Washington's Art

The heading is a rather broad statement.

I should rather say "some" of Washington’s art, because we only visited two art galleries.

On Saturday morning while it was raining we spend 4 hours in the National Gallery of Art’s West building and on Sunday I did what felt like an Indy car race through the Hirshhorn Museum, skipping the sculpture garden.

Nevertheless, some art is better than nothing.

From the National Gallery of Art

"Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo Da Vinci (oil on panel 1474/1478). It is the only Da Vinci painting in America.

"The Marquise de Peze and the Marquise de Rouge with Her Two Children" by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun (oil on canvas 1787.)

One of the amazing things in the National art galleries is that they allow people to take pictures preferably without a flash. By allowing cameras I can get much closer to the art and exclude the frames. I was sp surprised because I am so used to the galleries in most other cities usually prohibiting cameras and I have to clandestinely obtain a picture or two. I have never understood why cameras are forbidden. A photo will never be the real thing. From a photo you can never get up close and personal or study the brush stokes or even see some of the subtle nuances of the art.

On the left: "A Young Girl Reading" by Jean-Honore Fragonard (oil on canvas 1776)

On the right: "Portrait of a Gentleman with a Tall Hat and Gloves" by Rembrandt Van Rijn (oil on canvas, circa 1658/1660

Surrounded by towering polished black marble columns with the huge rotunda dome on top one cannot fault the perfect place for showing off Giovanni Bologna's "Mercury".

From the Hirshhorn Museum

The last Conversation Piece by Juan Munoz.

As mentioned in a previous post I spent only about 1 hour in the Hirshhorn, although I would have like at least another 2-3 hours. Here is a collage of sculptures that I snapped.

Clockwise from top left:
“Winter Solstice No. 2” by Seymour Lipton (1957)
“Raven IV” by David Smith (1957)
“Stringed Figure No. 1” by Henry Moore (1937)
“Crouching Woman” (small version) by Auguste Rodin (1880-1882)
“Untitled (Big Man)” by Ron Mueck (2000)
“Two Volumes in the Virtual” by Jesus Rafael Soto (1968)

"Delusions of Grandeur (La Folie Des Grandeurs) by Rene Margitte (1967)

"Portrait of Andy Warhol" by Julian Schnabel (Oil paint on velvet, 1982)

Schnabel is known for painting on unconventional material and he used velvet because Warhol used to wear black velvet jackets and sponsored the 1960's band The Velvet Underground.

Georgetown

Georgetown, a famous neighborhood of Washington, DC was already in existance by the time the other George, from Mount Vernon, VA, decided to make the US capital in Washington, well what became known as Washington. Although old George picked the location of the young country's new capital on the banks of the Potomac, he didn't actually named it after himself. That job was left to the city commissioners that was asked to oversaw the construction of the government buildings. They also named the area surrounding the new city Columbia. At the time when all this new city activity happened, Georgetown and another existing town, Alexandria was incorporated into the district of Columbia. Many years later, Alexandria was returned to Virginia, but Georgetown remained part of Washington. By the way, Georgetown is not named after George Washington. No one is sure whether it was named after King George II of England or after the 2 Georges that owned the land, George Gordon and George Beall. The location of our hotel was in Georgetown and here are a few snapshot from our walkabouts.

To read more on the history of the building of Washington, DC, click here.

The Riggs Bank on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, the shopping and restaurant hub of Georgetown.

Row houses converted to businesses along M Street.

Row houses detail.

More row houses along 30th Street.

A Presidential meeting in a painting of some old timers and some younger ones in the window of a art gallery.

Along the Potomac banks, sunset over Georgetown.