Eye Level

Remembering Jeanne-Claude (1935–2009)

Howard — 2009-11-20T16:39:07-05:00

When I heard that artist Jeanne-Claude had died, I went back to the blog post I wrote last year about her visit to American Art with her other half, Christo. Together, as husband and wife and as artists, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have been reinventing the contemporary art landscape for more than fifty years with their installations such as wrapping the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont Neuf in Paris, and of course, Running Fence, their monumental project in Northern California from the 1970s. Christo and Jeanne-Claude had come to the museum to announce that American Art recently acquired the major group of drawings, photos, and documentation from Running Fence that the artists had retained. In April 2010, American Art will feature an exhibition, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence that revisits the original, groundbreaking exhibition.

During their presentation Jeanne-Claude said, “On planet earth there is no forever….Everything is more or less temporary.” When asked to comment on her fifty-year working relationship with her husband she said, “We’re just beginning.”

I remember the weather was rainy and gloomy and when I left American Art, I stood on the grand steps and watched Christo and Jeanne-Claude walk ahead. Then I did something I probably shouldn’t have done: I aimed my cell phone at them and captured them walking in the rain. Her deep red hair seemed to be the only color on an otherwise dark and gray afternoon.

Jeanne-Claude, Christo, Running Fence, American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Luce en Español/Luce in Spanish

Tierney — 2009-11-17T16:24:41-05:00

Recently, American Art staff member Tierney Sneeringer was very excited to conduct her first Spanish tour, welcoming the "Friends of the Canal Museum" to the Luce Foundation Center. To schedule a Spanish tour with Tierney, e-mail AmericanArtLuce@si.edu.

Tierney Sneeringer, una empleada del Smithsonian American Art Museum, estaba muy entusiasmada cuando hizo recientemente su primera gira en español, recibiendo al grupo "Friends of the Canal Museum" (Amigos del Museo Canal) en el Luce Foundation Center. Para pedir cita para una gira en español, mande un e-mail a AmericanArtLuce@si.edu.

Luce Foundation Center, Spanish, American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Roy DeCarava, 1919–2009

Howard — 2009-11-12T10:35:14-05:00

Roy DeCarava's Lingerie, New York

Roy DeCarava, an American master, died October 27, 2009, a few weeks shy of his ninetieth birthday. Born in Harlem in 1919, and coming to adulthood during the Harlem Renaissance, DeCarava became a photographer of the street and the people who inhabited that day-to-day world. He was good friends with the poet Langston Hughes, and together they collaborated on a book titled The Sweet Flypaper of Life. Unlike the prints of other photographers who kept their distance, DeCarava's are marked by a warmth that connects the viewer to the subject. They often feel like jazz without sound.

"Roy DeCarava stands as one of the most important American photographers of the twentieth century in part because he took the form of social documentary photography and made it subjective and lyrical," Merry A. Foresta told me as director of the Smithsonian Photography Initiative. "As one of the first African American photographers of the modern era, DeCarava depicted black life with an intimacy and sweetness that was unprecedented," she added.

There are nearly a dozen examples of DeCarava's work in American Art's collection. Couple Dancing, New York (1956) portrays a sensual moment, barely lit, private, yet the viewer is allowed to watch. In Lingerie, New York (1950) young children hang out on the stairs and fire escape of what appears to be a shuttered brownstone, the site of the shop La Blanche Lingerie. We are immediately drawn to the boy in tie and suspenders balancing on the window ledge, as if it were the most natural thing in the world--caught perhaps in that sticky, sweet flypaper known as life.

Related post on DeCarava from the Smithsonian's Photography Initiative blog, The Bigger Picture.

Roy DeCarava, Photography, Social Documentary, American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Picture This: Playing Punball

Jeff — 2009-11-09T16:34:25-05:00

A museum visitor plays William T. Wiley's Punball: Only One Earth.

You've seen the William T. Wiley exhibition. Now play the game! What, you haven't seen the show yet? Well, now's your opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. On Thursday, November 12, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., visitors will have a rare opportunity to play Wiley's Punball: Only One Earth, which includes his distinctive imagery. He based his punball machine on a 1964 pinball game called "North Star." Please note that playing time is limited to five minutes per person on a first-come, first-serve basis. But take your time perusing the rest of the show.

What's It All Mean: William T. Wiley in Retrospect runs through January 24, 2010.

William T. Wiley, Punball, American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Picture This: Albert Paley's Portal Gates

Mandy — 2009-11-06T09:18:12-05:00

Left: the museum's David DeAnna, contract art handler Jorge Herrera, and Justin Chambers move the right gate into place. Right: Herrera, DeAnna, and Jerry Hovanec finish the installation.

Our exhibitions' team was up and at ‘em early on October 27 to unpack and reinstall sculptor Albert Paley’s Portal Gates at the museum's Renwick Gallery. For the past two years, the beloved pieces were off-site as part of Albert Paley: Portals & Gates, an exhibition organized by the University Museums, Iowa State University. Commissioned by the Renwick Gallery in 1974 to adorn the entrance to the gallery's shop, where they stood for many years, the Portal Gates marked a turning point in the young goldsmith's career. I don’t think I'm exaggerating to say that this masterpiece of ironsmithing was greatly missed!

On the left, the museum’s art handlers use a winch, or mechanical lift, to hoist the 1,200-pound gates, made of forged steel, brass, copper, and bronze. On the right, they carefully place the gates in an alcove built by our own Jim Baxter. The process took several hours, since the handlers had to be meticulous, so as not to damage the pieces or the floor, the walls, and themselves! We at the Smithsonian American Art Museum are happy to present the gates once more to the public and hope that you’ll stop to see them soon!

Albert Paley, Renwick Gallery, Installing Art, American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum