After lunch, John and I returned to the main floor American Galleries passing the lovely East Garden Court. Come along as we quickly finish our tour.
We love the drama of John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark, 1778, in which a teenage swimmer is rescued in Havana harbour. We also love Copley's uncompromising portraits of Boston notables.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens' sculpture, Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, 1897, in honour of the first African American army unit is equally powerful.
I thought Randolph Rogers' Nydia, the Blind Girl of Pompei, appeared to be rushing past this museum guard while he was distracted by his cell phone.
John couldn't resist getting up close to Edward Hicks' The Peaceful Kingdom
with its bear and ox sharing some grain.
Nor could he resist catching me stripping off my sweater at the 4th St exit to the National Gallery of Art and chatting with a resting visitor. He thought the scene looked like an annunciation.
We're headed to the National's Sculpture Garden just south of this grand Deco fellow who adorns the National Archives on Constitution Avenue.
The Sculpture Garden is mostly dedicated to American 20th Century sculptors. I love this jaunty thinker!
And his elegant signage.
And who could resist Claes Oldenburg's surreal and funny, Typewriter Eraser, 1999. Funny how things seem old-fashioned so quickly. Now we just 'delete'!
The fountain surrounded by benches in the center of the Garden is a perfect place to end our quick final tour of the treasures of the National.
The cascades grow from the side spouts of the circular pool until they meet in a grand crescendo in the centre, then begin all over again.
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