April 3, 2022
On a coolish Sunday, our friends Sally and Liz suggested an outing to the National Gallery of Art and we happily agreed. The newer East Wing was closed for renovations but there was plenty to see in the massive neo-classical West Wing. Designed by architect John Russell Pope, at the time of its opening in 1941, it was the largest marble structure in the world. An interesting piece of trivia, the museum stands on the former site of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station where American President, James Garfield, was shot on July 2, 1881. He died 79 days later on September 19, 1881.
After the last couple of years, it was nice to see the building filled with throngs of people and nary a mask in sight. It almost seemed like old times.
Always popular are the impressionists and post-impressionists.
Perhaps, the rarest paintings in the Gallery’s collection are the three (possibly four) small paintings by Johannes Vermeer, the 17th century Dutch painter.
Speaking of beautiful portraits by artists with Dutch names of people in places with Dutch names, we also enjoyed the temporary exhibit of James Van Der Zee’s Harlem portraits. Van Der Zee was an American black photographer who lived from 1886 to 1983. Born in Lenox, Massachusetts he moved to Harlem when he was twenty. In 1916 he opened a studio in Harlem and for over fifty years, he took thousands of photos of the community’s largely middle-class black clientele, including many of the most prominent Black intellectuals and activists of the era. Here are some of his beautiful portraits.
Mal and Lauren 