Venus

James McNeill Whistler

Big Crush

So it's pretty obvious I have a huge crush on Charles Lang Freer- founder of the first Smithsonian Art Gallery. Another great artist represented in his collection is Dwight William Tryon. His paintings hung in the gallery capture the colorful stillness of the landscape perfectly, but also the excitement and beauty of it.

Whistler Engravings

James McNeill Whistler was able to carve these remarkably expressive and detailed scenes of England in his lap, on a metal plate, as if it were a sketchbook. Then using a feather he encouraged acid to deepen those lines. Well you wouldn't expect him to slack off now would you? At the Freer Art Gallery's exhibition they even explained how Whistler had a penchant for fine Dutch paper, which had the rich color that gave the prints warmth and didn't have an outer coating that would interfere with the ink. Whistler was very influenced by Asian art during this time- hence the similarity to traditional woodblock prints.

Tourist Girl

I have been a busy little tourist girl for the past 2 days in Washington, DC- visiting The National Museum of the American Indian, Freer Art Gallery, the Smithsonian Castle in the center of it all and I saw some cute, colorful fish at the Natural History Museum . . among other adventures around the National Mall and in Dupont Circle. .

none of which involved me shooting photos unfortunately- so thank you Smithsonian for the photos.

Pottery

Glowing early 20th century ceramics from Mary Chase Perry Stratton and Pewabic Pottery I found today at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.