Spring arts preview: Visual arts highlights
Philip Kennicott | Updated 05/21/2012
Sometimes it seems like an enormous digestive tract that processes the data of culture in centuries-long cycles. And sometimes it is newer and more radical than anything one might find among the ephemera of television, film and pop culture. The world of art, as seen in the major Washington museums this spring, functions both ways. Photography looms large, with exhibitions exploring not just its impact on painting, but its historical role as documentary object, and its ongoing influence through the related media of video and virtual art. Looking farther back, important shows will also explore the politics underneath the whimsy of one of the great surrealists, and the role of women in fashioning culture during an era in which their contributions were not readily recognized.
Royalists to Romantics: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles, and Other French National Collections
Washington, DC | Through 7/29
Most surprising event:
Of course there were female painters, female composers and female "men of letters" during the long and bloody century that saw the end of the old regime and the squalid politics of its aftermath in France. This exhibition, featuring many works not seen before outside France, strives to go beyond the usual names, Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun and Anne Vallayer-Coster, to explore the work of some 35 artists from 1750-1850. If there are surprises to be had this season, this exhibition is likely to contain them.
The Art of Video Games
Washington, DC | Through 9/30
Most likely to skew young:
The exhibition, which includes playable versions of some of the classic games of the last four decades (including Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and Flower), takes for granted what it needs to prove: That video games are indeed art. And that will be the exciting test of this exhibition. How does it define art? Bring your skepticism. Bring your kids.
The Confederate Sketches of Adalbert Volck
Washington, DC | Through 1/21/13
Most inescapable:
The Civil War, represented in various exhibitions. Sketches by the German-born Confederate propagandist and lithographer.
Mathew Brady's Photographs of Union Generals
Washington, DC | Through 5/31/15
Most inescapable:
The Civil War, represented in various exhibitions. The National Portrait Gallery's "Mathew Brady's Photographs of Union Generals" documents the intersection of war and the nascent discipline of photography.
Joan Miro: The Ladder of Escape
Washington, DC | Through 8/12
Most anticipated event:
Originally seen at the Tate Modern in London last year, this large retrospective of the Spanish artist's work was enormously popular. Some critics groused about its focus on the political streak in the surrealist's oeuvre, but they didn't grouse too loudly. Even skeptics used words like "a blast" and "magnificent." The show includes paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints. It is likely to be the highlight of the spring season.
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