Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens

Hillwood is the estate left by the millionairess Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the cereal fortune. She collected an abudance of art, particularly Russian. Items include icons, Fabergé eggs and ceramics. My favorites include the paintings, particularly the one on the right. The art is displayed in their original setting in her house making it an intimate place to see the collection. The estate overlooks Rock Creek Park, away from the tourists of downtown DC. Worth a visit!

Portrait of Countess Samoilova, Karl Briullov (1832-1834)

Ansel Adams exhibition at the Corcoran

"In Glacier National Park" By Ansel Adams, Montana, 1941. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the National Park Service
Saw the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in DC which was running concurrently with the Annie Leibovitz exhibition. An overdose of mega photography! In this age of disposable, digital, daily images, it is refreshing to see really good photos taken by people with a special perspective and with the final result nicely printed and displayed. Adam's nature photographs are Zen-like--they draw you in and make you think philosophically. There was a thread running through the Adams photos--I have a painting of a flower by a woman named Ellen Hathaway that reminds me of Georgia O'Keefe. I mentioned this to Marion who gave us book on O'Keefe for Christmas. Now just a few days later, it turns out that Georgia O'Keefe was a friend of Adams and there are a couple of enigmatic photos of her in the exhibit as well as some photos of her paintings.
The Leibovitz exhibit is bold, big, bright and brash. What is fascinating is the juxtaposition of her personal family photos with celebrities.
An interesting photo is one Leibovitz took of Adams for a Rolling Stone magazine article back in 1976 that she had printed when she found out her show would be next to his. It is in the hallway between the two exhibits and unfortunately missed by most people.