Wash, DC, April 2010, Post 6, National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum

Housed in the same large building are both the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, located at 8th and F St. NW.  I had been to neither.  We went later in the day so had less energy, so I definitely want to go back.  Portraits here are of people that made a significant contribution to the Americas.   Here are some of the photos I took there.

We mainly saw the portraits and the folk art, but I did get two photos of American art.  Howard had been looking for a painting by James Audobon, who lived from 1785 to 1851.  He was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, hunter, and painter. He painted, catalogued, and described the birds of North America in a form far superior to what had gone before.  In doing so, he also killed many many birds.  Here is photo of Howard standing next to an Audubon painting.












Here is a Georgia O'Keefe photo.  When we were at the Phillips, we went on a tour of the Georgia O'Keefe abstract exhibit there.  The tour leader talked about how O'Keefe viewed New York when she lived there...and how she felt very confined within the apartment on the 20+ floor where she lived, where all she could see was more and more buildings.  So here is her expression of that feeling in this painting.

The first portrait that caught my eye was this group of people with Enrique Caruso, a famous Italian tenor who spent a lot of time in the US.  He lived from 1873 to 1921.  Caruso is on the right. 

Here are some other portraits of note:
Thomas Alva Edison














Frederick Douglas

President Lincoln--a very attractive painting of him, isn't it?  

In the Presidents' gallery, a modernistic painting of JFK.   Clinton's was even more modernistic.  I wonder if it is temporary or will permanently be there.

I really admired Marian Anderson, the Afrian -American opera singer, when I was young.  Here is the portrait of her in the gallery. 

















I really liked the Folk Art section.  There was only one Grandma Moses painting.  I usually enjoy her work and her story, but I am less enamored of this painting... but here it is:

I loved this very tall giraffe made of bottle caps! 

 I was amazed by this display made by a devout man, a veteran who was probably suffering from his time in war.  He was very religious and created this diarama (?) out of cardboard, gold paint, aluminum foil, etc over many years.    The whole exibit was at least 20 feet wide.  The museum website says:  James Hampton's spiritual sculpture, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millenium General Assembly, a collection highlight, represents the powerful vision of America's self-taught artists.

This piece, which is in the center above, was the first one he made: 

Another thing that always fascinates me is a grand piano that has been painted.














I've learned a lot about art since Howard and I have married.  Though nowhere as interested and knowledgeable about it as he is, I'm glad that I've gained more of an appreciation for it.