Exhibition Spotlight: Brilliant Exiles

Josephine Baker est aux Folies-Bergère. Lithograph, 1936. ByMichel Gyarmathy (1908-1996).

Happy belated birthday Josephine Baker! The singer, dancer, and actor who captivated Paris in the 1920s was born 118 years ago this week, on June 3, 1906.

Baker was but one of many innovative and creative American women who moved to Paris in the early 20th century seeking personal autonomy along with professional agency and success.

Some of these “brilliant exiles” are profiled in the new National Portrait Gallery exhibition by the same name, “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900-1939.” The exhibition is open through February 23, 2025.

Loïs Mailou Jones 1905-1998. Charcoal and chalk on textured paper, c. 1940. By Céline Tabary (1908-1993) .

Gertrude Stein 1874-1946. Oil on canvas, 1905-6. By Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).

The show is made up of nearly 80 works of art, mostly in the form of portraits. The portraits are of, and sometimes also by these Americans who shifted and elevated the Paris culture through literature, visual, arts, dance, drama, and philosophy.

Portraiture has a way of annunciating identity in a more evocative way than even the written word can. This exhibition does that in a simple way, letting the paintings speak for themselves.

Baker, like the other American women featured in the exhibition, did not leave the U.S. and land in Paris by accident or coincidence. Crushing legal and social limitations in the U.S. left little room for freedom expression for independent and talented women. Restrictions were based not on just gender, but sexuality, race, economic stratifications, and politics. Paris was not a panacea for all U.S. societal ills, but the artistic climate offered more independence, agency, and freedom to an extent that, for these women, the U.S. could not compare.

Mercedes de Acosta 1893-1968. Oil on canvas, 1923. By Abram Poole (1882-1961).

Baker herself moved to Paris in 1925. She did return to the U.S. for short stints in theatrical productions, and more extensively to lend her aid to the cresting civil rights movements in the 1960s. But by then she was a Parisian through and through, having gained French citizenship way back in 1937. Baker died in Paris, passing away in her sleep on April 12, 1975, just days after performing in a show marking her 50th year of her Paris debut.

This exhibitions is about more than Baker herself. The portraits that make up the show give a luminescent view into the personality, and dare I say, aura, of the people captured. This is high recommend to visit before the show closes in February of 2025!

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In Exaltation of Flowers: Rose- Geranium; Petunia-Caladium-Budleya; and Golden-Banded Lily-Violets. Katharine Nash Rhoades 1885-1965. Marion H. Beckett 1886-1949. Mercedes de Cordoba Carles 1879-1963. Tempera and gold leaf on canvas, 1910-13. By Edward Steichen(1879-1973).

New Works at the Gallery: Bisa Butler

This week I will be sharing some of my favorite new pieces on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

Up second is "Patternmaster" by Bisa Butler.

Octavia Butler is one of my favorite authors – but I’m not alone. She was a groundbreaking science fiction author and multiple award winning literary giant whose work perhaps has resonated more even after her passing in 2006.

Butler is known for complex world building while incorporating themes such as racial injustice, gender inequality, environmental degradation, genetic engineering, and human (and sometimes alien) evolution.

In that same world building vein, Bisa Butler (no relation) has used various materials to build this stunning portrait of Octavia Butler. The artist used cotton, silk, vinyl, lace, beads, rhinestones, and other materials that all come together to make a quilt. The quilt is the portrait. Bisa Butler’s layering of fabric and materials mimic the layering of human emotion, speculative fiction, and fantastical scenarios that make Octavia Butler's writing so engaging. Talk about the portrait matching the person. This is it.

Check out yesterday’s post on Roger Brown and stay tuned for the final post tomorrow.✌🏾

New Works at the Gallery: Roger Brown

This week I will be sharing some of my favorite new pieces on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

Up first is "World's Tallest Disaster" by Roger Brown.

I mostly chose this work due to the stylized colors and shapes of the flames and building. Half of this skyscraper is on fire with the upper floors ravaged in flames and people panicking. In the lower half, we see residents carrying on on with their lives, unaware (?) of the horrific chaos happening above in the very same building. Is the painting allegorical? Probably. But I really appreciate how accessible it is. Roger Brown’s art feels so accessible in part because much of his work was inspired by works of self-trained artists and comic book art. I love this one.

Stay tuned for more observations this week!

Video: Beyond Granite Reflections

With the Beyond Granite exhibition closing a few weeks ago, I wanted to take a moment to delve into the meaning of commemoration here in Washington, DC. This video offers notes on the specific elements of each of the six installations, but also delves into the motivations behind the artists' design choices.

What truly struck me was the profound way in which these installations connected with the existing commemorative landscape of the Mall. It was fascinating to witness the powerful intersections between history, art, and remembrance, and how they all intertwine to create a tapestry of meaning that —in theory— transcends time. Even if the exhibition was but one month in duration, the reflection on commemoration will continue.

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Zero Hunger Mural

Completed earlier this summer, this 12 storey tall mural in downtown DC's eastern end is one in a series to address the issue of global hunger.

Lola Goce is a Spanish artist with works all over the world. Goce completed this mural weeks ago to aid in bringing awareness to the issue of global hunger under the asupices of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Zero Hunger is also theme of the WFP intiiative. 

In the DC mural, Goce was inspired by women who provide food to their families & communities, especially women who are food entrepreneurs and farmers. 

The canvas is very unique but utilitarian structure: an air vent shaft for the underground portion of interstate 395 which runs in a tunnel beneath 3rd Street NW.

Additional murals are already or will be painted in Houston, Oakland, Battle Creek MI, New Orleans, and New York. The DC mural is located at the corner of 3rd and H Streets NW.