Art in Many Forms

My recent visit to the Smithsonian museums before the holidays was fulfilling and exhausting.  One of the venues at the Freer/Sackler gallery of art was the display of the personal art collection of the Cosby family.  Bill's recent fall from grace did not prevent me from wanting to see works of art that are not normally available to the public and I was glad that I did.  There was an enormous range in style, medium, and history.  Much of this collection was social commentary.  While there I took one photo of the large space and was immediately told they did not allow photos of this particular exhibit.  I am guessing it might have something to do with insurance, but who knows.  I was a little frustrated, but I do not really like to take photos of art anyway, because everything gets lost in the digital translation.  I was just trying to capture the variety in style that this collection has and also the interesting juxtaposition of art that the Smithsonian curators displayed next to Cosby artworks.

Not to be thwarted I captured some really 'cool' expressions in the architecture that you can take in a museum and I am putting up a few below.  This building was designed by Charles A. Platt at the turn of the century. The Freer was the first of his public commissions in 1913.   I am not sure to what extent he was involved in the underground passage between the Freer Gallery and the Sackler Gallery (both devoted to Asian Art and an odd place for the Cosby exhibit unless it was chosen because it was the most secure or had the most free space.)  Platt favored Italian Renaissance in both buildings and garden design.  I read that his design philosophy emphasized the integration of interior and exterior space through strong visual and circulatory connections, so probably he was indeed an influence on the underground which I photographed below and which you can see reflects that philosophy.  (As an aside and a very small brag, I sold another photo that I took from this subject area recently.  Amazing what a thrill one gets to see someone else likes their expression of art even if so little money is made from it.)

AND I just learned that you can go here and see over 40,000 works of art from their collection digitally.  This is their 2015 gift to us all!