Tintoretto Exhibit, National Gallery of Art

Yesterday,Vicky and I went to the National Gallery of Art

to enjoy the large, in more ways than one, Tintoretto Exhibit.

It was a 500 year celebration of the birth 

of this Artist of Renaissance Venice.

Jacopo Timtoretto was born in 1519.

 I am particularly fond of drawings and found 

this preliminary drawing .....

used in a small spot in a near by painting .

I did not take many pictures because I was more interested 

in seeing and reading how he developed his paintings. 

He had many sculptures of human forms in his studio where 

he could make drawings in various perspectives .

 This small hanging sculpture was above the painting so one could 

see the relationship and how he used his various sculptures.

 I could see how he must have used actual models or sculptures 

to have the variety of positions and perspectives 

of the many bodies in some paintings.

So many of the male bodies have that muscular development 

one could see in Michelangelo's art.

 Had to include this writeup and b & w photo of the 

70 foot finished painting in the Doge's Palace.....because....

 This called an oil painting sketch of Paradiso 

must have been his maquette for the 70 foot final Paradiso. 

It appeared about 10 feet long to me., maybe more....

To end this short tour of the Tintoretto exhibit I wanted to show 

Tintoretto's version of The Last Supper. 

With the square table it is so very different 

than the more familiar,  to many,  Last Supper of Leonardo.

I enjoyed the whole day spending a long time with Tintoretto. 

Renwick's Blockbuster exhibit, No Spectators: The Art of BURNING MAN

The exhibit begins at six downtown spots where 

there are outdoor sculptures.

 A couple of huge black crows just off Pennsylvania and 18th St. NW

 Maya's Mind (Maya Angelou) on 17th St NW.

More easily seen from across the street.

 Inside the Renwick a huge paper arch in the first room 

begins the tour continuing through two floors of the museum..

 So decorative it takes a while to see all the embellishment.

 The Arch fills the first room.....

 Passing on into the next room we see......

 many costumes....

 No, not that........below

 The centerpiece is an 18 foot steel mesh nude 

sculpture glowing with color....

 in the middle of all the costumes and jewelry.

Costumes used for performance pieces and more.

 Headdresses and jewelry.....

 In the next large room is the Pan Dragon.....

 pedaled at the desert and constructed from cookware.

 More rooms and much more to see on the ground level 

but going up to the Grand Salon.....

 a temple had been constructed filling this whole ballroom

 Too much to see in one visit.....

 An extravagant chandelier...........

and cathedral-like sections on each wall

 In another room upstairs huge origami-like mushrooms 

 that open and close and change color.

Another room full of wonderful cut out sculptures 

that reflect incredible shadows on all the walls .

 

So much more to see.  

We have to thank Nora Atkinson for being able to bring 

this unusual exhibit to the Renwick.

Save time to lay down-on the cushions in a small room 

upstairs so you can watch the lights and colors 

and changing images on the ceiling.

I have just scratched the surface. 

There is also a room dedicated to the history of 

the Burning Man from San Francisco to its desert events.

More after my next visit.....

New York Adventures

Going to the Met on Fifth Avenue always has unusual and surprising exhibits. 

The Rei Kawakubo, Comme Des Garcons show was a total surprise 

as I have not always been a fan of her designs. 

This show titled Art of the In-Between was indeed 

so full of so many wonderful uses of fabric and more, 

I am so glad to have seen it.

 Absence/Presence, 2 dimensions, 

Autumn/winter and Spring/summer 1997

 High above our heads were these Clustered Beauties.

 Details from 1983, 1998, 2009, 2010 and some from 2013

I wanted to list all of the titles and dates

and there was so much more material to read.

 Ballerina Motorbikes from the 4 seasons, 2005

 I wanted this one because I liked the back.

 Abstract/ Excellence, Spring/summer, 2004.

This was a group of skirts and I never could 

find out what the tops were made of.

 Good Taste/Bad Taste, Autumn/winter, 2008-9

 Broken Bride, 2005-6

 Broken Bride, Autumn/winter, the other side of the exhibit.

 18th Century Punk and  Delinquent, 2010

 I was fascinated with the manipulation of 

the bands of fabric on the model on the left.

 Life/Loss, Ceremony of Separation, Autumn/winter, 2015-16

 Object/Subject, Body Meets Dress, 1997

(details)  Dress Meets Body, Spring/summer, 1997

 East/West, Cubism, 2007

 Lost Empire, Inside decoration, 2010-11

 Child/Adult, Not Making Clothing, 2014

with a self fabric stuffed bear.

 Male/Female, The Infinity of Tailoring, 2013-14

 Not Making Clothes, Spring/summer 2014

With sculptural head pieces designed by Julien d'Ys

 Beautiful/Grotesque, Monster, 2014-15.

I was fascinated with the heavy lacy leggings 

but we were looking at sweaters with holes.

 War/Peace, Blood and Roses, 2015

 Details, above, of so many unusual manipulated fabrics.

There was so much more to see and 

I did go back to look at it twice, feeling that I still hadn't seen all of it.

The all white sets were remarkable 

with high and low views of the sculpture and fashion

and so much more to absorb. But, the Met had several other 

exhibits I wanted to see so this is all for today.