I had not been in DC since 1974. Previous to that, I had visited several times. It was a violent and fearful city then. Even - and especially - right in front of the White house, every vehicle was warned to drive 24 hours a day with doors locked and windows rolled up. The violence was crazy. It was supplemented by the sometimes madness of the anti-war and civil rights movements. I once hitch hiked at night from Georgetown to Dupont circle (I must have been out of my mind). A true madman right out of some B movie gave me a ride. He stuttered so badly I could not understand much of what he said. He had trouble shifting the gears as apparently whatever drugs he used interfered with supple gear shifting.
He told me he was the most antiwar of all antiwar people and had the elements of a bomb with him. He thought I did not believe him, so when he dropped me, he got out, opened the trunk and showed me four sticks of dynamite in a grocery bag and next to them, a box opened to show some wires and electrical parts.
Another trip, I was working on my M.A. and had sold a piece of personal art to some people in Winnipeg. They owed me $600. and said I should pick it up on the way to the airport. That was a nice sum of money to a grad student in 1973,but now I was stuck carrying around the cash for two weeks in DC and later New York.
Once in DC, I checked in to what would be called a two star hotel right across from the new and widely celebrated Watergate hotel and complex. When I checked in, I had to ask for a safe deposit box. The old and haggard witch at the desk was the essential definition of a hag. She saw me put the fat envelope in the box. The evening before I was to check out she said;
Ya better take that money out of your box tonight because I have to be at the dentist in the morning and I am not sure what time I will be back.
That's o.k. because my New York train is in late afternoon.
Well, it could happen that I won't even come back and then as I am the only one with the keys, you won't get your things.
What could I do? I took out the envelope and went to my room which was the nearest the desk - maybe only 20' from it. Less than two hours later, there was a tremendous kicking at my door. Two critters were intent on kicking it in. I had just retired and was either naked or in underwear. I jumped up and held the door, but I could hear one thug speaking to another and felt I could not hold them off.
I managed to pull two pieces of furniture over and block the door some, but they were determined. I knew that at that time even many senators, congressmen and news reporters carried guns, so I shouted "Stop or I will shoot. I have a gun and I will shoot." Incredibly they stopped.
I knew the Hag controlled the phones, the - useless - air conditioner blocked the window, and I was trapped there all night. But I was safe. Several people in DC were genuinely horrified what would have happened to me if they entered the room as all indications were that it would have been uncivil to say the least.
Stalin's garage sale
Over the past couple of years, I did quite a lot of study after I heard that Stalin had sold off many treasures from great Russian museums - including the Hermitage - and looted treasures from many of the great Russian estates.
It took several books to get the facts. It seems that Lenin and Stalin, like the peasants, felt that the art sitting in museums did nothing for the hungry population which was also pumped up on building a great new society. They set out a plan to sell off as much as possible and purchase the tractors the peasants wanted. Curiously, the accountant assigned to establish prices, set them way over market values of the time. Even the wealthiest westerners would not pay such prices and little sold.
However, the U.S. ambassador at the time was of the Mellon family. They were at the zenith of their wealth and were establishing and themselves building the new National galley in DC and buying wildly for their own collections as well. Both the ambassador and his wife were concerned that the hostility of the communists toward art and fine things was so ardent that they might allow some or all of it to be damaged or destroyed in such unpredictable times. They began to purchase as much 14, 15 and 16th century works as they could
One other American involved was Armand Hammer. Love him or not, I personally think was probably the greatest businessman of all time. He managed to do a lot of deals with the communists. On his first trip to Russia, he managed to meet Lenin. On a subsequent trip, while in London, he was in a junk shop and saw a desk sized sculpture of a monkey contemplating a human skull. He presented it to Lenin, and it remained on his desk until he died. From then to Gorbachev, Hammer personally knew every dictator except one. He was famed in Russia for that and had a lot of leverage, you could say.
I had a great desire to visit the National gallery to see if I could identify some of the works the Mellons purchased from Stalin's big sale.
It happened that the airfare was modest. As it was the week of U.S. Thanksgiving, all the Big Big shots were out of town an I found a perfect room at the Grand Hyatt for $99 U.S. + tax; surely the best hotel deal I have ever been blessed with - and they gave me waay early check in and waay late check out at no extra charge, and they were really nice too. It was five blocks from the W.H., and about the same to the National, the Cdn. embassy, and three blocks to the National Portrait, American art and folk art museum.
The 1st day was cold and windy, but sunny and clear. One starts at the National Gallery outdoor sculpture garden. It was so nice. You will recognize Claes Oldenburg's eraser, probably not Miro's folding doughnut, and a grand chromed tree named Graft. Perfect !
Inside we first attend the immense sculpture collection - rooms and rooms of the very best of sculpture anywhere. Suddenly, you begin to recall that many listings show the National as the greatest public art collection in the U.S.,and I would say that it is a fair appraisal.
The bronze face is Mahler. The Degas little dancer is the original one and is the very ugliest one I have seen of many. They also have the 1st one struck and it is also pretty ugly. But the later ones I have seen prettified are not what he intended at all. The one I saw in Dresden was so beautiful (not the face, but the dress and body - but even the face was prettified cf. the original in DC) There are now so many of these (probably 300) and there have been recent indication that they are still making new ones in Paris at this moment.
The Napoleon is Jacques Louis David's. Do you know that JLD was in Bastille for some months scheduled to be executed, but it never happened. He was contracted by many of the inhabitants to draw portraits of them for their families. He had little time as some were executed the day after the arrived. But there are a lot of David portraits today that are of people he drew before they died.
There is a whole book of letters the condemned wrote to their families, which the cruel guards never delivered and remained in the archives. I read many of them. In the book it expands on the life behind bars in that part of the Bastille at the time. the author said that the leading desire of condemned women was sex and as much as possible in the time they had remaining. It happened then that the men and women were kept in the same area. Eventually the superintendent came and told them harshly that the place had a reputation in Paris now of a brothel, and he had to then separate the men and women.
That Hopper, Cape cod evening is so compelling. The Van Gogh self-portrait is one of the greatest paintings I have ever seen. You should fly there just to see it (and have lunch in the great sniffy cafe on main floor). His forehead, and some of his hair really is green. What can compare to that - try about 14 Rembrandts', two of which are the most famous - his self portrait and one other. Try walking into one of many, many rooms with about 10-12 paintings and 8-10 of them are so famous they are in every book of major paintings. It is truly thrilling to have the chance to see these works in real life and one does so admire the Mellons for the massive contributions to this grand place. And it is free like all the museums in DC, so you can come and go frequently -as I did.
The greatest treasure of the NG is the da Vinci - immediately above here - (only one in U.S.) Ginevra (1474). Mrs Mellon bought this from the King to Lichtenstein for $5 million, put it in a suitcase, bought a seat for it on a commercial flight and took it home to DC. The Raphael Alba madonna (1510) is also a treasure among hundreds. It is shocking for me to see the Boy in red shown above from the 15th C., in original frame and in perfect condition. These are the kind of things that came right out the Hermitage. I went to museum staff and asked to see the list of all items bought from Russia.
The gallery allows artists to come in and paint reproductions one day a week. The thing that looks like a water fountain is actually a brass water fountain that is so pretty, and is one of a family of them on each floor.
I have taxed your patience enough. I will just say that I also was pleased to visit the Hirshhorn modern museum, and the puissant Phillips collection, Arlington cemetery, Vietnam memorial, Chinatown, the Building museum and several nice neighbourhoods and fine restaurants. What a great trip, and good for DC and the U.S. that among all the sturm und drang, dismal obsessions, fear of everything/anything, and billions of tons of truly bad art today, there is a fine city, with nice people, and so much great art.
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