Out & About: National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

The lovely waterfall at the NGA, helped by all the rain that day!

As well as textile related things (more of which to follow), I also spent some of my American time in various museums.  I had a day and a half in Washington DC and thought I may do some sightseeing after I went to the Smithsonian museums.  However, I was enjoying the museums I visited so much, I ran out of time to see all the museums, let alone more of DC.

Approach to Venice by Turner

Coast near Antibes by Cross

I started with the National Gallery of Art.  Unfortunately the modern wing was closed, but there was still sufficient to keep me going to almost a full day in just the 19^th and 20^th century pictures on display.

Head of a woman by Modigliani

These are some of my favourite pieces.  I loved the Modigliani sculpture, which reminded me that I am not the first artist to be inspired by ancient Greek Cycladic sculptures. 

Green Wheat Fields, Auvers by Van Gogh, the new acquisition

There were a number of Van Gogh paintings, one of which was a new acquisition and I don’t think I’d seen it before.  I have seen an awful lot of Van Gogh paintings, so this was a lovely pleasure.

Girl in White by Van Gogh

A real highlight was a special exhibition of Garry Winogrand photographs.  His composition was amazing and there was a lovely letter from his second wife complaining about how feckless he was and how she was running out of time to have children (she was 28...).  The photos certainly recorded the States during the 1950-70s in an entertaining and thoughtful fashion.

So if you get the chance, do visit the National Gallery of Art, especially when both wings are open.

Out & About: Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon

Alexander Calder

One of the highlights of our Lisbon trip was the Museu Colecção Berardo. It is probably the Portuguese equivalent of the Saatchi Collection as it is very large, although it concentrates on more on 20th century art rather than contemporary.

 



Amedeo Modigliani, Tete de jeune fille a la frange

It was interesting to see work by artists I didn't know as there seems to be an accepted English speaking trail through the 20th century, after starting in Paris and moving to Germany for the Bauhaus. I'm sure some of the work would be judged as of a lesser quality, but as Mark Elder, the conductor, was saying on Radio 4 this morning, the reception of the work at the time and now is so subjective and because these artists did not fit into the accepted narrative of living in the right place at the right time, that could be sufficient to have their work dismissed. 


Lynn Chadwick, Maquette for Teddy Boy and Girl II

For the first part of my viewing I was accompanied by our six year old daughter, dragging a gallery stool around, stopping and drawing the paintings that caught her eye. Eventually she was beaten by this one and would not be pacified by me explaining she had chosen a really difficult one (see below) that I would struggle with too!



Otto Freundlich, Untitled

She went off in disgust with her father and then I was given a guided tour of the rest of the 1900-1960 section by our 11 year old. It was fascinating to see what he liked - which was mainly expressive black marks on a white canvas.

Emilio Vedova, Presenza N5V

We explored the 1960+ section together, which neither of us enjoyed as much. He kept asking 'but why is this art, mummy?', which was difficult to answer at points. He wondered if he drew a line on a piece of paper and called it art whether he could sell it for £1million. I said it wouldn't be art as he wasn't an artist and what was the message or intent. He was more won over by the argument that no one would buy it...  It does get harder and harder to explain... Any suggestions?

Kenneth Armitage, Standing Figure