American Art and Portraiture on Off the Wall Friday

Scenes from American Life, Beach, Gertrude Goodrich, 1914
(Treasury Dept, From the Cafeteria, Section of Fines Arts Mural!)

 

Our recent trip to Washington DC also included our first visit to The Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.  It is better known as the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  To tell you the truth, until I got home and read the Wikipedia article, I didn't quite understand where one museum started and one ended.  Apparently, the way it's laid out now, it just flows together seamlessly, which is what I observed.  It's such an interesting museum since it's not really laid out in a gallery setting, but more, like it actually is...a reuse of the old Patent building.  

Cape Code Morning, Edward Hopper 

The art is ... well... just astounding.  Since it's not set up like a conventional gallery, there is art everywhere- every hall - every little room - next to the staircase.  You never know when you're going to turn the corner and see a painting that you only thought you'd see in books.  At one point, I spotted my husband after looking for him for 10 minutes and walked right past a treasure that I caught out of my perifacial vision. I stopped dead in my tracks.  OMG!  There was Cape Code Morning by Edward Hopper.  I've always loved that painting because of the great use of color blocking and PLUS I want to know what the woman is so urgently looking at.    Anyways, it made me gasp! out loud.  So much so that the docent laughed.  I had to apologize and say, sorry I just didn't expect to see a Hopper just hanging out here in the hall.  She laughed harder.  

Barack Obama, Kehinde Wiley, 2018

The Presidential Gallery was amazing.  It was fun to go through the chronological order of the portraits and see if you could remember who would be next!  If you're wondering, Obama's painting looks much better in person - way more depth - less characture.  Really it's quite breath taking and I didn't expect that at all.  Trump had a somber powerful photo in place till his painting is done.  He'll probably have the numbers 45, 47 next to his in keeping with Cleveland's 22,24.  Lincoln's portrait was nearly as impressive as his monument.  

One thing I did notice was that there a concerted effort to feature previous marginalized artists through the museum.  On that note, I found a new favorite piece, Three Figures by Lorna Simpson which is an ink and screen print portrait of a race riot being hosed to dispersed.  

Gorgeous right?

I would call this just an intro visit since we only saw 2 floors before I called "uncle" to my husband.  Apparently, 15K steps is all this ole gal could take for one day.  I do love that the museum is open 11-7, so you can see another museum in the morning and this one in the afternoon.  It does have a great art museum gift shop but no place to have lunch of a snack.  Plus, it this amazing atrium which was all lit for Christmas.  I love that it's become vague to put in gorgeous atriums into museums, especially those that are in winter climes.   It always feels like summer in there.   

Obviously, we'll be back.  

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