Fall Visual Arts Preview Seeing is Believing

National Portrait Gallery

“Out of Many, One” by Jorge
Rodriquez-Gerada
Through Oct. 31, 2015
A grand landscape portrait by Cuban American artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada will be placed on the National Mall from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31. “Out of Many, One,” the English translation of “E pluribus unum,” will stretch across six acres of land midway between the World War II and Lincoln memorials along the south side of the Reflecting Pool. The work, built out of dirt and sand, is a composite portrait of several people photographed in Washington. The portrait is an interactive walk-through experience, and is also viewable from the top of the newly reopened Washington Monument.

Time Covers the 1960s
Through Aug. 9, 2015
Time magazine covers from the 1960s were created by some of the foremost artists of the day. This exhibition of original cover art from the museum’s collection will explore the major newsmakers and trends that defined that era, from Kennedy’s inauguration and the civil rights movement, to “one giant leap for mankind.”

American Art Museum

Untitled: The Art of James Castle
Sept. 26, 2014 – Feb. 1, 2015
Since Castle’s work first came to light in the 1950s, attention has focused on his unusual life: Castle was born deaf, remained illiterate, and never acquired a conventional mode of communicating with others. “Untitled” seeks to appreciate the remarkable quality of Castle’s vision as an artist, with subjects that range from farms and family portraits, to snippets of popular culture, and even invented words and symbols, fantastical calendars, and books with cryptic pictorial narratives.

Richard Estes’ Realism
Through Feb. 8, 2015
Richard Estes has long been considered the leading painter of the photorealist movement of the 1960s and 70s, and he has been celebrated for more than forty-five years as the premier painter of American cityscapes. “Richard Estes’ Realism” is the most comprehensive exhibition of Estes’ paintings ever organized, tracing his career from the late 60s to 2013. The exhibition features forty-six paintings spanning a fifty-year career.

The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art
Oct. 31, 2014 – Feb. 22, 2015
Since the dawn of humanity, birds have been a source of cultural, religious, and even political symbolism. “The Singing and the Silence” examines mankind’s relationship to birds through the eyes of twelve contemporary American artists. The opening of the exhibit dovetails with two significant environmental anniversaries—the extinction of the passenger pigeon in 1914 and the establishment of the Wilderness Act in 1964.

The Kreeger Museum

Emilie Brzezinski: The Lure of the Forest
Through Dec. 27, 2014
The Lure of the Forest is an exhibition of monumental wood sculptures by Emilie Brzezinski, which highlights the artist’s fascination with trees and adoration for the environment. The museum pays homage to this masterful sculptor, who for over thirty years has used chainsaws and hand chisels to carve discarded tree trunks into majestic forms.

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Unearthing Arabia: The Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips
Through June 7, 2015
In 1949, Wendell Phillips, a young paleontologist and geologist, headed one of the largest archaeological expeditions to remote South Arabia (present-day Yemen) on a quest to uncover the ancient cities of Timna, the capital of the Qataban kingdom, and Marib, the reputed home of the legendary Queen of Sheba. Through a selection of artifacts, film and photography shot by the expedition team, this exhibit recreates his adventures and conveys the thrill of discovery on this great archaeological frontier.

Fine Impressions: Whistler, Freer, and Venice
In 1887, museum founder Charles Lang Freer purchased twenty-six atmospheric etchings of Venice by the artist James McNeill Whistler, marking the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership between collector and artist. “Fine Impressions” shows how this acquisition came to shape Freer’s legacy as a connoisseur and collector.

Style in Chinese Landscape Painting: The Yuan Legacy
Nov. 22, 2014 – May 31, 2015
Landscape painting is one of the most outstanding achievements of Chinese culture. Key styles in this genre emerged during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) and are still followed today. This exhibition includes the earliest work in the Freer|Sackler collections together with later examples tracing the characteristics and evolution of six styles.

The Phillips Collection

Neo-Impressionism and the Dream of Realities: Painting, Poetry, Music
Through Jan. 11, 2015
Famed pointillist painter Georges Seurat and his friends presented Neo-Impressionism, their new style of painting, for the first time in 1886 in Paris, where it drew immediate attention. That same year, a group of writers published a definition of “Symbolism” in literature that called for a focus on the inner world of the mind rather than external reality. This exhibit presents more than 70 works by 15 artists, including Seurat and Camille Pissarro, that reflect the Neo-Impressionist’s preoccupation with the idea, emotion, or synergy of the senses.

Art Museum of the Americas

Modern and Contemporary Art in the Dominican Republic
Through Feb. 1, 2015
“Modern and Contemporary Art in the Dominican Republic: Works from the Customs Office Collection” showcases the consistency, quality and diversity of the Collection of the Directorate General of Customs, which sets the Office apart as an unlikely and important creative space. These works reiterate that the Caribbean is not vernacular, helping illuminate the deeper cultural and social resonance of the islands and its art.

National Gallery of Art

A Subtle Beauty: Platinum Photographs from the Collection
Oct. 5, 2014 – Jan. 4, 2015
With a velvety surface and extraordinary tonal depth, the platinum print played an important role in establishing photography as a fine art during the late 19th century. This exhibition showcases outstanding platinum prints from the 1880s to the 1920s, including works by Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Alvin Langdon Coburn.

El Greco: A 400th Anniversary Celebration
November 2, 2014 – February 16, 2015
On the 400th anniversary of El Greco’s death, the National Gallery of Art presents a commemorative exhibition of the artist’s paintings. A selection of devotional works illustrates El Greco’s role as artist of the Counter-Reformation, while others shed light on his commercial practices.

Hirshhorn

At the Hub of Things: New Views of the Collection
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Hirshhorn recently completed the first comprehensive renovation of their third level galleries, returning the sweeping spaces to architect Gordon Bunshaft’s original design. The first exhibition in the new galleries, “At the Hub of Things” reveals a fresh perspective on the museum’s collection, accentuating the museum’s role as a dynamic “hub” where diverse ideas converge. Included are favorite artworks that have not been on view in years, such as large-scale installations by Spencer Finch, Robert Gober, Bruce Nauman and Ernesto Neto, as well as paintings and sculptures by Janine Antoni, Cai Guo-Qiang, Alfred Jensen and Brice Marden.

Days of Endless Time
In a world conditioned by the ceaseless flow of digital media and information, many artists are countering these tendencies with works that emphasize slower, more meditative forms of perception. “Days of Endless Time” presents fourteen installations that offer prismatic vantage points into the suspension of time. Themes include escape, solitude, enchantment, and the thrall of nature.