They’re Open! - Washington D.C. Art Museums
Two of the best
After my COVID confinement, I was more than ready to visit museums when they opened up again. So when I had the opportunity to travel to the Capitol for a week, I made the most of my stay by touring several of the best art museums in DC. I was delighted to see works that were old favorites and also to find new-to-me paintings that sparked my creative juices.
I started with the National Gallery of Art and focused on their 19th and 20th century work. On viewing the work above right, Woman with Red Hair, 1917, by Amedeo Modigliani I was struck by the simplicity and power of this portrait. This understated painting perfectly conveys the sense of a tender introspective moment.
(Click on any image to see the full painting.)
Favorite Impressionists
Here are paintings by two of my favorite impressionist artists; both merged realism and impressionism by emphasizing line and figures as well as the effects of light. In The Riders (1885, on the top left) Edgar Degas deftly sketched the energy and movement of the horses and jockeys as they awaited the start of the race.
The Railway (1873, on the top right) by Edouard Manet depicts a scene from then-contemporary Parisian life, with the new steam engines that gave the emerging middle class more freedom and leisure. We wonder what the relationship might be between this bourgeois woman and girl. The painting is carefully composed for balance and harmony, and I especially appreciate Manet’s beautiful brushwork in the loosely rendered woman’s hands, book, cuffs, and small dog.
Stark landscapes
I was intrigued by these two landscapes because of their strong value contrast and inclusion of figures. On the left is Riders at Sunset, 1945 by E. Martin Hennings. I was drawn in by his use of a dark indigo color for the distant hills, which creates a powerful foil to the energy of the clouds and the delicate foreground foliage.
On the right is Snow Field (Winter in the Berkshires), 1909, by Rockwell Kent. I like the pared-down design with strong contrasts, the simply painted figures, and the way the intense blue of the snow shadows in the distance stands out against the light grey winter sky.
Genre paintings
I am attracted to genre paintings and their glimpse into everyday life. The two works above are united in palate and scale, but differ in style, Edward Hopper’s sharply realistic seascape and George Bellow’s softly impressionistic city scene. In the early 1900’s both artists were students of Robert Henri who urged his students to reject genteel subjects and paint common urban life, but always in their own style.
I love Edward Hopper’s work, especially his Victorian houses in sunlight, but sometimes I find his people strangely stiff and stoic. However, these in Groundswell, 1939, convey the feeling of a group of friends experiencing an intense moment at sea together. I wondered if he used models or photographs as references for this painting.
In Blue Morning, 1909, I think George Bellows perfectly captures the human struggle and labor that supported urban construction and architecture grandiosity. The brushwork, composition, and colors are masterful.
My fave DC art museum - The National Portrait Gallery
One of my favorite art museums in DC is the National Portrait Gallery. I have always been attracted to portraiture and I especially like analyzing different approaches from various eras.
Above is a self portrait painted in 1780 by the renowned American painter John Singleton Copley. He was an artistic prodigy who was a successful portrait painter in Boston in his twenties, but moved to Europe to continue his studies and to gain a more sophisticated audience. This self-portrait was probably painted as an example to show his clients his ability to capture a likeness. I especially appreciate the strong value pattern, the combination of hard and soft edges, and the skillful brushwork.
Painterly Portraits
The portrait on the left is one I remembered from my last visit twenty years ago. It’s Man with the Cat (Henry Sturgis Drinker), 1898, by Cecilia Beaux, an American society portraitist who’s style is sometimes compared to that of John Singer Sargent. She trained in Philadelphia, and later studied in Europe. She became the first female instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Beaux resisted the Impressionist label, instead developing her own distinctive painterly style that revealed the personality of the sitter. (for more about the difference between these two approaches read my blog post about Impressionist vs. painterly.)
The portrait on the right is a painting by Impressionist Edgar Degas of fellow Impressionist Mary Cassatt, the only woman and only American to exhibit with the Impressionists. Degas is famous for his paintings of Parisian life in pastel and oil, as well as his sculptures. This portrait, Mary Cassatt Seated, Holding Cards, was completed in 1884. Cassatt said that seeing Degas’ work was a turning point in his career, and the two friends engaged in many spirited conversations about all aspects of art.
Modern Portraits
This portrait of Carl Sandburg, top left was painted in 1961 by William A. Smith, whose work included illustration, murals, postage stamps, advertising, and fine art. I’m fascinated by how loose and unfinished the body and setting are, and how it that energy enhances the carefully painted face.
The portrait on the right of Judith Martin, The Washington Post’s Miss Manners, was painted in 2008 by Victor Edelstein, an English fashion designer, who took up painting when he retired from haute couture. The setting is a historic palazzo in Venice, a city which Martin visited often. She later wrote an amusing article about the process of having her portrait painted by the multi-talented Mr. Edelstein..
I think it’s interesting to compare these two divergent styles of portraiture - both are compelling and powerful, and both were painted in the modern era.
I hope you enjoyed visiting two of my favorite Washington DC art museums with me. To read more about my artist’s life, sign up for my VIP email list. You’ll get access to my monthly blog, my latest paintings, and work-in-process videos.
Next month’s blog: The National Museum of Women in the Arts.
