November Evenings at the Edge After Hours at the National Gallery of Art

Katharina Fritsch's "Hahn/Erect," a fifteen-human foot electric blue rooster, looks out over Constitution Avenue from the new roof terrace at the National Gallery's renovated East Building. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Mail)

Revisiting the National Gallery of Art'south Eastward Building, which is reopening Fri subsequently a three-year renovation, is like greeting an erstwhile friend. She still has all the same familiar qualities, and conversation picks up every bit if no time has passed at all. But y'all likewise can't help but notice: She looks good.

The I.Thou. Pei-designed wing of the National Gallery, a monumental presence on the Mall, opened in 1978 with its geometric peaks and knife-sharp edges — one, at a 19-degree angle. Its collection picks up where the West Building, which features art from the 13th through 19th centuries, leaves off: Hither, you'll find the gallery'southward modern and contemporary fine art, besides every bit special exhibitions. After almost 40 years, the edifice needed upgrades to both ameliorate infrastructure and accessibility and to make room for the museum's expanding drove.

"We knew we needed to discover something that would piece of work within the Pei vocabulary," said Mary Katherine Lanzillotta, a partner at Hartman-Cox Architects, which oversaw the renovations. That meant sourcing Pei's original materials and echoing the lines of the edifice's interlocking triangular shapes. The renovations cost $69 million, financed with $39 million in federal funding and a combined $30 million donation from local philanthropists.

At that place are bright, airy, contemplative new spaces for art and new pathways throughout the East Building, which is, itself, an architectural masterpiece. Allow's get reacquainted.

[Subtle changes brand a big impression at the National Gallery East Building]

What's new?

More infinite for the permanent collection. One of the biggest upgrades was the allotment of more than showroom space in the existing v-story building. The renovations added 12,250 foursquare feet, allowing for the permanent-collection works on display to be increased from 350 to more than 500. Much of that new infinite is in the museum'south three skylight-topped towers, two of which are connected by a new rooftop terrace.

The new spaces besides have inverse how visitors motion through the museum. The permanent drove begins on the mezzanine level, where special exhibitions used to be displayed. Considering the renovation better connects the exhibition spaces, curators are able to present the drove in chronological order.

"It'southward hard to tell a story in fragments," said associate curator Molly Donovan. With the permanent collection's new presentation, she added, "we've been able to tell a more complete story."

On the mezzanine, yous'll kickoff with Picasso and Matisse circa 1900, and work your style through modernism, cubism, Fauvism and German expressionism. And then it's one flight upward to early abstraction, Dada and surrealism, postwar European fine art, abstruse expressionism and pop art.

In that location'south a special exhibition on this upper level, "Photography Reinvented," and, on the mezzanine, a brandish of recent artworks donated to the museum — all in hit monochrome. A small black box theater has been carved out of this space to evidence video, beginning with James Nares's "Street."

[Review: A rich addition to the National Gallery's photography drove]

A collection of Mark Rothko works is located atop tower one. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

In the towers — 2 are new to the public — curators have honed in on individual artists. Tower 1, at the easternmost point of the edifice, is divided: On one side, visitors enter to Barnett Newman's "The Stations of the Cantankerous" and, on the other, to a collection of Mark Rothko works. Tower ii was designed to brandish Alexander Calder'southward stabiles and mobiles, suspended from the skylights. Those towers also house parts of the permanent collection, but tower three features a special exhibition of Barbara Kruger's work. The gallery immediately below it displays Henri Matisse cutting-outs.

On the ground level, there are newly configured galleries. I, on American art from 1900 to 1950, focuses on George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, among others, and another has updated the museum'due south pop exhibition of small French paintings. Recollect Braque, Picasso and Bonnard, likewise as a stunning room devoted entirely to Modigliani. These works, said curator Harry Cooper, "take the carved frames that go in the West Edifice, but they're really East Edifice paintings."

A stunning room devoted entirely to Modigliani is located on the ground level. (Pecker O'Leary/The Washington Mail service)

On the underground concourse level, you'll find a special exhibition gallery housing the temporary testify "Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959-1971," too as a drove of contemporary art. They're organized thematically: Ane infinite is dedicated to art that pertains to "markers and signs," including Jasper Johns's "Target." Another grouping of objects relates to "catamenia," whether the flow of water or air depicted in a work, or the flow of pigment across a sail. Information technology's "the idea that art isn't static," Donovan said. "It'southward ever moving."

Stairs: The stairs are symbolic of the entire project. In Pei's original building, the floors in the towers were connected by steep spiral staircases. They were part of his vision just also tricky to navigate. Architects have replaced them with stairways that follow the triangular lines of the building, with more than landings to make them easier to climb. They also connect the building from tiptop to bottom; previously, only certain galleries were stair accessible.

New stairways connect the edifice and are easier to navigate. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

"These staircases enable the visitor to make new connections betwixt different eras in art," Donovan said. "We're not putting people on a singular path. They can brand their ain pathways."

Only one set of Pei'southward stairs remains, in tower iii — they atomic number 82 to the temporary gallery with the Kruger exhibition. And there's a new, enormous elevator in tower two that will ameliorate facilitate the moving of large artworks.

A trio of David Smith sculptures — Circle I, Circle 3 and Circle Ii — in the north window of the ground floor of the renovated museum. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

Floors: Some of the flooring, including in the stairways, was cut from the pinkish Tennessee marble that was used originally. For historical accuracy, the stones had to be cut from the same quarry, and they were carefully called and arranged.

"The stone matching — information technology'due south nearly like fitting a wearing apparel or tailor-making a adjust," said Susan Wertheim, deputy administrator for uppercase projects.

In the galleries, new floors made of fumed oak bring a golden warmth to rooms where there was in one case nighttime carpeting or physical.

Works from the Corcoran: The National Gallery acquired more than 6,000 works from the Corcoran Gallery, and many favorites can be seen in the opening installation. More than than 40 pieces from the former museum are on display in the permanent collection, every bit indicated by their tags. Some of the major acquisitions on display include the cerise monolith of Anne Truitt'southward "Insurrection" (in the "minimal, post-minimal and conceptual" room), Jenny Holzer'south scrolling-text "Truisms" (in the "Menses" room), Bruce Nauman'southward neon give-and-take fine art "Sugariness Suite Substitute" (in the "Markers and Signs" room) and George Bellows's "Forty-ii Kids" (in the American fine art section).

Roof terrace: Once you've climbed to the top of towers ane and two, be sure to caput exterior onto the new outdoor exhibition infinite, where y'all'll be able to gaze over Constitution Artery alongside a nearly 15-pes electric bluish rooster. The sculpture, "Hahn/Cock" by Katharina Fritsch, was created for London's Trafalgar Square and is on loan from the Glenstone Museum in Potomac. Information technology'southward joined by other works, including Nam June Paik'due south "Ugly Buddha" and "Ugly Television."

Alexander Calder's 76-human foot-long mobile still hangs in the atrium. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

Cafe: The museum has reopened the terrace cafe, which is connected to the upper-level galleries past a span. The buffet offers views of the 76-human foot-long untitled Calder mobile hanging in the atrium, turning gently in a style that belies its massive weight.

"The presence of the Calder — y'all can experience how radical that is, information technology's similar seeing a ship come into harbor," Cooper said.

The museum'south nutrient service is being run by a new operator, Starr Restaurant Group, which will revamp the menus of every National Gallery cafe on Saturday. The Terrace Cafe will offering coffees and pastries, with grab-and-become salads and sandwiches costing $8 to $ten.

[Get set for new menus at the National Gallery cafes]

Finding your favorite works

Want to encounter some of the East Building'due south most famous works in their new digs? Here'due south where to discover them.

Pablo Picasso, "Family of Saltimbanques," 1905. This painting of poor circus performers, which Hopper calls "the showtime cracking painting of the 20th century," is front and centre as y'all enter the permanent collection on the mezzanine level.

Jackson Pollock, "No. ane, 1950 (Lavender Mist)," 1950. This painting commands an impressive room of abstruse expressionist work on the upper level.

Glenn Ligon, "Double America," 2012. Ligon's neon piece, a reflection on race and politics, seems to be the perfect metaphor for this year.

Andy Warhol, "A Male child for Meg," 1962. Warhol's painting of the Nov. i, 1961, New York Post front page is exemplary of his fascination with glory and consumer civilisation.

Notable events

Opening weekend: On Sabbatum at 4 p.thousand., catch Yves Klein's "Symphonie – Monotone-Silence," a 20-minute D major chord performed by orchestra and chorus, followed by xx minutes of silence. The next twenty-four hour period at 2 p.1000., composer Philip Glass will perform and discuss his artistic procedure. Both programs are gratuitous in the E Building auditorium. At that place will be tours of the collections throughout the weekend.

On Oct. 13, the East Building kicks off its later on-hours programme, "Evenings at the Edge." From 6 to 9 p.g., the gallery volition offer tours and live entertainment, and food and drink for purchase. Christylez Salary is the get-go performer in the series, which takes place the second Thursday of the month through April 2017. Tickets, which must be reserved online, are free.

On Nov. v and 6, the gallery will host a free community commemoration for the East Building's reopening.

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Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/a-floor-to-roof-terrace-guide-to-national-gallerys-renovated-east-building/2016/09/29/a9740568-7f3f-11e6-9070-5c4905bf40dc_story.html

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