Visit to the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden

While we were in Washington, DC in June I visited the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden -- another part of the Smithsonian Institution.  The museum opened in 1974 in a building on the National Mall designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill -- basically a brutalist concrete donut perched on four massive legs.  

Hirshhorn Museum by Gordon Bunshaft viewed from the National Mall.  Photo by McClure

Interior of Hirshhorn Museum courtyard with lobby on far side of fountain.  Photo by McClure

If it were stuffed with wonderful art, I'd probably call it a 'cronut' -- but it's not.  There are three round floors of galleries above the glass enclosed lobby and another floor beneath the square podium that the museum is set on.  Only the underground floor and the sculpture garden were open when I was there.

The core of the museum's collection is the bequest from Joseph Hirshhorn and his wife of over 6,000 objects that had been housed in their New York City apartment, their Connecticutt estate, and in warehouses.  The most important works are the sculptures -- mostly from the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Of the paintings in the underground galleries, I found only two that interested me.

'Blue Balls' (I kid you not) by Sam Francis, oil on canvas, 1962.  Photo by McClure

I found the brilliant color and placement of the blobs fascinating and organic -- rather like cells multiplying in a petri dish.

'Phenomena Reverse Spell' by Paul Jenkins, acrylic on canvas, 1963.  Photo by McClure

This painting also has bright colors and an organic feeling -- like kelp under water waving in the current.

There were also two video installations, but they didn't interest me.  The graphics in the lower lobby were bright and dramatic in a commercial way.  I couldn't find any attribution for them.

Hirshhorn Museum, lower lobby graphics.

Leaving the building, I proceeded to look at the sculptures installed around the periphery of the podium which are generally more recent than those in the sculpture garden across the street. 

'Brushstroke' by Roy Lichtenstein, painted aluminum, 1996 (National Archives beyond).
Photo by McClure

We had seen another version of Lichtenstein's 'Brushstroke' in the atrium of the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.  It's a nice departure from Lichtenstein's more familiar pop art paintings.

'Last Conversation' by Juan Munoz, bronze, 1995. Photo by McClure

One corner of the site is dotted with these bronze push-overs which look like children's toys with adult heads engaging in childish pursuits.

'Throwback' by Tony Smith, bronze, 1979.  Photo by McClure

This piece by Tony Smith is situated on the east lawn, visible from several vantage points.  It looks different every time you catch sight of it.

'Two Disks' by Alexander Calder, painted steel, 1965 (FAA Building beyond).  Photo by McClure

This Calder stabile sits in front of the museum's entrance on Independence Avenue.  It's kind of predatory and spider-like -- reminding me of the huge Louise Bourgeois 'Maman' that we saw outside a church in Oostende, Belgium, in 2006.

The Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden sits across Jefferson Drive from the museum -- 1.3 acres sunk into the National Mall. It's filled with works by well-known artists in a multi-level garden setting:

'Burghers of Calais' by Auguste Rodin, bronze, 1889.  Photo by McClure

This monumental sculpture portrays the leading citizens of Calais who were forced to deliver the keys of the city to Edward III in 1347 to lift a year-long siege of the city by the English during the Hundred Years' War.

Detail of 'Burghers of Calais' by Auguste Rodin.  Photo by McClure

Rodin depicts each figure, gaunt from starvation, struggling with conflicting emotions of betrayal, fear and resignation. Commissioned from Rodin by the city of Calais in 1884, the completed sculpture unveiled in 1889 disappointed many of its citizens.  They had expected a heroic depiction of the burghers in keeping with contemporaneous civic sculpture of the period.  At the Hirshhorn it is set on a low pedestal so that viewers encounter the figures almost at eye level, as Rodin intended.

'Crouching Woman' by Auguste Rodin, bronze, 1907-1911.  Photo by McClure 

Rodin made versions of this figure in terra-cotta as far back as 1880-82 when he was working on his monumental 'Gates of Hell' and intended this figure to represent 'Lust'.  This larger one was created between 1907 and 1911 and this bronze casting was made in 1962.  

'Monument to Balzac' by Rodin, bronze, 1898.  Photo by McClure

 It took Rodin seven years to complete his monument to the novelist, Balzac.  The plaster model was completed and displayed in 1898, but it was rejected by the literary society that had commissioned it.  It wasn't until 1939 that it was finally cast in bronze.  Today there are at least nine castings of the work scattered widely around the world.  It is considered by many to be the first modern sculpture. 

'Walking Man' by Auguste Rodin, bronze, 1877-78.  Photo by McClure

Rodin probably created this piece as a study for his 'St. John, the Baptist' of 1877 which has much the same stance.  This casting was made in 1900.

'Great Warrior of Montauban' by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, bronze, 1900.  Photo by McClure

Bourdelle (an 'assistant' of Rodin's for a few years in the mid-1890's) created this work as part of a war memorial for those from his hometown (Montauban) who had died in the Franco-Prussian War.   The figure seems overly muscular with disproportionately large hands and small head.  Still, it conveys the power of a gladiator in combat. 

'King and Queen' by Henry Moore, bronze, 1953.  Photo by McClure

Henry Moore is well-represented at the Hirshhorn.  Two spare figures -- one male, one female -- sitting side-by-side on a simple bench seem reserved, but hardly regal.

'Draped Reclining Figure' by Henry Moore, bronze, 1953.  Photo by McClure

Moore's use of the drapery on this figure is almost Grecian, yet the face remains sketchy and inscrutable.

'Seated Woman' by Henry Moore, bronze, 1962.  Photo by McClure

By 1962, Moore's figures were more abstract, almost misshapen, but still graceful.

'Three-Way Piece #3: Vertebrae (Working Model)' by Henry Moore, bronze, 1968.  Photo by McClure

Moore likened this work to vertebrae, basically all the same shape but just slightly different one from another.

Moore's 'Three-Way Piece #3' in its verdant Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden setting.  Photo by McClure

Part of the glory of the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden is how isolated it seems from the National Mall.  There were hardly any visitors the morning that I was there.

'Eros, Inside Eros' by Arman, bronze, 1986.  Photo by McClure

Arman (Armand Fernandez) is known for his deconstructions like cutting this sculpture of 'Eros' into strips -- perhaps a comment on the emptiness of love.  It does look great in this verdant setting.

'Evocation of Form - Human, Lunar, Spectral' by Jean Arp, bronze, 1957.  Photo by McClure 

For me, this is very much a human form, but obviously Arp felt it had lunar and spectral possibilities.  Whatever the viewer decides it is decidedly sensuous.

'Figure' by Jacques Lipchitz, bronze, 1930.  Photo by McClure

Lipchitz, along with Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris, was at the forefront of the Cubist movement in the 1920's and 30's.  This piece shows the influence of African masks on Cubist art.

'Lunar Bird' by Joan Miro, bronze, 1966-67 (towers of the Smithsonian beyond).
Photo by McClure

Miro's strange abstraction alights in a field of grasses -- part rhino, part bird, all strange.

'Seated Yucatan Woman' by Francisco Zuniga, bronze, 1977.  Photo by McClure

 This earth mother sits in lazy repose in the shade of a tree.

'Self Portrait with Model' by Giacomo Manzu, bronze, 1942.  Photo by McClure 

This high relief sits against a vine covered wall.  Note how the artist uses perspective to increase the feeling of depth in the piece. 

The Italian, Manzu (Manzoni) was commissioned by Pope John XXIII to create the 'Doors of Death' installed at St. Peters Basilica in Rome.  He was a personal friend of the pope even though he was an atheist and a communist who lampooned church figures in some of his art.  He also created two reliefs for Palazzo d'Italia at Rockefeller Center.

'Young Girl on a Chair' by Giacomo Manzu, bronze, 1955 

The simplicity of this girl sitting in a straight-backed chair speaks to the innocence of childhood.   

'Sphere #6' by Arnaldo Pomodoro, bronze, 1963-65.  Photo by McClure

The contrast between the smooth exterior and the pitted gash feels organic -- smooth shiny facade, ripped away to reveal the complex, corrupted interior beneath.

'Horse and Rider' by Marino Marini, bronze, 1952-53.  Photo by McClure

Both the horse and rider give a sense of celebration.  In the 1930's Marini did several realistic equestrian pieces.  Here both horse and rider are wildly abstracted, but still recognizable.

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There's wonderful art in the sculpture garden (and presumably languishing on the upper floors of the museum). It appears maintenance is needed in the garden.   Unfortunately, the Hirshhorn has been consumed by in-fighting and grandiose schemes like covering the hole in the concrete donut with something called the 'Bloomberg Bubble' -- an inflatable dome to be added each summer.  While we were in Washington, a new director, Melissa Chiu, was appointed for the Hirshhorn.  Let us hope that she can rescue it from seeming chaos and folly.