NESTLED IN A remote corner of the National Gallery, the exhibit "Max Ernst — The Illustrated Books" is barely noticeable. There are no plaques on the wall to explain anything about the works on display, and the 20 or so monochrome images stare from behind glass at a small, almost entirely empty room. Few museum-goers pay any attention, instead using the room as passage between other parts of the gallery.
Perhaps this is fitting. Ernst's three collage novels, the focus of "The Illustrated Books," have been all but forgotten since the artist — also a prolific painter and sculptor — pasted them together in the '20s and '30s. But if Picasso is often credited with the invention of the collage, it's only fair that Ernst be given the honor of having perfected it.
Continue Reading "Surrealist Collage: 'Max Ernst — The Illustrated Books'" »
ANNUALLY SINCE 2003, Randy Haberkamp, the Director of Educational Programs at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has turned back the calendar 100 years. On Thursday, the National Archives welcomes his latest evening of shorts, "A Century Ago: The Films of 1907."
As expected when silents are screened, there will be music, on this occasion provided by performer/composer Michael Mortilla. But the medium itself has undergone such drastic change that a tour guide is now required. Haberkamp will be on hand to provide some context.
Pathé Frères' "The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ" will be offered only in selected scenes — just as exhibitors were invited to do when the film was a box-office smash.
"You could buy individual shots," Haberkamp explains. "So if you thought, 'Well, I'm gonna save a little money,' or, 'I don't need the middle story — I'm just gonna do the Nativity and the Crucifixion and skip all the rest of it,'" that option was open. "It was very free-form, and the exhibitors had a lot of control over content."
BEFORE KALEIDOSCOPIC DRIPS ever suggested subject, object or setting, there was plein-air painting. Impressionism was on the horizon, and artists trained in Neoclassicism were still painting things that looked like, well, what they look like.
In the exhibition "In the Forest of Fontainebleau" at the National Gallery, we are invited to see what Corot, Monet and others saw, where they may have picnicked and even what they ate. And through June 8, the gallery's Garden Cafe is offering an eating tour of the woods, the cottages and the romantic realism that finds its echo in the art. Four local chefs have created a menu steeped in this lush aesthetic.
Patrick Orange of La Chaumiere contributed a slow-cooked boeuf bourguignonne comprises Angus eye of round, fingerling potatoes and a garnish of bittersweet chocolate to finish the jus.
Scott Chambers, of Chevy Chase's La Ferme, provided a crab remoulade featuring buttery chunks of crabmeat, red onion and avocado, and spiked with a zippy brandy-infused sauce.
Alexandria's Le Refuge is represented by chef Jean-Claude Le Lan's chocolate mousse with creme anglaise. Soft peaks of milk chocolate get a welcome kick from powder. Its ideal pairing is a handful of garden berries on the side.
Continue Reading "Printemps in the Air: Nat'l Gallery's Inspiration on a Plate" »
THE FIRST THING one notices on the set of Woolly Mammoth's new play, David Adjmi's "Stunning," is its sheer whiteness. The furniture is white, the walls, even child-bride Lily's (Laura Heisler) boots -- all white. In the words of one character, "You live in an igloo!"
All the better to stage a complex and eventually messy character study. Set in a Syrian-Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood, the play explores the suffocating world of Lily, who at 16 has married the much older Ike (Michael Gabriel Goodfriend).
A vapid and sheltered girl, Lily spends her time hanging with her sister and friend, chomping gum, getting manicures and gossiping in pig Latin. Lily's world expands when she hires Blanche (Quincy Tyler Bernstine), an intelligent and worldly black maid who Lily dubs Anna Maria because she prefers her maids Puerto Rican.
Ike, who began courting Lily when she was 12, slaves over his physique and saves his unbridled affection for his goldfish, Kitty. He wants 10 kids, immediately, while Lily takes birth control on the sly.
Continue Reading "Out of the Airhead: Woolly Mammoth's 'Stunning'" »
AT OYAMEL, the management won't stop you from doing a shot of tequila.
But what a waste, considering the Penn Quarter restaurant is the first place in the D.C. area with special Agave de Oro certification from the Tequila Regulatory Council of Mexico.
It's an honor only a handful of restaurants in the U.S. can claim. And for Oyamel, which specializes in contemporary Mexican cuisine, it wasn't easy to get.
As Steve Fowler, the restaurant's general manager, explained, to get the certification, restaurants can't just have a broad tequila selection, although that's an important first step. Eighty percent of a restaurant's staff has to take tequila education courses and be tested on their knowledge.
ASIA NINE is now open in the Penn Quarter neighborhood, just a block from Ford's Theatre.
Another experiment in pan-Asian cuisine, co-owner Natalie Tantivejakul calls the restaurant's food "Asian-Asian Fusion." Thai Executive Chef Boonrod "Rod" Yotmanee is designing a menu that not only incorporates the expected Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese traditions, but also features an oyster bar and a full-service sushi bar.
» Asia Nine, 915 E St. NW; 202-629-4355. (Archives-Navy Memorial)
Written by Express contributor Suemedha Sood
Out & About: Eating Cheap, Surrounded by Luxury
Map It:
Archives-Navy Mem'l Cleveland Park King Street Smithsonian
MAYBE YOU MADE a New Year's resolution to save money. Or perhaps you're less than excited about dropping a couple hundred dollars on one meal. Whatever the reason, your wanting to save a few bucks doesn't mean resigning yourself to frugal dining when you're craving fancy food and service. It's all in the strategy.
START WITH AN END GOAL: Check out menupages.com or restaurant Web sites for prices and come up with a budget for the evening's meal. And be realistic: Set a drink minimum and plan for the cost of drinks and tip.
LEARN WHERE TO GO WHEN: You don't have to wait for Restaurant Week to score a deal. Head to Restaurant Eve (see map, No. 1) for the weekday Lickety Split lunch, meaning you can taste Cathal Armstrong's cuisine for less than $20. Plan on Sunday dinner at The Majestic (see map, No. 2) — $78 for a family-style dinner for four. Ask for the upstairs menu in the lounge at The Source (see map, No. 3). If you're dying to try lacquered Chinese duckling or anything else on the fancy menu, the entire thing is available in the downstairs casual environs. Sit at the bar of CityZen (pictured above; see map, No. 4), where a three-course tasting menu at one of the top restaurants in town is $45. Hit up Dino (see map, No. 5) on Sundays and Mondays, when wines over $50 are 33 percent off. There are deals like this all over the city; it's just a matter of keeping an ear to the ground.
Continue Reading "Out & About: Eating Cheap, Surrounded by Luxury" »
AFTER SIX MONTHS OF DELAYS, the Newseum's new Pennsylvania Avenue facility will be ready to open its doors to the public on April 11.
Earlier this morning, the Newseum was to have posted the April 11 date on a display screen inside its glass facade facing out onto the sidewalk. As The Post's Jacqueline Trescott reports:
Museum officials had announced earlier that the museum would open in October 2007, but construction was delayed by the complicated designs and elaborate electronic displays. The cost of the museum is at $450 million, up from the $435 million figure announced previously.Free admission is planned on the opening day, and through a special sponsorship with The Washington Post, school groups will be able to tour the news- and media-focused museum for free for the first year.
» "Newseum to Open April 11" [WaPo]
» "Newseum" [Official Site]
» EARLIER: "Front Pages Returning Soon at Newseum" [Free Ride/Express]
File photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post
TEDDY ROOSEVELT BESTOWED A BIG THUMBS-UP on Clifford Berryman, affectionately autographing a photo for the cartoonist. And why shouldn't he? T.R. had been smart enough to see that a decrepit bear was hardly sporting quarry for the Hero of San Juan Hill. But it was Berryman who recast the critter as a cuddly mascot of presidential discretion.
The teddy bear would go on to double as Berryman's dingbat, offering comments from the peanut gallery even after Roosevelt left the White House. He's peppered through the National Archives' "Running for Office: Candidates, Campaigns, and the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman."
The little guy's an appropriate emblem for a show that with gentle humor and a surpassing respect for authority assays the tender follies of those who aspire to public service. In his more than 50 years at the drawing board, Berryman (1869-1949) depicted figures from perpetual also-ran William Jennings Bryan to come-from-behind king Harry S. Truman, but he apparently never got angry with his subjects.
Continue Reading "Sharp Pen, Soft Touch: Clifford Berryman" »
Twice Told Tales: 'The K of D'
Map It: Archives-Navy Mem'l Map It: Gallery Pl-Chinatown
PLAYWRIGHT LAURA SCHELLHARDT says there are real differences between a ghost story and an urban legend.
"An urban legend is really my generation's ghost story," she says. "There are some certain rules to them, but one of the rules is that an urban legend doesn't happen to you. You don't tell it about yourself."
Schellhardt's play "The K of D," now running at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, is a one-woman show featuring a speaker who relates the events surrounding a girl in a small, spooky Ohio town during a mysterious summer. Woolly Mammoth company member Kimberly Gilbert plays a total of 16 characters, but the dominant voice is that of a girl who watched it all happen.
Addison Road