MAY 2010
NEW EXHIBITION: "BEAT MEMORIES: THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF ALLEN GINSBERG" |
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| THIS MONTH'S FEATURED WORK OF ART FROM THE COLLECTION: "MADAME BERGERET" BY FRANCOIS BOUCHER |
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 In the 1740s Francois Boucher was establishing himself as a mature painter in Parisian art circles. In this portrait he defines the period's idea of chic: Madame Bergeret, posed in a garden setting, wears a creamy silk gown, tight in the bodice with puffed sleeves. The most important motif is the profusion of roses—emerging from a bronze vase, decorating her sleeves and hair, and spilling across the bench. Sacred to Venus, the rose was well suited for a portrait of the beloved wife of art patron Jacques Onesime Bergeret. On view in the West Building, Main Floor, Gallery 53.
www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?acc=1946.7.3 (Madame Bergeret)
www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg53/gg53-main1.html (online tour: 18th-Century France—Chardin and Portraiture)
www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg54/gg54-main1.html (online tour: 18th-Century France—The Rococo and Watteau)
shop.nga.gov/nga/category.cgi?item=410000355770 (purchase the collection catalogue French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteen Century) |
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| NEW VIDEO PODCAST: "IN THE TOWER: MARK ROTHKO" |
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| EXHIBITIONS ON TOUR: "THE ART OF POWER," "JUDITH LEYSTER," AND "LUIS MELENDEZ" |
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 If you missed these compelling exhibitions at the Gallery, you may still view exhibition highlights online or catch them on tour. The Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain (on view at the Museo Nacional del Prado through May 16) illustrates an image of royal Spanish power through armor, portraits, and tapestries. Judith Leyster, 1609–1660 (at the Frans Hals Museum through May 9) celebrates Leyster's 400th birthday with a small exhibition of her works, including the National Gallery's expressive Self-Portrait. Finally, Luis Melendez: Master of the Spanish Still Life (at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through May 9) showcases Melendez' virtuoso talent for rendering everyday objects with exacting detail, marvelous effects of color and light, and subtle variations of texture.
www.nga.gov/exhibitions/armorinfo.shtm (The Art of Power)
www.nga.gov/exhibitions/leysterinfo.shtm (Judith Leyster)
www.nga.gov/exhibitions/melendezinfo.shtm (Luis Melendez) |
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| NEW FAMILY GUIDE TO ITALIAN AND DUTCH ART, WEST BUILDING |
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 Available online and at Information Desks, this new family guide encourages "artful conversations" around the Gallery's renowned Italian and Dutch paintings. Discover who was plain and who was fancy in 17th-century Holland, and why Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of Ginevra de' Benci has two sides. Cues and questions encourage group discussions that turn looking into learning, and the guides include sections for drawing.
www.nga.gov/kids/fgdutchitalian.pdf |
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| RECENT ACQUISITION: "UNTITLED" BY ROBERT MORRIS |
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 Robert Morris is perhaps the single most important figure for understanding the shift from minimal to post-minimal art. As a pioneer of minimal sculpture during the early 1960s, Morris was one of the first artists to take into account the spatial and physical relationship between a viewer's body and a work of art. Untitled, 1976, is from the seminal Felts series. Although hung on a wall like a painting, this stubbornly tactile work compels both through its unpredictable form and its assertive physical presence, putting it in dialogue with Gallery works by Eva Hesse and Richard Serra, among others. On view in the East Building, Concourse Level.
www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=138480 (Untitled by Robert Morris)
www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/collcomm/collcomm-main1.html (online tour: Collectors Committee Gifts) |
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| REVISIT "PRIVATE TREASURES" EXHIBITION |
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 Including 100 drawings spanning nearly half a millennium of European art—all assembled by one anonymous collector—Private Treasures: Four Centuries of European Master Drawings presented one of the most significant collections of old master drawings in the United States. These works show an extraordinary variety of artistic expression, subject, style, and medium. Revisit this remarkable exhibition online: take a closer look at these Italian, French, English, German, and Netherlandish drawings in our Web feature, and purchase the exhibition catalogue.
www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2007/private/index.shtm (exhibition feature)
shop.nga.gov/nga/category.cgi?item=410000189481 (purchase the exhibition catalogue) |
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 Plan your visit to the Gallery with the help of the May Calendar of Events. Listings of films, lectures, gallery talks, family activities, and concerts provide details about each event. Check back often for the most up-to-date information, as new events are regularly added.
www.nga.gov/programs/calendar |
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 On May 1, 1963, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg and her son, Prince Jean, visited the National Gallery of Art. Fragonard's Young Girl Reading, given to the museum two years before by Ailsa Mellon Bruce in memory of her father, Andrew W. Mellon, was among the paintings they admired most during their visit. On view in the West Building, Main Floor, Gallery 55.
www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=46303 |
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