

Those he loved most dearly, Eleanor and Barbara, are subjects in the second gallery, notably Eleanor, a classy nude in many whispery, unpretentious black and whites. The head of the National Gallery's photography department and senior curator, Sarah Greenough who consulted with Callahan, said Mrs. Callahan posed for her husband at any time and place he asked. (Some husbands might want to know his secrets.)

In the third gallery is Chicago from the 1940s and 1950s, and color appears in the fourth gallery with pictures of Providence and Cape Cod where mass culture's effects are observed.

The last gallery, "Later Works," depict places Callahan and Eleanor visited before his death: Atlanta, Ireland, Morocco.

Without any formal training in the medium, Callahan's artistic talent was recognized early on, and he was invited to teach at the Institute of Design in Chicago and the Rhode Island School of Design where hundreds of students enjoyed his lessons over the years.

The Trellis Fund is a major sponsor of the exhibition.

What: 100 photographs for Harry Callahan's Centennial Celebration

When: Now through March 4. The National Gallery of Art is open seven days a week from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday

Where: The West Building of the National Gallery of Art on the National Mall between Fourth and Seventh streets, NW along Constitution Avenue

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

Metro stations: Smithsonian, Navy-Memorial/Archives, Judiciary Square, China Town/Gallery Place, or ride the Circulator bus

For more information: 202-737-4215

And if you visit this weekend, you cannot dare miss the magnificent Gothic tapestries exhibition from Spain, set to close January 8 (East Building).

patricialesliexam@gmail.com

Second City at Woolly Mammoth was ?

Peter Marks must have seen another Second City performance from the one at Woolly Mammoth I saw which only referenced Chicago in political scenes;  Barack Obama is not local. 

Do WE care that much about Chicago? No.

Do WE care what Chicago eats?  No.

Do WE care about television furniture ads in Chicago?  No.

Its baseball teams' rivalry? No.

Was I expecting some political comedy?  Yes.

Really, is coarse language the de rigueur of contemporary theater? It grows tiresome. I guess to be hip with the younger set, it's a requirement. (But it was not a younger audience at the performance I attended.)

Years ago when I saw the troupe in Chicago on two occasions, they were much funnier, and years ago, I was much younger and don't recall constant, explicit "f's" and "s's" every 30 seconds.  But those were the days, my friend, when things and language were not frequently vulgar and base which are contributing factors to the erosion of today's society.

Anyway, the acting in Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies was superb (Jessica Frances Dukes and Aaron Bliden are Woolly Company members who participated), and the music (Matthew Loren Cohen), spot-on. The props were minimal, and they (accessories, chairs) worked well with solitary lighting  (Colin Bills and Jennifer Sheetz). 

Audience participation was the best scene (sic; sorry) anywhere and quite effective.  Do you think it is going to become an award since it grows more frequent?   

Was the production worth $50? (Saturday's matinee prices.) Probably not. If you're looking for political comedy, the Capitol Steps are much better.

What:  Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies

When: Now through January 8, 2012

Where: Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D Street NW

Tickets: 202-393-3939

Metro stations: Gallery Place-China Town, Archives-Navy Memorial, or a short walk from Metro Center or ride the Circulator bus up 7th Street, NW

patricialesliexam@gmail.com

Andy Warhol and Chester Dale to leave the National Gallery of Art Monday

Andy Warhol Daily News 1962/ Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, formerly collection Karl Stroher, Darmstadt, 1981, copyright 2011 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society, NY, Axel Schneider, Frankfurt am Main

Folks, you have this last weekend to check out Warhol: Headlines and the unparalleled Chester Dale collection From Impressionism to Modernism, both at the National Gallery of Art.  

The earlier in the day you get to the National Gallery, the smaller the crowds will be. Monday is the last day for both, and January 15 is the last day for Andy Warhol: Shadows at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

The National Gallery's Warhol (1928-1987) show in the East Building (Dale is in the West) includes paintings, photographs, videos, and screenprints which demonstrate the artist's fascination with all things celebrity and the news. From Washington the exhibition moves to Frankfurt (Feb.11 - May 13), Rome (June 11-Sept. 9) and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh (Oct. 14 - Jan. 6, 2013).

On Wednesday afternoon, the East Building was packed with holiday visitors, many of whom came to see the phenomenal documentary about Warhol's friend, Brigid Berlin (b.1939), Pie in the Sky. 

Ms. Berlin is the daughter of the head of Hearst Publishing who grew up in luxury and bucked it all in the 1960s to join the Warhol conclave in New York and pal around with Warhol until his death. She was/is also an artist who, at times, used her body parts to dip into paint and give away the results. Central to the film is Ms. Berlin's relationship with her mother and the conflicting goals set by each. Can your relationship with your mother/daughter compare to theirs? It's a great film which asks many questions.

Other Warhol films scheduled for this final weekend, all to be screened at no charge in the East Building Auditorium, are:

Dec. 30, 12:30 p.m., Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling

Dec. 31, 12 p.m., Warhol: Velvet Underground and Nico

Dec. 31, 2 p.m., Orphee (Orpheus)

Dec. 31, 4 p.m., Donkey Skin (Peau d'Ane)

When: Doors open 30 minutes before show times and seating is "first come, first seated." The National Gallery of Art is open from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. every day except this Sunday when it is closed for New Year's Day.

Where: The National Gallery of Art, Fourth and Constitution

Admission: Always free at the National Gallery of Art

Metro stations: Judiciary Square, Navy Memorial-Archives, or the Smithsonian or ride the Circulator bus

For more information: 202-737-4215 or 202-842-6799 (for films)

patricialesliexam@gmail.com

Movies: 'The Descendants' : Yes!

George Clooney with Shailene Woodley (center) and Amara Miller/Fox Searchlight Pictures

Academy Award nominations:
Best picture: Alexander Payne et al.
Best actor:  George Clooney
Best supporting actress:Shailene Woodley
Best supporting actress: Amara Miller
Another Clooney film without sex!  Aaaaauuuuuugggggggghhhh, but those eyelashes!  Do you think they are real?
This is a thoroughly enjoyable film, and as a matter of fact, I wish I had not seen it so I could see it for the first time.
It's a great story with "another man," a dad, an estranged and mute (?) wife, two daughters, and a boyfriend who adds tremendously to the enjoyment, and a grandpa whose lines are keen.  I wouldn't give it the highest rating, but it's close.  
A chick flick?  No!
A sleepy (at times) tempo match the Hawaiian lifestyle (the locale) so it's not a film for the action-oriented male kills everybody, except when it comes to words:  The lines for this film are some of the best heard anywhere. Including the obscenities which are mostly 85% gratuitous in all other movies, but not here.  They are part of the plot.
The Hawaiian scenery is nice on the eyes, especially at this time of year, and did the Hawaiian Tourism Bureau help produce it?
The only negatives:  the redundant music which lacks any pizzazz (no nomination), and the passionless title (sounds like one of those loooooong books by James Michener) which is too vapid for the contents.  Don't judge a movie by its title. 
Please go here (Rotten Tomatoes) if you want to know more about the plot but don't be turned off by what looks depressing.  It's not.  It's hilarious.
Suggested new title: "George Clooney's Got Eyelashes"

Christmas party animal chat

African Sulcata Giant Tortoises at the Linton Zoological Gardens, Cambridge, England/tigertailfood.com

At a Sierra Club Christmas party I met a woman who told me that she and her boyfriend have a pet ... tortoise.
Really.
They've had him (it's a "he") three years, and he has increased his girth from a three inch circumference to about the size of a dinner plate. 
When he reaches adulthood, he'll be big enough to ride, she said.
To ride?  Where would you ride a tortoise?  To the Harris Teeter and back over the course of a week?  Would you carry along a mini-refrigerator to store cold items?
On the other side of me at the nicely decorated table was a woman who had just come from the zoo after a long, circuitous route into the Tysons Corner jungle which carried her over two hours to Annandale before she could figure out where she was, having left her GPS at home. 
"I'll never do that again," she said, "because once you're in a lane, you're in a lane forever, and there's no escape." 
Don't we all know it, the pitiful who live at Tysons Corner and have to endure the mess?  A dangerous mess. 
The zoo lady took canvases to the zoo, she said, to get "animal art." Animals with painted feet  walk on the canvases, and then she sells them to Sotheby's for $$$.  (Just kidding about the Sotheby's part, but it makes good fodder and it's believable, isn't it?  Modern art.)
What happens to their painted feet? "Oh, the paint just comes off," she said.
But back to the tortoise...his name is Livingstone (with emphasis on the last syllable (?), and yes, his name comes from the African explorer). 
The owners "absolutely adore" him.
Yes, I guess so, if they've got a tortoise under roof!
Livingstone has his own personality (!), his own table/room (?; unclear) and free roam of their apartment.  I didn't ask her, although I must say the thought occurred to me more than once, about uuuummmm, you know.  Does the pet store have tortoise diapers? (Try Googling that. They're there!)
(Since her fiancé was absent from the party, one assumed he was safely at home tortoisesitting which is not far from "torturesitting." Hahaha.)
Do they take Livingstone on trips?
No, her boyfriend's parents have a big house and a separate room all fixed up for Livingstone who is moody and loves to eat lettuce.  He is a vegetarian. 
Join the throngs! 
That's all I wanted for Christmas: another moody person/animal to live with.  (Do plants have moods?)
It pays to get out.

Inside the Christmas White House 2011

Like tall ballerinas dancing pirouettes in sparkling floor length gowns trying to capture the most attention from an awestruck audience, real Christmas trees grace every room, standing shimmering in lights and decorations, ready to receive admiring glances/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Cross Hall at the main White House entrance/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Not far from Aaron Shikler's 1970 portrait of President John F. Kennedy, members of the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir in Harrisonburg, Virgina sing Christmas hymns in the Entrance Hall/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Hushed crowds are captured by the moment and the reality they are but fleeting visitors in the president's home (the People's House) where the unmistakable fragrance of Fraser fir greets them at every entrance. 

None of that fake stuff, if you please.  This is real.
 
In the East Room/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The East Room/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Garlands, real garlands, flow from door, window, and mirror tops to floors. Necklaces of the season decorate mirrors. 

Bulbs grow below a window in the East Room/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Tiny spotlights powered by smaller batteries, brighten the huge gingerbread White House in the State Dining Room/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The State Dining Room and a portrait of President Abraham Lincoln. The banners on the trees say "Shine, Give, Share," this year's White House Christmas theme/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the Red Room with Henry Inman's 1842 portrait of Angelica Singleton Van Buren /Photo by Patricia Leslie

The biggest Christmas tree, the official White House tree, is found in the Blue Room, the focus of attention upon entering the main White House threshold. Stretching to the ceiling, it pays tribute to the troops whose children made the Christmas cards which hang with military medals from almost every branch of the special tree/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The official White House Christmas tree hung with military medals and Christmas cards made by children of servicemen and servicewomen/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the East Visitor Entrance is a table laden with postcards for visitors to inscribe messages to the troops to thank them for their service, and a few steps away is a mailbox for the deposits of gratitude.

Overhead in the Green Room were two guards chatting.  Said one, shaking his head:  "The question of the day has got to be: 'Is this the real White House?'"/Photo by Patricia Leslie

From the Green Room/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Parties, tours, and open houses galore.  The people are grateful for the opportunities to visit our house, the president's house.  What other nation permits it?

From the East Visitor Entrance Hall on the ground floor/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Along the East Visitor Entrance Hall decorated on the right with Christmas photos of American presidents and their families/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Just outside the Library on the ground floor is a poinsettia tree/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The China Room on the ground floor with Grace Coolidge presiding/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Seen on the ground floor without his Santa hat was Henry Clay/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  

patricialesli@gmail.com

Wedding dresses extended at Hillwood through January 15, 2012

Have you seen that dumb show on cable (thank goodness I cannot identify the station or the night) about women selecting wedding gowns?
In fancy bridal shops the women come and go, talking with mothers and close friends who tell the brides-to-be how ravishing they look in wedding apparel.

The 60-year-old with the wrinkly arms?

"Darling, sleeveless is perfect for you!"

Who in their right mind would spend time watching such a show?

Velma and I love it.

If you haven't been out to Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens to see Marjorie Merriweather Post's four wedding dresses, you have until January 15, 2012 to see them. The show has been extended to satisfy the crowds bombarding the mansion for this very special exhibition. (Through last month Hillwood's attendance exceeded all of 2010 admittances which had already set a record.)

Wedding Dress, 1905  Worn by Marjorie Merriweather Post for wedding to Edward Bennett Close, December 5, 1905  Hitchins& Balcom, New York  Silk satin, silk organza, open cut lace, rhinestones

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973

The show includes not only Mrs. Post's four wedding dresses (none alike), but those of her three daughters, her mother, bridesmaids, mother of the bride, and Dina Merrill's dress she wore as a flower girl (piped in white fox?) in her sister's 1927 wedding.  Ms. Merrill (b. 1925) was the youngest of Mrs. Post's three daughters and the only one extant. Like mother, like daughters: Adelaide, the oldest, was married three times; Eleanor, the middle daughter, six times, and Dina Merrill, three times. It might take an airport hangar to show all of the wedding dresses which may explain why they are not all in the show. Nevertheless...) A 2.5 minute film of scenes from Adelaide's 1927 wedding is included.

Wedding Dress and Bridesmaid Dress, 1935

Worn by Marjorie Merriweather Post and bridesmaid dress worn by Dina Merrill for Post’s 1935 wedding to Joseph E. Davies, photographed in the pavilion at Hillwood. Photo by Ed Owen

Wedding Dress, 1946
Worn by Dina Merrill for her wedding to Stanley M. Rumbough, Jr., March 23, 1946
Saks Fifth Avenue, New York
Satin, tulle, pearls
Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Gift of Dina Hartley; photo by Ed Owen

The dresses are in superb condition. And accompanying them are hats, shoes, purses, jewelry. (Do not dare miss, as I almost did on first go-round, Dina Merrill's wedding bag with diamonds and pearls.) Without a doubt, Mrs. Post's most elegant dress was her first one.

The costumes are all quite complete and originate from Hillwood's collection of 175 gowns Mrs. Post (1887-1973) left to her estate.

The Adirondack at Hillwood, home of "Wedding Belles"/Patricia Leslie

The exhibition is in a small gallery, the Adirondack, a few steps from the mansion which is also included in the admission price. Hillwood is stunning with holiday decorations up and docents galore to happily answer questions.

Hillwood Estate/Patricia Leslie

If you should wonder why Hillwood is not open every Sunday, it's because the neighbors prohibit it via zoning, a docent told me. Likely, they abhor the traffic which reminds me...

Parking is available on-site, however, the Sunday I went, the only parking was in an employees lot, but, not to worry, friendly parking lot attendants will take care of you.

The $15 admission is well worth it, and do take advantage of the beautiful grounds. I didn't believe the website which advised planning a stay of three hours, but it is true. The café offerings were magnificent and reasonably priced.  An attendant told me large brunch crowds come on Sundays (when open).

What: "Wedding Belles: Bridal Fashions From the Marjorie Merriweather Post Family 1874-1958"

When: Now through January 15, 2012, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and two Sundays, January 1 and January 15, 2012, 1 - 5 p.m.

Where: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, 4155 Linnean Avenue, NW

"Suggested donation": $15 (adults), $12 (age 65 +), $10 (college students), $5 (6-18 years), no suggested donations for younger than 6 or members

Metro station: Van Ness-UDC and walk a short mile up a hill through a pretty neighborhood (or take a taxi). To shorten your walk or skip the taxi, ride the L1 or L2 bus and walk a half mile from Connecticut and Tilden.

For more information: 202-686-5807

A portrait of Marjorie Merriweather Post at Hillwood

Dina Merrill's bedroom at Hillwood/Patricia Leslie

      The Breakfast Room at Hillwood/Patricia Leslie

A portrait of Catherine the Great of Russia hangs on the stairway at the mansion.  Mrs Post's marriage to Joseph E. Davies took them to Russia in 1937 and 1938 when he was U.S. Ambassador, and there Mrs. Post developed a love of Russian decorative arts.  A docent said Hillwood owns the largest collection of Russian decorative arts in the U.S.