NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART Tours led by David Gariff, Senior Lecture and Curator
Stuart Davis: In Full Swing
As one of the most important American modernists, Stuart Davis (1892–1964) blurred distinctions between text and image, high and low art, and abstraction and figuration, crafting a distinct style that continues to influence art being made today. Carefully selected from the full range of Davis's career, some 100 of his most important, visually complex, jazz-inspired compositions will be on view. Davis rarely painted a work that did not make careful reference (however hidden) to one or more of his earlier compositions. This exhibition offers a new exploration of his working method.
The curators of the retrospective “describe his work as a synthesis of popular culture and abstraction that anticipates both Pop art and geometric color painting. Yet, it’s worth noting that, unlike the Pop artists, Davis presented his experience of the vernacular in the language of high modernism, not of advertising… Davis enthusiastically embraced saloons, vaudeville and gritty street life—and along the way discovered jazz. For the rest of his life, Davis’s art would embody the cacophony of everyday modernity.”
East Wing Renovation
In September 2016, the National Gallery of Art will reopen the East Wing after three years of renovation. The new spaces will include an outdoor sculpture terrace overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue and two flanking sky-lit interior Tower Galleries; David Gariff will lead the tour. The East Wing will be primarily devoted to pivotal modern and contemporary art works, including paintings by Mark Rothko, as the Gallery is the largest public repository of his art. In addition, the gallery will include rarely seen masterpieces previously owned by the Corcoran, and now owned by NGA.
PHILLIPS COLLECTION Guided Tour with Phillips Education Docents
People on the Move: Beauty and Struggle in Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series
The Phillips Collection and Museum of Modern Art reunite Jacob Lawrence’s masterwork The Migration Series, the seminal, 60‐panel work by one of the most celebrated African American artists of the 20th century. Shaped by an interdisciplinary team of scholars, this exhibition provides multiple perspectives on the historical, literary, socio‐cultural, aesthetic, and contemporary manifestations of migration that underlie Lawrence’s visual narrative. First on display last year at MOMA, the full series returns to the Phillips in Fall of 2016. This exhibition is accompanied by the launch of an interactive website, which will publish for the first time the Phillips’s in-depth interviews with the artist. The website will further engage visitors in the multifaceted story of the Great Migration, exploring the theme of migration from the rich perspectives of visual culture, as well as music, theater, and poetry.
COST: $65, pre-registered members only
ITINERARY:
9:00am Depart Suburban Club
10:30am – 12:30pm NGA for Stuart Davis and East Wing, tour with David Gariff
12:30 – 1:45pm Lunch on own at NGA
2:00pm Depart for Phillips Collection
2:30 – 3:30pm Phillips Collection for Migration Series Tour
3:45pm Depart Washington, D.C.
~5:00pm Arrive at Suburban Club