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For a complete list of upcoming events, see Cornell Club of Washington's web site.
Art Gallery Walks:
Art Gallery Walks:
Started in March, 2025, this series develops according to the initiative of CCW members who will host (working directly with Steve to post your event) or will co-host with Maggie an event she has described that operates in an effort to honor public servants:
Steve: programming @cornellclubdc.org no spaces
Maggie: is reached at Librarian MS @ gmail.com no spaces
*Sample Event* that Maggie runs as part of the "Community Service" responsibilities she has in the CCW:
*Sample Event* that Maggie runs as part of the "Community Service" responsibilities she has in the CCW:
Title: Expressionism - Art Gallery Walk at the National Gallery of Art
Date: ___
Time: Approximately 12:00 noon-1:30 pm, arrive by 12:25.
Meet at the Garden Cafe near the 6th street entrance to the West Building of the National Gallery of Art
Register ahead, then...
Join Cornell Alumni to welcome art lovers and all wishing to show gratitude for the dedication of public servants in our community.
Preparation ahead is optional, but use our red section below for a few really helpful learning links "light touch" teach you vocabulary, artists and "look fors."
Description:
A former high school librarian, current graduate student in Art History will lead a light discussion of "look fors" in selected pieces by some of the Masters (with the intention to focus on messages of balance, healing, strengthening, and building bridges across humanity.) With some luck and enough sign-ups, we will have a professionally guided tour to help us "slow look" and enhance the observations we might quietly share.
Noon arrival is optional: Sign-in as early as 12:00 noon at Garden Cafe in the West Wing of the National Gallery of Art. Look for the Red Cornell sign. (We'll number fewer than 20 in total.) Our leader asks you to introduce your guest to others and congratulate our guests on achieving lives of meaning through service to others and the ongoing development of their valued expertise.
12:20 we'll announce a few "look fors" previewed in the red box below and begin our slow walking tour of about 60 - 75 minutes. For a focus on ____ (see the map.) It may not be much structured, but if you have a link to this web page on your phone, details, queries below might help you ponder the works, artists and themes as our group meanders through the works and crowds. Keeping in mind that our event may have to be squeezed into a guest's lunchtime, it is fine to break off and depart at any time that you must.
1:30 pm (optional): folks can continue to walk about the National Gallery of Art on their own, or to socialize over coffee or lunch downstairs at the Espresso and Gelato Bar or Cascade Cafe on the concourse between the East and West buildings. Menus and Info.
How "inviting" works: Each Cornell registrant is encouraged to gather the name of a friend who is a First Responder or Federal Worker and INVITE him or her. It doesn't mean that the guest MUST attend, but we hope your registration with us indicates that you have at least one person in our community whom you would honor with our invitation ... and send it! (Copy this URL into an email or text to them, because if this week's event doesn't work on their schedule, we will have future events when we can honor them.)
How does a Cornellian register their guest? First register yourself using your CCW login and registration system. If your invitee can attend, send their name separately by email to LibrarianMS@gmail.com. Include your name, and iIf you provide detail on the role that your guest(s) plays in our community (i.e., firefighter, health care professional, FBI, US Patent office worker, FEMA lawyer, EPA civil servant) then the host can personalize a thank-you gesture.
All Cornellians are welcome to show some gesture of thanks to our honorees when we gather. Buy 'em coffee? Give a handshake. Mean your thanks.
Keep the organizer up-to-date with at least a 24-hour notice of cancellation if at all possible so that she can manage the waiting and "honored guests" list, please. Wait-listed folks will be offered "first in line" status for subsequent events in this particular series. Please paste this event page's URL into your calendar so that you can update us if your plans change. We limit the size of our group in order to encourage conversation and community building.
Plans changed? Cancelling? Email to LibrarianMS @ gmail.com (no spaces) so that we can honor people on the waiting list. You can also cancel your registration by logging in to the CCW Web site which will immediately release a seat for others. This is sure to be a POPULAR series, organized for community building and community service, so thank you for your supportive engagement!
Further Detail/ Logistics
Late Aug or after Oct. 4: TBD
Late Aug or after Oct. 4: TBD
Event 4 Topic: Leaning toward early 20th century movements like post-Impressionism, Cubism, Expressionism for exploration. Might (instead) take a focus on a few specific painters from a variety of movements, to include Rembrandt or Vermeer, Caravaggio, Delacroix, and Picasso? Might take a look at Abstract Art to include the Color Field paintings of Rothko.
I'm looking for a co-host if you are available! You could steer the direction of the offering and I'll get it posted with learning resources.
Recently:
Recently:
May 22, 2025 reviewed:
May 22, 2025 reviewed:
Focus: 17th and 18th century Dutch, Flemish, German painting and the economic, religious and geographic conditions that gave rise to distinct styles. Included: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, Jan Bruegel the Elder (see G-24), Willem Van Aelst (50) , Rachel Ruysch (the Master of flower paintings, but our NGA does not have any), Rubens: still lifes, portraiture and landscape/ seascape painting (what was special about the style of such, compared to landscape painting from elsewhere and other eras?)
Vocab to toss around: vanitas, memento mori, genre paintings, realism, composition, chiaroscurro, (and a bonus word related to the Italian artist Caravaggio, tenebrism.) Baroque. Provenance.
What symbolism can we notice in Northern European artwork during this period? What's the deal with all of the still life paintings of either flowers or "kitchen table spreads?" How did the choice of subject material permit the Masters to demonstrate amazing skill? Bonus: what five objects would you put into a still life if you wanted to show how amazingly talented you were as a painter? Or if you commissioned Rachel Ruysch or another to make a vanitas for you, what would you ask her to put into it-- to reflect your own interest in its message?
Before or after the visit if you want:
Article 1-- symbolism in Dutch still life painting.
Video: symbolism in Vanitas. (Vanitas evolved from "breakfast pieces" and "ostentatious pieces" before them. How did that progression reflect evolving values, the values of patrons, and historical context?)
From NGA - a creative video called "How to Style a Still Life Inspired by Jan Van Kessel's Vanitas Still Life." It's a clever approach and will help you to understand symbolism and composition. (The work is in Gallery G-25.)
Video 1 - What is a STILL LIFE? | Rachel Ruysch's Vase of Flowers <-- she's an extremely important painter! Learn more about Rachel Ruysch - National Gallery video. More on RR at ArtHerstory.
Videos called "The Smile of Reason" and "The Worship of Nature" from Kenneth Clark's CIVILIZATION series from BBC may also be found to be relevant. Available from You-Tube or downloadable at https://archive.org/details/kenneth-clarks-civilisation
A video slide show without narration. (Use as a warm-up... or afterward to celebrate new learning!)
May 1, 2025 reviewed:
May 1, 2025 reviewed:
Focus: Beyond Realism: Romanticism, Orientalism, Impressionism: 1860 - WW I to include works by Delacroix (the most reknowned French"Romantic" painter), Pissaro, Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Morisot (see video) and Cassatt. Boudin!
Wear black and talk all snooty with me by using this vocab: "the Academy," salon, avante-garde, Beaux-Arts, Orientalism, impressionism, post-impressionism, pointilism, abstract expressionism, cubism. Composition. Plein air. Applicaton of Chevreul's Theory of Color which impacted the Impressionists greatly. How did the invention of "tubes of paint" support painters such as Monet to create new works, and fill galleries with outdoor leisure scenes, landscapes, that encouraged the depiction of the effects of light? The emergence of photography in the early 19th c encouraged the ideas of "drawing with light." How did painters show a similar preocupation with light and perception in the 19th century? How did changing economic conditions and patronage of the arts impact the development of artwork representative of movements in this age?
Themes to ponder: Which artists of this period might stand out as exemplary for their styles, messages and techniques? What 3-5 (different) words might you share with our group to express what qualities you see represented in this period's painting and sculpture? Which artists, subjects or pieces might you hope to locate as you wander the NGA with Cornellians and their guests? What motivated you to attend today's event? <--Be ready to share if you come early for coffee, or if you linger with new friends afterward.
If you chose to view the "Slow Looking" video linked in our Art Resources section below, do you have a three-sentence take-away that might recommend the video to others in our group?
March 7, 2025 reviewed:
March 7, 2025 reviewed:
Focus: Italian Art and the transition to the early Renaissance (1300 - 1600) Fifteenth Century Northern European Art: Jan van Eyck. Bonus: Delacroix in room 81.
Which part of the gallery? Second Floor of West Wing, Rooms 1- 34 (shown in light blue, pink, peach on map) to include Leonardo da Vinci's only painting in the Western Hemisphere.
Resource: Episode 3, Romance and Reality from Kenneth Clark's CIVILIZATION at YouTube. Ginevra's Story - 6 min video on Leonardo da Vinci's only piece in the Western Hemisphere. More. Art of Perspective video (8 min.).
Themes to ponder: In a period of plague, loss, grief, how did art express human desire for comfort? If life was short and often brutal in this period, from what did Europeans seem derive meaning and direction? How did art reflect growing power of people to tackle human progress? Which artists of this period might stand out as exemplary for their styles, messages and techniques? What 3-5 (different) words might you share with our group to express what qualities you see represented in this period's painting and sculpture? Which artists, subjects or pieces might you hope to locate as you wander the NGA with Cornellians and their guests? What motivated you to attend today's event? <--Be ready to share if you come early for coffee, or if you linger with new friends afterward.
If you chose to view the "Slow Looking" video linked in our resources section below, do you have a three-sentence take-away that might recommend the video to others in our group?
Art Resources
Art Resources
Kenneth Clark's CIVILIZATION series from BBC - 13 episodes. Available from You-Tube or downloadable at https://archive.org/details/kenneth-clarks-civilisation
Short SmartHistory videos at YouTube and Khan Academy-- search for the enthusiastic, "breathless" videos by Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris. They will model "analysis" and blow you away! 5-10 min analyzing each work. Example: Durer's Four Apostles.
Slow Looking and Mindfulness Practices with Art - video, 59 minutes, Smithsonian Education. While the audience is educators who might employ the method with a class of students, starting at minute 6:20 will give you an experience of "slow looking" at art, and an experience one can adapt for personal practice wherever you wander to appreciate art. Feel how art appreciation can be calming and healing. Minute 10:20 provides a fast look at an artwork. Guided Practice through a warm-up with the technique of enhancing focus through relaxation techniques begins at minute 18:00. A direct link to the work of Hokusai's painting (2 slides) is here.
Take ARTH - 201 (like I did) from Dr. Heather McGuire at George Mason U. It was fantastic!
Vocabulary, Artistic Movements, Artists:
Britannica - free version. Public and School Libraries offer a version without all the ads.
Khan Academy's excellent Art History
What is Abstract Expressionism? Art Story.
The Baroque period and its masters: (Art Story.)
Map for NGA, West Building is at: https://www.nga.gov/sites/default/files/2025-03/nga-map-english.pdf
For Alex, I found this set of resources to contextualize the emergence of Impressionism and avante-garde after the Age of Revolution.
Within library databases, find Art-STOR (linked from J-STOR) and Oxford Art!
Use this page as a resource to invite and honor First Responders and Federal Workers you know for the respite you might arrange independently.
Thank a Federal Worker. Thank a First Responder.
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