TruthBeauty at The Phillips Collection

Giulia is on the warpath again. She wants her editor to take her to this exhibit. Plans seem to be underway to revive the idea of a GG salon at The Phillips Collection café. Sigh. GG's editor is very much under-the-weather & keeping mum, not promising a thing. Meanwhile, if you are in or will be in Washington, DC we highly recommend a trip to the Phillips. If you would like to donate a small amount (via text) to repair damage from the recent fire, please click here for information.

ciao-say-cheese-meow/GG Central

TruthBeauty: Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art, 1845-1945/October 9, 2010–January 9, 2011 Like impressionism, which challenged the traditions of painting, pictorialism expanded the possibilities of photography beyond the literal description of a subject. Pictorialist photographers produced some of the most spectacular photographs in the history of the medium and influenced subsequent developments in modernist photography. Comprising over 120 photographs, this exhibition retraces pictorialism’s beginnings with the experiments of Hill and Adamson, and Julia Margaret Cameron; through its mastery by Alfred Stieglitz, Gertrude Kasebier, and Alvin Langdon Coburn; to its lasting legacy in early works by Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham. Organized by George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, and Vancouver Art Gallery. (photograph via audrey hepburn complex)

Tuesday at the Phillips with GG

GG is having a righteous rumpus. Her feline heart is set on becoming a patroness of the arts, particularly at the Phillips Collection. The day may come when we'll have to rent the café & throw her a big party. The Phillips Collection was voted Washington's best museum AND art gallery by City Paper readers recently. Some young'uns--the hordes of mid-20s-30ish folks recently descended upon our city--think they discovered it. Au contraire, nos amis. (Though we're happy to have you on board.)

The Phillips was a hang-out for GG's editor when she was still an official teenager, recently returned from France. "Meet you under the Matisse" meant she could be found sitting on a lumpy bottle-green velvet sofa in the music room (under a Matisse). We'd love to see GG sleeping on that sofa; we miss it terribly--including the lumps. The jewel-box space has become too manicured for our taste; but like an old friend--you still love them, even with (too much) Botox.

Some favorite paintings at the Collection are by Bonnard. Above, The Palm & La Côte d'Azur, respectively. The museum goer (looking just like GG's editor) is by Nina Leen. She's trying to divine from an egg-shaped objet d'art, "What will the Easter Bunny bring GG?"

ciao-meow/GG's art curator & party planner

[Bonnard images via artchive.com & Nina Leen photograph via LIFE archives]

Wednesday at the Phillips with GG, reprise

[originally posted--with more links than necessary--on 22 October 2008]

GG longs to see the real The Boating Party. She'll have to sneak in because her editor is way too busy to take her. GG is taken with the story of her editor's Boating Party costume party many years ago. And with that, we must take our leave. Do visit the Phillips Collection web site in the right side-bar, it's lovely.

GG is organizing a weekly salon as threatened this past summer...details forthcoming on her foray into café society.(She's already redecorating the apartment in her little feline mind. Great idea--now she can get a job.)

Ciao-meow, nos amis! GG Central Mgmt.

Wednesday at the Phillips with GG

GG longs to see the real The Boating Party. She'll have to sneak in because her editor is way too busy to take her. GG is taken with the story of her editor's Boating Party costume party many years ago. And with that, we must take our leave. Do visit the web site, it's lovely. GG is organizing a weekly salon (as threatened this past summer)...details forthcoming on her foray into café society. (She's already redecorating the apartment in her little feline mind. Great idea--now she can get a job.)

Ciao-meow, nos amis!
GG Central Mgmt.