Color Field Painters

My sister and I took the metro into the city on Saturday to check out the museums. Saw these two cute and stylin urban girls playing with a toy on the way in. They jumped off-all smiles and giggles about two stops before us.








We finally found the American Art Museum, by way of the Building Museum where we found a great display of David McCauley's wonderfully funny drawings. They are both up in the Chinatown section of the District. The American Art Museum shares space with the Portrait Gallery which I always thought would be boring but is really fascinating in that it tells the story of our country through portraits - both of famous Americans and by them.

Wandering into the contemporary wing was eye opening. It was like being in a completely different museum- airy, light and sparely "hung" with offerings. A Jenny Holzer installation was fascinating in that it gets you to stop and stare in way that most art can't. There was a nice Ellsworth Kelly that was nice to compare to his sculpture we saw at the Phillips the day before. I like the sculpture better.

The Color Field show was a real eye opener. It was like walking into a bowl of sherbet. The colors were so lush and seductive. That is an Adolph Gottlieb above. While the works weren't about painting per se, the paintings were entrancing nevertheless. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.