With Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors and Artomatic closing next month, your art calendar may have a big void to fill; fortunately there’s a lot happening in May.
Positive Reflections October 16, 1995, by Roderick Terry. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. © Roderick Terry
More Than a Picture: Selections From the Photography Collection @ National Museum of African American History and Culture
The first exhibit in the NMAAHC’s Special Exhibitions Gallery will feature more than 150 photographs from the museum’s collection, including portraits of Frederick Douglass, and W.E.B. Du Bois, as well as “unknown people who empowered themselves to redefine history.” Among the photographers represented are Cornelius Battey, P.H. Polk, Ernest Withers, Ming Smith, Louis Draper, Wayne Miller, Sheila Pree Bright, and Zun Lee. Stay tuned for a preview of the show next week.
Opens May 5 at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Untitled, from the series The Pond. 1985. John R. Gossage. Smithsonian American Art Museum
John Gossage Lecture @ Photoworks
Local photographer John Gossage was one of the stars of the gimlet-eyed New Topographics school in the ’70s, and his deadpan photography has been collected in essential photobooks like The Pond (1985) and The Thirty-two Inch Ruler/Map of Babylon (which DCist reviewed in 2011) collaborations with fellow photographer-collector Martin Parr. Gossage will speak with curator John Jacob for the final lecture in this year’s series at Glen Echo Park’s Photoworks. Read DCist’s 2010 interview with Gossage here.
Saturday May 13 at 4 p.m. At Glen Echo Park, Spanish Ballroom Back Room. $15. Buy tickets here.
Dithyrambe (Triptychon) (Dithyramb [Triptych]) , 1964. Würth Collection, Germany. © The Artist
Markus Lüpertz @ Hirshhorn and Phillips
Next month, the Hirshhorn and The Phillips Collection share the honors for the first major U.S. survey of this German-born painter whose career began in a postwar Germany dominated by Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. The Hirshhorn will focus on Lüpertz’ early work in the ’60s and ’70s, including the 40-foot long canvas Westwall (Siegfried Line) while the Phillips takes on his career through the present. Both exhibits will feature works that have never been shown in in the U.S. before.
Markus Lüpertz: Threads of History will be at the Hirshhorn from May 24-September 10; Markus Lüpertz will be at the Phillips Collection from May 27 to September 3.
François Hubert Drouais, 1727-1775, Les Portraits de MM. de Béthune jouant avec un chien (Children of the Marquis de Béthune Playing with a Dog), 1761, oil on canvas, Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Eugenia Woodward Hitt Collection
America Collects 18th Century French Painting @NGA
Napoleon Bonaparte’s big brother Joseph gave American audiences a taste for French painting when he brought his collection of 18th century works to the states in 1815. The National Gallery of Art brings together 68 paintings that represent some of the best and most unusual examples of French art of that era held by American museums.
America Collects Eighteenth-Century French Painting is on display from May 21-August 20 at the National Gallery of Art’s West Building.
“Spiked Bowl” by Hadrian Mendoza (Zenith)
Dangerous Flower: Hadrian Mendoza @ Zenith
The ceramics of Hadrian Mendoza “meld traditional stoneware technique with radical conceptual ideas” in a new series that depicts modern takes on Filipino folk traditions. While currently living in Virgina, Mendoza has taught ceramics since 1999 at his own pottery school in Makati, Philippines.
May 12-July 1 at Zenith Gallery, 1429 Iris St., NW. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Meet the artist on Friday, May 12 from 5-8:00 p.m. & Saturday, May 13 from 2-6 p.m.
Detail from N. Jay Jaffee, Man With Sun Reflector (East New York), 1952. G Collection, Gift of Lawrence Benenson, 1982. ©The N. Jay Jaffee Trust.
Reflect @ George Washington University
GW’s Luther W. Brady Art Gallery draws from the university’s photography collection for this exhibit of reflective works by Andy Warhol, Sally Gall, Philippe Halsman, and a number of Washington-area photographers. Also on exhibit will be photographs by Corcoran gradate Matailong Du that document the production of “Margin,” a dance performed by the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
REFLECT: Photography Looking Forward, Looking Back is on display through July 7, 2017. Artistry Portrayed: Photographs of DTSBDC’S “Margin” by Maitailong Du is on display through June 2, 2017. Free. At The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs building, Luther W. Brady Art Gallery (second floor)
805 21st St., NW. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
(From Ta’sheeq’s Facebook page)
Ta’sheeq (Dovetail) @ Gallery Al-Quds
The Middle East Institute’s Arts and Culture Program, The Jerusalem Fund and the Goethe-Institut have joined forces to present a series of arts programs that address the Syrian conflict. Ta’sheeq is part of this series, “a multi-media collaborative project between Syrian poets, musicians and visual artists, featuring readings and art with musical accompaniment.”
Saturday, May 13 at 7 p.m. at Gallery Al-Quds, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW. Free, RSVP here.
(Embassy of the Czech Republic)
Prague Functionalism @ American Institute of Architects
In conjunction with the Embassy of the Czech Republic and the Jaroslav Frágner Gallery Prague, the AIA presents an exhibit of Prague architecture based on functionalism, an early-20th century school of thought that demanded that buildings be designed according to their purpose. Projects from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as contemporary projects influenced by Czech Functionalist tradition will be displayed. The exhibit opens next week with a lecture by curator and art historian Zdeněk Lukeš.
Thursday, May 4 at 6 p.m. at The American Institute of Architects, 1735 New York Ave NW. Free. RSVP by May 2.
