1. Hopper Exhibition and Web FeatureThe much-anticipated Edward Hopper exhibition is opening September 16. This is the first comprehensive survey of Edward Hopper's career to be seen in American museums outside New York in more than 25 years. Focusing on the period of the artist's great achievements—from about 1925 to midcentury—the exhibition will feature such iconic paintings as Automat (1927), Drug Store (1927), Early Sunday Morning (1930), New York Movie (1939), and Nighthawks (1942). Learn more about this landmark exhibition in our interactive feature about the exhibition. The feature investigates the main themes in Hopper's art, presents an extensive timeline of his works, allows a closer look into some of his iconic images, and screens a three-minute teaser of the exhibition film. | |
2. Cell-Phone TourThe National Gallery of Art is excited to offer its first cell-phone tour. Visitors to the East Building may call the number and learn about eleven different artworks in the collection. Callers can hear I. M. Pei discuss his design of the East Building and the importance of sculpture in relation to his architecture. Leah Dickerman and Molly Donovan from the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art narrate the tour. Call 202.595.1857 and press 1#–11# (eleven stops) to listen. | |
3. New Behind the ScenesFor the first time in September the National Gallery of Art's audio series "Behind the Scenes" will be available in iTunes. Enjoy your favorite episodes of ArtTalk, NGA Conversations, and Backstory. Look for new episodes the first Tuesday of every month. This month learn about the making of the Edward Hopper exhibition film with producer Carroll Moore and about the upcoming Hopper opera. | |
4. This Month's Featured Artwork: Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl, 1862, by James McNeill WhistlerWhen Whistler submitted The White Girl to the Paris Salon in 1863, the tradition-bound jury refused to show the work. Napoleon III invited avant-garde artists who had been denied official space to show their paintings in a Salon des Refuse, an exhibition that triggered enormous controversy. Whistler's work met with severe public derision, but a number of artists and critics praised his entry. In the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paul Manz referred to it as a "symphony in white," noting a musical correlation to Whistler's paintings that the artist himself would address in the early 1870s, when he retitled a number of works using the words Nocturne, Arrangement, Harmony, and Symphony. | |
5. Mel Bochner on iTunesOver the course of three days, February 14–16, 2007, Mel Bochner and his assistant Nicholas Knight installed Theory of Boundaries at the National Gallery of Art in the East Building, Concourse Gallery 29F. The work, whose size is determined by the length of the wall on which it is installed, consists of four squares of equal size, each separated by a space equal to one-third of the width of a single square. Dry pigment is applied directly to the wall, with each square following the principles determined by its "language fraction" (hence the work's title, Theory of Boundaries); thus, each square represents a different relationship between colored surface, border, and state of enclosure. You can now view the video on iTunes as well as on the NGA Web site. | |
6. Upcoming exhibitions: Turner and SnapshotTwo major exhibitions are opening in October at the National Gallery of Art. J. M. W. Turner, the largest and most comprehensive retrospective of Turner's work ever presented in the United States, includes approximately 70 oil paintings and 70 works on paper. The Art of the American Snapshot, 1888–1978: From the Collection of Robert E. Jackson, an exhibition of approximately 200 snapshots, chronicles the evolution of snapshot photography from 1888, when George Eastman first introduced the Kodak camera and roll film, through the 1970s. | |
7. Go Back to School with The National Gallery of ArtOnline Education Loan Finder NGA Classroom: Online Resources for Teachers and Students |
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8. September Calendar of EventsPlan your visit to the Gallery with the help of the August Calendar of Events. Schedules of films, lectures, gallery talks, family activities, and concerts are listed along with information about each event. |
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PLANNING A VISIT / GENERAL INFORMATION This page provides links to the Gallery's hours and location, Calendar of Events, restaurant hours, accessibility information, Gallery history, and news releases. The National Gallery of Art, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. Admission is free. For general information, call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176. To obtain a free bimonthly Calendar of Events by mail, call (202) 842-6662 or contact us by e-mail at calendar@nga.gov. Please include your mailing address. To receive a free quarterly Film Calendar by mail, contact us by e-mail at film-department@nga.gov. Please include your mailing address. SUPPORT THE GALLERY TO CONTACT US TO MANAGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION PROBLEMS WITH THE LINKS? This is a post-only mailing address. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY. Image Credits 1. (detail) Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942, Friends of American Art Collection, 1942.51, The Art Institute of Chicago, Photography © The Art Institute of Chicago |