Saturday, October 10, 2009

Washington DC Trip Day 2: Art Galleries

Across the street from my hotel are two art museums housed in the same building. The building layout is in the form of a rectangle with a large courtyard on the inside. On the west side is the National American Art Museum and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery is on the east.

The atrium is huge and I expected it to be loud with a lot of echoing but not so. You could hear everything that happened but the sound was immediately absorbed.

I'm not much for museums so this was a stretch for me. I enjoyed the 1934: A New Deal for Artists collection. Check out the full collection.

This was my favorite of that collection:
Gold is Where You Find It by Tyrone Comfort, 1934

A bust of First U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton

Eunice Kennedy Shriver 1921-2009 by David Lenz, 2009

Among the Sierra Nevada, California by Albert Bierstadt, in the 1860's

The Chief's Canoe by Belmore Browne before 1927

Tenement Flats by Millard Sheets, 1934

Black Panther by Alice Dinneen, 1934 (It's hard to tell here, but the red in the anthuriums just jumped off the canvas from across the room and drew me right to the painting.)

The Great Hall

A large map of the United States with neon borders and monitors showing various pop culture programs.

Quotes were on the walls throughout the museum. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Being inexhaustible, life and nature are a constant stimulus for a creative mind.
Hans Hofmann, 1880-1966
Art ain't about paint,
it ain't about canvas.
It's about ideas.
Too many people died
without ever getting
Their mind out to the world.

Thornton Dial Sr., 1993
It was a surprisingly good adventure!

4 comments:

Mom said...

I love visiting in DC. It is full of wonderful things to see. sounds like you are enjoying the Vacation. did you get to hear the president speak last night?

Gavin said...

Mom, I didn't get to hear the president. Spending way too much time on these posts. Editing the pics is tedious on my little iBook. I miss my iMac at home!

Lacey said...

Thanks for the pics. I love the map of the US in neon. I wondered if you would go to the Holocaust museum?

Gavin said...

I went to the Holocaust Museum last time I was in DC. It is incredible and another place where you think you'll take an hour or two but end up spending the whole day. There is just too much to see in DC so I tried to go places I hadn't been already. For anyone going to DC, the Holocaust Museum is a must see!