The Reason

I went to the National Museum of Women in the Arts was to see the quilt exhibition "Workt by Hand: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts" on loan from the Brooklyn Museum of Art.  It's a "canned" show. The BMA assembled it, printed the catalog, and farms it out to other museums for a price.  Capitalism at its finest, eh?  But it is also a fine collection of quilts and worth every penny!~

This quilt was reverse-appliqued!  I mean--holy shit!--it was nearly unfathomable in its attention to detail. 

I loved the individual attention paid to the contents of each basket.  The upper left corner was absolutely the most stunning--but for the record the image is reversed (it would be the upper right corner on the actual quilt).  I replicated it here with fidelity to the catalog.  Bad editing... 

 The craziest thing about this masterwork is the embroidery!  I've never seen finer work.  If only I could have a detail of the border--all embroidered morning glories and each one a masterpiece.

Detail below.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts

Where as in most places, museums are closed on Mondays, here in DC, they are mostly open.  So what better way to spend the last Monday of my winter break that at a museum?  I chose the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Over the years the collection has expanded and the works housed there cross a wide chronological and stylistic range.  Here are some of the paintings currently on display.

Still Life of Fish and Cat, after 1620

Clara Peeters (1594-after 1657)

Flemish

Virgin and Child, circa 1663

Elizabetta Sirani (1638-1665)

Italian

Bowl of Lemon and Oranges on a Box of Wood Shavings and Pomegranates, circa 1630's

Louise Moillon (1610-1696)

French

Sheep by the Sea, 1865

Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899)

French

The Cage, 1885

Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)

French

Africa, 1935

Lois Mailou Jones, (1905-1998)

American

Tejido Espacio-Tiempo, 1954

Remedios Varo (1908-1963)

Spanish/Mexican

Superwoman, 1973

Kiki Kogelnik (1939-1997)

Austrian

Victoria's Secret, 1995

Robin Kahn (1961-   )

American

Art I'm Seeing #31

thresixes
Originally uploaded by Randuwa

Washington, D.C. has a near embarrassment of riches when it comes to museums. And many of them are free, which only adds to the fun. One that isn’t free is the National Museum of Women in the Arts. It’s $10.00 well spent.

Works currently on display include this one from the show “Something Pertaining to God: the Patchwork Art of Rosie Lee Tompkins”. The show was orginized by the Shelburn Museum in Vermont, and originally hung there.

The works are completely in harmony with those African American quilters from Mississppi collectively known as Gee’s Bend; however, this artist lived and composed her works in Richmond, California.

Ms. Tompkins (a pseudonym) was born to share croppers in Arkansas in 1936 and moved to California 1958 where she enjoyed two marriages, raised five children and worked as a practical nurse in convalescent care. In the late 1970’s she suffered a “breakdown” that resulted in symptoms consistant with schyzophrenia. It was a condition that remained with her for the rest of her life and deeply influenced both her drive to create and the process by which her creations took shape. Voices in her head competed against her fervent faith in Christ and prayer life.

The show gives you only a briefest of possible dips into the pool of an amazing artist. There is a photograph of Tompkins in the exhibit taken in 1986. You see a woman of 50 who could pass for 30 without a doubt. It’s the photo a woman whose life tells you of struggle and hardwork, but who’s face testifies to a quiet strength and grace.

Snow Day! -- Great Day

aliceneel-nmwa
Originally uploaded by Randuwa.

With the unplanned freedom to spend today as I pleased, thanks to this early season snow storm, I chose to finally get to the National Museum of Women in the Arts to see the Alice Neel show. Called "Alice Neel: Women," the exhibition presented portraits from the beginning of her career to the end. Many of the images were also included in her 2000-2001 retrospective, which I experienced at the PMA in Philadelphia.

The museum was typically sparse in visitors, and so unlike the PMA experience, the galleries were quiet and the opportunity to experience the images was very hallow. And yet, the psychological intensity and intimacy of the works ellicited a verbal response from me more than once.

In portraiture, there are two concepts: technical accuracy versus phsychological intimacy. Tech masters include Gilbert Stuart, Inges, and Close; and psych artists would enlist, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Neel. And having said that, each blurrs the lines! No one is either/or. And with Neel, you discover an artist whose technique continually refines itself, while her sense of psychological understanding is consistantly acute.

The show is open until January 15th. Make the time, you won't be sorry.