A Mini-Trip to National Gallery's "Faking It"
 

Going to the National Gallery of Art ("NGA") in Washington, D.C. is always a wonderful experience. In the early 1970s, our school was given the opportunity to see the "Mona Lisa". I want to say that the late J. Carter Brown spoke. The children (and their teacher) were enthralled with his talk. Subsequent visits included surveys of Van Gogh and John Singer Sargent that moved me to tears.

I recently joined a friend and art colleague to see "Faking It". As early as the 1840s, the first photographers were inking in the skies on their landscape negatives. Whatever paper and/or chemicals they used gave skies unwanted "debris".

Driving from southern Anne Arundel County in Md., I took the Suitland Parkway off of rte. 4 (it becomes Pennsylvania Avenue). I stayed left once in D.C. and went through a little underpass. You can stay to the right but you end up having to get back into the traffic that goes through the underpass! Keeping far right takes you to 395 which is another option for downtown D.C.

Anyhow, my goal is to park right at the gallery. I worked my way to 4th St NW and took a left on Madison. This street is right in front of NGA and has free parking. Nothing there so I turned right on 7th St. NW and found 2-hour meters available. I used a credit card for the meter. I may need correction but I think it was $4 for 2 hours. Great that it was at the west end door and on the same end and level as the exhibit, cafeteria and large gift shop!

It took us almost 2 hours to look at all of photos and to read most of the accompanying text. I think you'd be amazed at what the early photographers managed and agree that they would have LOVED digital. At this point, I went back to the car and feed quarters into the meter for another 2 hours. I used coins as I didn't know if the meter would "remember" my card and "say" 'Find another spot"!

NGA was offering an English buffet ($20!) that included Ploughman's plate, Beef Pasty, Bubble and Squeak, Peas salad, Barley and something salad, Carrots and Parsnips in a Sauce, and Cherry Sherry Trifle for dessert. It was very good.

We shopped and looked a little more and I left around 1:30. Glad to have done so as a couple of the traffic lights on Suitland Pkwy. were backing up. Also, please try to avoid driving in the area around the Capitol and Supreme Court. People more important than you and I get in and out of taxi cabs where ever they want. The goal is to get to South Capitol St. as it becomes the road to get to Suitland Pkwy. (watch signs).

If you are interested in including NGA and this exhibit, please check the link below. It runs through May 5, 2013.

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/faking.shtm

I love your mini-reports! Sounds like a good exhibit and will have to get down to see it. Don't you love that its free? After a month in France and constantly shelling out the €s for museums & exhibits, nice to be back in the land of free museums -- best thing about DC.

While not free, but very good -- Have you been to the Kreeger on Foxhall RD? I just posted a link to a groupon for half off tickets. I love that museum.

Hi yestravel and thanks. I'll look at your thread about the Kreeger. I went once with a group to see Frank Lloyd Wright stuff--well, I think it was the Kreeger. If someone else drives, I don't often notice the streets!

OMG goodness yes to thank heavens for free museums!

Off to see your thread!

Not a FLW house. It was designed by Philip Johnson.

Sorry, no the exhibit was of FLW items. Windows, clocks, etc.

I saw the Faking It exhibit last week and <b>loved</b> it! I thought one of the most fascinating was the group photos with Josef Stalin where the un-favorited ones "disappeared" from subsequent publication of the picture. Wasn't there only one guy left with Stalin in the final photo out of 6 or 7?

I checked out the menu for the British buffet -- looked very good. I wondered if it was a pop up like the Jose Andres restaurant there last year during the Miro exhibit. Perhaps to go with the Pre-Raphaelite show. Did you visit that one? Thoughts? I enjoy that period but prefer the decorative arts to the painting and thought the show was a little light on the that.

Enjoyed your mini report - thanks for sharing it!

Darn - missed a FLW at the Kreeger.

NGA seems to be coordinating their food servings with the exhibit. They've done a couple now.

Thanks, obxgirl. No doubt the lunch was tailored to the exhibit but I don't get to NGA enough to know for sure. It's a good idea. We walked quickly through pre-Raphaelite paintings but nothing stopped me in my tracks and I had to get back to my meter!

yestravel, it was some years ago. And, I'm not 100% certain it was the Kreeger--it was a private museum though.