ARTS

Sargent, Whistler & Venetian Glass at SAAM

BY ARI POST

John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler, two fiercely independent late 19th-century American expatriate painters who spent most of their lives in Europe and dabbled in Impressionism without ever capitulating to it, shared a few things in common. One, it turns out, was a deep affection for Venice.

It was a fixation shared by a broad community of American artists, who were drawn to the ethereal City of Water as it blossomed into a bastion of tourism, art making and collecting for a new age of industry and travel. At the same time, and in many ways concomitantly, the already legendary Venetian glass industry on the island of Murano was undergoing a profound revival, which further inspired artistic production. Prints and paintings of this magical city, in addition to its extravagant glass export ware, became both a prize and status symbol throughout the United States and Europe, transforming Venice into one of the most popular travel destinations of all time.

Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano is an engulfing and sumptuous exhibition that brings Venice to life—contrived as that may sound. The title of the show is a bit misleading, as this sprawling exhibition seems to encapsulate every single artistic thing that happened around Venice in that era. There are the familiar Turneresque Venice paintings by Sargent, Thomas Moran and others, prized by wealthy clients. There are etchings and prints, which were more commercially available. There is of course the Murano glasswork (we’ll get to it in a moment). There are portraits and grand interior scenes commissioned by private clients, which offer intimate glimpses into the life of the city’s aristocracy.

There is also the mosaic boom generated by the revived glass industry (there are ridiculous mosaic portraits of Lincoln and Roosevelt in the show), the Italian lace revival on the Venetian island of Burano (which also happened at the same time), commercial depictions of Venice by American illustrators like Maxfield Parish (head-shakingly good), and even Whistler’s Venice Set, which are among the greatest etchings of the 19th century.

Just as most tourists don’t like to feel like tourists, a handful of paintings moved me for their simplicity and easy familiarity. Julius LeBlanc Stewart’s “Venetian Market Scene” and Francis Hopkinson Smith’s “On the Way to the Public Garden” remind me of that rare moment of connection you can experience with a new city in the most unexceptional location—just rounding a corner and feeling like you are momentarily a part of it all.

However, it is the Murano glass that steals the show. No doubt that the paintings and prints on display—the more traditional “fine art”—are more stylish and graceful than the glassware, which kind of look like they were designed by a team of five-year-olds tasked with developing decorative concepts for a super fancy mansion (dragons and dolphins and flowers and lots of swirly colors, and also gold!) In a private home, I would probably be drawn to a Sargent painting over a decorative glass swan goblet. But a brilliant subversion takes place in this exhibition, where the glassware, theatrically lit through vitrines in the center of the galleries, catches your eye and does not let go. The rather familiar paintings and drawings are enhanced by the constant glint of kaleidoscopic glasswork, and before you know it you’ve been drawn away from the tasteful canal scene and back into the unpredictable orbit of Murano.

What this exhibition might do best—and it does a lot of things very well—is to open a window into just how much was going on in Venice (and by extension, the rest of the western developed world) at the end of the 19th century. It was an overflow of creative and artistic production at the dawn of industrial production. Furthermore, while many of us have since resumed traveling since the beginning of the pandemic, this author has not. And this exhibition stirred in me the delicious, familiar (and, as of late, strongly suppressed) rumblings of restless wanderlust, which is surely just what these artists intended.

Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano will run through May 8, 2022 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. For information go to Americanart.si.edu.

Thomas Moran, A View of Venice, 1891, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Arts Watch

BY KATE OCZYPOK

THEATER J GETS $100,000 GRANT FROM THE NEA

Washington, D.C.’s Theater J announced they were approved to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the American Rescue Plan. With the support, Theater J will hire five additional actors for each of the next two seasons. This will allow for more ambitious plays and musicals. The American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March of last year and the NEA was given $135 million for the arts sector. They will award grants of nearly $60 million to 567 arts organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, D.C. and the Virgin Islands.

“This funding from the National Endowment for the Arts is vital to the recovery of the American theater,” said Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr.

NSO PRESENTS THREE CLASSICAL PROGRAMS THIS MONTH

The National Symphony Orchestra continues its classical series this month with three subscription programs at the Kennedy Center. A noteworthy addition is conductor Gemma New (who made her NSO debut three years ago), returning to lead the month’s first set of concerts that will also feature violin soloist Jennifer Koh.

PART OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART TO CLOSE DUE TO RENOVATIONS

The National Gallery of Art announced that the East Building will be closed from Monday February 28 until June for renovations. The closure will hopefully accelerate the restoration of the atrium skylight, which first opened in 1978. There will also be new bathrooms installed on the mezzanine, ground and concourse levels, a more handicapped accessible entrance and an elevator lobby within the auditorium on the concourse level. The renovations are part of a three-year and counting plan to update the gallery. The West Building will remain open.

KENNEDY CENTER’S NEXT RUN OF HAMILTON POSTPONED

The Kennedy Center was eager to host a highly anticipated second run of the wildly popular and Pulitzer Prize-winning LinManuel Miranda musical Hamilton. Due to rescheduling and pausing of performances by the touring company in other cities, the Kennedy Center has been forced to delay their run. Instead of July this year, the show will now be at the Kennedy Center August 2 through October 9. Tickets go on sale March 8 for members and March 22 for the general public.

THE ART MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAS CELEBRATES WOMEN’S ARTISTRY

Don’t miss an exhibit at the Art Museum of the Americas/Organization of American States that celebrates 18 Mexican women artists who contributed to the construction of the national arts scene in the 20th and 21st centuries. “Women in All Their Diversity” celebrates how crucial this dozen and a-half women were to the cultural transformations of Mexico. The exhibit is curated by Marco Polo Juarez Cruz and presented by the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the OAS, Art Museum of the Americas and Organization of American States.