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Now In Our 44th Year of Continuous Publication
TheInTownerSince 1968 • Serving Washington D.C.’s Intown Neighborhoods
®
AUGUST2012
Vol. 44, No. 2
Next Issue
September 14
Possible Abandonment of Corcoran Gallery’s Historic Museum Building and Relocation to Suburbs Deplored
By Anthony L. Harvey
In a well-pub-licized but
sparsely attended August 2nd public discussion of the future and direc-tion of the role of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC’s increasingly important posi-tion as one of the world’s leading art exhibition venues, several dozen art lovers — includ-ing poets, visual and performance artists, curators, journalists, and the eternally curious, hopeful for some revelation that might explain the recent collapse of artistic and managerial leadership on the part of the Corcoran’s Board of Trustees and its administrative staff — sat in patient attendance before a panel of four, either puzzled or incredulous or both artists and Corcoran staff members who attempted an evening of the impossible: namely,
answering the observations and pleas of outraged and articulate questioners railing against the Corcoran’s decision to shop its historic flagship building at 17th Street and New York Avenue to the highest and best use real estate bidder, whereupon the Galley and its College would then move to one of more new locations that might better serve the Gallery’s “futures” direction.
This Corcoran “futures” direction apparently focuses on art education — particularly that of the Gallery’s “positive cash flow” college, and its burgeoning set of all-age arts activities and continuing education programs for adults.
Background to the August 2nd Community Meeting
This August 2nd meeting was a fol-low-on to a well-attended but desultory June 14th community public meeting, itself an outgrowth of an earlier June announcement by the Corcoran of the prospective sale of its historic building one block from the White House which caught the Washingtonian arts commu-nity — and Washington generally — by complete surprise. Further, the June 14th meeting was structured like a cor-porate down-sizing and non-performing assets announcement with programmed Q and A backed by scripted Corcoran
WHAT’S INSIDEAround Our Community 3
GALA Theater Grant Received 6
Letters 3
Museums 9-10
Scenes from the Past 7
Service Dir. / Classifieds 8
See in Special Online Content:n Ecuadorian Embassy Sustained Significant
Earthquake Damage, August 23, 2011n DC Board of Zoning Adjustment Reconsidering
Mt. Pleasant Library Casen Balancing Neighborhood Retail: The 25% Rulen Reconstructing Historic Holt Housen When Does My Cast Iron Staircase Need
Attention?
For complete articles click Special Online Content link at right.
RECENT REAL ESTATE SALESReports are available exclusively on our website by clicking the Real Estate Sales link.
Features Moved to WebsiteRestaurant Reviews and “Food in the ’Hood” features are now to exclusively available on our website by clicking the respective link buttons on our home page.
Reservations Recommended Restaurant Reviews by Alexandra Greeley
and
Food in the ‘Hood by Joel Denker
These monthly features are appearing exclu-sively in our website’s Restaurants and Food in the ‘Hood sections, respectively, and can be accessed directly by the links in the middle of the home page or by the buttons in the left side panel.
Cont., CORCORAN, p. 5
photo—courtesy Corcoran Gallery of Art.
photo—courtesy Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Annual Adams Morgan Day Festival Plans Complete; Set for September 9
By Chinko Watkins*
Anticipation grows for the 34th annual Adams Morgan Day Festival for Sunday,
September 9th from 12 noon ‘till 7 pm. Arts on Belmont opens at 10 am. Offerings from diverse cultures showcasing live music and dance at the Columbia Road and Florida Avenue stages and at the Dance Plaza; art-work, gifts, cuisine and more will abound. In addition, Adams Morgan businesses,
which will not be blocked by vendor booths but be fully visible and accessible, will be open with their varied retail shopping and diverse food offerings and sidewalk cafés.
Organized by Adams Morgan Main Street and numerous local volunteers, Lisa Duperier, Main Street’s president, stressed, “This year we are inviting everyone to rediscover Adams Morgan. . . . We have a new streetscape and this is the time to see the new look and new retail and restaurants here, as well as to be reminded of the exist-ing diversity of retail and food options.” “A Global Community of Cultures” is the ongoing theme of the festival, sponsored by PNC Bank and the Adams Morgan Partnership Business Improvement District because this event celebrates all cultures together and the creative synergy that comes from the mix.
Jerry Phillips, 5th generation Washingtonian, returns as Florida Stage impresario and emcee. He is a well-known
Streetscape Project Completed; Adams Morgan Celebrates the New Look
By Janet Lugo-Tafur*
On Friday, July 27, Mayor Vincent Gray, Councilmember Jim Graham and
other city officials formally cut a red ribbon to recognize the formal completion of the 18th Street reconstruction and streetscape renovation. “If you have not been to Adams
Morgan recently, you might not recog-nize it,” Mayor Gray said. “18th Street has undergone an extreme makeover and the results are remarkable. The new roadway, wider sidewalks, safer crosswalks — all of the utility upgrades support . . . this great community.”
Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham spoke of the process and coordination per-formed by all parties and explained the Streetscape Survival Fund legislation he authored which allowed businesses to apply for interest-free loans from the city to allevi-ate costs and cash flow problems caused by construction and disruption.
The $6.8-million project included bright-er street lights, numerous ADA-compliant wheelchair ramps, bump-outs and pedes-trian gathering islands, a reconfigured 18th and Florida intersection, new granite curbs, brick gutters, and storm drain inlets, plus new trash and blue recycling cans, bike racks and new trees.
Mayor Gray, DDOT Director Bellamy, Councilmember Graham, Federal Highway
photo—courtesy Constantine Stavropoulos/Tryst.
View looking west across the 2400 block; notice the newly designated mid-block pedestrian cross-walk that will enhance shopper and visitor safety. Cont., STREETSCAPE, p. 4
photo—courtesy Adams Morgan Main Street Group. Cont., FESTIVAL, p. 4
Page 2 • The InTowner • August 2012
Mail and Delivery Address:1730-B Corcoran Street, N.W., Lower Level Washington, DC 20009
Website: www.intowner.comEditorial and Business Office: (202) 234-1717 / email: [email protected]
Press Releases may be emailed (not faxed) to: [email protected] Advertising inquiries may be emailed to: [email protected]
Publisher & Managing Editor—P.L. WolffAssociate Editor—Anthony L. HarveyContributing Writers— Paul K. Williams, Ben LaskyLayout & Design — Mina RempeHistoric Preservation—Paul K. Williams
Restaurants—Alexandra GreeleyFood in the ’Hood—Joel DenkerReal Estate—Jo RicksPhotographer—Phil CarneyWebmaster—Eddie Sutton
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The InTowner (ISSN 0887-9400) is published 12 times per year by The InTowner Publishing Corporation, 1730-B Corcoran Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20009. Owned by The InTowner Publishing Corporation, P.L. Wolff, president and chief executive officer.
Copyright ©2010, The InTowner Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. Unsolicited articles, photographs, or other submissions will be given consideration; however, neither the publisher nor managing editor assumes responsibility for same, nor for specifically solic-ited materials, and will return only if accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Signed contributions do not necessarily represent the views of this newspaper or of InTowner Publishing Corporation. Letters to the editor and other commentary are welcome. We reserve the right to edit such submissions for space & clarity.
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7News, Events & Letters Deadline: Friday, September 7
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PEPCO’S ARROGANCE NEEDS TO BE TAMED
When Pepco’s official spokesman who appeared before the Montgomery County Council at its July 19th hearing called to receive testimony from citizens about their
displeasure with the utility’s shockingly poor performance in restoring electric service fol-lowing the monster storm that swept through the region on the night of June 29th, blandly stated that it was “obviously [unreasonable for people] to be upset that they’re out of service for a week or more.”
As characterized by the Washington Post’s Robert McCarthy in his July 21st column, this “whopper of a Freudian slip by a top Pepco official . . . unwittingly revealed the electric util-ity’s true attitude toward its customers, which is one of barely concealed contempt.”
We hold the same view expressed by the columnist, including his attributing the official’s “contempt” for us ratepayers as a Freudian slip. After all, a Freudian slip reveals the speaker’s underlying, unconscious thoughts; the psychoanalytic view holds that there are inner forces outside of the speaker’s consciousness that are directing what he or she says. Thus, in our view, what the Pepco official was stating was precisely the unvarnished truth about Pepco’s attitude, something that is understood within Pepco’s executive offices but about which officials are expected to be silent.
While we are pleased that Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette M. Alexander convened a meeting of the council’s Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs, which she chairs, to hear from what was a large turnout of very vocal and disgruntled DC residents about Pepco’s inadequacies and unreliability, we were also not pleased that only one other member of her committee attended -- Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser, who was joined by newly elected but non-committee member Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie. Three other committee members were absent: Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, At-large Councilmember Phil Mendelson, and Ward 3 Councilmember Mary M. Cheh –- particularly surprising given that her ward was especially hard hit by the storm and that huge numbers of her constituents were adversely affected.
Notwithstanding the committee’s slow start, Councilmember Alexander says that this was just the start; that Pepco will be held accountable by the District government.
But we fear that neither her committee nor the City Council is really in a position to put the reigns on the runaway Pepco; only the DC Public Service Commission (PSC) can force Pepco to do what is right. So far, we have not seen evidence that the PSC is inclined to move aggressively –- in contrast to the Maryland PSC which just very recently turned down a huge rate increase petition from Pepco and awarded the utility only an amount that was required by Maryland statute.
We must insist that our PSC move with alacrity and toughness to bring Pepco in line. Further, the PSC must not allow Pepco to pass on to the already overcharged DC ratepay-ers the cost of bringing its infrastructure and years of deferred maintenance up to speed; its shareholders should be the ones to bear the costs.
Cleveland Park resident and well-respected, highly knowledgeable civic activist Ann Loikow, in an August 1st posting in TheMail, the twice-weekly on-line newsletter focusing on DC government and politics, reported what was reveled at the recent Pepco hearing which clearly shed light on what’s behind the utility’s inability to perform properly and how its refusal to spend money to maintain the system has hurt the ratepayers:
“It came out at the recent hearing on the derecho outages that Pepco only has 123 line mechanics and that only 29 are experienced enough to restore service directly from a pole to a house. In 1993, Pepco had 209 linemen, despite serving significantly fewer residents in the area at that time. Many of these contract linemen are from across the country and need several days, under the best circumstances, to get here before they can even begin repair-ing the damage to the lines from storms like the recent derecho or Hurricane Isabel. This downsizing of its unionized workforce has been going on for over a decade and sure explains why we have such long power outages in DC.”
So, until Pepco reforms itself, the PSC should not award it one single plug nickel. It is the responsibility of a business that serves customers to pick up the cost of maintaining its physical plant and services, not the other way around –- that is what is known as the cost of doing business. n
Copyright © 2012 InTowner Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §107 & 108 (“fair use”).
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Selected Recent Real Estate Sales
The Selected Recent Real Estate Sales monthly feature is now available on its own web page and may be accessed directly by the link in the middle of the home page or by
the button in the left side panel. This has made possible the introduction of a new format which allows for easy search by addresses by scrolling down through the list, starting with single family houses, proceeding to condominiums, and concluding with co-ops. n
Prepared for the InTowner by Jo Ricks Reporting Period: June 2012
Page 3 • The InTowner • August 2012
AROUND OUR COMMUNITYThe editor welcomes the receipt of information about community happen-ings, such as neighborhood and block association activities, church-spon-sored events, public meetings dealing with neighborhood issues, and other events of a non-commercial nature. These may be emailed to us at [email protected], or sent by regular mail but not by fax. Note that our reporting focuses on our target neighborhoods, all of which are listed along with more information regarding the kind & scope of news we can use in the advisory posted at the top of the website’s Community News page.
“Would you rather be reading a book on the beach?
Us, too. Find the perfect book at one of these local Dupont book sellers”
Check out: Red Onion Records & Books (1901 18th Street),
Books for America (1417 22nd Street), Kramerbooks & Afterwards (1517 Conn Ave), Books-A-Million (11 Dupont
Circle), Second Story Books (2000 P Street)
Dupont Main Streets has lots of exciting projects that began construction last fall, including the Conn Avenue median (north of the Circle), and the Triangle Park at 20th and Q Streets. We have also undertaken a storefront improvement program, window display
improvement program, and even a mobile display for our temporary vacant windows!
365+
Did you know there are more than 365 shops, businesses, and restaurants in the Historic
Dupont Circle Main Street corridors, one for each day of the year?
Visit the commercial corridors of Dupont Circle to shop in our 365+ clothing stores,
retail shops, fitness centers, salons, saloons, restaurants, lounges, lounging areas, and yes, even a gift shop or two.
Visit www.DupontCircle.biz for a complete business listing.
Be on the Circle or Be Square.
LETTERSNeighborhood
Involvement with Liquor Licensing Needs Reform
Kudos for providing two excellent updates on the front page of last month’s edition regarding the city’s controversial licensing regulations affecting neighborhood hospital-ity establishments. The InTowner continues to distinguish itself by providing thoughtful and in-depth reporting on these issues that are of broad community concern.
In addition to presenting an analysis of pending DC Council legislation to reform liquor licensing law, you rightly point out that the discussion has moved beyond a hackneyed resident vs. business dichot-omy (“Bill to Amend ABC Laws Seen As Guaranteeing Due Process For Liquor License Holders”) [July 2012, PDF page 1]. Residents have grown exhausted by the she-nanigans of tiny ad hoc license protest and small citizens groups claiming to represent our neighborhoods.
Restoring fairness to the process and allowing all voices to be heard is the prevail-ing attitude on the front steps of our homes and conversations on the street. Frustration is growing that community amenities are being shot down by the “gangs of 5” and citizens associations still allowed to directly intervene in the process. Real reform will eliminate the crazytown power these groups brandish.
Both residents and District officials are
coming to the same conclusion — the open forum provided by the elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissions offers the only legitimate opportunity for the entire com-munity to weigh in on liquor licensing matters. We should all want common sense and fairness to guide the city toward smart policies that fix what’s wrong and allow gov-ernment to best function.
The accompanying article on the sev-en-year continuing battle being waged against Hank’s Oyster Bar by six disgrun-tled objectors illustrates the ridiculousness of the current system (“Long-Simmering Hank’s Oyster Bar Dispute Awaits ABC Board Ruling Following Recent Rehearing Mandated by DC Appeals Court”) [July 2012, PDF page 1]. It’s difficult not to feel sorry for owner and chef Jamie Leeds — and her neighborhood employees — forced to suffer the outrageous obstacles that spring from the protest group’s bag of tricks. By making themselves a parody of what’s wrong with the law, the protestors only prove the point that the regulations need to be reformed.
Our city is evolving and it is refreshing to see reporting that reflects the changes underway. Your efforts to keep the discus-sion focused and productive are greatly appreciated by readers like myself and offers valuable information to an increasingly attentive community urging progress in the way the city works.
Mark LeeLogan Circle
• Mon., Aug. 13 (5-8pm): Shaw main Streets will be holding a happy hour fund-raiser for its soon-to-be completed call box project at the neighborhood cocktail bar The Passenger (1021 7th St., NW). The management will be donating 10 percent of the evening’s proceeds to help support this endeavor, one of many throughout north-west DC – several of which The InTowner had previously reported about. For more information about this call box project, visit http://tinyurl.com/bruuggf.
Let them know if you whether you will be attending by an RSVP to the event’s Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/9gtoq63. And, for more information about the event, call the Shaw Main Streets office at (202) 265-7429 or send email to [email protected].
• Wed., Aug. 15 (9-10:30am): The Washington DC Economic Partnership will be sponsoring a morning seminar led by Niambi Jarvis, Director of the DC Small Business Development Center at Howard University’s School of Business and Paul Dionne, co-founder of Boss Rocket Small Business Daily Deals. Here’s how the pro-gram is described by the organizers:
“In order to successfully grow your busi-ness, you need to attract and retain a large base of satisfied customers. An effective marketing program can help you achieve this goal. Many think marketing is just advertising and promotions, but it comprises
the entire process companies use to gain and maintain a customer base. A successful marketing program can be advantageous for your business to promote awareness of your products and build strong customer relationships. In this edition of the Doing Business 2.0, we will tackle the extensive topic of Marketing. It is a crucial part of running a successful business and we bring DC’s most valuable panel to walk you through the topic.”
Although on-site registrations will be accepted, advance RSVP by Tue., Aug. 14th will be preferred and may be done by visit-ing http://tinyurl.com/95rep5s. For more information or assistance with registration, call (202) 661-8670.
• Wed., Aug. 22 (12 noon) & 29th (6pm): Housing Counseling Services (2410 17th St., NW, suite 100) a HUD-certified non-profit agency, will hold free Foreclosure Prevention Clinics to help homeowners in danger of losing their homes by identify-ing realistic alternatives to foreclosure and avoid predatory lenders and loan scams that prey on people in danger of foreclo-sure. According to a recent report by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the foreclosure crisis has taken a heavy toll on elderly Americans. The report states that about 600,000 people 50 years or older are in foreclosure, with another
Cont., COMMUNITY, p. 6
Page 4 • The InTowner • August 2012
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broadcaster in news and public affairs pro-gramming, and is currently the president and producer of DC Metro Talk and a Reporters Notebook regular contribu-tor. Jerry, who first began with the Adams Morgan Day Festival in 1989, exudes, “This festival is a center of multicultur-al Washington and is a beautiful gathering of people from all types of backgrounds.”
The Florida Stage, which will feature a Latin international theme and will offer fabulous music and a Samba dance con-test. It will open with Juventud Unida A Christo, spiritual-rock Latin Sextet, then will move to Zezeh Brazilian Dancers. Next will be Oasis Steel Band, local musicians with a Caribbean twist, and the always popular Wayne Wilentz Brazilian Jazz band which will host the Samba contest between 5 and 6 pm. Jerry’s closing act will be the 13-piece Salsa band, Timber Street. The Columbia Stage, coordinated by Kat Hansen, will feature American music roots or spin-offs, such as rock, soul, Afro pop, funk, bluegrass, and acid jazz.
Opening the Festival at 10 am will be the ever popular “Arts on Belmont,” spon-sored by Harris-Teeter. The shady residen-tial Belmont Street will be lined with some 45 artisans and coordinated by Avner Ofer.
Offerings span the gamut of diverse cultures and mediums in all price ranges. Collectors and newcomers can choose from fine art and sculpture, crafts, jewelry, photography and the all original work ranges from con-temporary to traditional to avant-garde.
The interactive Dance Plaza line-up will include such acts as the energetic Jinga Dance Fit, DC Casineros, and the famed local Malcolm X Drummers and Dancers.
The Kid’s Fair, sponsored by Caps on Line, will be located at Marie Reed School play-ing field with activities and amusements for children and families where they can sample Stonyfield yogurt and enjoy the Acro Spring Bungy Trampoline, Spider Climb, Buccaneer Pirate Ship Inflatable, and Monkey Bounce.
Shops and restaurants will be open and a number of the neighborhood businesses will
FESTIVALFrom p. 1
photo—courtesy Adams Morgan Main Street Group.
Administration and other officials, residents and business owners were in attendance for the ribbon-cutting followed by a tour to view and experience the wider, aggregate sidewalks, mid-block crosswalk, safer pedes-trian crossings, and viewing the historic-
style Washington globe street lights. Mayor Gray specifically visited a number of local daytime businesses, including Bardia’s New Orleans Café, Violet Boutique, and Beauty Tu You.
Emphasizing the local, Constantine Stavropoulos, owner of Tryst and the Diner and co-president of the Adams Morgan Partnership Business Improvement District noted that the project didn’t take just 17 months, but “was the culmination of some eight years of planning by people
in this community. It started with cha-rettes, focus groups, and finally the official DDOT Steering Committee.” Saying he hoped not to omit anyone, he then cited for special recognition some “key Adams Morgan people who worked diligently: Denis James, Josh Gibson, Bryan Weaver, Mindy Moretti, Wilson Reynolds, Stacey Moye, Lisa Duperier, Maureen Gallagher, Stephen Greenleigh, Charles Brazie, and
Kristen Barden.”Constantine continued, “We
stand here today enjoying one of the most complex and intensive streetscapes ever accomplished in such a dense area. While there’s no question our businesses have taken a hit, we are glad that adverse impacts did not escalate in this particular streetscape.”
Finally, Adams Morgan Main Street’s president, Lisa Duperier, lauded several former ANC 1C commissioners for having pro-duced some of the most com-prehensive reports and recom-mendations to a DC agency –- in this instance, DDOT — an ANC. “They spent extra hours and covered many aspects of the streetscape,” she said. Lisa also complimented Gabriela Mossi, currently on the ANC but in 2004 as the Executive Director of Adams Morgan Main Street, “Gabriela ably organized the first-ever DC community-wide transportation charette, the pre-
cursor of the Steering Committee and a model DDOT now uses for community engagement. n
*Janet Lugo-Tafur is a DC native and Executive Director of Adams Morgan MainStreet Group.
Copyright (c) 2012 InTowner Publishing Corp. and Adams Morgan MainStreet Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §107
STREETSCAPEFrom p. 1
photo—Rick Reinhard.
Seen here (front, left) leading the contingent of officials, neighborhood residents and business owners, and others are Mayor Gray and Councilmember Graham (white summer suit). Notice the new Washington globe-style street lights lin-ing the sidewalk.
Cont., FESTIVAL, p. 6
Page 5 • The InTowner • August 2012
College staff, officials, curators and trustees who were called upon to rebut community questioners, often in harshly argumentative fashion.
Corcoran CEO and Gallery Director Fred Boller spent no time during the eve-ning outlining a program to re-vivify the museum’s faltering art exhibition program nor of any plans or efforts by the museum to further strengthen the its role vis-à-vis other Washington arts venues or in collaboration with national and local artists. Neither was there any outlining of efforts to engage with both local art institutions and recognized art galleries and museums throughout the country, as the Corcoran has so successfully done in the past. Rather, Boller spoke of the Corcoran’s goal to provide everyone in the Washington metropolitan area with the opportunity for arts education “from birth to senility.”
Toward the end of the June 14th meeting, attendees strenuously pointed out that no real discussion had occurred by Corcoran staff or officials regarding plans to strength-
en and re-energize the Corcoran’s art exhi-bitions mission. Subsequently, the Corcoran announced plans for two August meetings, with this August 2nd meeting being about the art gallery and the second, planned for August 23rd, focusing on the college.
Boller, who comes from a background of banking and finance, having previously
held important positions with a series of famously failed banking institutions, includ-ing Continental of Illinois, First National City Bank of Houston, and Washington’s own Riggs National Bank, was appointed to the Corcoran from a subsequent back-ground of non-profit employment with
firms distributing phi-lanthropist’s funds and exploring start-up and turn-around corporate strategies. Boller lists no prior experience with arts or art edu-cational organizations nor with fund-raising and development. His appointment, announced earlier by the Corcoran’s Board of Trustees Chairman, Harry F. Hopper III, commu-nications (mobile and broadband) venture capitalist and partner at Columbia Capital,
surprised many. Hopper, however, was not present at either the June or August com-munity meetings, and apparently has no plans to attend the August 23rd session, as well. Boller, however, did attend the August 2nd meeting but sat toward the back, said nothing, and left prior to the meeting’s somewhat chaotic conclusion.
The August 2nd Meeting’s Four-Person Panel
Meeting in the museum’s ample-sized, Greek amphitheater-style Hammer Auditorium, a small panel of two artists and two Corcoran staff members faced an even relatively smaller gathering of community attendees. The panel consisted of the fol-lowing: William (Bill) Dunlap, a respected and successful Washington artist, educa-tor, and well-known raconteur on WETA’s “Around Town”; Holly Bass, a sprightly and engaging poet and performance artist; Phillip Brookman, the museum’s highly regarded photography curator and author; and modera-tor Mark Swartz, a well-credentialed, newly hired Corcoran development communica-tions specialist.
The eloquent Bill Dunlap led off the evening, who, expressing his incredulity at the Corcoran’s recent decisions, reminded the audience of the monumental Ernest Flagg building as being the Corcoran’s great-est art work, of his own and many other Washington and area artist’s experiences of having been nurtured to successful careers by the Corcoran and its exhibition programs, and of the inexplicable series of Corcoran management decisions to sell or jettison buildings and land that could have been used to resolve funding, income stream, and additional exhibition space for both works in the Corcoran’s own outstanding collections, especially in American art and photogra-phy, and for special exhibitions. These inde-fensible decisions, said Dunlap, have been accompanied by an increasing disconnect between the Corcoran and the Washington arts community. Dunlap’s impassioned pleas went unanswered from any Corcoran Gallery staff; nor did Holly Bass’ account of her con-temporary experiences with the Corcoran in, for example, serving as a juror for the current “Take It To The Bridge” series of avant-garde performance pieces, garner any Corcoran management responsive enthusi-asm. Brookman spoke of the Corcoran’s con-tinuing severe fund-raising difficulties.
In response, several attendees asked if all the decisions had already been made — this possibly explaining the absence of the Board of Trustees Chairman and the senior Corcoran staff. And indeed, it did seem that the evening was a wake rather than a com-munity awakening or any Corcoran manage-ment resuscitation, with Flagg’s monumen-tal Beaux Arts designed building being the corpse, albeit one with exquisitely detailed, severe classical decoration.
It fell to the articulate and powerfully speaking former Corcoran curator, Linda Crocker Simmons, to chronicle and describe the extraordinary legacy of the Corcoran’s past exhibitions and art programs and the excellence of its curatorial staff. Simmons reminded the audience that the Corcoran’s fundamental problems of mission definition, funding, space, connection to the local and national arts community, building and facili-
ties maintenance, and attendance and admis-sion fees would follow the Corcoran wherever it sought to relocate. And a relocation in the suburbs –- stated by the Board as a possibility — would, she concluded, be suicidal.
Repeated questions and suggestions were made that the Trustees recruit an art museum director who would devise an aggressive strat-egy to save and restore the Corcoran’s build-ing and revive its formally renowned arts pro-gram, and to do so in a realistic manner, one that did not look for grandiose new projects — for example, the $17 million dollar Gehry-designed building addition disaster, or the expensive and doubly questionable Randall School site mistake, with all the while the Corcoran over the years selling off the land behind its historic building and never even completing its extraordinary plant and facility.
Many in the Washington arts community are intimately aware of the astonishing nature of the Corcoran building — an ensemble of Flagg’s remarkable design for the 17th Street building, which Frank Lloyd Wright report-edly declared to be the finest building design in Washington, and the Charles Adams Platt extension facing E Street, purpose-built to house and display Senator William Andrew Clark’s enormous and extraordinary collec-tion of European fine art, and the Waddy B.
Wood ingenious re-design of the New York Avenue portion of the Flagg building into a two-level interior hemicycle providing a first level auditorium and a second level exhibi-tion gallery, one that could be open in the evening separate from a closed remainder of the rest of the building.
One Corcoran trustee, Henry L. Taggert III, was present at the August 2nd meet-ing. Taggert, who also attended the June 14th meeting and is Senior Counsel for the defense contractor Northrop Grumman, interjected at one point that the Corcoran would be open to a consideration of collabo-ration with another Washington arts institu-tion. It was the single encouraging response of the evening.
Perhaps the August 23rd session will pro-vide more encouragement for a “Save the Corcoran Movement” but one wonders at the scheduling of these two follow-up meet-ings in August after the rushed scheduling of the June session. Why these two separate sessions — one on the art gallery and one on the college –- were not scheduled for mid- to late September when many Washingtonians would have returned from their August and Labor Day vacations and Congress would have returned as well from its August recess has not been publicly explained. n
Copyright (c) 2012 InTowner Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part with-out permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §§ 107 & 108 (“fair use”).
CORCORANFrom p. 1
photo—courtesy Corcoran Gallery of Art.
photo—courtesy Corcoran Gallery of Art.
photo—courtesy Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Page 6 • The InTowner • August 2012
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also be showcasing their offerings at festival booths. Some to look for will be Himalayan Heritage, Mellow Mushroom, Mint Fitness & Spa, DC Dental, Yoga Studio DC, Tibet Shop, and Smash.
The Green and Health/Fitness Pavilions will be located on the tennis courts facing 18th Street. In addition to interesting ven-dors, Nissan Next will be demonstrating a car recharging station, along with Washington Gas’ sustainable and clean energy. Also to be featured will be vendors demonstrat-ing holistic, medical, dental, yoga, spas, and exercise for all ages. DC Lottery, the Washington Hilton and Comcast are spon-soring this part of the festival.
“Volunteers are always welcome,” said Janet Lugo-Tafur, Main Street’s executive director, “This festival would not be pos-
sible without the many hardworking local volunteers who donate their time and orga-nize vendors, work on signatures, stages and plazas, and execute the actual ‘day of’!” Volunteer opportunities include working at stages, pre-festival activities, and ‘day of’ and breakdown. To volunteer, send an email to [email protected] or visit www.AdamsMorganDayFestivalDC.com for the volunteer application. For more informa-tion, call (202) 232-1960. n
*Chinko Watkins, a resident of Adams Morgan, has lived in DC for 10 years. He is the chair of the Organization Committee for Adams Morgan Main Street, as well as President of Families First, an early education nonprofit.
Copyright (c) 2012 InTowner Publishing Corp. and Adams Morgan MainStreet Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §107
FESTIVALFrom p. 4
625,000 three months or more behind on their mortgages. For more information, call Su Cheng at (202) 667-7712.
• Mon., Aug. 27 (3:30-5pm): The Dupont Circle Village will be hosting another of its monthly Live and Learn Seminar programs, open to the public, this month in the back room of Scion Restaurant (2100 P St.). The topic, “Insight Into Estate Planning,” will Myrna L. Fawcett, Esq., a specialist in elder law, who will cover the ways to best provide
for loved ones and to ensure that one’s estate planning meets one’s needs. Ms. Fawcett is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and is a member of the National Academy of Elder Lawyers, and has partici-pated in several programs on issues involv-ing hoarding, advanced directives, bioethi-cal issues and financial options for seniors. For reservations, contact Linda Harsh at (202) 234-2567 or by email to [email protected]. $10 for non-members. n
Copyright © 2012 InTowner Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §107 & 108 (“fair use”).
COMMUNITYFrom p. 3GALA Hispanic Theatre Receiving Facilities Grant
The Kresge Foundation, one of the nation’s major arts supporters, has announced that it is awarding GALA a grant of $125,000 through its Facility Investments and
Building Reserves program.The grant will help GALA undertake targeted facility upgrades to its beautifully
restored theater in Columbia Heights’ historic, old Tivoli Theater, and will fund GALA’s building maintenance reserve, thereby ensuring that its state-of-the-art facility will serve the community well into the future.
“This Kresge Foundation award,” said GALA co-founder and Executive Director Rebecca Medrano, “represents a firm belief in GALA’s vision and work as an institu-tion that preserves and honors our rich cultural heritage and responds to the artistic and cultural needs of our community.”
And, as the press announcement accurately stated, “This award bolsters GALA’s role as an anchor of the Tivoli Square mixed-use development and as a cultural con-vener in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, where GALA provides much-needed community and arts space to over 30,000 people a year.” n
Copyright © 2012 InTowner Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §107 & 108 (“fair use”).
phot
o—co
urte
sy G
ALA
Hisp
anic
The
atre
.
See pdf archive on home page for 10 years of past issues
Page 7 • The InTowner • August 2012
Many pedestrians and motorists alike that traverse the Calvert Street bridge today likely are unaware
that the 1935-built structure replaced an earlier, iron truss bridge that had been completed in 1891. The large span bridge towered over the deep Rock Creek Park. Amazingly, in order to build the current bridge beginning in 1934, the entire iron truss bridge was moved out of the way –- by a team of horses, no less.
The deep Rock Creek posed a serious obstacle for Washington development north of the city. Travelers headed north had to drive horses and early cars down the steep embankment, cross the shallow water, and climb up the other side.
A wooden bridge was eventually built in the 1870s over the water on what was then Woodley’s Lane, connecting what became known as the Adams Morgan neighborhood with the emerging summer estates in what is today Woodley Park. The District of Columbia’s Engineer Commissioner reported no immediate plans for constructing a permanent bridge in 1887, citing the rugged topography as not worth tackling.
Senator Francis G. Newlands and his business, the Chevy Chase Land Company, had purchased enormous amounts of land from the termination of Connecticut Avenue all the way to Chevy Chase in secret negotiations to keep prices down. His Rock Creek Railway Company was formed to transport new home buyers to the north of the city, and it required bridges to span Rock Creek.
Construction commenced on a large iron truss bridge to replace the 1870s wooden bridge leading from Columbia Road to Connecticut Avenue in Woodley Park that was completed in 1891. It was built by the Edgemore Bridge Company. When completed, the ownership of the bridge was turned over to the city government.
The original bridge was an impressive sight. It was 755 feet long, and cost an estimated $70,000. The wrought iron used for its construction weighed a total of 1,266 tons.
Beginning in 1917, however, the District Commissioners hired local architect George Oakley Totten, Jr., to design a new Calvert Street bridge. The federal Commission of Fine Arts determined that his resulting design was too costly and ornate, and feared that it might overshadow the newly completed Connecticut Avenue Bridge to the west.
Totten fought for the use of his stone arch design, but the Fine Arts Commission remained unconvinced. Finally, in 1933, Totten’s design was discarded, and the Commission selected Paul Crete as chief designer for a new bridge. His first design was also rejected, but the Commission finally settled on a masonry design with multiple arches that was eventually built.
The need for crossing Rock Creek, however, remained during the construction period of the new bridge, which was begun in 1934. The decision was made to move
the original iron bridge 80 feet downstream to be used for diverted traffic until the new bridge was completed the following year.
Engineer John Eichleay, Jr. was hired for the job. His grandfather had founded the company in 1875 expressly to relocate hard-to-move things.
In the early dawn hours of June 7, 1934, the five, 130-foot piers of the bridge were lowered onto a specially made track of horizontal girders outfitted with wheels. At 5:00 a.m., workers cut the railroad tracks on the bridge above, and a series of block and tackle was attached to the bridge with a windlass. Horses took over, and incredibly, in just seven hours and 15 minutes, the bridge was at its new position 80 to the west.
Thousands of onlookers had gathered to watch the unusual feat, and after it was in place, the railroad track was reattached and open for traffic in less than two hours. Following the completion of the masonry arch in 1935, the original Calvert Street Bridge was dismantled for scrap.
—Paul Kelsey WilliamsHistoric Preservation Specialist
Kelsey & Associates, Washington, DC
Copyright © 2012 InTowner Publishing Corp. & Paul Kelsey Williams. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §§107 & 108 (fair use).
Scenes from the Past
After more than 11 years and 136 monthly contributions to this space, Paul Williams is bidding farewell to The InTowner as he takes up his duties as the new President of the Association for the Preservation of the Historic Congressional Cemetery. We will announce his successor next month. His final article this month will also appear in his forthcoming Lost Washington, being published by Anova Books, due out this fall.
photo—courtesy Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Late 1990s view of the Calvert Street / Duke Ellington Bridge (bottom) as it appeared while its roadway deck was undergoing resurfac-ing; shown in the upper portion of the photo crossing at a 45-degree angle toward the south is the Connecticut Avenue / Taft Bridge.
photo—courtesy Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Architect George Oakley Totten, Jr.’s initial proposed Calvert Street Bridge design.
photo—courtesy Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Early view showing a trolley traversing the iron truss bridge.
Page 8 • The InTowner • August 2012
CLEANING SERVICES
OUR CLEANING LADY who is highly recommended by us seeks additional jobs in neigh-borhoods easily walkable from Metro stations. She is conscien-tious, dependable, honest & just a very nice person. Speaks and reads English very well; citizen & DC resident for 40+ years. Call us between 2-6 pm, Mon.-Sat. (202) 667-5667. If not in, please leave name & number on answer machine for callback. [43-6:6]
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Problem with your PC or Network? Computer Systems Engineer will come to you with help. Home Business. Call: D. Guisset, (301) 642-4526. [44-1:12]
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Page 9 • The InTowner • August 2012
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY 8th & F Sts., NW; info., 633-1000
Daily, 11:30am-7pm / www.npg.si.edu
In a bravura show of art and histori-cal objects entitled “1812: A Nation
Emerges,” the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery continues the strengthening of its exhibition program with another large museum show of over 100 objects that com-bines its strengths in American portrait hold-ings with the inclusion of landscape and seascape paintings, political prints and post-ers, mid-19th century photographs, stunning figurative sculptures, and an array of other objects such as intricate ship models and American crafted period furniture — all of which serve to help explain and dramatize the historical significance of what’s known, and not known, for want of a better term, as the War of 1812.
In many ways, this conflict, legislatively
declared by the U.S. Congress and pro-claimed early that year by President James Madison against the world’s mightiest imperial power, Great Britain, was a con-tinuation of the American Revolution.
The Congress, expressing its outrage over a number of serious British actions: impressments off American sailing vessels of American sailors — the British claim that these men were simply British sub-jects fleeing service on British warships
during the continental warfare between Great Britain and Napoleonic France being dismissed as untrue by American authori-ties; British interference with American trade by establishing and enforcing boycotts and embargoes; the continued presence of British troops and forts on the frontiers between the U.S. and Canada; a festering boundary dispute between the two nations; and, most importantly, British support for its North American Indian allies, both those
in Canada and those allied Indian Nations residing in American territory.
Unstated but powerful underlying moti-vation on the part of the U.S. included a desire to incorporate Canada into the United States — Canada being said to be a low-lying fruit, easily plucked by a show of military force; the extirpation and dispos-session of American Indian Nations of their rich farm and vast forest lands; the lucrative fur trade in the Northwest Territory and in southern territory west of Georgia and the Carolinas; and the elimination once and for all of the British as a competing military power in North America.
How the U.S. would accomplish such feats — pitting a non-existent standing army and a navy consisting of a tiny fleet (but including six newly designed and superior warships known as frigates) against an impe-rial rival whose navy ruled the seas — was not answered in either the Congressional
At the Museums By Anthony L. Harvey*
CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART 17th Street & New York Avenue, NW;
tel., 639-1700; www.corcoran.org $10, adults; $8, seniors & students Wed.-Sun., 10am-5pm; Thu. to 9pm
The soft luminosity of Richard Diebenkorn’s famous “Ocean Park”
series of abstract paintings, each one titled with the series name and then simply numbered, will transport the viewer when looking, absorbing, and passing through the museum’s high-ceiling picture galler-ies on the west and south sides of architect Ernest Flagg’s monumental Beaux Arts structure.
In the first major museum exhi-bition focusing on these extraordi-nary works, painted between 1967 and 1988 when Diebenkorn was at the height of his artistic prow-ess, the exhibition provides the gallery-goer with nearly 40 of the artist’s output of large paintings from that period, together with another 40 works on paper created during the same time frame.
Illuminated with natural light-ing in the galleries through a glass roof of skylights and laylights, the bold and highly saturated colors in Diebenkorn’s beautiful paint-
ings literally shine. And the artist’s compositional prowess will instill in the viewer an intuitively grasped sense of the art-ist’s striving for an overall sense of deep emotional meaning, one conveyed in abstract forms overlaying subterranean picture ele-ments of landscapes, topographi-cal views, the lines of windows and door frames, and the forms of urban connectivity — power lines, for example — viewed through openings in Diebenkorn’s large, Southern California urban studio space.
Although initially becoming well-known as a San Francisco Bay area figurative painter, Diebenkorn first began his highly productive artistic career as an abstract expressionist, only return-ing to abstraction when feeling compelled to transform visual and
subconscious feelings into pictorial art upon moving to Ocean Park, a neighbor-hood of bungalows close to the ocean in Santa Monica, to accept a teaching posi-tion in the art department at UCLA.
His prior experiences in New Mexico, with that state’s magnificent skies, moun-tains, and vast landscapes, together with his work for the Interior Department’s Land Reclamation Bureau in produc-ing documentary drawings of the Lower Colorado River and the Salt River in Arizona and his aerial photographs of California irrigation canals, all seemed to serve his visual memory well, even if Diebenkorn described his “documentary drawings” as somewhat abstract interpreta-
tions. And his apparent way of working forms over and over also served to build up and reinforce these forms for his sub-sequent seemingly automatic outpouring of abstractions into his “Ocean Park” paintings, this resulting in geometric and rectilinear framings of highly worked col-ors, and with the interiors of these over-sized works filled with often enigmatic and only dimly perceived subordinate forms, projections, and colorful voids.
The magnificently illustrated catalog for the show is in itself a beautiful book; it includes three short scholarly essays by curators and artists, each with expert knowledge of Diebenkorn and his work. These essays serve to further enrich one’s
Cont., PORTRAIT GALLERY, p. 10
Cont., CORCORAN GALLERY, p. 10
Diebenkorn, Ocean Park #83 (1975).
Diebenkorn, Ocean Park #16 (1968).
Diebenkorn, Ocean Park #38 (1971).
Thomas Birch, Perry’s Victory on Lake Erie (1814).
Gilbert Stuart, Commodore Thomas MacDonough (1816).
Rembrandt Peale, William Henry Harrison (1813).
Page 10 • The InTowner • August 2012
appreciation and understanding of the art-ist and of both his paintings and that of his works on paper.
Distinguishing Diebenkorn’s work from that of his contemporary Sol Lewitt, who pronounced his own work to be that of “the idea becomes a machine that makes the art,” exhibition curator Sarah C. Bancroft notes that “each in his way was creating variations on distinct geometric themes. Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park work is defined by idiosyncratic geometries, often gridded and architectonic in nature yet
without any predetermined program and thus incorporating the decisions and cor-rections that the artist made along the way. Spontaneity and improvisation were key.”
Art scholar Susan Landauer observes in her essay that the stylistic messiness of Diebenkorn’s early work, with its “dis-persed events,” is essential to understand-ing his art because, as the artist himself said toward the end of his life, “All these years, my aesthetic has remained pretty much what it was in my early twenties.” Landauer concludes: “There is in his work a rare continuity and consistency of ideas. The Ocean Park paintings in particular represent a synthesis and culmination —a kind of palimpsest — of his oeuvre, and
one can peel back their layers to the very beginning, to his earliest artistic investiga-tions as a student during World War II.”
And poet Peter Levitt, who lived in the same Ocean Park bungalow community as Diebenkorn, reflects in his essay on an early gallery experience of standing with his back close to a large gallery wall and looking down the length of that gallery to see if he “could catch in a [Diebenkorn] painting alone the sense of place I had come to know and love as Ocean Park. More than once, as I viewed the abstract, curiously angled architectural shapes and the fields of definitively lit colors some-times divided by lines that called to mind the electric power cables that were strung
from pole to pole I was able to make such a claim.” And more recognition occurred as Levitt viewed and visually absorbed more and more of Diebenkorn’s work.
Three of my many favorites in this terrific show are Ocean Park #83 from the Corcoran’s own collection; #16 from the Milwaukee Art Museum; and #38 from the Phillips Collection. To my own abstract painting aesthetic, the composi-tional completeness and bold color har-monies — together with the idiosyncratic framing of these paintings in grids and rectilinear forms is outstanding — as are those of many others in this ground-break-ing exposition, which continues through September 23rd. n
CORCORAN GALLERYFrom p. 9
deliberations nor by Madison’s Presidential proclamations and messages to Congress. Apparently the U.S. would simply learn how to do it on the fly.
And in the face of a successful British blockade of the American eastern seaboard, a repulsion of American attempts to invade and conquer upper and lower Canada, and a defense of forts and Indian allies — allies who were significant factors in these same British military victories — American war-
ships were nonetheless successful in one-to-one combat off-shore in the Atlantic, and in dramatically defeating the British in key bat-tles on the Great Lakes. Added to this were the stunning victories of American military forces in the south led by Major General Andrew Jackson, one of three American generals whose 1812 war exploits led to each of them being elected as U.S. Presidents, at Horseshoe Bend against the Creek Indians in central Alabama along a bend in the Tallaposa River, and at New Orleans against a British army. Ironically, these events had little to do with the outcome of the War; the American victory at New Orleans, for example, occurring after the American and British representatives had concluded their successful peace negotiations.
The exhibition highlights in handsome head and shoulder colonial portraits many of the important participants in these forma-tive events in American history — Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, James Madison, James Monroe, Stephen Decatur, Oliver Hazard Perry, Zebulon Pike, and John Randolph, for example, in formally posed paintings by outstanding artists of the peri-od. Among those artists were Gilbert Stuart, Anna Claypoole, Charles Wilson Peale, John Wesley Jarvis, and Charles Bird King; also Rubens, Rembrandt, and Linnaeus.
Among the most stunning of the portraits is that by Charles Wilson Peale of the handsome explorer, adventurer, and coura-geous warrior Zebulon Pike, killed in the American attack on York (now Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada. According to the exhibition catalog, Pike, in command
of the attack, had ordered no looting of the city on pain of death. Once he was killed, however, American troops pillaged the city and burned the government buildings. The following year’s burning of the Capitol, the White House, and other government build-ings by the British army after capturing Washington was seen by many as retribution by the British for the destruction of York.
Interspersed among these portraits are dra-matic seascapes of naval battles. My favorites are two by Thomas Birch, the first of which is titled Capture of H.M.S. Macedonian by the U.S. Frigate United States, the “United States” being the famous ship
commanded by Captain Decatur and depicted as being engaged in mortal combat with the “Macedonian” in the midst of ominously dark-ening skies on a rough and choppy sea; the sec-ond being Perry’s Victory on Lake Erie (Perry being the famous Commodore Perry), where dozens of small ships form a crowded scene beneath a beautifully composed and deftly colored partly cloudy sky.
Two stunning images of American Indians are provided by inclusion in the exhibi-tion of the white marble sculpture of the great Shawnee chief and warrior Tecumseh, dying at the Battle of the Thames, after he and his Indian forces stood their ground while their British allies broke ranks and ran. The second is a powerfully posed portrait by Henry Inman of Tecumseh’s charismatic brother Tenskwatawa, known as “The Prophet,” who survived into old age in Canada on a British pension.
One of the many lesser known — to the modern age, that is — heroes of the War of 1812, Richard Mentor Johnson, whose ide-alized portrait as a young man shown in the
exhibition catalog by Anna Claypoole Peale imme-diately follows that of the fallen Indian warrior, is said to have killed Tecumseh at that famous Thames battle. Johnson was a well-known Kentucky politician, farmer, and business owner, serving in Congress and becoming Martin Van Buren’s Vice President. Johnson also was the common law husband of a one-eighth mulatto woman named Julia Chinn, the mother of Johnson’s two daughters, both of whom married white men and both of whom received from Johnson gifts of large tracts of land.
Johnson was a popular war hero, noted political populist, and thought to be a potential presidential candidate. His mixed race relationship, however, which was a point of contention in his Senate races, the second of which he lost, and in one of the Lincoln-Douglass debates, apparently doomed his chances. And differing portrait images of Johnson abound; the Wikipedia article on Johnson uses two totally different portraits, one a rather sinister looking image where Johnson appears with a heavy, black shadow of an unshaven face in a portrait “attributed to Matthew Harris Jouett,” the second a clean-shaven Johnson appearing like a typical successful mid-19th century white Southern gentleman as painted by Rembrandt Peale.
On the Flickr.com photo sharing website can be found a copy of the Jouett portrait, while to its consistent high scholarly val-ues, the exhibition itself displays John B. Neagle’s stately portrait, on loan for the exhi-bition by the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The National Portrait Gallery has a pencil sketch of Johnson by Neagle, which visually tracks well with the Neagle portrait loaned by the Corcoran. The painted portrait image was
also used in the mid-1890s by the sculptor commissioned by the Congressional Joint Committee on the Library to carve Neagle’s Vice Presidential bust for the U.S. Senate’s commemorative art collection, which is displayed in the Senate wing of the Capitol.
The exhibition is not without humor, especially in the political cartoons and broadsides on displays, many of the best being by William Charles. His depiction of the Mayor and City Fathers of Alexandria bowing in abject obeisance to the British, titled Johnny Bull and the Alexandrians, is both hilarious and savagely biting.
“1812; A Nation Emerges,” in its catalog, wall texts, art works, and contextual objects both instructs and delights. For many, the War of 1812 is an unknown set of historical events; for others, it is a collection of myths that assert a David versus Goliath American victory over the British Empire. For the Portrait Gallery historians and art curators, it is a tale of a new nation daringly challeng-ing the greatest power of the day — Great Britain — and coming away with both a draw, neither side winning a war against the other but with the United States forg-ing a powerful sense of itself as a coherent and cohesive political entity able to project itself successfully into an expanded world landscape no longer subordinate to Great Britain or other European powers.
The exhibition, which continues through January 27, 2013, is accompanied by a terrific catalog which in its essays and indi-vidual object descriptions reflects the best of current historical scholarship. n
Copyright © 2012 InTowner Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §107 (“fair use”).
*Anthony L. Harvey is a collector of contempo-rary art, with an emphasis on Washington art-ists. He is a founding member of the Washington Review of the Arts. For many years he was the staff person in the United States Senate respon-sible for arts and Library of Congress over-sight by the Senate’s Rules and Administration Committee and the House and Senate’s Joint Committee on the Library.
PORTRAIT GALLERYFrom p. 9
Ferdinand Pettrich, Dying Tecumseh (1856).
Thomas Whitcombe, 12 at Midnight; The Hibernia Attempting to Run The Comet Down (1814).
J. Bower, A View of The Bombardment of Fort McHenry (1814).
