Social Scene

Mary Bird • September 12, 2013

On June 5, Mark Ohnmacht was presented the “Ovation” Award for Outstanding Choral Music at the Clarendon Ballroom. He follows in the distinguished footsteps of previous honorees J. Reilly Lewis, Robert Shafer and Norman Scribner. The Choralis Foundation, founded by Artistic Director Gretchen Kuhrmann in 2000, is dedicated to nurturing a passion for choral music in our area, which one guest speaker termed the “choral capital of the United States,” through offering excellence in choral performance and providing educational outreach. This year’s recipient said, “It’s great hanging around choral people,” and, “my favorite musical instrument is the human voice.” The Choral Arts Society of Washington’s Artistic Director Scott Tucker led the on tune crowd in two musical tributes. Guests departed with a wine glass festooned with a page of sheet music [gallery ids="101340,152114,152101,152110,152107" nav="thumbs"]

Ari Post •

When Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso joined forces in 1909, the two young painters were in their late twenties. The artistic landscape in Europe had already been razed, scoured and rebuilt many times over the previous century, starting with Impressionism and continuing through Fauvism and the fractured perspectives innovated by Paul Cézanne. The cultural atmosphere was roiling, disparate and wild. For Braque and Picasso the iron was hot, and they had the collective vision and sheer force of will to strike.

Cubism was a style of painting that synthesized the artistic innovations of the previous century and blasted them like a human cannonball through a steel grate. Working side-by-side in the early 1910s, they produced hundreds of canvases, many of them still life studies, that are nearly indistinguishable between one artist and the other. The pursuit of their ambition was a gamble that required the hubris and stamina of youth, and an unusually clear vision for a new era. This pictorial language, the folding surface planes and abrupt shifts of shadow and light, living in a space both intricately dimensional and completely flat, forever altered the course of art.

At the Phillips Collection through Sept. 1, “Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life” examines Braque’s career from 1928 – 1945, a time between the two World Wars when the artist honed his cubist innovations and individual style through the motif of the still life.

While Picasso enthralled audiences with his reinvention of the human figure and a sort of animal wildness, Braque upheld the quiet poetry of landscapes and still life studies. The act of painting for Braque was the ultimate expression of intellectual and corporeal fulfillment, and it is easy to get caught up in this sensation—the catharsis of his thickly slathered brush strokes across the canvas. However, the still life is a bizarre subject for early 20th century Europe.

First, take a moment to really consider the still life. It is the utmost depiction of vanity, an ode to stuff, effects and amenities. Owning a gold-plated tea set or a Greek vase is a gentrified privilege, let alone hanging an homage to those goods on your wall.

Meanwhile, Europe was ravaged by the Great War; President Wilson and Herbert Hoover, under the American Relief Administration, had been spearheading humanitarian efforts across central Europe and Russia to prevent entire populations from starvation.

Yet Braque was painting vases, woven silk tablecloths, plates of fish and lush mountains of fruit, pulsing with thick colors and self-sustaining mythos.

It is an anachronism that Braque’s focus moved against the social tableau, but it is unlikely that he was unaware of the implication. Coming from a working class family—his father and grandfather were housepainters, with whom the artist trained as a young man—he was not immune to the effects of war. He abandoned his prolific partnership with Picasso in 1914 to enlist in the French Army, where he suffered a severe head wound in combat.

Art is a unique form that is capable of succeeding in presenting and exploring a problem without a clear resolution—artists spend their entire careers trying to crack the foundation, not repair it. This might be why Braque was comfortable painting the trappings of luxury while so many suffered. To quote the artist in a 1939 interview with the French literary journal Cahiers d’Art, “The painter lives through the age. But his work depends too much on the past for him to accommodate the changes of the hour… Let us distinguish categorically between art and current affairs.”

Of course, all of this assigns a hefty and misleading political bent to Braque’s paintings, as if they are commentaries on the very indulgences they exhibit. If anything, Braque did seem to get occasionally distracted by his own success. Some paintings throughout the exhibition feel like they were made more for stylistic branding than the pursuit of an artistic agenda. His colors and compositions get richer and bigger through the show’s timeline. Wallpaper and carved table legs are paid increasingly more attention. Even his explorations of light and shadow, while usually rendered with the exploratory reverence of Cubism, become densely refracted by irrelevantly ornate wall molding.

Not that the work isn’t beautiful. It is just worth deciphering the real painting in the show from the more decorative, because the real stuff is truly breathtaking.

“Pitcher and Newspaper (The Greek Vase)” is largely void of Braque’s usual patterned flourish, with a green-grey composition that showcases his style with masterly sensitivity to tonal balance. Much like the objects in the painting—lemons, a pipe, a cup, a newspaper and a vase—the canvas feels simple and lived in, beholden to a particular moment. It strives not to be grand but content as an étude (a French word meaning “study,” frequently used in music), which is lovely.

“Fruit, Glass, and Mandolin” is a triumph of color. Mixing his paint with sand to add texture, the delicate shades of pink that fill the canvas seem plucked from the hem of a Raphael “Madonna” or a breezy Rococo scene by François Boucher.
In “Vase, Palette, and Mandolin,” a black background frames in blocks and fragments a still life with loose and flowing pastel colors, which dance as if split from a prism, broken by thin lines and intricately distorted objects.

There is the rough discordance of line and color in “Pitcher, Candlestick, and Black Fish,” the exorbitance of “Mandolin and Score (The Banjo)” and the blocky coarseness of “Blue Guitar.” These are the works where Braque seems to turn his full attention toward an unfettered love of painting.

A photograph of his studio at the entrance to the gallery perfectly captures Braque’s devotion to his work. Thick drapes blanket the walls and stacks of paintings lean against them among a few large empty frames, while others hang on the wall. The wood floors are dark and clean, and a rocky landscape of half-used paint on a wide palette sits upfront on a table among jars of solvents and linseed oil and countless brushes. It is hedonic in painterly richness, a masterpiece in itself. It looks like Henri Matisse’s 1911 portrait of his own studio.

Braque never painted a seminal canvas to rival the cacophonous grandeur of Picasso’s “Guernica” or “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” His masterpiece is his oeuvre, perfectly complete in itself, even in considering occasional distractions by the very id of his subject. Here his paintings come together as one fluid movement, just as they must have in his studio amidst the swell of creation. ?
For more information, visit www.PhillipsCollection.org

Georgetowner •

Regrettably, there are always going to be more museum exhibitions than any one patron can really keep up with. This month, however, our city is overflowing with visual art. From contemporary multicultural work to 17th-century Japanese paintings, and from Georges Braque to Southeast Asian textiles, there is a dazzling variety of gorgeous, historic and important museum exhibitions opening around us. Here are some of this month’s highlights.

The Phillips Collection
Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, 1928 – 1945
June 8 – Sept. 1
This exhibition is the first in-depth study of still life in Georges Braque’s (1882–1963) career framed within the historical and political context of 1928 to 1945. The show charts Braque’s work in this genre from intimate interior scenes of the late 1920s that he made alongside Picasso, to vibrant large-scale canvases of the 1930s, and finally to darker and more personal interpretations of daily life in the 1940s. There is not a more suitable museum for this exhibit in Washington, as The Phillips Collection founder Duncan Phillips played a pioneering role in introducing European modernists like Braque to American audiences. In his lifetime, Phillips acquired many works by Braque and presented his first U.S. retrospective in 1939. www.PhillipsCollection.org

Textile Museum
Out of Southeast Asia: Art That Sustains
Through Oct. 13
Southeast Asian textiles first served as markers of ethnic identity, distinguishing neighboring communities by pattern, color, and technique. While commercial production now challenges these practices, the artistic wealth of these several hundred groups continues to inspire artists from around the world. This exhibition explores historical textile artworks—including batiks from Indonesia and brocades and ikats from Laos—alongside the work of four contemporary textile artists and designers: batik artists Nia Fliam, Agus Ismoyo and Vernal Bogren Swift, and weaver Carol Cassidy. All of their works originate in Southeast Asian concepts, realized in certain design elements, technical details, and philosophical underpinnings. Out of Southeast Asia demonstrates how contemporary artists are preserving the traditional arts even as they interpret them in new and innovative ways. www.TextileMuseum.org

Art Museum of the Americas
Fusion: Tracing Asian Migration to the Americas
June 13 – Sept. 15
The AMA’s permanent collection is one of the most vital sources of modern and contemporary Latin American and Caribbean art in the United States. The work on display in this exhibition generates a dialogue about cultural diversity by exploring the migration of artists or their families to the Americas from Asia during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. By addressing the multiple layers of cultural exchange, this exhibition aims to enhance understanding of the complex nature of modern Latin American and Caribbean societies, and to illuminate the social and cultural contributions that this multiculturalism has generated. www.Museum.oas.org

Freer | Sackler
Sylvan Sounds: Freer, Dewing and Japan
Through May 18, 2014
Museum founder Charles Lang Freer’s taste for Japanese art grew out of his affection for American tonalist paintings, notably the artist Thomas Dewing (1851–1938). This intimate exhibition illuminates this connection by juxtaposing Dewing’s landscapes with Japanese works that Freer acquired in the late 1890s, just after his first tour of Asia. Freer’s idealized notions of “old Japan” paralleled the nostalgic, pastoral aestheticism of Dewing’s atmospheric landscapes. On view are Japanese Edo-period artworks alongside Dewing’s paintings, including the exhibition’s namesake and one of Dewing’s unparalleled early American masterpieces, The Four Sylvan Sounds. www.Asia.si.edu

National Museum of Women in the Arts
Bice Lazzari: Signature Line
Through Sept. 22
As part of 2013 – Year of Italian Culture in the United States, an initiative organized by Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Italy, Washington, D.C., this exhibition presents a selection of paintings and drawings from Bice Lazzari (1900–1981), one of Italy’s most revered modern artists. In the 1910s, early in Lazzari’s career, the artist was discouraged from studying the figure in art school because of her gender. She ultimately became a renowned designer and, in the mid-1930s, turned her attention to fine art. Using pencil, ink and pastel, Lazzari drew lines (often over washes of soft color) to form poetic compositions that resemble graphs, maps and musical staffs and notes. Rather than painting a particular subject, Lazzari used lines and shapes to invent forms that conveyed particular emotions. www.nmwa.org
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Kelley Hudak •

The 19th annual U.S. National Arboretum’s “Cookout Under The Stars” celebrated the bountiful state in America’s Heartland — Iowa. More than 600 guests dined on Iowa-sourced cuisine among notables, such as the Iowa Congressional Delegation, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Iowa’s Senator Tom Harkin was honored with the gift of an apple tree cultivated from an ancestor of the Hawkeye, the original strain of the Red Delicious apple.
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Mary Bird •

On July 17, more than 60 of Washingtonian magazine’s 100 Very Best Restaurants offered samplings to more than 2,000 guests at the AT&T Best Of Washington party at the National Building Museum. The annual event supported the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s research to find cures for cancer of the blood. For more than 30 years, Washingtonian readers have voted for the best people, places and services in the area. Participating restaurants included Bibiana, Bourbon Steak, Central Michel Richard and Et Voila! alongside ever so many specialty cocktails, beers and wines. [gallery ids="101416,154957,154942,154949,154943,154947,154953,154956" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society held its annual Man & Woman of the Year Grand Finale Awards Gala at the Ritz Carlton in D.C. earlier this past month. This is the 22nd year for the event, which aims to bring cancer awareness to the public, put an end to such diseases and overall improve the lives affected by the illnesses. Fox 5 News’ Laura Evans hosted the gala. LLS with the 19 honored men and women raised over $1.145 million for cancer research. [gallery ids="101384,153772,153764,153769" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

AFI Docs with Audi had a gala screening of the documentary, “Herblock: The Black & White” on June 20. The screening was part of the 2013 AFI Docs Film Festival, which ran from June 19 to 23. “Herblock” is directed by Michael Stevens, produced by George Stevens, Jr, and recalls the story and reach of the political cartoonist and his 55 years at the Washington Post. A panel on Humor in Politics, full of film makers, producers and writers, was also hosted the day of the screening. This was the 11th edition of the AFI Docs, previously known as Silverdocs.

Georgetowner •

The 5th Annual D.C. Newsbabes Bash for Breast Cancer took over the Hamilton June 27. Gals dressed in hot pink, mauve or purple. Guys were happy to join in or simply cover the frisky event. WUSA’s JC Hayward, a cancer survivor, joked about asking her doctor to lift up her other breast. While wearing the identical dress as younger news colleague Lesli Foster, the 69-year-old Hayward called her a “hussy.” All in good, clean fun with the other TV stations’ newswomen to benefit the Howard University Cancer Center–at least $10,000, so far. [gallery ids="101382,153747,153742,153737,153732,153726,153759,153719,101383,153763,153713,153767,153753" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

Carol Schwartz, a three-time candidate for mayor and the only Republican candidate since the restoration of home rule to garner more than 30 percent of the vote, teamed up with news personality J C Hayward to support the Animal Rescue League (WARL) at Schwartz’s art-adorned Kalorama glamour apartment on June 26. J C quipped “we went to Costco last Sunday” as a guest shot back “Thelma and Louise.” Given the state of the art WARL facilities, it was no surprise to hear “our pets live better than some people.” Matt Williams summed it up when he said WARL is “a regional resource with a national impact.” [gallery ids="101381,153716,153685,153712,153691,153708,153697,153703" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

On June 25, Ambassador of Hungary György Szapáry hosted a kickoff reception at his residence for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival which this year showcases Hungary’s heritage, culture and artistic traditions. He thanked Hungarian-born Aniko Gaal Schott who had found and decorated the residence. Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Tibor Navracsics expressed his appreciation to loyal supporters of the arts Adrienne Arsht, Ina Ginsburg, Nina and Philip Pillsbury and Ann and Bill Nitze. Smithsonian Under Secretary for History, Art and Culture Richard Kurin said over 100 Hungarians had been busily erecting “a new monument on the Mall” for the Festival which will run through July 7. [gallery ids="101380,153688,153660,153683,153666,153679,153673" nav="thumbs"]