Art I'm Seeing #41

As I mentioned yesterday, I'd been down to the Mall to see highlights from the Meyerhoff Collection show at the National Gallery of Art. First off a word about the Meyerhoff's. They are legendary philanthropists whose money has been channeled into the arts (Their art collection rivals any other of its kind in the world and is valued at over $300 million dollars, their namesake Meyerhoff Symphony Hall is home to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) and education (They have an endowed chair in Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, a visiting professorship at Goucher College, and a scholarship program targeted at underserved minority communities for students seeking degrees in the sciences, technology, engineering and math) to touch but the tip of their iceberg of giving. The art they collected was a labor of love that began in 1950's and ended in 2004 when Jane passed into Ancestry. Their entire collection has been gifted to the National Gallery of Art (a gift that includes their amazing home, as well).

While seeing fewer than half of the total works they collected in this exhibition, I was struck by the desire to build an entirely new dedicated wing to house art from the collection on a permanent basis. I sincerely hope that someone has arrived at this conclusion before me. The Meyerhoff's are contemporary versions of the Frick's, Phillip's, Barnes' and Carnegie's from the turn of the last century. I would love to see something like the Lehman wing at the Met in New York City become part of the National Gallery of Art here in D.C. ... but I digress.

For any fan of Modern Art post World War II, this exhibit will provide you with one thrill after another. Arranged along ten themes and featuring the works of 6 of the masters of the era: Johns, Kelly, Lichtenstein, Marden, Rauschenberg, and Stella, it none-the-less includes dozens of works by their contemporaries, too. One of the first large canvases you will encounter is one of the sweet whimsical paintings that Wilhelm de Kooning did at the end of his life (one of the controversial Alzheimers works); and an absolutely stunning Kenneth Noland painting of concentric circles called "Mandarin" from 1961.
This Jasper Johns from 1993 is entitled "Mirror's Edge," and really spoke to me...then several works later and on another floor I encountered a trio of works from the late '80's by Johns on the theme of "Spring" which celebrate ideas only hinted at this work. A lover of metaphor could OD on the works of this artist alone. Other highlights for me included the stunning pencil drawing by Ellsworth Kelly entitled "Beanstalk," the series of wall-sculptures by Frank Stella on the "Play-skool" themes, and the amazing portrait of "Josephine" by Grace Hartigan.

And here's the best part of all. The exhibition will be open to the public through the 2nd day of May, 2010! Friends in the D.C. area, you have no excuse not to go.