Photo Op From the Newseum

The Newseum, being seven stories tall, has  a great view from the top floor of our lovely U. S. Capitol Building. What a great photo op! To the left rear is the Canadian Embassy and to the right is the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art, currently under renovation.

Your Imaginary Tourist,

Patsie

It is Too Darn Cold Already!

While visiting the Andy Warhol Show yesterday, I decided to take on the Doctor Seuss character "Cat in the Hat".

So to speak!
And yes, I enjoyed the show.

Your Imaginary Cat,

Patsie

Art Attack: SO Much to See, Part 2

Dear Imaginary Friend,

Are you a fan of the master artists? I certainly am, and I just love trekking to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, in our home town.

Today, my friend Joan and I did a blitzkrieg museum visit.

In the East Wing Building alone, we saw an extensive exhibit of Canaletto and his Rivals, and then Gauguin, and then Small French Paintings.

Then we walked the length, back and forth, of the West Wing, seeing the Impressionist Chester Dale Collection.

My hoofies are killing me!

Such beauties! (The paintings, not my feet.)
I was especially interested in the Canaletto show, because last year, I painted the Grand Canal of Venice, which believe me, was a total bear of a painting, especially because my canvas was about 40" wide by 30" tall. 

The amount of detail that went into Canaletto's masterpieces is mind-blowing. His work makes me feel like a lazy slug. I would love to know several things: Did he have many apprentices helping him? What would be the equivalent price of his canal scenes in today's dollars, US? How long did these masterpieces take to complete? Did he become wealthy from his art? Where can I get some uber-talented apprentices who work for free? (requirement: they must be better painters than I am...)
If you know the answer to any of the above questions, please respond in the comments section. I would love to know!

Visiting art museums is a two pronged emotional event. On the one hand, it inspires me to reach higher and be my absolute best.

On the other hand, it makes me feel like a loser who cannot hold a candle-etto to Canaletto.

I am hoping that he had some egregious faults, like really crummy hair, plenty of acne, or bad posture, at the very least. If I am lucky, he had scads of teenagers with attitude, a gambling problem, and tight shoes.

Now that I have vented, I feel better, although my hoofies still hurt. Must be my tight shoes.

Your Imaginary Artist Friend,

Patsie

Art Attack: SO Much to See

Dear Imaginary Friends,

So much to do, so little time!

There is nothing quite so motivating to me to visit museum shows as knowing that today is the last day of the show. Therefore, the intrepid Carlo and I decided to outsmart the Marine Corps marathon that was clogging the streets of the beautiful Washington, DC, and visit the four main shows at the National Gallery of Art.

The impediment was the 26.2 mile Marine Corps Marathon, which snaked through Capiol Hill, closing streets and making access to the museum almost impossible. We literally had to streak across two streets of the runners, who happened to be dousing themselves with cups of water. They were none too pleased to have us slow them down. But hey, art first! Fitness, 23rd.


Today being Halloween, it was timed to be the last day of Edvard Munch's show. His work  The Scream is his most prominent, but he has many that are equally ghoulish: The Lonely Girl, Sin, The Vampire, etc. I preferred his more attractive Madonna.

Working within the Halloween theme also was the Archimboldo show, wherein a contemporary of Leonardo Da Vinci created portraits for the Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian of vegetables, fish, flowers, fruit, etc. They are very cleverly done, and would be just the thing to attract an adolescent who normally would eschew art museums.


Also on tap, the gorgeous Chester Dale collection. Chester Dale and his wife Maud had such an eye for quality; what an impressive collection of Impressionism and early modernism.


Opening today was the PreRaphaelite photo and painting exhibit, which has a ghoulish Lady of Shalott. Carlo is coocoo for cocopuffs when it comes to the Pre Raphaelites. He cannot get enough, so it was a must see. Photography had recently been invented when the movement started, and the very wealthy court members liked to amuse themselves with  the new and magical technology. And you thought the royals sat around all day polishing their crowns and kicking serfs. No sirree.


Get yourself to the art museums and  check out what the artists of the world have been up to.


Artfully yours,
Patsie