While you’re getting ready for long lines at this fall’s art blockbuster, don’t miss other area shows such as the Kabakovs at the Hirshhorn, Judy Chicago at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and Edvard Munch at the National Gallery of Art.
Johannes Vermeer. Woman Holding a Balance, c. 1664. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Widener Collection
VERMEER AND THE MASTERS OF GENRE PAINTING @ NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
This landmark show looks at the artistic exchanges between the legendary Dutch Master and his peers from 1650 to 1675. The exhibition gathers 10 works by Vermeer—many of which haven’t been seen in the states since the Gallery’s 1995-96 Vermeer exhibition (which drew lines around the block and more than 300,000 visitors)—and more than 50 paintings by such contemporaries as Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou, Pieter de Hooch, Gabriel Metsu, Frans van Mieris, Caspar Netscher, and Jan Steen. The Gallery will not be issuing passes or tickets for the show, so prepare accordingly.
October 22, 2017—January 21, 2018 at the National Gallery of Art, West Building, Main Floor.
(Freer)
FREER/SACKLER RE-OPENING
The Freer Gallery of Art has been closed for major renovations since January of 2016, and the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery closed on July 10 of this year, but both will reopen next month with new exhibitions, including Divine Felines (pictured), which explores the significance of cats in ancient Egypt. The celebration extends to the Mall for the weekend-long program, IlluminAsia: A Festival of Asian Art, Food, and Cultures, which will feature food, a night market, live music, and art demonstrations, as well as an animated projection that will light up Freer’s facade.
The Freer reopens on Saturday, October 14 at 5 p.m., launching the IlluminAsia Festival, which runs on Saturday, October 14 from 5 p.m.—12 a.m. and Sunday, October 15 from 11 a.m.—5 p.m.
(@brutalistdc/Hirshhorn)
FREE DONUTS AND BRUTALIST APPRECIATION @ HIRSHHORN
The Hirshhorn, the Mall’s “concrete doughnut,” will hand out free doughnuts on Monday for World Architecture Day. This year the museum celebration what it calls “D.C.’s most misunderstood buildings”—the Brutalist structures of which the Hirshhorn is just one example. To share their appreciation of these much-maligned buildings, tours will be provided by selected experts, including “D.C.’s biggest Brutalist cheerleader” Deane Madsen (creator of D.C.’s Brutalist map.
Monday, October 2 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Free.
(Courtesy of the Hirshhorn)
PLANTATION LULLABIES @ HIRSHHORN
The second installment in a series of collaborative performances organized by artist Theaster Gates, Plantation Lullabies takes inspiration from Meshell Ndegeocello’s 2014 album Comet, Come to Me. With Mikel Avery and Eliana Lewis, Gates, “will respond through music and movement to the legacy of what [he] refers to as ‘negrobilia’—vintage cultural objects that depict stereotypical and caricatured images of people of color, created over a hundred years of U.S. history.” The first sold out of free tickets quickly and this one almost certainly will, too.
Friday, October 13 at the Hirshhorn Museum And Sculpture Garden, Ring Auditorium. Free. Tickets available here at noon on Monday, October 2
Francis Glessner Lee, Attic. About 1946-48. Collection of the Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Courtesy of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Baltimore MDA.
MURDER IS HER HOBBY @ RENWICK
Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962) built miniature doll-house sized worlds, but these were no childhood fantasies. Her “Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death” were finely crafted crime scenes used to train homicide investigators. The Renwick presents the first public display of the complete series of 19 extant nutshell studies. An afterhours opening night party will be sponsored by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and BYT
October 20, 2017—January 28, 2018 at the Renwick Gallery, Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street NW. Opening Party with SAAM and BYT is Friday, October 20 from 8:30 p.m.—12 a.m. $60. Buy tickets here.
(Courtesy of The Phillips)
RENOIR AND FRIENDS @ PHILLIPS
The Phillips Collection celebrates one of its signature holdings, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party, with the first exhibition to focus on the impressionist landmark in over 20 years. More than 40 works, including paintings, drawings, pastels, watercolors, and photographs, reveal the story behind the painting and the artist and patrons, “who were instrumental in its creator’s success.” Stay tuned for a preview of the show.
October 7, 2017—January 7, 2018 at The Phillips Collection.
(Artechhouse)
SPIRIT OF AUTUMN @ ARTECHOUSE
After its successful inaugural exhibit XYZT, the L’Enfant Plaza space changes gears with a new interactive installation in which participants color in a drawing of a leaf on paper and can watch it transform into a digital object. Founder/Director Tati explains, “It’s a dreamlike landscape of fall, where one is able to create their own experience and let their creativity be a part of a larger, constantly expanding artwork.” Stay tuned for a preview of the show.
October 1-29 at ARTECHHOUSE, 1238 Maryland Ave. SW. $12-$20. Buy tickets here.
A tiger named Charger is photographed using a camera trap,Bandhavgarh National Park, India, 1996. “WILD: Michael Nichols”open at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C. from October 12, 2017 through January 15, 2018. (Photo by Michael Nichols/National Geographic)
WILD:MICHAEL NICHOLS @ NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
National Geographic is well-known for stunning photographs of nature, and Michael “Nick” Nichols is one of its most celebrated shutterbugs. The National Geographic Museum presents the first ever retrospective of Nichols’ 25-year career with the magazine. The exhibition focuses on two of Nichols’ most important projects: “Brutal Kinship,” in which Nichols and primatologist and National Geographic Explorer Jane Goodall explore the relationship between humans and chimpanzees; and “The Last Place on Earth,” documenting a journey across the Congo Basin.
October 12, 2017$&8212;January 12, 2018 at the National Geographic Museum, 1145 17th Street, NW.
Selina Mitchell Donahue, Through a Mirror, Darkly #2. 3D animated short, 2017. (Courtesy Capitol Riverfront)
CANAL PARK GLOW CUBE @ CAPITOL RIVERFRONT
The Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District launches a series that addresses the relationship between art and the environment. Each artwork in the series will be on display for two weeks, and “encourages viewers to consider the human impact on the natural world.” The series begins in October with Selina Mitchell Donahue’s 3D animated short, “Through a Mirror, Darkly #2”.
Opening reception is Thursday, October 5 from 6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m. at Canal Park, 200 M Street SE. Free.
(Stella Christiansen/Goethe-Institut Washington)
DIGITAL EYE @ BLIND WHINO
In conjunction with Blind Whino, The Goethe-Institut asks you to, “discover how much you crave and forfeit your privacy” in this program that combines theater, film and a live game show. Part of the Goethe’s series, Plurality of Privacy in Five-Minute Plays, “a partnership between European and American cultural organizations to engage in the changing nature of privacy in the digital age.”
October 16-17 at Blind Whino, 700 Delaware Ave SW. $20. Buy tickets here.
