National Portrait Gallery & American Art Museum

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The Old Patent Building houses both the National Portrait Gallery and the American Art Museum.	An interesting tale about the renovations of the Old Patent Office and the building's horrid condition prior to renovation.	Another sign revealed the Old Patent Office used to display diagrams and models -- a testament to the physical nature of inventions back then.	The attractive, covered, central courtyard. I especially like the type of trees. Prior to this, in the exhibit on the building's renovation, I saw a picture of the earlier courtyard: a lovely open-air space with large spruce trees and lots of grass. I worried when I read that during the renovations they paved and covered it. It turns out they did a nice job and the space still looks good.
A panoramic video of the courtyard.	Another shot of the courtyard, taken on a different day. This day it was perfectly silent, meditative.	Interior with Portraits by Thomas Le Clear, for my collection of paintings of paintings, which also happens to be a painting of a painting in progress.	I always like Albert Bierstadt's non-religious paintings. This is Among the Sierra Nevada, California.
Interesting commentary on Bierstadt's personality and the reaction to his work.	Hiram Power's delicate Eve Tempted.	I wonder how they pick the frame. This is Improvisation by Childe Hassam.	This could be me if I was a druid. It's Adams Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
Wow, what a story about the previous sculpture.	This stained glass doesn't look particular exciting when viewed in this two-dimensional picture; it looks more intriguing in person.	The stained glass is in relief! As you can see from this side view, some pieces bulge out significantly more than others. You can even somewhat sense this from a distance.	Details about the stained glass.
Huge Thomas Oran painting one of three: The Chasm of the Colorado. The plant at the right gives a sense of scale.	Huge Thomas Oran painting two of three: The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1893-1901). The bear-skin sofa cover in the middle of the room feels somehow appropriate for this setting.	Huge Thomas Oran painting three of three: The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872). I think I like this painting the best because of the sense of scale provided by the people.	There's such detail in Jasper Cropsey's Greenwood Lake.
Wayne Thiebaud's San Francisco West Side Ridge. Yep, definitely San Francisco...	In the folk art section, James Hampton should've been a cathedral decorator. Instead, he spent 14 years making this low-budget (aluminum foil) church chancel display. It's named The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly.	There was a sizable display on the events surrounding the death of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the first casualty of the Civil war. I learned so much from the commentary by the objects, paintings, and photographs that I felt like I was in the American History museum.	Wow, she only permitted women who wouldn't distract anyone. I didn't bother photographing the portrait this plaque accompanies.
Looking down the third floor exhibit hall from the third floor mezzanine. On the mezzanine, there are paintings, banners, and sculptures.	A panorama, taken as a video due to the low light conditions, of the third floor great hall. It's highly decorated: reliefs, stained glass, tiled floor. It's too bad not many people go up to this floor and get to see it.	Two plaster casts of Abraham Lincoln, made a mere five years apart (1860 versus 1865). It's distressing how much the presidency aged him.	Once I realized what this was, I laughed delightedly. It's by Mike Wilkins, but I won't reveal the title because it would give it away. Preamble
James Buchanan / 1857-1861 and Abraham Lincoln / 1861-1865 by R. Luke DuBois: a simple, effective example of data visualization. Read the next picture to understand what these are and how they work, then flip back here to examine them closer.	Explanation.	Paul Cadmus's series Aspects of Suburban Life (especially this one on golf) shows crowded, rowdy scenes in which everyone does his or her own thing. An interesting point.	The American Art Museum has the same wooden bronze horse as Stanford's Museum.
A movie of the creative multi-video display that is Nam June Paik's Electronic Superhighway. As you see, every state has one or more television screens showing things associated with the states. An interesting idea, and I guess something that can be used for a Game clue (getting people to figure out what's being shown in various states).	An explanation of the piece. Worth reading because it includes some information I wouldn't have already noticed, such as about the screen for Washington D.C.	A piece of art--in actuality a large poster-size diagram--showed the companies involved in the Vatican banking scandal 1959-1982 and the relationships between them. It felt like a newspaper's or prosecutor's diagram, not something I expect to see in an art museum.	I kind of liked Ernie Gehr's Surveillance, which somewhat captures the feel of sitting in a park and watching the world go by.
I'm enthralled by this display of lettertype, Lloyd Schermer's An American Puzzle. Indeed, it could be a Game clue/puzzle.	I like the funkiness of this mixed media display. It's Sculpture Group Symbolizing World's Communication in the Atomic Age by Harry Bertoia.	Woman Eating by Duane Hanson is a detailed sculpture of a real day in an unglamorous life.