Alexandria stages a 'murder' or two

From left: Erin Gallalee is Martha, James Lorenzin is David, and Kathy Ohlhaber is Celia in Design for Murder at Little Theatre of Alexandria/Brian Knapp Photography 

Go ahead!  Pick out the killer. If you get it right, set up your own detective agency.

As for me:  I was a bit off-key.

At the Little Theatre of Alexandria, there are so many murders and so little time, it's an unusual production, Design for Murder, from the happy-go-lucky shows LTA usually throws, but well worth your time and money.

We need some edge every so often, right?  This one will keep you guessing. 

Who dunnit?  (Or, them?) Let’s play "Clue" in this play by George Batson (c. 1916-1971).

Wait a minute!  Isn't David (James Lorenzin) engaged to someone else besides Kathy (Elizabeth Loyal)?  They're in Design for Murder at Little Theatre of Alexandria/Brian Knapp Photography

The show has fantastic costumes as always (by Judy Whelihan), and an elegant, sophisticated set (by Julie Fischer), the home of a wealthy Hudson River Valley family who have paintings on the walls to match their residence. (Shelby Baker, property designer.)

The rich are different from you and me and they were different back in the 1930s of this Design when manners mattered.  Besides, it's always fun to peer in and grasp a bit of the haute affluent.

The stars are Celia Granger (Kathy Ohlhaber) and her son, David (James Lorenzin), their mansion suddenly swamped with murders in the first degree, following David's engagement party.

He does love his fiancée, doesn't he? Then, what's he doing making moves on the housemaid? 

And another housemaid?  This is love?  Ahem.

Lorenzin's performance strengthens from scene to scene as he gains more self confidence in dialogue with his overbearing mother whose superb acting commands the spotlight.

Two older ladies, Martha (Erin Gallalee) and family friend Louisa (Janice Zucker) both always dressed to the nines, provide infrequent and much desired comic relief to match those of Mrs. Hamilton (Patricia Spencer Smith), the family cook, of nearly the same age who teeters, totters, and bends with the best of them in short step shuffles.  

The arrogant chauffeur, Moreno (Denny Martinez-Barrera) seems to have a hold on most of them and you wonder what his story is. Where did he get that attitude? For a chauffeur?

Blackmail, anyone?  Too obvious, right?

I couldn't help but wonder if it were his character or Director Jessie Roberts just letting him go and show off his sauntering self.  Whatever, Moreno is a saucy servant, a mystery, and a likely perpetrator, but what are the goods?

Jon Roberts is the sound man and projectionist, busy during the show with vehicles hitting the gravel driveway. (A gravel driveway for a mansion?  It happens.) 

All the characters are suspect, and all the world's a stage! 

Go for it.

Also in the cast: Elizabeth Loyal,  Brendan Chaney, Pete Leggett, and Frank Cooper

Other crew members:  Hilary Adams, assistant producer; Kirstin Apker and Deborah Remmers, set decoration;  Brittany Huffman, stage manager; Jim Hutzler and Jeff Nesmeyer, master carpenters;  Stefan Sittig, fight choreography.

And, Cleo Potter and Jay Stein, lighting and (Stein) master electrician; Lanae Sterrett, hair and makeup; Carol Strachan, producer; Robin Worthington, wardrobe; Russell M. Wyland, rigging; Dierdre (De) Nicholson-Lamb, set painting.  

When: Now through Nov. 5, 2022, Wednesday - Saturday nights, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m.

Where:  Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe St., Alexandria, VA 22314

Tickets:  $21, weekdays; $24, weekends

Covid policy:  LTA has returned to full seating and no proof of vaccinations are necessary, however, masks are required in the theatre.  No exceptions. 

Language:  All "G" rated.

Duration:  Two hours with one 15 minute intermission

Public transportation: Check the Metro and Dash bus websites. Dash is free to ride and has routes which are close to LTA.

Parking: On the streets and in many garages nearby with free parking during performances at Capital One Bank at Wilkes and Washington streets.

For more information:  Call the Box office, ph. 703-683-0496, the main office, 703-683-5778, or email:boxoffice@thelittletheatre.com

patricialesli@gmail.com

Extended! Immersive Van Gogh is impressive Van Gogh!

It is a starry night at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

One of the artist's self-portraits at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A huge bust of the artist at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A huge bust of the artist at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. Note changes from above as colors deepen/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A huge bust of the artist at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience covered in a likeness from one of his paintings/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I went, expecting far less and came away exceptionally surprised at the all-encompassing show where visitors seemingly float through without worries or stress. 

It's a family affair, 360 degrees of digital art and quite the introduction to classical art for the youngsters and for adults, too, who may not know as much about the artist as they thought.

Like me, for instance.  Several Van Gogh paintings on display were new to me!

Guests admire one of his vases at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. He reportedly painted 11 vases in all/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Another vase at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The darkened atmosphere is relaxing. Gallery going is at your own pace. No worries about elbow bumping! 

Let's just celebrate art and have a good time, shall we?

From the first revelation at the entrance of a gigantic bust of the artist (1837-1890) (correction: which is half the size of the JFK bust at the Kennedy Center) until you exit at the shop, you are ensconced in all things Van Gogh.

His bust is covered in images of his paintings which evolve into other images while you stand in awe.

Guests may sit in the artist's Bedroom at Arles at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Immersion at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Immersion at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Immersion at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A nearby timeline on the wall tells major events of the artist's life and then it's off to the first room where copies of his works (most in the same size) hang on both sides of the hall with a three-dimensional "room" off to the side.

On an adjacent wall, copies of his sunflowers hang and allow close inspection of differences.

A large vase spins with constant color changes and renditions of the blossoms which fuse one into another. 

Flowers spring up while visitors proceed to the next gallery and more images, and there is Van Gogh's bedroom at Arles which beckons guests to come in and sit for a while.

Make a picture or two.

Sight sensations and music fill senses in a pleasurable way while surround sound echoes with Van Gogh's spoken quotations:

What would life be like if we had no courage to attempt anything? 

and

If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.

The last gallery is the "immersion" room with his works illustrated on all sides in double, triple life sizes, constantly melding into another image. 

It's like being in a Van Gogh aquarium (!), beginning with the carpeting on the floor and extending to the high ceiling spanning 20,000 square feet with comfortable beach chairs, benches, bean bags, and pillows for guests to use and move about for a better spot to think, dream, meditate, and give thanks for an artist like Van Gogh.  

At the end, for $5 more, visitors may put on virtual reality headsets and attend a computer art show of Van Gogh places.

The VR hall opens to a large shop of Van Gogh merchandise at mostly reasonable prices.  Try umbrellas, earrings ($10), brooches, t-shirts (the skeleton head will be great for Halloween), posters ($14), and lots more.

What's missing here is the present location of each original work, but we are lucky in Washington, D.C. to be able to see some of them at the Phillips Collection  and still more for free at the National Gallery of Art!

Van Gogh is not dead; he lives! At the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. Come and see!

When:  Now through Thanksgiving weekend  Feb. 26, 2023. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m; Saturday, 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays.

Where:  The Rhode Island Center - 524 Rhode Island Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002

Tickets:  A family pass for two adults and two children is $31.90. Separately, children under age 4 are admitted free and older children are $29.90; adults, $49.90; seniors, students and military, $37.90; groups of 15 or more, $44.90 each. ccc 

Masks are encouraged, however, not required.

Metro station:  Rhode Island-Brookland Station.  Take the ramp/pedestrian bridge directly from the Metro exit over Rhode Island Avenue  to land just steps from the show. (Ignore Google's directions which take you waaay off yonder and around several blocks.) 

Park for two hours free at the Bryant Street West lot, 514 Rhode Island Ave., NE, Washington, D.C. ccc.  Ph. 844-236-2011. 

Timing: Allow 60-75 minutes.

Let us go then, you and I

To see his works spread against the sky

Like the paintings on the walls

We'll enjoy van Gogh and all.

Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"

Let us go and make our visit.

Where the people come and go

To see the art of Vincent van Gogh*

 

*With apologies to T.S. Eliot

Patricialesli@gmail.com 

Music for an exhibition!

  

The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" Chamber Players performed at the National Gallery of Art, Oct. 2, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Washington's joys include free concerts at the National Gallery of Art every Sunday afternoon in the West Building. 

In celebration of the exhibition featuring Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler which ends Sunday at the National Gallery, the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" Chamber Players played a concert last week by composers associated with the artist.

The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" Chamber Players performed at the National Gallery of Art, Oct. 2, 2022. Listening are cherubs (center) who play with a swan in a fountain sculpted 1672-1673 by Jean-Baptiste Tuby (1635-1700)/Photo by Patricia Leslie

James Miller on alto flute and Nadia Pessoa on the harp were two members of The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" Chamber Players who performed at the National Gallery of Art, Oct. 2, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Whistler often gave his works musical titles such as symphony, harmonies, arrangement and  nocturnes, and one of the featured pieces at the concert was Trois Nocturnes by Claude Debussy (1862-1918), inspired by Whistler, according to one source.

The Chamber Players also played another Nocturne, this one in B major by Frederic Chopin (1810-1849). 

Not to be ignored given Whistler's affinity for the Japanese and their influences on him, was music from that nation. The chosen composer was Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) and his romantic Toward the Sea III  which was commissioned by Greenpeace for its "Save the Whales" campaign. 

For Sea, Chamber Players James Miller played alto flute and Nadia Pessoa was harpist.

The best was saved for last and the thrilling and dynamic Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor by Amy Beach (1867-1944) whose second movement brought me to tears.

Ms. Beach gave her first concert at age 16 and was the first female composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She was 29 years old.  

Back in those dark days when wives followed more the dictates of their spouses, she obeyed her husband's requests (they may have been demands) that she cut her annual performances to only one per year which she did, giving the proceeds to charity and focusing on composition. 

With death can come freedom, and in her case, after her husband's demise in 1910, she took off anew, performing in Europe and elsewhere to great critical acclaim.  

Her reputation grows!

Upcoming concerts at the National Gallery include performances by the New York Opera Society (Dec. 4), Connor Chee on piano (Nov. 20), and Ignacio Prego on harpsichord (Oct. 30). 

Go here for a listing of the concerts and register at the tab (required). 

Other members of the Chamber Players include Nicholas Starr and Christopher Schmitt, pianists; Catherine Gerhiser and Annette Barger, violinists; Erica Schwartz, violist; and Benjamin Wensel, cellist. 

What:  Concerts  

When:  Sundays through Dec. 18, 2022

Where:  West Building, West Garden Court, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

How much:  No charge at the National Gallery of Art!

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

Parking:  Street parking is free on Sundays.

For more information: (202) 737-4215

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905

patricialesli@gmail.com

The woman behind Whistler's 'woman in white' exhibition

James McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl, 1861–1863, 1872, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Harris Whittemore Collection.  This work is one of the National Gallery's most famous and popular paintings.

At The Woman in White:  Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, National Gallery of Art/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 29, 2022

For their first group appearance in the U.S., James McNeill Whistler's three "symphonies" of "women in white" are hanging out together in splendid fashion on a wall at the National Gallery of Art.

James McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl, 1864, Tate, London, Bequeathed by Arthur Studd. Image: © Tate, London 2017.

James McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 3, 1865–1867, oil on canvas, The Henry Barber Trust, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, The University of Birmingham, Bridgeman Images.

The women greet you as you enter the chambers to learn more about Joanna Hiffernan (1843-1886*), the gorgeous redhead, the "woman in white" who spawned countless other likenesses and whom James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) painted time and time again. 

The pair are joined in a romantic tour of 60 paintings, drawings, prints, documents and letters linking the female subject and the artist who were a twosome for more than 20 years. 

James McNeill Whistler, Wapping, 1860-1864, National Gallery of Art, Washington, John Hay Whitney Collection.

Gustave Courbet, Jo, la belle Irlandaise, 1865–1866, oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, H. O. Havemeyer Collection.

The lady played key roles in Whistler's life, and it was to her that Whistler left his estate and gave her power of attorney. And the National Gallery's show has got the papers on display to prove it!

This is the first exhibition "to delve deeply" in their relationship and offer explanations, wrote Kaywin Feldman, director, the National Gallery of Art, in a press statement.

Alas, Hiffernan died 17 years before Whistler, and his estate was left to his sister-in-law.  

At The Woman in White:  Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, National Gallery of Art/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 29, 2022

At the opening of The Woman in White:  Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, National Gallery of Art/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 29, 2022

Behind the enchanting show which reveals some of the mystery of the glamorous woman in white, are the credentials of Dr. Margaret MacDonald, a world renowned Whistler authority who came over from Scotland for the National Gallery's opening and delivered a public lecture.

Dr. MacDonald is professor emerita of art history at the University of Glascow, and I was lucky enough to interview her. She's about as charming as I would imagine Ms. Hiffernan to be.

Dr. Margaret MacDonald, professor emerita of art history, Glasgow University, with Whistler's Wapping, 1860-1864, National Gallery of Art, John Hay Whitney Collection/Photo by Patricia Leslie, June 29, 2022

While we sat on a bench at the National Gallery with the three ladies in white behind us, the professor told me a bit about her Whistler background.

She became interested in the American expatriate when she spotted a job posting for a university research assistant, and she laughed. 

"Many years ago I needed a job and was in Glasgow doing teacher training, actually, and a job came up" duties which included working on Whistler's 7,000 letters. 

"And I thought that sounds interesting.  So I read a book on Whistler and got the job!" and she laughed again.

The job was a one-year contract which lasted 12 years. (Rather like some federal contractor jobs in Washington, D.C. which sometimes extend into the next century.)

"One thing led to another over the years, another good project; some good ideas," and the work is ongoing with "a helluva big collection; it's a wonderful collection" with always things to do.

"We're still finding out more, as you can imagine," Dr. MacDonald said.

In Whistler's paintings, Hiffernan appears as a quiet, acquiescent  partner, with shimmering red hair touched by a golden halo.  

No one knows for sure how they met, according to Dr. MacDonald, but "we guess."  It was 1860.

"She was living with her sister near the British Museum in London" where there were many shops selling artists' materials. 

"Some models lived near there so it depends whether he was looking for a model. She could have been in a shop when he was there, buying paints.  We don't exactly know."

But Ms. Hiffernan was a model who was not confined to Whistler. She also modeled for Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) some of whose works of her are in the exhibition.  

In the 19th century, models were often associated with prostitutes, but she was not a prostitute, Dr. MacDonald is sure.

"She may have looked like one. Because she was a model, she was not considered as respectable." 

"Hiffernan died young [of bronchitis]. Everything changed when she died." 

Whistler later married the artist Beatrice Godwin whose family may become a future exhibition by some of Dr. MacDonald's colleagues. 

Not too long ago, Hiffernan's great-great-grand-niece contacted Dr. MacDonald who showed me a picture of the niece who bore a remarkable resemblance to her great-great-grand-aunt Joanna.

Dr. MacDonald said it was about 2014 whe she "probably began talking to Charlie" [Brock, associate curator, department of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art] about the current show, and "he says about six years ago we seriously began [work] and began to make a list."

The famous Symphony in White, No 1: The White Girl, 1861-1863, 1872, the centerpiece of the exhibition, portrays Hiffernan standing on a bear skin on a Japanese rug. 

What is the meaning of the bear? 

"At the time," Dr. MacDonald said, "nobody mentioned the bear."

Why did Whistler paint Hiffernan in white?

It "showed off her red hair.  Very appealing and white is purity."

Dr. MacDonald pointed out that in Hiffernan is holding an orange blossom, which symbolized marriage, but Ms. Hiffernan never married.

Why is she wearing a wedding ring?

 

"She looks respectable. Or, maybe she wore it for a while.  There might have been objections from both families." It is not known if they wanted to get  married. 

 If Joanna was going to be at dinner, Whistler's brother-in-law would refuse to come. 

No one knows where Hiffernan is buried although many have searched, Dr. MacDonald said. 

A recognized world authority on Whistler, Dr. MacDonald is the author of several Whistler books and articles, including the stunning book for this exhibition with 232 pages of the couple's story, history, controversies, and plates, many in color ($50 in the museum shops).  

At Encyclopedia. com, Dr. MacDonald's web listing has drawn almost four million views.

I think the Hiffernan-Whistler (Courbet?) affair would make a marvelous movie, along the lines of The Girl With A Pearl Earring (Vermeer).  

Dr. MacDonald: Do you write screenplays, too?

*For a Wikipedia mistake about Hiffernan's death date, Dr. MacDonald wrote me:  "The book/catalogue spells this out. Her death certificate is beyond doubt and gives bronchitis and 1886, and it’s registered by her sister Agnes. And it would have been Agnes Hiffernan (by then Mrs Singleton) who accompanied Whistler’s son to his funeral in 1903 and was mistakenly identified as her sister Joanna, leading to the 1903 misinformation."

Ann Dumas of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and Dr. Brock were co-curators.

The National Gallery will host free Whistler-Hiffernan talks and a concert inspired by Woman in White on the following:

Saturday, Sept. 17 at 12:00 p.m. with Eric Denker

and

Friday, Sept. 23 at 1:00 p.m. with David Gariff

Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, 3 - 4:20 p.m. The  U.S. Army Band Chamber Players will play compositions by Chopin, Debussy, Takemitsu, and Beach. (Required registration for the concert begins Sept. 23, 2022 at 12 p.m.) 

Thank you to the Terra Foundation for American Art for helping make the exhibition and the book possible. 

What:  The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler

When: Now through Oct. 10, 2022, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: East Building Mezzanine, National Gallery of Art, Washington

How much: Admission is 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

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905

patricialesli@gmail.com

Book review: 'The Gatsby Affair' was not

I suppose the insertion of the word "affair" in the title of any book would help it sell better. Surely, a Ph.D. student has researched this matter.

The Gatsby Affair: Scott, Zelda, and the Betrayal that Shaped an American Classic by Kendall Taylor is a misnomer since there is no proof that Zelda Fitzgerald had an affair with a French pilot which was "consummated." Is a summer fling of a few weeks an "affair"? Then I suppose most of us had had hundreds.  The author contends that Zelda's "affair" served as a springboard for much of her husband's book, The Great Gatsby.


Zelda's fling with Edouard Jozan consumes a small portion of Taylor's book, a few pages front and aft.

At the beginning of Affair, it was great fun to live vicariously with Zelda, being wined and dined by all her boyfriends, going to the parties, the dancing, the attention, the prom queen! Ahhhh...such is youth! 

It ends too soon.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
   Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
   Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
   The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
   And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
   When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
   Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
   And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
   You may forever tarry.*

After she marries Scott, the book takes a turn from fun to depressing. (That's what marriage can do!)

He promises her a luxurious lifestyle which they lived for a while on his writing income in New York, on the edge, partying constantly late into the next day, doing crazy things and spending too much money which Scott did not have. He was constantly borrowing on his future earnings.

They take off for Europe which was a cheaper place to live, and their marriage continues its downward spiral.

He was mean; he was an alcoholic who stifled Zelda's creativity and forbade the publication of some of her works he wanted to use himself.  He was rude to friends. Here, he's the antagonist, a control freak when it comes to Zelda.

He stifled her creativity and kept her in hospitals. Some of the medical treatments she received are painful to read. He said he was due part of the money she earned from her few publications to pay for her medical bills. Fair enough.

They return to the U.S. In California Scott worked to earn more money as a script writer and...

The book is not so much fun any more.

After Scott failed again on writing assignments in Hollywood, he returned to Montgomery, Alabama, Zelda's family's home, where she was furiously working on a story of their lives in Europe; he forbade her from writing her story because he wanted to use the material for his own.

About 20 years ago two friends and I took the day off from our jobs in Nashville to drive to Huntsville, Alabama to see a small exhibition of Zelda's works.  The Fitzgeralds' only child, Scottie, had loaned the pieces to, I think it was, the Huntsville Museum of Art. 

As I recall, the art on the walls was mainly line drawings of ballerinas in small frames, no larger than 8 x 10". In Europe Zelda prided herself on her constant feverish training to become a ballerina which Scott did not take seriously. That she was invited to participate in a professional production in Europe gives credence to her talent. (She did not join the company.)

The hospital fire in Asheville, N.C. which claimed her life in March, 1948 was likely caused by an arsonist. The hospital had no fire codes.

Rather than an "affair," this book is really about Zelda's personal crash and is very sad. May I suggest instead, Matthew Bruccoli's Some Sort of Epic Grandeur which is much better written, throughly documented (not denying Taylor's research), and about twice as long, well worth a serious reader's look at the Fitzgeralds' lives and careers.  (But if you're serious, you'll be reading Taylor's, too. Bruccoli died in 2008 and was considered "the preeminent expert" on F. Scott Fitzgerald [Wikipedia].)

In Affair, modifiers sometimes go AWOL and I found myself having to review previous sentences to find out what or whom the author was writing about.

Disjointed words are found scattered throughout, and often, pronouns and subjects don't match, which may be another example of a publisher's reduction in staff. Sigh. (This publisher is Rowman & Littlefield.) 

Until I read a little about the author, I thought she was British, and it was a British way of writing.  Seriously.

But, it's a great dream book to carry a reader away for a while, to the shore, the man, the fun, and the scenery. If it only had a happy ending, but it was not to be.

* To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

The graves of F. Scott, Zelda, and Scottie Fitzgerald, St. Mary's Catholic Church, Rockville, MD, Feb. 19, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The graves of F. Scott, Zelda, and Scottie Fitzgerald, St. Mary's Catholic Church, Rockville, MD, Feb. 19, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The graves of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, St. Mary's Catholic Church, Rockville, MD, Feb. 19, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

patricialesli@gmail.com

Earth v. humans in photos at the National Gallery of Art

Robert Adams,  Kerstin next to an Old-Growth Stump, Coos County, Oregon, 1999 gelatin silver print, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser 

Thousands of persons can now see the haunting photographs of the American West taken by Robert Adams from 1965 to 2015 which are now on display in eight galleries at the National Gallery of Art.

Mr. Adams, now 85 and of no relation to Ansel Adams, is an American photographer whose reputation has risen over decades, now in sync with the impacts of climate change, its destruction and effects of humans on the Earth. 

Robert Adams, Clearcut, Clatsop County, Oregon, c. 2000 gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Robert and Kerstin Adams 

Robert Adams, Newly Occupied Tract Houses, Colorado Springs, 1968 gelatin silver, private collection, San Francisco

Robert Adams, Pikes Peak Park, Colorado Springs (detail), 1969 gelatin silver print, Yale University Art Gallery, purchased with a gift from Saundra B. Lane, a grant from the Trellis Fund, and the Janet and Simeon Braguin Fund

With his wife, Kerstin, the photographer has chosen the National Gallery of Art for his current exhibition of 175 of his photos to afford opportunities to as many people as possible to see the pictures for free.

This according to National Gallery's curator, Sarah Greenough, who began working with the Adamses ten years ago on the show.

Robert Adams, North Denver Suburb, 1973, printed 1981 gelatin silver print, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the Alice Newton Osborn Fund, 1982 

Robert Adams, Nebraska State Highway 2, Box Butte County, Nebraska, 1978, printed 1991 gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, The Ahmanson Foundation and Gift of Robert and Kerstin Adams 

In the exhibition, the pictures are segregated by themes: "the gift," "our response," and "tenancy."

In bleak settings of black and white horizontal landscapes void of most humans, Mr. Adams's pictures show the Earth's lands in all their stark nakedness, the blemishes uncovered, but herein lies truth and beauty which often evoke moonscapes and document a lack of gratitude for Earth's gifts, abandonment of the planet by its guests.

Robert Adams, Store, Elizabeth, Colorado, 1965, printed 1988 gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund and Gift of Robert and Kerstin Adams.  Compare to Edward Hopper's Lonely House , 1922, below.

The catalog shows the print above by Edward Hopper, The Lonely House, 1922, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Josephine N. Hopper Bequest

Robert Adams, Schoolyard, Ramah, Colorado, 1968 gelatin silver print, private collection, San Francisco

Robert Adams, Colorado Springs, 1968, printed 1983, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon and Patrons' Permanent Fund.  Does this remind you of Edward Hopper?

Robert Adams, The River’s Edge, 2015, gelatin silver print,  National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Stephen G. Stein.  Seven years ago this dry riverbed forecast today's drought-striken lands of the West.  The tree stub is similar to a human skeleton like  those found at Lake Mead near Las Vegas this year, after the water level dropped significantly, an effect of climate change.

Robert Adams, North Edge of Denver, 1973-1974, printed 2008, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Robert and Kerstin Adams. A sad and lonely industrial side of town on first glance, but then a viewer starts to think more about it, and...

For the large, 300+ paged catalogue, American Silence: The Photographs of Robert Adams ($65) which includes a complete timeline of Mr. Adams's life, Ms. Greenough has written a marvelous biographical essay about him

He was born in 1937 in New Jersey to liberal Methodist parents who moved to the West where the boy often went hiking with his dad, exploring the outdoors, rafting rivers, working in camps.

The son was a Boy Scout who attained the lofty Eagle Scout award. The outdoors became his paradise and later, the subject of his pictures.  

He loved reading and visiting the Denver Art Museum with his sister.  An architectural drawing course he took in high school influenced his life.

In college Mr. Adams met his wife who was a book worm like he and another lover of nature.

A fellowship enabled him to become Dr. Adams and earn a Ph.D. in English literature while he was teaching at Colorado College.

While there, he began taking pictures part time, giving up teaching in 1970 to devote himself full time to his passion: taking pictures of the outdoors.

The author of many books, one, The New West published in 1974 (and on display at the Gallery) helped launch his career. Later came a prayer book set in the forest, Prayers in an American Church. (Earlier in his life, Ms. Greenough said Adams considered becoming a Methodist pastor but decided organized religion was too confining.) 

Another of his memorable titles is Our Lives and Our Children (1984, with a new 2018 edition) which describes in pictures the people who lived at risk downwind from the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant near Denver where the Adamses lived. 

Ms. Greenbough in her essay and Arthur Lubow who interviewed Mr. Adams for the New York Times (July 13, 2022) cite the influences on the photographer of Paul Cézanne and Edward Hopper and their emphases on melancholy and loneliness, easy to spot in many of Mr. Adams's pictures . 

Ms. Greenbough notes that Mr. Adams is also well versed in Emily Dickinson and Henry David Thoreau.

Some find hope in his pictures, but for others, hope is buried in the stark portrayals of the detritus left by humans.

But look, there on the horizon, hope comes with the passage of President Biden's climate justice bill and what can be. 

This is a large display of stimulating pictures to spark a conversation, as great art does, about what was, what is, and what we can do about it.

Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Adams, the National Gallery of Art, Jeffrey Frankel, Terry Tempest, and many others. 

The show travels to the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno for exhibition Oct. 29, 2022 - Jan. 29, 2023. 

What: American Silence: The Photographs of Robert Adams

When: Now through Oct. 2, 2022, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: West Building, Ground Floor, Galleries 23-29, National Gallery of Art, 6th and Constitution, Washington

How much: Admission is 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

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905

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