The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C

While in Washington D.C I also went to the National Museum of Women in the Arts. I again saw some amazing art and many works by artist who I idolise and refer to regularly in my studio work. It is a much smaller space compared the National Gallery, and a lot less over whelming.  I was lucky enough to see the mid-life retrospective of Audrey Niffenegger. She is a brilliant printmaker and story creator. I am so glad I was able to see it!

Calhoun by Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses)

Maternal Caress and Mothers Kiss by Mary Cassatt

 La Hamanda (the call) by Remedios Varo

Frida Kahlo and Me!

 Spirituslist by Helen Frankenthaler and Midnight Liverpool Street by Susan Hiller

Queen Victoria by Judy Chicago

 Untitled, lithograph on embossed foil 2/2 by Barbara Kruger and Victorias secret by Rubin Kahn

 Mary Magdalene by Kiki Smith and Untitled by Petah Coyne

Dad and Me at the Audrey Niffenegger exhibition

The Main Hall at the NMWA.

National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

 

Inside the Gallery

So this post is well over due. Over the summer I had the privilege of going to the National Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C. Let me just say, Wow! What an amazing space, it is huge. Unfortunately I did not have the whole day to explore but the reality is you need two days, then go away let the information settle and then  come back for another day. I saw some amazing art, works that I never thought I would see.  Three Rothko's this trip, Vermeer's, Van Gogh, set. I also went to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery that same day, another amazing space. It houses the portrait gallery as well as the Smithsonian Museum of Art.
 If you are ever in Washington, please take the time to visit the museums, there are so many choices, not just for art. A great city to learn something new, and explore
Photos below.

One of the Many impressive
entrances to the gallery

A Brief History of The National Gallery
The National Gallery of Art was conceived and given to the people of the United States by Andrew W. Mellon (1855–1937). Mellon was a financier and art collector from Pittsburgh who came to Washington in 1921 to serve as secretary of the treasury. During his years of public service he came to believe that the United States should have a national art museum equal to those of other great nations.

In 1936 Mellon wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt offering to donate his superb art collection for a new museum and to use his own funds to construct a building for its use. With the president’s support, Congress accepted Mellon’s gift, which included a sizable endowment, and established the National Gallery of Art in March 1937. Construction began that year at a site on the National Mall along Constitution Avenue between Fourth and Seventh Street NW, near the foot of Capitol Hill.

For more info click here…

Diana and a Hound by Paul Manship

Went to the Edvard Munch exhibition at the National Gallery of Art

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Edgar Degas

The Capitoline Wolf Suckling Romulus and Remus and unknown (couldn't find title or artist)

Hound and Hunter by Winslow Homer and Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl by James McNeill Whistler

Wind from the Sea by Andrew Wyeth 

A Lady Writing by Johannes Vermeer
 

Woman Holding a Balance by Johannes Vermeer

Te Pape Nave Nave (Delectable Waters) by Paul Gauguin and Four Dancers by Edgar Degas

Isoult by Edward McCartan

( far right)Untitled, 1969 and No. 5, 1964 by Mark Rothko and  Fanny/Finger-painting and Nat by Chuck Close

Self Portrait 18189 by Vincent Van Gogh and Me!

Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Art

I went on a pilgrimage to find one of Louise Bourgeois' Spider sculptures.
I think I can die happy now!

Spider, 1996, cast 1997. bronze with silver nitrate patina by louise bougeois

 Personnage Gothique, Oiseau-Eclair ( gothic personage, bird-flash) 1974, cast 1977 bronze by Joan Miro and Graft, 2008-2009, stainless steal and concrete by Roxy Paine

Thinker on a Rock, 1997, cast bronze, by Barry Flanagan

National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian Art Gallery

100 Pounds of Rice by Saeri Kiritani and Pocahontas (circa 1595-1617) Unidentified artist, after the 1616 engraving by Simon van de Passe

 Sculpture by Antony Gormley and Drift Wood Horse by Heather Jansch and Sound Suit by Nick Cave 

Christer Karlstad

Christer Karlstad is a Norwegian contemporary figurative painter. Karlstad's paintings seem to carry an air of death and nostalgia about them. The landscapes are post-apocalyptic, there is a danger that seems to only be dawning on the subjects right when it will probably be to late. Who is in control of the situation portrayed in each piece the animal or the human?

Below is  the artist statement from Christer Karlstad's web-site.

'The Quiet Earth is the title of Craig Harrison’s short story, where the protagonist wakes up in a world where mankind and all creatures seemingly have vanished from the surface of the Earth. This mystery has a lot in common with Christer Karlstad’s existential tableaux, but unlike the deserted streets and abandoned buildings and cars of this and countless other dystopian stories, the city in his paintings only exists as a distant memory.

In Karlstad’s constructed, ambiguous scenarios he freely engages in myths, symbols and archetypes, as this is how he sees and understands the world. When confronted by one of his paintings, wondering if somebody is dead or only sleeping, whether it’s good or evil, comforting or disturbing, the answers are actually to be found in the questions.

In his visual world of “staged mysticism” the ordinary time perspective ceases to exist. Depictions of realistic situations give way to another agenda. Compositions revolve around scenarios where normality is challenged, replaced or consumed by something else, something unknown.

Christer Karlstad (born 1974) has studied at The Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts and Glasgow School of Art. His works have been acquired by Kistefos-Museet, Norway’s central bank, Statoil and Arts Council Norway, and has been commissioned by Refsnes Gods.'

Finisterre (The Quiet Earth series)

Don't Look Now II and Land of Gloom

Autum Leaves (the Quiet Earth Series)

 Monarch (The Quiet Earth Series) and The Seer: Sing

Sulphur