Out There :: Artistic Tourism in Washington

A week away, in Washington DC for familial holiday obligations, also meant a few happy afternoons spent amidst the bounty of our national art museums. An inveterate museumgoer, Out There can recommend the following exhibitions now on show:

Louise Bourgeois: "No Exit" (through May 15, 2016), at the National Gallery of Art, showcases works exploring Bourgeois' grounding in surrealism and ties to existentialism. American artist Bourgeois (1911-2010) would no doubt offer a caveat. Although her early work was certainly influenced by surrealism, the artistic movement that championed the creative potential of the subconscious mind, the artist bristled at being labeled. She wrote, "At the mention of surrealism, I cringe. I am not a surrealist."

Per the NGA press kit: "Bourgeois preferred instead to identify herself as an existentialist. She imbibed the writings of the philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Albert Camus , and often quoted Sartre. She even named one of her sculptures after his 1944 existentialist play No Exit, in which three strangers are forever trapped together in a room. To a great extent, her work addresses existentialist concerns born of a period of war, conflict, and distress: the struggle of choosing to live meaningfully and authentically in an uncertain, hostile, and indifferent universe. While Bourgeois' illogical spaces, irrational juxtapositions, and distorted anthropomorphic forms might appear surrealist in nature, her subjects testify to her commitment to existential thought." A small show, but highly recommended.

Elaine de Kooning: "Portraits" (through Jan. 10, 2016) and "Dark Fields of the Republic: Alexander Gardner, Photographs 1859-1872" (through March 13, 2016) are both showing at the National Portrait Gallery. Gardner's works are dramatic studies of Civil War battlefields and personnel. De Kooning made paintings and drawings of famous artists and others from her circle, including her husband Willem de Kooning and eternal gay poets Allen Ginsberg and Frank O'Hara, with his facial features wiped away. Said the artist: "When his face was wiped away, Frank was more there than before."

We're happy to report that the NPG is on top of LGBT issues. Here's an item from their press relations department: "Earlier this year, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery installed the portrait of Sylvia Rivera in the "Struggle for Justice" exhibition. Rivera is the first transgendered person in the museum's collection. A forerunner in the fight against gender identity discrimination, Ray Rivera rechristened himself as Sylvia as a teenager. When cast out by her family, she worked the dicey Times Square district as a transvestite prostitute. She was there in 1969 at the turning point of the modern LGBT struggle for equal rights, when patrons of the Stonewall Inn violently rebuffed a police raid. Politicized by this experience, Rivera campaigned with the Gay Activist Alliance [GAA ] in urging the city to enact a nondiscrimination ordinance. Facing racism and discrimination as a Latina transgender by the mainly white male GAA leadership, she began to work with homeless teenagers, co-founding the group and shelter STAR [Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries]. In the 1990s Rivera was embraced as one of the fundamental figures of the LGBT movement.

"Puerto Rican photographer and Visual AIDS member Luis Carle took this photograph of Sylvia Rivera at the Saturday rally before New York's Gay Pride in 2000. Rivera is pictured with her partner Julia Murray, on the right, and by fellow activist Christina Hayworth , on the left. The placard at their feet reads, 'Respect Trans, People/Men!' stating Rivera's lifelong cause of fighting for transgender civil rights. While Rivera became an outcast from the gay rights movement in the late 70s and 80s, she was again embraced in the 1990s as a fundamental figure in the movement. She renewed her activism, speaking widely on the need for transgender people to unite at the forefront of the LGBT community. In 1994 she was a keynote speaker at Gay Pride in New York, and in 2000 she was invited to the Millennium March in Italy, where she was acclaimed as the 'mother of all gay people.'"

We also enjoyed "Sotatsu: Making Waves," Japanese masterpieces by 17th-century Japanese artist Tawaraya Sotatsu (through Jan. 31, 2016) at the Freer/Sackler, the Smithsonian's Museums of Asian Art; "Marvelous Objects - Surrealist Sculpture from Paris to New York," works by artists including Dali, Arp, Duchamp , Giacometti and Noguchi (through Feb. 15, 2016) at the Hirshhorn; and Irving Penn: "Beyond Beauty," photographs by Irving Penn, maker of iconic fashion, portrait and still life images that resonate well beyond the 20th century (through March 20, 2016) at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Finally, the 156-year-old Renwick Gallery, the first American building built as an art museum, has been renovated and reopened. Now the Second Empire beauty by architect James Renwick, Jr. (who also built St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC) is home to "Wonder,"nine fabulous site-specific installations by contemporary artists (through May 8 and July 10, 2016). Not to be missed on any upcoming visit to DC.