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Edward Hopper and Joseph M. W. Turner


Karl-G
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There are two excellent special exhibitions at the National Gallery in Washington right now; they will probably not be duplicated in our lifetime. Admission is free and during the week they were not crowded.

 

The Edward Hopper Exhibit is a large exhibit in twelve rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the East Wing. It is arranged thematically and chronologically. Every work of Hopper's you have ever seen is here - "Nighthawks," "Automat," "Sun in Room," "New York Tenement," "Gloucester Harbor," etc. And there are hundreds of superb watercolors alongside. I have seen individual paintings in different museums, but the ensemble is overwhelming and worth visiting two days.

 

Next door in the main building is one of the largest Joseph M. W. Turner exhibits ever mounted; the Tate must be empty this fall. Every work you ever saw in museums all over the U.S. and Britain has been brought here. Landscapes of England, Rome, seascapes, avalanches in the Alps, sunsets - it is a sumptuous visual feast. ("Avalanche - Hannibal Crossing the Alps," "Juliet and her Nurse in Venice," "two versions of "Burning the Houses of Parliament," etc.) The last room has a dozen of his last works, so beautiful, so simple, so pure, so filled with light and color and atmosphere, that it is hard to believe they were painted in the 19th century. There are an equal number of oil paintings and watercolors, and Turner was one of the greatest watercolorists ever.

 

Meanwhile, down on the lower level of the East Wing you can enjoy School of New York masterpieces which New York (MoMa) does not have or show: the "14 Stations of the Cross" of Barnett Newman, three masterpieces by Mark Rothko, three mystical white paintings by Agnes Martin and Robert Ryman, great works by Motherwell and Franz Kline and Pollock and Helen Frankenthaler (none of her works can be seen at MoMa; almost no works by women artists are shown at MoMA).

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I agree Karl, I think the Edward Hopper exhibit is incredible; one of the most moving exhibits I've seen.

 

A warning to potential visitors: Do not, under any circumstances, attend the exhibit on the weekend. You'll be surrounded by apparently clueless tourists and their hellspawn pointing at "Route 6, Eastham" and saying, "Hey, son, look, it's a house by the side of the road. You could paint that!"

 

...Hoover

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Guest zipperzone

>You'll be

>surrounded by apparently clueless tourists and their hellspawn

>pointing at "Route 6, Eastham" and saying, "Hey, son, look,

>it's a house by the side of the road. You could paint that!"

 

I would have a great deal of difficulty dealing with the comment if I was to hear some asswipe say it. I am very fortunate in owning an Hopper which I inherited from my parents. It is probably my most treasured possession.

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I was recently in DC (non-boytoy related, drat) and saw another great exhibit:

 

Annie Liebowitz personal photos at the Corcoran. There's some kitsch, but she also chronicles her relationship with Susan Sontag and Sontag's death from cancer 3 years ago. It was quite moving.

 

bob

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Guest zipperzone

>I was recently in DC (non-boytoy related, drat) and saw

>another great exhibit:

>

>Annie Liebowitz personal photos at the Corcoran. There's some

>kitsch, but she also chronicles her relationship with Susan

>Sontag and Sontag's death from cancer 3 years ago. It was

>quite moving.

 

Are these the photos that were the core of the book that came out about this time last year?

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