If in the area, this is where you’ll get a damn good cup of coffee (#twin_peaks #coop). And meet some of the locals. 
Dupont Circle
April 25th, 2017
Tag: travel
At the end of the day #2 – Vanity vs. History
A hot chocolate in many languages, contemplating the irony of such magnificence having to bear the name of its current owner: behold the Old Post Office, now an opulent Trump hotel.
April 24th, 2017
Bill Viola: The Moving Portrait @ The National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.
The American Art Museum shares its premises with the National Portrait Gallery, both being part of the Smithsonian Institution. First-time visitors may have a hard time distinguishing between the two, but that’s just a minor detail – what’s important is to allow time to enjoy some incredible works of American art, like Bill Viola’s ”The Moving Portrait” exhibit, which was running until May 2017.
I’ve been admiring Viola’s work for years, his use of video technologies, experimentation with portraiture and the fact that he always seems to submerge his subjects in water, an element present in -almost- his entire body of work. But, it was only recently I learned, coming across an interview on Louisiana Channel, that when Viola was 6 years old he fell into a lake, all the way to the bottom, ”to a place which seemed like paradise”. That’s when he learned that “there’s more than just the surface of life” […] and ”the real things are under the surface”. That explains his fascination with water, also evident in ”The Dreamers”, a video/sound installation of 2013:
No water present in ”Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity” (2013), an installation in two frames, showing an elderly man and a woman, naked, inspecting their bodies with a flashlight.
But water is present with all its mighty force in ”The Raft” (2004), in which 19 perfect strangers unsuspectingly gather in a spot, as if waiting for a bus, when suddenly disaster strikes as torrents of water knock them down, leaving them gasping for breath. 
Bill Viola Interview on Louisiana Channel, including views from ”The Raft”:
National Portrait Gallery
Washington, D.C.
April 24th, 2017
Washington D.C.: The Smithsonian American Art Museum part II
Nude Seated at Her Dressing Table, 1909, oil on canvas
Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939)
Undine, modeled about 1880, carved 1884, marble
Chauncey Bradley Ives (1810-1894)
Illusions, before 1901, oil on canvas
Henry Brown Fuller (1867-1934)
Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler (Mrs. John Jay Chapman), 1893, oil on canvas
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
According to the artist, twenty-six-year-old Elizabeth Chanler had ”the face of the Madonna and the eyes of a child.” This portrait shows a beautiful, well-bred woman who has learned to be strong. When Elizabeth was still a girl, her mother died, leaving her to help care for seven younger brothers and sisters.
Sargent has portrayed her in the elegant interior of his London studios decorated with two paintings that frame the circumstances of Elizabeth’s life: a Madonna and Child, and a figure of an old woman copied from a portrait by Frans Hals. Perhaps the artist wished to show Elizabeth as a woman who, despite early hardships, was neither maiden nor matron. Sargent was often dismissed by his contemporaries as a ”society portraitist”, but his paintings never fail tot convey the human story behind the image.
April 24th, 217
Assassin’s Creed
Today, we’ll take a tour at Ford’s Theatre, famous for being ”The site of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination”. But, first, here’s a shot of the country’s federal law enforcement body – the F.B.I., just a few steps away. Too bad it hadn’t yet existed in Lincoln’s time!
The tour starts across the street, in the gift shop, until it’s time to join the line outside the theatre. The line forms outside rain or shine, so come prepared on rainy days. 
There is some free time in the museum, where one can learn more about the plot, see the gun used in Lincoln’s assassination and look at family photos, including those of Lincoln’s son William, who passed away when he was just 11 years old, ill with typhoid. 
Ford’s Theatre photographed by Mathew Brady between 1862 and 1975.
Finally, the theatre where our ranger came on stage to tell one of the greatest crime stories of all time. It goes like this:
”On April 14, 1865, in full view of a theatre audience packed to the walls and celebrating the impending end of a brutal war, the President of the United States was assassinated. The murderer was not only seen by all, he was instantly recognizable to most. And he got away…”
You can take a virtual tour and uncover aspects of the plot, on Ford’s Theatre website.
April 24th, 2017
At the end of the day
Some incredible architecture courtesy of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which houses offices for White House staff, the Renwick Gallery, a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, then dinner at the historic Old Ebbitt Grill, Washington’s oldest bar and restaurant and, finally a walk back to where we started, at Dupont Circle. Mari Vanna looked inviting but we didn’t go in, which reminds me that perhaps we ought to try their New York branch, sometime. 
April 23rd, 2017
Walking the Mall: Washington Monument to Lincoln Memorial
via the World War II Memorial.
Together with all the Museums (which, as most of the Museums in Washington D.C., are open to the public free of charge) situated along both sides, this is a giant monument dedicated to government, history, art and culture. One may well spend an entire trip to D.C., just walking up and down the Mall. 
And then, there is also that House.
Front-side: 
and back: 
April 23rd, 2017
Walking the Mall: Sculpture garden to Washington Monument
From the Capitol to the National Gallery Sculpture Garden.
The McGee Roadster, the 16th vehicle to be documented as national heritage by the HVA for the National Historic Vehicle Register and U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Historic American Engineering Record.
Robert Indiana, AMOR, conceived 1998, executed 2006.
Mark di Suvero, Aurora, 1992–93.
Louise Bourgeois, Spider, 1996/1997.
Claes Oldenburg; Coosje van Bruggen, Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, 1999.
Roxy Paine, Graft, 2008–2009.
The Smithsonian Castle.
National Museum of African American History & Culture.
And, finally, the iconic obelisk in honour of George Washington.
April 23rd, 2017
Washington D.C. – After the Folger, towards the Capitol
Views from the neat, well kept houses on 3rd St., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, back to the Capitol Grounds and the giant sequoia, planted in 1920 in honour of Rep. Charles H. Randall and, finally, from the Capitol itself. 
April 23rd, 2017
Washington D.C. – The Folger Shakespeare Library
The Capitol or a walk along the Mall might be on top of the sightseeing list of every first-time visitor but our very first stop was at The Folger Shakespeare Library. You see, it was April 23rd, birthday of the great Bard and it didn’t take us long to find out about this annual tradition at the Folger – and join the party. There were concerts, choirs, theatrical performances, open reading rooms, scholars, enthusiasts, cheerful families and… much ado about Shakespeare and his work. 
April 23rd, 2017
The Humble Fabulist 