Sunday, January 29, 2017

The 2017 Presidential Inauguration and Parade


 
The Pride of the Southland Band from the University of Tennessee at the West Building, National Gallery of Art, Inaugural Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie


 The U.S. Capitol, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Dear All, yes, I know I'm a week+ late, but "better late than never," and here are some photos of the big event last week in Washington, D.C., the inauguration of Donald J. Trump on Jan. 20, 2017.  Above, sharp shooters are stationed high  over the speakers and members of Congress, former presidents, wives, members of the U.S. Supreme Court, and many others seated below.
Approaching the U.S. Capitol, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

We had orange standing room tickets and had no problems entering the U.S. Capitol grounds, saw short or no lines, and far fewer people than at either of Barack Obama's inaugurations when I had a seat at both events (courtesy of a lobbyist).

Law enforcement at the Capitol was not too gruff, unlike the strict ones a few hours later who examined everything (taking apart my compact!) for parade admittance at the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor.
The U.S. Capitol grounds, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

Early in the morning, entering the orange standing room side.  The picture captures the gray and gloomy day.  At least, it wasn't too cold, and the wind was absent.  Yes, a few drizzles of rain, but nothing like the forecasts predicted.
The U.S. Capitol grounds, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

Since I had virtually no Northern Virginia friends going to the inauguration (an indication of the local lack of interest), my out-of-town family and I decided to take a chance and try and find a parking spot at the East Falls Church Metro station (normally packed on weekdays).  Voila!  Plenty available at 7:15 a.m., and the Metro was far less crowded than on a typical work day.

We arrived at the Capitol a little after 8:15 a.m. (plenty of police at the Metro stations) and stood in one spot a total of four hours since the swearing-in began at 11:30 a.m. and lasted about an hour.  If you left your group to go to the portable john (toilet paper in good supply all day, another indicator of smaller crowds v. 2009 and 2013), it was extremely difficult to find your friends later. We stood behind the big wall where Number One Guests (Congress, et al.) sat.  Not a great spot for viewing pleasure. (Please see below.)
The U.S. Capitol, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 My children refused to move from our original spot so we could have a better view of the big screen without tree branches. A mother always listens to and obeys her children.
The U.S. Capitol, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 I haven't read this anywhere else, but I think President Trump neglected to mention President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter when Mr. Trump recognized former presidents in Trump's introductory remarks. 

Previous to the omission, thousands of Republicans at the Capitol warmly greeted the Carters when they descended the steps to the platform, and the crowd was almost as welcoming to the Obamas when they emerged from the Congressional shelter at the top of the steps.

The reception for Bill and Hillary Clinton was not unexpected, one of loud boos and some choruses of "lock her up!"  which rang out every time Hillary's face later appeared on the big screen.

Whether you voted for her or not, you must admire Hillary's bravura, poise, and attendance at the inauguration and the luncheon afterwards, unlike 60 or so of her Democratic friends in the U.S. Congress who started the Trump presidency on the wrong foot with their announced rejections of the invitations to the inauguration.  How can you negotiate when you don't communicate?

However, at the swearing-in, the loudest boos were reserved for U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) because he talked so long and began a history lesson.  (Attention:  Inaugural speakers, including preachers and excluding the president: Please consider those standing in the cold and speak no more than 90 seconds!  Thank you.)

Why was Schumer given so long to speak?  Because the opposition party gets on the agenda?  Who chooses or chose him?  Even I, a Democrat, became weary, and after a little while, none, repeat none, of his words could be heard among the thousands booing and screaming for him to sit down.

It seemed like Florida sent most of its Republicans who voted for Trump to the inauguration since throughout the day, about 75% of the folks we talked with came from the Sunshine State. 

One lady, who I believe said she was from Sumter County north of Orlando, told me 89% of registered Republicans in her county turned out to vote!  That's an incredible number.  One of their canvassers was a 99-year-old woman on a walker.  Folks, in 2020, I am certain the Democrats will have that kind of enthusiasm, anger, and energy to boot the Republicans out the door (if we are not under martial law then). It will happen in 2018, too.
From the U.S. Capitol, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

The Obamas make their departure in the helicopter above, and some Republicans told me they were sad.  So were we!  Fare thee well! When George Bush's helicopter flew over the Capitol on January 20, 2009, thousands on the ground cheered and applauded his exit. (See a picture here.) 

 
At the U.S. Capitol, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 This couple got their way!  (And their men.) 
 
Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017 near First and C streets, NW/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

After the ceremony ended, we exited on the Constitution Avenue side of the Capitol and headed to Union Station for something to eat before the parade began. Protesters up ahead (someone said they were Jesus protesters) blocked and slowed us down until law enforcement opened a barricade to let we the people out.

For various reasons, we wound up at the Alibi restaurant where a 20% tip was automatically added to the entire bill with tax.  Questions:  Is this because we were a party of three?  It was a special day?  We had no Alibi?  I try to avoid eating in the District for tricky reasons like this!
On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

We stood in front of the Frances Perkins Labor Building (only three barricades between us and the parade participants) to watch the parade where these young fellows on the fence line were overtaken by sleep. See the progression of the little one on the left in the photos below.
On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie
On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie
At last the parade began with military leading the way.
On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie
On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie
On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie
On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

These marchers are, I think, members of the U.S. Coast Guard.
On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie


On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Minutemen from 1812 came.  Long life!
On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Maybe these are minutemen who play the flute.  Flutists from 1812.
On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Ahoy, mates!  Photographers on trucks ahead!

On Constitution Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

President Trump may be in the back seat with thumb up.
Near the Frances Perkins Building, U..S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,  Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

A patriot from Montana
 
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 
Proudly marching were the Pipes & Drums of the Emerald Society of the New York City Police Department, comprised of the relatives of the Irish who came to this nation to find a better life. (Hope President Trump doesn't lock out their brothers and sisters who may wish to come over.)
 
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

The Pipes & Drums of the Emerald Society of the New York City Police Department
 
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

"Victories for Veterans." I may be able to explain part of those empty bleacher seats.

For Barack Obama's second inauguration, I bought a parade seat ticket ($44), but when I finally got around to the gate (having exited on the Independence Avenue side of the Capitol-mistake!-from the swearing-in, forced by barricades to walk to the Washington Monument and up 18th to reach the parade gate at 14th and F), the Secret Service refused to let me in.  It might have been because the Obamas were near and walking up Pennsylvania Avenue. Ticket holders for parade seats for Trump's inauguration may have also been denied entrance for this reason. 

A Falls Church couple we met on the Metro returning home later that night (2017), said hundreds did not get in or on the Mall grounds for Trump's swearing-in because Security took so long. I do know law enforcement was strict and exacting when checking at the security gates for parade admission.  (BTW, I fought and got back my $44 from the 2013 whatever committee.)
 
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

West Monroe High School Marching Band, West Monroe, Louisiana in front of the West Building, National Gallery of Art
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Nassau County Firefighters Pipes and Drums, Long Island, NY
 
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Nassau County Firefighters Pipes and Drums, Long Island, NY
 
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The renowned Texas State University Strutters mix it up with a very important fellow (in yellow) at the parade, a pooper scooper.  It was the Strutters' second inaugural parade: Their first was JFK's in 1961.  Those struts must be the secret to their maintaining youth and beauty for they have not aged a day.
 
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Members of the Marching Tornadoes from Talladega College, Talladega, AL, a college founded in 1867 by two former slaves. Their march in the 2017 Inaugural Parade was not without controversy.
 
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Members of the Marching Tornadoes from Talladega College, Talladega, AL, high step in front of the West Building, National Gallery of Art.
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Members of the Marching Tornadoes from Talladega College, Talladega, AL, at the West Building, National Gallery of Art.
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Boy Scouts of America
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Families of America's Fallen Heroes, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

The Pride of the Southland Band from the University of Tennessee.  Parade watchers joined the music and sang "Rocky Top" when the band marched by.


Inauguration Day Parade, Jan. 20, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

The Pride of the Southland Band from the University of Tennessee at the West Building, National Gallery of Art.

 Who'll be marching in 2021?

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Wednesday, January 25, 2017

'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike' make great company in Reston


Will MacLeod is Spike in Reston Community Players' Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike/photo by Traci J. Brooks

Some call it a dark comedy. I would label it a grey comedy, not as bleak or black, but a stimulating work which is a terrific beginning to another new year of our lives, where you just might recognize some of the characters on stage,  maybe yourself, in the Reston Community Players' newest production, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.
Suzy Alden, left, is Nina, and Joanne Maylone is Masha in Reston Community Players' Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike/photo by Traci J. Brooks


Familiar themes are included:  young v. old, the passage of time and life, material possessions, the longing for something bigger, better, more.  This is a comedy?

Why don't you get up and do something?  
 
The play opens with middle-aged siblings, Vanya (Andrew JM Regiec) and Sonia (Lee Slivka), sitting at home in their jammies, musing the coming day, whiling away their time, like they do every day, bored, listless, and hungry for something more, something to jolt them from complacency which comes that day and every day in the form of a fight over the silliest of things.  

Of course.  Isn't that the way it always is?

On this particular day (which takes place in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the home of the playwright, Christopher Durang), more friction arrives in the person of their moneyed sister, a whirlwind actress, Masha (Joanne Maylone) who comes for a visit and announces she may sell the house since she's the one who bought it, she's the one who has paid the bills, paid for their now dead parents' care, and she's the one who has paid for it all! 

Never mind that her reclusive brother and sister live in the house, who cared for their aging parents, who have nowhere to go. 

What's consideration got to do with it? 

Or love? 

Oh, what a shame it all is:  Masha's been married and divorced five times, boo hoo hoo, and Sonia's life has been nothing but a waste.  Cry me a river, but carried on Masha's arm is her latest charm, a 20s something lad, Spike (or Spite) (Will MacLeod) who loves to sport his physical prowess in exaggerated form throughout the show, always a laugh. He strips and prances around in his underwear like a unicorn, to the delight of the male and females on stage (not to mention those in the audience).

Another late entrant to the party is the pretty and dainty Nina (Suzy Alden) whose youth, smile, 
exuberance and failure to recognize diatribes heaved at her, contrast sharply with the aged and emotionally infirm brother and sisters into whose house Spike enthusiastically welcomes Ninabelle. 

Soothsayer and housemaid, Cassandra (Alexa Yarboro) is my very favorite character.  She adds a balanced element to the drained family, with her charm, words of wisdom, and frequent spinner of the future. She is like an infusion of a power drink gulped every so often, whose literary masterpieces flung hither and yon are hilarious. 

Direction by Tel Monks is fabulous. Witness the sparking performances.  Among other things, he skillfully draws out Masha's flamboyance (she has wings) which reminded me of Joan Crawford (probably because I just saw Mommie Dearest on the telly, a true horror show!).  

The single set (by Maggie Modig) is all that is needed to carry the play, and far more than expected of a regional theatre.  From a large, heavily decorated parlor, the characters make their ways to an offsite kitchen, or stairs to bedrooms, or they gaze through binoculars to watch the naked at the pond in the distance.

Lighting by Adam Konowe is expertly crafted from the changing of the day to the car headlights to spotlights on an individual.  

Knowledge of Russian Anton Chekhov's writings is not required, but increased listening pleasure is a surety for those who have it (or some of it).

In 2013 Vanya and friends won the Tony for Best Play, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play, among other distinctions.



The setting says "morning room" which becomes "mourning room" which becomes the "morning of the rest of your life."  You'll come away with thoughts which linger beyond your short time to mingle with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.  

Give a girl a tiara and sequins and see what she can be!

The production team includes JoAnn Monks, assistant director; Amy Headlee, stage manager; Bea and Jerry Morse, producers; Mary Jo Ford, properties design; Jon Roberts, sound design; Judy Whelihan, costume design, Sandy Dotson, property mistress; Lilya Eberle, running crew chief; Tom Geuting, master carpenter; and Sue Pinkman, hair and makeup.

WhatVanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

When:  8 p.m., Jan. 27 and 28; Feb. 3 and 4; and 2 p.m., Jan. 29, 2017

Where:  Reston Community Center, 2310 Colts Neck Road, Reston, VA  20191

How much: $21, adults; $18, students and seniors

Tickets:  Buy online or call 703-476-4500 and press 3 for the 24-hour ticket ordering system.

Language:  Adult, with F-bombs dropping occasionally. 

Duration:  About 2 1/2 hours with one 15-minute intermission.


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Sunday, January 8, 2017

Migration Series migrates from The Phillips today


Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Migration Series, 1940-1941, presented at The Phillips Collection. The caption for the above (#49) reads:
They found discrimination in the North. It was a different kind.

Note the yellow dividing line separating the white and black customers, the scowl on the face of the man on the left reading a newspaper and the haughty profile of the other white man. The black faces are obscured by the color of their skin, and they become anonymous figures, representatives of their kinfolk
 
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) is the artist who transferred African American life to canvas in dramatic, contrasting panels, known as the Migration Series, on view at the Phillips Collection for one day more.

The exhibition unites the collections from the Phillips and the Museum Of Modern Art
of 60 panels painted on cardboard by one of the most revered African-American artists of the 20th century, Jacob Lawrence. In a little over a year (1940-1941), Lawrence drew images of the thousands of blacks who moved from the rural South to the urban North in search of better lives, before and after World War I.  Lawrence's parents were among them.

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Migration Series, 1940-1941, presented at The Phillips Collection. The caption for the above (#59) reads:
In the North they had the freedom to vote.

The series launched his career overnight, earning him the distinction of becoming the first African American to be represented by a major New York gallery (1941) and the first black artist whose works were represented in the Museum of Modern Art (1941).

That same year
a portion of the Migration Series appeared among the pages of Fortune. For a white man's magazine to use a black man's renderings seven years before the U.S. Armed Forces were integrated, 13 years before Brown v. Board of Education, and decades before the Civil Rights Act was passed (1964), was significant.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Migration Series, 1940-1941. The caption for the panel (No. 30) reads:
In every southern home people met to decide whether or not to go north

 
Lawrence's father was born in South Carolina, his mother, in Virginia, and Jacob Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  The family moved north, and when their son was 7, his parents divorced.  Jacob and his siblings were placed in foster homes in Philadelphia until their mother could support them. Six year later, the soon-to-be artist and his siblings joined their mother in New York.


Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Travelers, 1961, presented at The Phillips Collection, David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, permanent loan from David C. Driskell Collection


The Driskell Center says Jacob's Travelers was based upon political and social upheaval occurring between 1954 and 1964.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Migration Series, 1940-1941, presented at The Phillips Collection/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 
To keep him busy, Wikipedia says, his mother enrolled him in art classes where a teacher saw his potential. (A brief look at the biographies of Lawrence and Whitfield Lovell, another exhibition ending Sunday at The Phillips, will convince most skeptics about the benefits and values of art education.)

Lawrence found solace in art, embracing the Harlem Renaissance. When he was 23, he received a $1,500 scholarship from the Rosenwald Foundation which enabled him to begin work on the Migration Series.

In 2007 the White House Historical Association bid $2.5 million for Lawrence's The Builders which now hangs in the Green Room.


 
Augusta Savage (1892-1962), Gamin, 1929, bronze (later casting of original plaster), David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, permanent loan from David C. Driskell Collection/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Augusta Savage was a sculptor, political activist, and mentor to many black artists including Jacob Lawrence whose Harlem residence was near her studio and classrooms. There Lawrence studied and met his future wife, Gwendolyn Knight. "Gamin" is French for "street urchin" or "kid," whom Ms. Savage made into one, the face of the many children she taught. The label on the wall quotes Lawrence:

If Augusta Savage hadn't insisted on getting me onto [sic] the [Federal Art Project], I don't think I would ever have become an artist.
 
What: People on the Move: Beauty and Struggle in Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series

When:
Through Sunday, January 8, 2017, 12 - 7 p.m.

Where: The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St., N.W. at Q St., Washington, D.C. 20009


Admission:
$12, $10 for students and those over 62, free for members and for children 18 and under. Ticket includes admission to all exhibitions on view including Whitfield Lovell: The Kin Series & Related Works.

Metro Station: Dupont Circle (Q Street exit. Turn left and walk one block.)
 

For more information: 202-387-2151


Patricialesli@gmail.com





Thursday, January 5, 2017

Two major exhibitions close this weekend at The Phillips


Whitfield Lovell (b. 1959), Kin XLVIII (Life is But a Dream), 2011, Conte on paper and metal hard mirror, private collection/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Sunday is the last day to see two extraordinary, contemporary exhibitions at The Phillips CollectionWhitfield Lovell: The Kin Series and Related Works and Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series, the latter which includes all 60 panels brought together from the collections at The Phillips and the Museum of Modern Art.

Lovell, the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant in 2007, has a worldwide reputation for drawing anonymous African-American portraits from photographs and placing them with everyday objects in settings whose times range from the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862 to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Whitfield Lovell (b. 1959), Dawn to Dawn, 2006, charcoal on wooden barn door and found objects, courtesy DC Moore Gallery/Photo by Patricia Leslie.  

The label copy for Dawn to Dawn reads in part: "I like making installations because the sculptural elements thrust the figures into the viewer's physical space--something that I find difficult to do in painting."  The wooden background was not constructed for the art, but the art was constructed using found wood, one of many examples which Lovell utilizes to make renderings of people, places, things, and humanity.


If anyone ever questioned the value of an arts education in school, Lovell is proof of its benefits. While a teenager, he attended several art programs which included a spiritual experience at the Prado in Madrid when he was 18.

Wikipedia quotes pages from Lippard, Hanzal, King-Hammond and Way's The Art of Whitfield Lovell: Whispers from the Walls, 2003:
...While I was standing in front of a Velasquez painting I had an amazing spiritual experience. The painter had communicated with me through centuries and cultures, and I suddenly understood the role of the artist. I ran from room to room. Goya, El Greco, Reubens, and Picasso all began to speak out to me. Whatever they were doing in those rooms was what I wanted to do with my life. 
Whitfield Lovell (b. 1959), Bleck, 2008, Conte crayon on wood and boxing gloves, courtesy, DC Moore Gallery/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Whitfield Lovell (b. 1959), Kin I (Our Folks), 2008, Collection of Reginald and Aliya Browne/Photo by Patricia Leslie. The white slivers on the face and hat are reflections of light on the glass.

The piece above was the first of Lovell's "Kin" series, individual portraits which now number 60. The wall label says the flags beneath the young man are indicative of the complex relationship blacks have with their homeland, created eight years before Colin Kaepernick almost became a household name.
Whitfield Lovell (b. 1959), Whispers: Rising River Blues, 1999, charcoal on wood and found objects, courtesy, DC Moore Gallery/Photo by Patricia Leslie  

In the Phillips gallery, the tableau above faces the one below with the clothes strategically placed by Mr. Lovell, a curator said. While in residency in Denton, Texas, the artist studied Quakertown, a black community in the center of Denton which existed from 1875 until 1924 until it was torn asunder because of proximity to a nearby white girls school. The scattered clothing reflects the upheaval families faced, forced to move. Mr. Lovell studied thousands of faces at the Texas African American Photography Archive to capture his lasting impressions which he placed on wood for these two pieces.  On the phonograph player above, repetitious, soft music plays continuously.
Whitfield Lovell (b. 1959), Whispers:  Mattie When You Marry, 1999, charcoal on wood and found objects, courtesy, DC Moore Gallery/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Whitfield Lovell,  Kin XLV (Das Lied von der Erde), 2008 or 2011, Conte on paper with string of pearls, Phillips Collection, Dreier Fund for Acquisitions, 2013/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Whitfield Lovell, b. 1959, After an Afternoon, 2008, courtesy, DC Moore Gallery/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Whitfield Lovell (b. 1959), Everything, 2004, Private collection, courtesy, DC Moore Gallery/Photo by Patricia Leslie

What: 
Whitfield Lovell: The Kin Series and Related Works

When:
Through January 8, 2017, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., with extended hours on Thursday until 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, 12 - 7 p.m.

Where: The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St., N.W. at Q St., Washington, D.C. 20009


Admission:
$12, $10 for students and those over 62, free for members and for children 18 and under. Ticket includes admission to all exhibitions on view including People on the Move: Beauty and Struggle in Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series

Metro Station: Dupont Circle (Q Street exit. Turn left and walk one block.)
 

For more information: 202-387-2151


Patricialesli@gmail.com

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Beatles Toccata in free noon concert Jan. 4, St. John's, Lafayette Square



Janet Yieh by Harrison Linsey
Concert organist Janet Yieh will play the Beatles Toccata for "All You Need is Love" by Paul Ayres at a free noontime concert Wednesday at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square.

Ms. Yieh's performance is part of the church's
First Wednesday Concerts held on the first Wednesday of the month at 12:10 p.m. and lasting about 30 minutes.

What is a "toccata"?  The Free Dictionary supplies several definitions:  "A virtuoso composition, usually for the organ or another keyboard instrument, in free style with brilliant passagework" and "a composition in the style of an improvisation, for the piano, organ, or other keyboard instrument, intended to exhibit the player's technique."

Also on Wednesday's program are: 

Overture to the Oratorio “St. Paul” arr. W. T. Best
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)

Adagio in E Major
Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
 

Dieu Parmi Nous
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)

Ms. Yieh, a native of Alexandria, is pursuing her master’s degree at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music and School of Music. She serves as organ scholar at Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven. She received her undergraduate degree in organ from the Juilliard School and was assistant organist at Trinity Church on Broadway at Wall Street for four years.
 

The winner of many competitions, Ms. Yieh plays concerts throughout the U.S. and Asia, including Alice Tully Hall, the Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Washington National Cathedral, and Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral. She began piano lessons at age 4, violin at age 7, and the organ, at 11. 
St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, DC/Photo by Patricia Leslie

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 here. 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.  

Following tradition, President-Elect Donald J. Trump will begin his inauguration on January 20 with private services at St. John's.

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

 

A concert not to miss! 

Who: Concert Organist Janet Yieh

What:
First Wednesday Concerts

When: 12:10 p.m., January 4, 2017

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: 202-347-8766
 

Other dates and artists of the First Wednesday Concert Series are:
 

February 1: Jazz vocalist Sara Jones will sing a Winter Escape, accompanied by the Dan Dufford Ensemble.
 
(The first Wednesday in March is Ash Wednesday.)


April 5: Soloists from St. John's Choir will sing.

May 3: Thomas Smith, the director of music at Christ Church, Georgetown, will play A Journey to Merrie Olde England - A Recital of English Organ Music.

June 7: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 will be played by the U.S. Air Force Strings with trumpeter Mary Bowden.


patricialesli@gmail.com






Friday, December 30, 2016

Last weekend for Rembrandt and friends at the National Gallery of Art

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Rape of Ganymede, 1635, oil on canvas, Gemaldegalerie, Dresden
 Rembrandt van Rijn, The Rape of Ganymede, 1635, pen and brown ink, brown wash on paper, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden

Washington art aficionados who have not seen the exhibition, Drawings for Paintings in the Age of Rembrandt, or who want to go again, have through Monday to view Dutch Golden Age drawings and paintings by 54 artists at the National Gallery of Art before the presentation moves to the Fondation Custodia, Frits Lugt Collection in Paris.

The display of 91 drawings and 27 paintings tells the "stories behind the paintings," said curator Arthur Wheelock at the show's opening. Like an author's or writer's first draft, these are the basis of the artists' last drafts. Said Mr. Wheeler: "The artistic process unfolds." Rather than painting "on site," many put colors and ink to paper in studios after they observed and sketched spectacular scenery, people, and interiors.

Seeing the "befores" and "afters" firsthand provides insight on the ways the artists worked, their methods and practices, what they kept, what they discarded.

Jan van Goyen made sketches of his trips out to the country which later became his landscapes; Pieter Jansz Saenredam used a compass, rulers, and a straightedge to make exquisitely detailed sketches of church interiors. Pieter Molijn completed Landscape with Open Gate, 1630-1635, in the studio after a visit to the Dutch shore where he drew the scene.

The drawing and painting above of Rembrandt's The Rape of Ganymede, both 1635, are a rare instance of an almost complete drawing used by the artist for his finished work.  The catalog notes the final version contained the mother figure only but outlines of both parents at the bottom in the drawing shows the father aiming a weapon at the eagle. In the oil, the child urinates, in shock.  Most artists drew Ganymede as a youth, and not as a baby. Mr. Wheeler said Rembrandt based it on the artist's observation of "a screaming kid being picked up by his parents."
Arthur Wheelock, curator of northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art, one of the curators of the show and an author of the catalog, talks about the National Gallery's newly acquired A Woman Feeding a Parrot, with a Page (below), 1666 by Caspar Netscher, the purchase made possible by the Lee and Juliet Folger Fund, the first at the National Gallery by Netscher, the first time on view in the U.S., the first time it's hung with its "ricordo" (below)/Photo, Patricia Leslie

A Woman Feeding a Parrot, with a Page (above and below) by Caspar Netscher became part of Hermann Goering's collection after the Germans confiscated it in 1942 during World War II from the Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Belgium where the owners had stored it for safekeeping.  When the war ended, the painting was purchased by a private collector and eventually was returned only two years ago to the heirs of the original owners. Then it sold at Christie's for $5.093 million to a London art dealer who sold it to the National Gallery this year.
Caspar Netscher, A Woman Feeding a Parrot, with a Page, 1666, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Caspar Netscher, Young Woman With a Parrot, 1666, the British Museum, London. The label says that rather than a study, this is likely a sketch or "ricordo" Netscher drew to hang in his studio as a reminder of the finished product after it sold. Through collaboration and rather than the usual timing of nine months to achieve such a loan, in a flash of a week, the British Museum rushed the drawing to Washington for the exhibition, marking the first time the two works have hung together.
Michiel van Musscher, An Artist in His Studio with His Drawings, mid-1660s, oil on panel, Liechtenstein, The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna.
Leendert van der Cooghen, Study of a Nude Man, Seated Three-Quarters Length on a Cushion, n.d., black chalk on paper, Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris.

A member of a wealthy family, Leendert van der Cooghen did not need art to survive financially.  Consequently, only three of his paintings, but several drawings and etchings, survive.  He probably painted from life, from models in studios.
Aelbert Cuyp, Landscape with Herdsmen, c. 1650-1652, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection

Aelbert Cuyp's landscape (above) was a scene from the Rhine River Valley populated with animals and humans he drew from other sources.
His Excellency Henne Schuwer, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, welcomes members of the press to Drawings for Paintings in the Age of Rembrandt. Joining him in the foreground to welcome guests is Girl with Water Lilies by Herbert Adams, bronze, 1928, gift of the HRH Foundation in memory of Helen Ruth Henderson/Photo, Patricia Leslie


A color catalog of more than 300 pages with essays, history, biographies, bibliographies, and more is available. The National Gallery of Art and the Fondation Custodia, Frits Lugt Collection, Paris organized the exhibition.

What: Drawings for Paintings in the Age of Rembrandt

When:
10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday. The exhibition closes January 2, 2017.  The National Gallery of Art is closed on New Year's Day. 

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: Always free

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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