Museums In DC

beeswax roomI had a spare day in Washington, and went a few museums.  I had read about the beeswax room, an installation by in the Phillips Collection by Wolfgang Laib and wanted to see what it would feel like to be in a small closet coated with beeswax. It was interesting, but not transformative. I thought if you were going to go to all that trouble, you might want to make it hexagonal.

Then I went on to the National Museum of Women in the Arts. I enjoyed the Skagen Art Colony exhibit, featuring the work of Anna Archer and her husband Michael. She lived in this remote fishing village in Denmark at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s. Her parents owned an inn. Artists came each summer to paint. Her parents recognized her talent and sent her to art school. She became an accomplished artist, and married another artist. I especially liked the work they painted together of the two of them looking at a painting after a day’s work. He painted her; she painted him. Her later work, when she became more impressionistic was  also moving. I especially liked one of light on a wall:

IMG_0831_optIMG_0832_optIn the other rooms there were a couple of things that caught my eye. One female nude bathing herself by Lotte Laserstien from 1930 that was arresting simply because it was such a contrast to the romantic paintings of this subject by the male impressionists. According to the notes, the model washer tennis instructor.  A sort of socialist realism portrait of a Lockheed worker by Edna Reindel from 1942 also caught my eye:

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Edna Reindel

 

 

 

 

Final stop was the retrospective of Nam June Paik‘s work at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  No photos allowed.

As for the cherry blossoms, they were just about over.

4 thoughts on “Museums In DC

  1. I bought a piece by Edna Reindel last year, and thus became somewhat interested in her career. The painting I own can be seen here: https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/32405_10151288122132236_28627650_n.jpg

    As you can see, Reindel wasn’t confined to one style. The item you saw was part of a series of depictions of women contributing to the war effort which was commissioned for Life Magazine. The Life Magazine article is here: http://www.atticpaper.com/proddetail.php?prod=1944-edna-reindell-women-at-war-article&cat=12

    Reindel also was known for her florid paintings of flowers which often served as cover pieces for House and Garden magazine. Conde Nast still sells prints of these: http://www.condenaststore.com/-st/Edna-Reindel-Prints_c146635_.htm

    A writeup on her can be found here: http://clara.nmwa.org/index.php?g=entity_detail&entity_id=6950

    1. Adrian:

      For some reason the link to your work by Edna Reindel is not functioning. I would be very curious to see the work. Could you possibly post a new link?

      Thanks,
      Seth

      1. Hi, Seth, I don’t believe there was a specific link for Edna Reindel’s work–only t the museum, and that exhibit is gone. There are two of Reindel’s paintings at the bottom of this post, and you can simply google her in images and see more.

        Hope this helps

  2. Adrian, what a wonderful comment. I love the piece you own–how lucky you are, and thanks for the terrific links. This is just how I envision the blog should work. Thank you for enriching my day and my broadening my knowledge!

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