The city of Venice inspired a school of competitive view painters whose achievements are among the most brilliant in 18th-century art. The exhibition celebrates the rich variety of these Venetian views, known as vedute, with some 20 masterworks by Canaletto and more than 30 by his rivals, including Guardi, Bellotto, and Marieschi. Responding to an art market fueled largely by the Grand Tour, these gifted painters depicted the monuments and vistas of Venice in different moods and seasons.

 

February 20–May 30

East Building

Paul Gauguin's sumptuous, colorful images of Brittany and the islands of the South Seas—some of the most appealing paintings in modern art—are among more than 100 works featured in the first major Gauguin exhibition in the United States in 20 years. Organized around themes of the artist/creator, earthly paradise, the "noble savage," and exotic Eve, this exhibition examines Gauguin's use of religious and mythological motifs to tell stories, as he reinvented and appropriated myths from his European cultural heritage and Polynesian legend.

 

February 27–June 5

East Building

As private collections grew in the 17th and 18th centuries, many collectors commissioned catalogues to document their treasures. Written by noted scholars or the collectors themselves, the catalogues were illustrated with lavish engravings depicting the assembled objects in fine detail. The National Gallery of Art Library includes a wide variety of these publications, and this special installation highlights 60 of the best examples, from such collectors as James Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby, to Leopold Wilhelm, Archduke of Austria.

 

February 5–July 24

West Building, Ground Floor, Gallery 21

An energetic late painting by James Rosenquist (b. 1933), Spectator—Speed of Light is the second by the artist to enter the collection after the 2008 purchase of White Bread (1964). The newly acquired work is part of a series inspired by Einstein's theory of relativity, in which Rosenquist explores the disjointed perceptions of artist and viewer, as well as the ambiguous distinction between figuration and abstraction.

 

East Building, Upper Level

During the Harlem Renaissance, poet Langston Hughes proclaimed of his fellow African American artists: "We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand, at the top of the mountain, free within ourselves." Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, associate professor of American Art, University of Pennsylvania, reviews recent scholarship in African American art history, providing an overview of notable books and exhibition catalogues that examine the contributions of Hughes’ fellow "temple builders."

 

February 6, 2:00

East Building Auditorium

Dox Thrash was an accomplished printmaker living and working in Philadelphia between the two world wars of the previous century. Gallery lecturer Wilford Scott explores how Thrash’s bold, emphatic works told the story of everyday life during that period, especially as experienced by African Americans. Although not currently on public view, this exceptional work will be shown in the print study room to those attending the lecture. Registration required; call (202) 842-6063.

 

February 10–12, 2:00 (20 mins.)

East Building

Charles Burnett, one of only a few contemporary filmmakers to receive a MacArthur Fellowship and the Paul Robeson Award for outstanding life achievement, introduces Killer of Sheep (1977), his inventive cine-poem of urban life in Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood during the 1970s. With a minimal budget and finely honed script, Burnett's film was honored with an early nomination to the National Film Registry. It is preceded by his short film When It Rains, one man's affecting crusade through Watts to save a young mother from eviction.

 

February 13, 2:00

East Building Auditorium

Each Wednesday during the month of February, the Gallery presents free lunchtime concerts. Pianist William Chapman Nyaho plays music of the African diaspora on February 16. Sunday concerts include violist Marcus Thompson on February 13 (also in honor of African American History Month) and a program of baroque Italian chamber music, played on February 20 by the Vivaldi Project in honor of Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals.

 

February 13 and 20, 6:30

West Building, West Garden Court

February 16, 12:10

East Building Auditorium

Food Glorious Food (ages 5 and up)

This delicious collection of live-action and animated short films includes the award-winning stop-motion animation Crema Suprema (Ellenora Ventura, Canada, 2008), Puppy's Super Delicious Valentine's Day Biscuits (Annie Poon, U.S., 2009), Fishing with Sam (Atle S. Blakseth, Norway, 2009), Ormie (Rob Silvestri, Canada, 2010), and How Do They Put the Centers in Chocolates? (Don White, Canada, 1997).

 

Saturday, February 5, 10:30, and Sunday, February 6, 11:30 (50 mins.)

East Building Auditorium

Registration is now open for a teacher workshop relating to the exhibition Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals. Following an introductory talk on the exhibition, participants may opt to attend a studio-art activity or a lecture that explores Venice in film and literature. Fee: $10

 

March 19, 10:00–3:00

Education Studio, Concourse

In honor of the exhibitions Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals and Italian Master Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, 1525–1835, Chef Fabio Trabocchi is transforming the menu in the Garden Cafe from February 11, 2011, to March 20, 2012, with a selection of signature Italian dishes. Chef Trabocchi has returned to Washington from New York to open the highly anticipated restaurant Fiola in Penn Quarter.

 

Monday–Saturday, 11:30–2:00

Sunday, noon–4:00

Sunday, 4:00–6:00 (concert menu only on performance days)

West Building, Ground Floor

With a special emphasis on French and American paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries, the Gallery is working with ArtXP to produce giclee reproductions on canvas of works from the Gallery's collection. Printed from photography provided by the Gallery, these reproductions range from well-known masterpieces to exceptional lesser-known works—some of the hidden treasures of the National Gallery of Art.

 

The unevenly spaced, staccato brushstrokes on the white canvas form a visual rhythm, as if the artist had painted a cantata, a type of musical composition. Tremendous delicacy is shown in the play of space and color, with the white "background" as important to the overall effect as the red bursts of color. The harmonic color field is no accident: the compositional and color structure derives from Thomas' interest in nature and music. One of only two African American members of the Washington Color school, Thomas continued painting in her signature style until her death in 1978 at age 87.

 

East Building, Concourse galleries

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Captions: Canaletto, The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Looking West, with Santa Maria della Salute, c. 1729, oil on canvas, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Robert Lee Blaffer Memorial Collection, Gift of Sarah Campbell Blaffer. © Copyright The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Paul Gauguin, Merahi Metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents), 1893, oil on canvas, The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Deering McCormick; Frans van Stampart and Anton Joseph von Prenner, Prodromus (Vienna, 1735), engraving, National Gallery of Art Library, David K. E. Bruce Fund; James Rosenquist, Spectator—Speed of Light, 2001, oil on linen, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Robert and Jane Meyerhoff; Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, photo © 2007 Gregory Benson; Dox Thrash, Man Working (recto), early 1940s, carborundum print in black, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Ruth Fine in memory of Larry Day; Film still from Killer of Sheep, Photofest; Photo courtesy of The Vivaldi Project; Film still from Ormie, Courtesy Starz Animation; Canaletto, The Piazza San Marco and the Piazzetta, Looking Southeast, c. 1743, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mrs. Barbara Hutton; Chef Fabio Trabocchi; ArtXP giclee reproduction on canvas of John Singer Sargent's Street in Venice, 1882, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Avalon Foundation; Alma Thomas, Red Rose Cantata, 1973, acrylic on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Vincent Melzac. All art images are details.