Seeing in a New Way
Oskar Kokoschka, Portrait of Lotte Franzos, 1909. Oil on canvas, 45 1/4 x 31 1/4 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Acquired 1941.
When Lotte Franzos came to see her portrait by Oskar Kokoschka, the artist said “ Your portrait shocked you; I saw that. Do you think the human being stops at the neck in the effect it has on me? . . . ”
Do you want to know more about what motivated Kokoschka to paint Lotte Franzos the way he did?
A compelling and perceptive view on just that question is in a new book by Eric Kandel, Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist, titled The Age of Insight : The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present.
The Age of Insight book cover
Kandel views art through multiple, powerful lenses: turn-of-the-century Vienna’s cultural mores and psychological insights. Looking back to the early 20th century, Kandel cites the proximity of the Vienna Medical Museum, the Sigmund Freud Museum (in Freud’s former apartment), and the Upper Belvedere museum, which houses a renowned collection of paintings by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Egon Schiele. The Vienna School of Medicine in 1900 led the way to discovering what was beneath the surface of the body just as Freud probed the unconscious. These scientific and psychological explorations were reflected in art. Kandel’s argument absorbs even later discoveries in cognitive science. He writes, “In art, as in science . . . reductionism does not trivialize our perception—of color, light, and perspective—but allows us to see each of these components in a new way.”
Lisa Leinberger, Volunteer Coordinator
Give it a Shot
As part of Snapshot, we put together a couple of interactive projects to get visitors thinking about and experimenting with documenting the world around them through a creative lens like the artists in the exhibition. We’ve shared the results of our Home Movie Contest here on the blog.
Now it’s time to share the results of a second contest–Give it a Shot–which challenged participants to snap a photo inspired by one of the paintings in the exhibition and upload it for a chance to win a Nikon 1 camera. After receiving nearly 100 submissions (which you can peruse on Flickr) before the exhibition closed May 6, we drew a winner at random. The Nikon 1 is en route to Caroline Olsen of Chevy Chase, and you can check out her photo and its inspiration below. Washingtonian has put together this slideshow of some of the submissions which its editors found most original and compelling.
(left) Maurice Denis, Noële and Her Mother, 1896. Oil on canvas, 13 1/8 x 15 1/2 in. Private collection. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. (right) Caroline Olsen's photo, inspired by the Denis painting
Happy Birthday Jasper Johns
Today is Jasper Johns’s 82nd birthday. We will welcome Jasper Johns: Variations on a Theme opening June 2. The show will feature many works published by, and some on loan from, Universal Limited Art Editions. The image at right below, from ULAE’s photo archives, shows Johns working there in 1966.
(left) Jasper Johns, 1960s. Photo by Ugo Mulas from his book New York: The New Art Scene. New York: Holt, Rinehardt and Winston, 1967. (right) Jasper Johns and printer Ben Berns working on Two Maps I at Universal Limited Art Editions, 1966. Photograph by Ugo Mulas from ULAE website.
Seeing a thing can sometimes trigger the mind to make another thing. In some instances the work may include as a sort of subject matter references to the thing that was seen.
-Jasper Johns to Richard Francis, 1982
Let’s Move: Double Dutch
I recently bought a jump rope for exercise but also out of nostalgia for all the fun I had jumping as a kid. So I was looking forward to the DC Retro Jumpers coming to the Phillips for this month’s Going Dutch Phillips after 5. It took me a minute to get that sneaky connection (Double Dutch, of course!) As these photos show, lots of people have hidden Double Dutch talents and with the help of the DC Retro Jumpers, they put on quite a show! Michelle Obama would be proud.
Charm City Charm: Kinetic Sculpture Race
Saturday I stood at the finish line at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore for the 14th Annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. The 15-mile course challenges pilots (Kinetinauts) as they ride their artworks through water, mud, and sand! The race is cheeky and a lot of fun–complete with Kinetic Kops and awards, including the Mediocre Award (for the team that finishes right in the middle) and the Next-to-the-Last Award (for the team that finishes next to last).
Check out some of my photos below!
Flat Stanley Visits the Phillips
Flat Stanley is a book project about a paper doll who travels the world. For years, students have been creating their own Flat Stanleys and sending them to family, friends, and relatives across the globe.
A friend of mine is a second grade teacher in California, and she decided to use the Flat Stanley project as a way to teach her students the language arts standard of writing a friendly letter. Each of her students created their own Flat Stanley and mailed him to someone in a faraway place along with a letter explaining his likes and dislikes.
I got my Flat Stanley from Sebastian, who instructed me to show him around my hometown and to document our adventures. In addition to showing him the iconic buildings and monuments of Washington, D.C., I brought Flat Stanley to the Phillips to show him some of the wonderful artwork we have in our collection. I think his favorite painting may have been van Gogh’s The Road Menders, but it seems he enjoyed Luncheon of the Boating Party as well.
Flat Stanley visits the U.S. Capitol Building. Photo: Natalie Mann
Flat Stanley with his favorite painting by van Gogh. Photo: Natalie Mann
Flat Stanley strikes a pose with Renoir's masterpiece. Photo: Natalie Mann
Water, Water Everywhere
Right now in São Paulo, Sandra Cinto is putting the finishing touches on ink and acrylic drawings on very large canvases. On Sunday she arrives in D.C., canvases in tow, and on Monday she begins the process of unrolling, stretching, and mounting them in our café before she begins drawing directly on the walls around them. When she’s done and One Day, After the Rain opens on May 19, I have a feeling that entering the café will feel like entering a deluge–undulating waves, sheets of rain, refreshing and invigorating.
Last month, Cinto opened another installation, Encontro das Águas (Encounter of Waters) at Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park. Watch the pavilion transform into an unbridled seascape in the time-lapse video below.
Cecilia Wichmann, Publicity and Marketing Manager
Dupont in Detail: Before You Die . . .
On my bike ride home yesterday I was stopped in my tracks (or tires?) by a scene at the intersection of 14th and Q Streets. A group of people was standing around looking at this:
The "Before I Die" wall. Photo: Amanda Jiron-Murphy
This was just what I needed after a somewhat crummy day: I laughed, I cried, I was grateful that a piece of public installation art made me think a little about what is really important in life. Here is a sampling of some of my favorite writings:
My new friend Yao contemplates the meaning, complexity and fluidity of love and life. Photo: Amanda Jiron-Murphy
Come Clean. Photo: Amanda Jiron-Murphy
Someone hopes to turn 6! Photo: Amanda Jiron-Murphy
All worthy things to aspire to. Photo: Amanda Jiron-Murphy
This wonderful piece of art was begun by artist Candy Chang, and you can read all about it on her website, or even begin a “Before I Die” wall in your own neighborhood. Me personally? I want to see Sri Lanka again, sing an earth-shattering rendition of Heart’s “Barracuda” at a karaoke night, realize my full potential, and leave the world a little better than I found it.
So.
What do you want to do before you die?
Bodies in Space
When Antony Gormley: Drawing Space opens at the Phillips on June 2, it joins an international roster of current shows of the artist’s work. A couple weeks ago, Vessel opened at Galleria Continua in San Gimignano, Italy. Just days before, Horizon Field Hamburg had opened at Deichtorhallen Hamburg. Antony Gormley said that Horizon Field was developed “always with the idea that we wanted to make an instrument that would allow people a way to experience themselves, their bodies in space, as well as the architecture, in a new way.” This statement resonates with much of his work, including the drawings we’ll show at the Phillips this summer. Hear more about his thought process in this brief video:
So what is Horizon Field? And what does it look like? Deichtorhallen has shared a video and slideshow documenting this massive project’s construction. But it’s the experience that counts, so we’re excited that visitors have posted photos and videos of the space, and their responses to it, on the project blog and will continue to do so (we hope!) until the installation closes September 9.
The Phillips Goes Floral
Every year I look forward to seeing the stunning and just-perfectly-picked flower arrangements that appear throughout the museum for our annual gala. This year did not disappoint.
Flowers: Jack Lucky. Photos: Sarah Osborne Bender
