Vermeer, Renoir and Contemporaries

November 18-20, 2017

Saturday, November 18
Plan to arrive in Washington DC Reagan National Airport by 11:00.  Both Delta and American Airlines have non-stop morning flights from Lexington.  From there it is a short cab, Uber or shuttle ride to the Willard Hotel.  Leave your luggage with the front desk and it will be delivered to your room when we return later in the day.  Lunch is on your own.
12:30   We will board our motor coach to the Kreeger Museum where we will have a docent tour of the building, art collection and sculpture garden.  The Kreeger Museum, a private, non-profit museum and the former residence of David and Carmen Kreeger rests on five acres of sculpture-filled gardens and is surrounded by tranquil woods.  Designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson, it is among the few examples of his work in DC.  The Kreeger's focus on 19th and 20th century paintings is evidenced by works of Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, Chagall, Miro and Stella.
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The Kreeger Museum
3:00   Our motor coach will depart for Hillwood, the estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post.  The house reflects Post's distinctive style of design developed in the 1920's, based on 18th-century French aesthetics.  Our private docent-led tour will take us on a journey through the 1950s home to experience the elegant French drawing room, the efficient and "high-tech" kitchen and pantry, and the many personal touches that make Hillwood one of Washington's most memorable homes. During our visit, there will be time to explore the gardens and see the exhibition of Marjorie Merriweather Post's spectacular gems and jewelry in the Adirondack Building.
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Hillwood Estate, Museum and Garden
5:00   Return to the Willard Hotel to check in.
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7:00   Leave for the two-minute walk to dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill.  Established in 1856 and steeped in Washington lore, the Old Ebbitt is opposite the White House and a favorite watering hole for politicos of all stripes.  Famous for its raw bar, this historic restaurant has an extensive menu and well-priced wine list that will likely please all gourmands.

9:30   Return to the Willard Hotel.
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Old Ebbitt Grill
Sunday, November 19
​11:30   Meet in the Grant Suite at the Willard for a private brunch. Located on the second floor of the hotel, the Grant Suite overlooks 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and features floor-to-ceiling windows that provide panorama views of the city.

1:30   We will again board our motor coach to visit the Phillips Collection, where we will have a curator's tour of the exhibition Renoir and Friends focusing on the Phillips's celebrated Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880-1881) by Pierre-August Renoir. This exhibition highlights the circumstances leading up to the creation of this painting and the artist's diverse circle of friends who inspired it.
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August Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1880-1881 Phillips Collection
4:00   We will attend the Sunday Concert at the Phillips - the longest continuously running series in Washington, DC.  This series has run for over 75 years.  
Annie Wu, flute and Feng Niu, piano.
Annie Wu first appeared in Carnegie Hall at age 12 as the youngest winner of the National Flute Association's High School Soloist Competition.  Since then she has developed a solo career alongside studies at Harvard and the New England Conservatory. She works regularly with pianist Feng Niu.  Their recital celebrates important flute and piano works by American composers alongside a rarely-heard sonata by the great French flutist Phillippe Gaubert, and an arrangement of Debussy's sultry and epoch-making "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun", the work which Pierre Boulez considered to be the beginning of modern music.
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Annie Wu, flute
6:00   After we return to the hotel, I hope you will join me for a beverage in the Round Robin Bar.  It has remained a lively meeting place since the days of Abraham Lincoln.  Dinner is on your own
Monday, November 20
Enjoy an early breakfast and check out of the hotel before 9:30.  The front desk can hold your bags until we return.

9:30   We will gather in the lobby of the Willard Hotel to walk together to the National Gallery of Art  where we will see Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry. This landmark exhibition examines the artistic exchanges among Johannes Vermeer and his contemporaries from 1650 to 1675, when they reached the height of their technical ability and mastery of depictions of domestic life.  The exhibition brings together 75 works by Vermeer and his fellow painters from the Dutch Golden Age, including Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou, Pieter de Hooch, Gabriel Metsu, Frans van Mieris, Caspar Netscher, and Jan Steen, juxtaposing paintings related by theme, composition and technique, the exhibition explores how these artists inspired, rivaled, surpassed and pushed each other to greater artistic achievement.  The exhibition features 10 paintings by Vermeer including The Lacemaker (c.1669-1670, Musee du Louvre, Paris) and The Love Letter (c. 1669-1670, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).
11:30   Lunch together in the museum's Garden Cafe
Following lunch there are several choices of not-to-be-missed events and exhibitions also at the National Gallery of Art:
  • More than Mimicry: The Parrot in Dutch Genre Painting.  At 1:10 in the West Building Lecture Hall, Kristen Gonzalez, curatorial assistant of northern baroque painting, National Gallery of Art will give a talk in conjunction with the exhibition Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry.
 
  • Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures in the West Building, Main Floor combines art, fashion, science and conservation in this revelatory exhibition bringing together - for the first time - some 14 of the paintings known as the fantasy figures by Jean Honore Fragonard (1732-1806). He is considered among the most characteristic and important French painters of his era, and the fantasy figure series - several rapidly executed, brightly colored paintings of lavishly costumed individuals - are some of his most beloved works.  The subjects are depicted posed at leisure or employed in various pursuits, such as acting, reading, writing, playing instruments, or singing.  Wearing extravagant attire, these figures are dressed in what was known in 18th-century France as a l'espagnole (Spanish style) - plumed hats, slashed sleeves, ribbons, rosettes, ruffs, capes and accents of red and black. 
 
  • Edvard Munch: Color in Context on the ground floor of the West Building in Gallery 22. In the second half of the 19th-century, advances in physics, electromagnetic radiation theory, and the optical sciences provoked new thought about the physical as well as the spiritual world.  Aspects of that thought are revealed in this exhibition, an exhibition of 21 prints that considers the choice, combinations, and meaning of color in light of spiritualist principles.  Informed by both popular manuals that explained the science of color and theosophical writings on the visual and physical power of color, Edvard Munch (1863-1944) created works that are not just strikingly personal but charged with specific associations.
 
  • A special installation in the Gallery's East Building features Mural (1943) by Jackson Pollock, on loan for a year from the University of Iowa Museum of Art.  Originally commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim for her New York City townhouse, this early painting is Pollock's largest work at nearly 20 feet long and represents a major turning point in the seminal artist's career and style.  Also on view are paintings and works on paper by Pollock from the National Gallery's collection.
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Caspar Netscher, A woman Feeding a Parrot, 1666
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Jean Honore Fragonard, M. de la Breteche
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Edvard Munch, Girl's Head Against the Shore
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Jackson Pollock, Mural
5:00 or thereabouts, we should be back at the Willard Hotel to collect our luggage and make our way to Reagan National Airport to return to Lexington.  Delta and American Airlines both have non-stop evening flights.

Should you wish to arrive a day early or stay longer at the Willard, we will make the request on your behalf and then confirm that the room is available.  Art Connects will pay this additional charge at check-out and bill you later.
You will receive an email confirmation of your reservation at which time you will have an opportunity to select your room preference - a Deluxe King or Deluxe Double Queen.  All rooms are non-smoking.
If you have questions, please call Kate Savage at 859-321-1341.

Art Connects
PO Box 1691, Lexington, KY  40508
859.321.1341
[email protected]