The National Museum of Women in the Arts

Today was one of those gorgeous early summer days that makes it hard to justify spending time inside a museum.  Cool, breezy, not too hot...so I headed to New York Avenue and 13th to the NY Avenue Sculpture Project at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.  http://www.nmwa.org/sculptureproject/  The first phase of the project features four of artist Niki de Saint Phalle's large scale sculptures.  Saint Phalle is best known for her design of the fountain at the Centre George Pompidou in Paris.  Like fabulous multicolored disco balls along the median, the sculptures looked fantastic in the day's sunlight...the Serpent Tree with its big smiling snake heads was my hands down favorite. 

Les Trois Graces - 1999

L'Arbre serpents - 1999

The museum itself, housed in a former masonic temple, was opened to the public in 1987.  In addition to the New York Avenue Sculpture Project, the museum houses works of prominent female artists through the ages.   Some of the older pieces date back to the 1400 and 1500s when women were limited in their subject matter (no nudes allowed) and their ability to market their work.    I was happy to finally see works from a female member of the Peale family (see Rubens, Rembrandt, Titian, and Raphael Peale from the National Portrait Gallery).  Sarah Miriam Peale, daughter of James Peale and cousin to the artistically named Peale brothers, was a gifted portrait artist.  A set of wedding portraits of of hers were among the 19th century items displayed.

Melpomene, The Muse of Tragedy                                 Isaac Avery

Elisabetta Sirani                                       Sarah Miriam Peale - 1821

Unexpectedly, I found another favorite room among the museums of DC.  After working through a few cool and some horrid paintings from the 60's and 70s, I walked into the early 20th century with Frida Kahlo, Grace Hartigan, and a few surreally beautiful pieces.  

At the Flower Market                 Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky

 Alice Beard - 1912                                                 Frida Kahlo - 1937

 How Doth the Little Crocodile - Leonora Carrington - 1998

Retrato de Belem - Maria Izquierdo - 1928

Even if a visit to the museum itself isn't in the cards, a stroll down New York Avenue is enough to bring a smile to anyone's face these days.  The long term plan for the project is to extend the display of sculptures down New York Avenue to Mount Vernon Square.