DC Daze

I am down to the last location on the East Coast in this peregrination.  Unless something goes wildly awry­ - which given my track record isn’t beyond the realm of possible – I’ll be headed west this week.

But oh, Washington D.C. has so much to offer!  I stayed for the first few days with family friends Randy and Maureen, and dog Wally.  Many years ago, they introduced me to the wonders of Maryland crab cakes.  I am a convert.  We revisited that joy during my visit.  So good!!  I then moved to Arlington to stay with (favorite) cousin Rafael for the last days of my trip.  Handy access to the Metro, and well, favorite…

My first tourist stop in DC: the Folger Shakespeare Library.  Home of a first folio, plenty of other fascinating early printed works and incunabula, it’s worth any time you will spend there.  They are just across from the Capitol, but seem to have very few visitors.  Everyone’s over at the dome and the Air and Space Museum.  Psshhhh!

The Folger includes a three-tier Elizabethan theater.  Disappointingly, I won’t be here for the opening of Twelfth Night, but they let me sneak up into the balcony for the dress rehearsal.  They were having quite a time setting the light board.  So while I saw some good scenes, I also got to watch bored actors dance and do coin tricks.  Olivia alternated between fishing and snake charming with her black lace veil.  Cesario (aka Viola) broke into ‘Your Body is Wonderland’ in a truly hilarious moment.

Since it was lovely and sunny I went and wandered in the National Botanic Gardens.  They are quite wonderful.  They hydrangeas alone would make you happy, but the orchid room is fantastic.  They are hoping to expand, but with the budget being the way it is, I think it will remain an intimate space for the foreseeable future.

Red bud tree.  Spring in DC

The National Botanical Gardens

Less wonderful (see the NYT review at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/arts/design/pre-raphaelites-at-national-gallery-of-art.html) was the Pre-Raphaelite exhibit at the National Gallery.  I’m just going to quote wholesale:

…the Pre-Raphaelites seem to have made some of the first so-bad-it’s-maybe-good modern art. Fighting Victorian decadence with more Victorian decadence, they may also have contributed to the onset of kitsch. Cézanne and Manet are great artists, necessary to many people’s lives, but when you start to look around, the Pre-Raphaelites are everywhere. That’s why this show is so hypnotic. The badness at its core is completely familiar; it permeates our lives. Looking at these paintings you can see it all coming: Maxfield Parrish’s jocular King Cole mural at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan; the visual platitudes of Norman Rockwell and Walt Disney; the hallucinatory brightness of psychedelic posters, the sugary scenes of Thomas Kinkade and the heavy-handed neo-medievalism of countless movies and television shows, most recently “Game of Thrones.”

The Pre-Raphaelites built one of the cornerstones of popular culture. Like kitsch itself their art is radioactive; for better and for worse its influence never goes away, it only spreads.

The other rooms in the National Gallery contain an interesting mixture.  I am so completely done with dead Jesuses that I had to avoid most of the Italian rooms.  I did sneak in and catch the Da Vinci, a few Titians and Canalettos: the usual suspects.  I am currently more interested in the Sargents, Homers, Whistlers, and Wyeths – likely because I am in their geography. 

On the recommendation of Uncle Jay, I also made it to the Freer Museum.  The Peacock Room is on display, and worth seeing.  The Sackler Gallery didn’t hold my interest.  The Hirschhorn, as usual, contained a bizarre mixture.  The Calder mobiles were fabulous.  Some other works…less so.  A “mixed media” piece by Ann Hamilton and Kathryn Clark called “Palimpsest” captured my attention.  I think so much of what is called mixed media these days is just video.  And with all our exposure to television and films it loses its impact.  The work I enjoyed included written text, a rotating fan that blew the leaves of text, and a floor sealed with beeswax.  The honey scent and the fan breeze really made it work as a true mixed media.  As did another piece by Kota Ezawa which included a slideshow.  The waste heat from the projector added something missing from the video works also on display.

This was my first time visiting the mall since the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian.  I was disappointed.  The structure is wonderful, but the displays are…juvenile.  The stories are disjointed and sloppy.  The modern sculptural pieces are downright ugly.  It looks and feels like a museum built by committee.  Which it was.  Given the 566 federally-recognized tribes in the US, this doesn’t come as a huge surprise.  But still, disappointing.

The National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum(s) contained one of the best Hoppers I have ever seen.  And I was surprised and delighted to see a copy of the Saint-Gaudens statue from the grave of Clover Adams on display.  I really have run out of time to make the trek up to the Rock Creek Cemetery, and there it was!

Being me, I did make time to hit the more conveniently located Arlington National Cemetery.  I toured the Lee home (break away from the Union?  We’ll bury dead people in your yard!).  The Park Service budget cuts are pretty obvious there.  Historical preservation has taken a beating and the house needs help.

 Robin of spring, Arlington

Although they may not seem connected, my visit to Arlington was immediately followed by the National Museum of American Jewish Military History.  They have a wonderful display about women who served in all the wars from Civil to present.  The Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington celebrates many of them, hence the connection.  The museum is (obviously) a niche market.  Only about 7 rooms, but it packs in a lot of history.

My last touristic stop was the Library of Congress.  Judging by the handy guide they offered, I figured I’d be in and out in an hour.  I stayed 4.5 hours.  That place can really suck you in.  The Thomas Jefferson collection is beautiful and fascinating.  The exhibition on the Civil War in America is annoying (seriously, they had one at the American Art Museum too.  If I hear anything more about states rights or southern pride I might barf).  I think I’m tired of being south of the Mason-Dixon line already.  Not good.  The map collection of the Early Americas is wonderful.  The collection of George and Ira Gershwin’s scores (with piano accompaniment) is great.  The drawings of Charles Dana Gibson in the Graphic Arts Galleries are lovely.  If anyone knows the familial connection between Charles Dana Gibson and Richard Henry Dana Jr. (author of Two Years Before the Mast) – I’d love to hear it. 

Then I snuck down a hall and attended a lecture called “Why Two Are One Flesh: The Western Case for Monogamy Over Polygamy” by John Witte of Emory and a visiting scholar at the Library.  I disagreed with him on so many points, but as he explained, he isn’t done with his research and his book isn’t complete.  Nevertheless, food for thought and…well…food.  They had free hors d’oeurvres.  Which I didn’t know until I was already in the room! 

I can’t imagine what else I can fit in here.  Next post from a different time zone.  Ciao!

Oh right, The White House.