Visiting the Renwick Gallery

Just up the street from the White House is the Renwick Gallery, one of the Smithsonian museums of art. One of the featured exhibits was George Catlin's Indian Gallery of nearly three hundred paintings intended to capture their way of life shortly after the Lewis and Clark expedition. George spent a lot of time on and sometimes beyond the frontier of European settlement and preserved some wonderful images for those who could not make the trip. It was nice to get to see them.

In the lower left is Beth Lipman's Bancketje (Banquet). Beth Lipman has used her talents to translate still life paintings into three dimensional productions in glass. Everything on the table, some four hundred pieces, are made of glass; food, drink, linen, everything... and it's amazing. If you click on the image and get the full sized picture, you'll also see a shattered piece on the floor behind the banquet table; it's supposed to be there. At first, I was concerned and was tempted to notify the museum staff; then I thought, it might be intended. I've since seen this piece photographed at other locations and that broken piece is also present. Nice touch, scaring the viewers!

In the lower right is Ghost Clock by Wendell Castle. Click on the link and then return to read the following. That sheet over the clock isn't a sheet at all. The grandfather clock under the "sheet" isn't a clock. The whole thing is evidently one piece of mahogony. Makes you want to look again, doesn't it? I'll wait.

When I saw Ghost Clock, I thought it was one of those statement pieces that sometimes defies my logic. I read the little plaque and learned that the "sheet" was actually very nicely bleached wood; I looked again. I peered intently, trying to see something that would have revealed that it was wood; I didn't see it. Pretty amazing! Whatever message there may have been behind the image, the amazing craftsmanship eclipsed it for me. I can appreciate the skill and attention to detail that went into this piece without any futher understanding.