BGuthrie Photos: DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

BGuthrie Photos: DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. KCEN4_200829_001_STITCH.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2020_DC_Kennedy_Cen_4Ward DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts -- Forward Into Light (19 photos from 2020)
2. KCEN_200829_01.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2020_DC_Kennedy_Center DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (25 photos from 2020)
3. KCEN_200829_09.JPG: Don Quixote Aurelio Teno Bronze Gift of Spain, 1976
4. KCEN_200829_11.JPG: "Well might the enchanters rob me of my good fortune, but never of my spirit or my will." -- "Adventure with the Lions, Chapter XVII, Two", Miguel de Cervantes
5. KCEN_200829_37.JPG: Amerika Jurgen Weber Bronze Relief Gift of Germany, 1971
6. KCEN_200829_60.JPG: National Symphony Orchestra The Kennedy Center Gianandrea Noseda Music Director 2019/2020 Season [Yet another season of plans totally destroyed by Covid-19.]
7. KCEN_200829_66.JPG: The Kennedy Center is currently closed to the Public. Do not enter. All Staff and Contractors please use the A Level Motor Lobby entrance
8. KCEN_200829_71.JPG: "I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens. And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well." -- President John F. Kennedy
9. KCEN_200829_76.JPG: "This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor. o further the appreciation of culture among all the people. To increase respect for the creative individual, to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art — this is one of the fascinating challenges of these days." -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
10. KCEN_200829_80.JPG: "I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty. I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit." -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
11. KCEN_200829_84.JPG: "There is a connection, hard to explain logically but easy to feel, between achievement in public life and progress in the arts. The age of Pericles was also the age of Phidias. The age of Lorenzo de Medici was also the age of Leonardo da Vinci, the age of Elizabeth also the age of Shakespeare, and the new frontier for which I campaign in public life, can also be a new frontier for American art." -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
12. KCEN_200829_92.JPG: The Kennedy Center The JFK Memorial The Power of Ideals
13. KCEN_190910_01.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2019_DC_Kennedy_Center DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (1 photo from 2019)
14. KCEN_170528_02.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2017_DC_Kennedy_Center DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (8 photos from 2017)
15. KCEN_170528_15.JPG: These folks were taking a tour of the Center from someone I'd met at the Colombian embassy so I offered to take a photo of them.
16. KCEN_170528_32.JPG: FLB = Ferdinand Lammot Belin FJB = Frances Jermyn Belin Hindenburg Passenger: Peter Belin Age: 24 Residence: Washington DC Occupation: Student Location at time of fire: Passenger decks – portside dining room Survived Ferdinand Lammot "Peter" Belin Jr. was born on February 3rd, 1913 in Scranton, Pa. His father, Ferdinand Lammot Belin, Sr., was an international diplomat and Peter Belin therefore spent part of his boyhood in Istanbul and Peking, where his father held diplomatic posts. He was educated at schools in Switzerland and the United States and graduated from Yale University in 1936. Peter Belin spent a year in Paris studying at the Sorbonne as well as L’Ecole des Sciences Politiques in preparation for a career of his own in the diplomatic services. In May of 1937, he was returning to the United States and booked passage on the airship Hindenburg on its first North American flight of the 1937 season. A licensed pilot himself, with a great deal of interest in aviation, Belin read up on Zeppelins in anticipation of his voyage. As the Hindenburg flew over the North Atlantic, Belin and his fellow passengers enjoyed first-class amenities – including a combination bar and smoking room (a first for airship travel), and meals that rivaled those served in the best hotels in Europe - and also a surprisingly steady ride. Peter Belin would later recall how amazed he was at the almost utter silence of the ship, with the engines placed so far aft of the passenger decks that they were virtually inaudible but for a muted drone. The last morning of the flight, May 6th, 1937, as the Hindenburg flew over New England, Belin stood at one of the passenger deck's long banks of observation windows with fellow traveler Margaret Mather, watching for his alma mater of Yale, hoping to see it from the air. By the end of the trip that evening, as the Hindenburg hovered over the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, NJ, Belin estimated that he'd taken over eighty photographs throughout the flight. He was commenting on this fact to Margaret Mather, with whom he was once more taking advantage of the ship's fantastic view, this time watching the Lakehurst ground crew connecting up the dirigible's landing lines. Belin and Miss Mather were standing at the center window of the portside observation deck watching the landing operations down below Suddenly, they heard a muffled explosion from somewhere back toward the rear of the ship. Belin initially thought that it was another sounding of the ship's sonic altimeter, which had been used several times during the landing approach. Then the ship gave a sudden shake, and Miss Mather saw "a look of incredible consternation" cross Belin's face. The Hindenburg's tail quickly began to drop. The floor of the passenger decks tilted to a 45-degree angle, and Belin grabbed onto a post and held on as others standing near him, including Miss Mather, tumbled toward the aft wall of the dining room. Oddly enough, he noticed no flames entering the passenger decks yet, and looked to the nearby windows for a chance to escape. Two of the ship's stewards, Eugen Nunnenmacher and Chief Steward Heinrich Kubis, had also managed to avoid being thrown aft, and now stood in front of Belin at the center observation window. Another passenger sat on the broad windowsill, and fell out through the window as the ship neared the ground. Kubis followed him up onto the sill, and hesitated as the ship rebounded back into the air on its forward landing wheel. Finally, as the ship's hull collapsed to the ground, Kubis jumped, followed immediately by Nunnenmacher. Belin was right behind them, but the window suddenly slammed shut and jammed. He quickly smashed through the celluloid pane. He was never completely sure how, but later thought that he'd probably used a chair. Belin then dropped through the window while it was still about 15-20 feet above the ground, the ship's hull having rolled slightly to starboard as it settled to earth, leaving the portside windows suspended in the air. Belin landed in the sand, and scrambled away from the wreckage virtually unhurt. Only then did he notice that the entire ship was aflame. He then instinctively set about helping other survivors away from the wreck and to trucks that would take them to the air station's dispensary. Meanwhile, Belin's parents had been onhand to greet him, and had watched in numb horror as the Hindenburg was suddenly consumed by fire before their eyes. It was actually some minutes before the shock wore off and they realized that their son had actually been onboard. They then began searching the airfield for him, checking the infirmary, and then waiting over at the press room in the big Zeppelin hangar for reports on survivors. In the confusion, Peter Belin's name never appeared on the growing list of survivors on the press room's blackboard. At last, after an hour or two, the Belins realized that Peter had probably been killed in the wreck and, aided by a family friend, made their way back to their car. Peter, meanwhile, had realized that his parents would be looking for him, and began searching the airfield for them. He eventually headed over to the parking lot, figuring that it would be easiest to wait for them by their car. He arrived just as the car was pulling out of the parking lot, and he gave his distinctive whistle to try and flag them down. His stunned parents heard his whistle and turned to see Peter walking toward them. Peter Belin went on to finish his education overseas and by the latter half of 1938 was secretary to Hugh R. Wilson, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany. He followed this with a 20-year career in the Navy, eventually retiring as a Captain. In 1939, Belin married Mary Elizabeth Dickson Cootes. Mary Cootes had been born on May 9, 1912, in Norfolk, VA and her father, Harry Newton Cootes, was a colonel in the U.S. Cavalry and had been commandant of Fort Myers from 1930 to 1933. Mary had been educated in Vienna, where her father was a military attache after the First World War, and went on to study at the Sorbonne in Paris and graduated cum laude from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Fluent in several languages, Mary Cootes worked as a translator for the U.S. State Department and served in that capacity at a number of international conferences, including the International Radio Commission at Lisbon, Spain in 1934 and again in Cairo, Egypt in 1938. She continued her translator duties after her marriage to Peter Belin, serving in the various countries in which he was stationed. The Belins had four children, Beverly (who passed away in May of 1951,) Alan (who passed away in July of 1966,) Peter Graham (who passed away on September 7th, 1990), and Harry. After Captain Peter Belin retired from the Navy in 1960, he and his wife retired to the Belin family home, Evermay, in Georgetown. Belin's father, Ferdinand Lammot, Sr., had purchased Evermay in 1923, becoming the fifth owner of the home since it was built in 1801. The elder Belin, who led Georgetown's Colonian revival movement, restored the aging estate, and with his wife Francis, created Evermay's much-lauded gardens in 1931. Following in the footsteps of his father, Peter Belin became a leader in Georgetown historical preservation efforts, which resulted in the neighborhood being designated as a National Historic District. Evermay itself was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. In 1964, Peter Belin established the F. Lammot Belin Arts Scholarship, in memory of his father. The scholarship was endowed with funds provided by the Belin family and became a prestigious annual award as the years went by. Peter and Mary Belin were both prominent philanthropists, active in the Washington DC performing arts community as well as with the local Children's Hospital. For the rest of his life Peter Belin rarely, if ever, spoke of his miraculous escape from the Hindenburg. He passed away on Feb 23rd, 1982 at age 69 of a liver ailment. The Citizens Association of Georgetown posthumously established the Peter Belin Award, given in recognition of service to the Georgetown community. Mary Cootes Belin continued her philanthropic efforts after her husband's death, and passed away on January 10th, 1996. The above was from http://facesofthehindenburg.blogspot.com/2009/01/peter-belin.html
17. KCEN_161023_01.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2016_DC_Kennedy_Center DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (3 photos from 2016)
18. KCEN_150418_001_STITCH.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2015_DC_Kennedy_Center DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (145 photos from 2015)
19. KCEN_150418_014.JPG: Kennedy Center's FOLLIES costumes designed by Tony Award Winner Gregg Barnes
20. KCEN_150418_063.JPG: Tim Yip China Red: Light Dances of the Paper Cut The Kennedy Center Festival of China Academy Award--winning art director, Tim Yip (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) has created this special exhibition of paper cuts and hand-drawn motifs expressed onto the 60 foot high windows leading to the Grand Foyer from the Hall of States and Hall of Nations and onto monumental banners outdoors on the river terrace facade. Inspired by the auspicious nature of the color red and the folk art of paper cutting in Chinese culture, Yip draws on references from paper cutting that he has seen in various regions of China. His concept is to relay evocative qualities of human disposition and people's aspirations toward daily life.
21. KCEN_150418_095.JPG: Austria Made by J&L Lobmeyr factory, Vienna, Austria The Lobmeyer Crystal chandelier has 12,000 crystals, more than 130 crystal bursts, and almost 2,000 light bulbs. Every two to three years a truck is driven on to the stage of the Opera House and a fearless stagehand is lifted by a cherry picker, up to the chandelier. Burnt out light bulbs are changed and clusters of crystals are brought down to be cleaned and polished, a job that takes three to four days. The J&L Lobmeyr factory was founded in 1823. After gaining a reputation for the quality of their designs, the company was designated the official purveyor of crystal to the Imperial Court under Franz Joseph I. In 1883, the company manufactured the world’s first electric chandelier. In the late 1960s, the company expanded establishing overseas markets in Japan and the Middle East. J & L Lobmeyr has served clients ranging from the Hapsburgs to the New York Metropolitan Opera, and continues to be one of the most internationally renowned manufacturers of chandeliers and other glass works.
22. KCEN_150418_140.JPG: Argentina Combat of Astro Beings II by Raquel Forner Raquel Forner (1902–1988) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was known for her fascination with outer space and its exploration. Forner’s work can be seen in two phases: human suffering and the mysteries of the universe. After visiting southern Argentina in 1942, Forner felt a strong need to conceptualize her concern for human suffering. The isolated, primitive landscape she saw elicited feelings of war and destruction. Forner’s use of desolated landscape foreshadows her later fascination with moonscapes and planetary exploration. Forner also painted Return of the Astronaut in 1969 for the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
23. KCEN_150418_143.JPG: France Fish of the Sea designed by Henri Matisse Although known primarily as a painter, Henri Matisse (1869–1954) was one of the great figures in 20th century art with over a six-decade career in a variety of media—painting, sculpture, textiles, etching, lithography, and collage. Matisse’s initial style was conventional but became far more experimental by the turn of the 20th century, having been influenced by Cezanne, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. He began to use color to define forms and organize spatial planes. Matisse was often bedridden but continued to create art, sometimes drawing with a pencil or piece of charcoal attached to a long pole that allowed him to reach the canvas. He also worked in collage by cutting painted, heavy paper into shapes that assistants then pasted to wall-size canvases. Matisse’s revolutionary use of brilliant color and exaggerated form to convey emotional expression brought him recognition as a seminal 20th-century artist.
24. KCEN_150418_147.JPG: Marian Anderson by Nicolaus Koni, 1936 The art of Nicolaus Koni (1911–2000) often combined ancient Germanic traditions with modern abstraction to create striking images. He used bronze, marble, wood, jade, coral, gold, and copper materials for sculpting projects. He was sought after to sculpt busts of famous individuals such as Jonas Salk and American generals Omar Bradley and Douglas MacArthur. Koni was born in Transylvania and lived on Long Island, Palm Beach, and Europe. After graduating from Vienna, Austria’s Academy of Fine Arts, he continued studying in Paris and Florence. Koni came to the United States in 1941 and served in the Army Medical Corps during World War II. Following the war, he continued his art career by setting up a studio in Manhattan and later a studio in Palm Beach, FL. Koni’s works can be found, among other places, in Lincoln Center, New York University, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
25. KCEN_150418_152.JPG: France L'Oceanide by Henri Laurens, 1933 L’Oceanide (Nymph of the Sea) and L’Automne (Autumn), by Henri Laurens (1885–1954), reflect the interest of the artist’s later years, which was to create art focused on the female figure, including creative bronze and stone sculptures of nudes. Laurens was also a collagist, printmaker, and illustrator. French sculptor Auguste Rodin had considerable influence on Laurens’s early sculptures. His talents matured in the pre-World War I era when Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and other artists were developing the art form of cubism. Laurens began to translate the ideas of analytical cubism into sculpture, polychrome bas-relief, and collages. He moved away from the cubist style in the 1920s and created works with rounded forms, such as the female figure.
26. KCEN_150418_170.JPG: Ghana Adinkra cloth, a traditional mourning cloth; stamps cut out of calabashes
27. KCEN_150418_179.JPG: Ghana Royal Kente Cloth, a man's robe made of silk, cotton and rayon with symbolic designs
28. KCEN_150418_198.JPG: Ghana Wooden sculpture by Dr. Oku Ampofo Oku Ampofo (1908–1990) sculpted Asase Due for the African Room. The work, composed of exotic Afzelia wood, portrays a mourning woman with her hands over her head, deploring political assassinations and all forms of violence. Asase Due was inspired by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Ampofo trained as a physician in Edinburgh, Scotland, but took up sculpture as a hobby during medical school. When he returned to Ghana to practice medicine, Ampofo knew his patients could not pay him, so he began creating and selling wood sculptures to finance the medical practice. Ampofo’s works were generally executed in multi-colored hard woods or cement and terrazzo. They frequently portray cultural and socio-religious aspects of the Ghanaian way of life. Ampofo used traditional African concepts that combine emotional content and form. Body proportions are exaggerated and show great expression to project communication.
29. KCEN_150418_218.JPG: Swaziland Untitled "Cave Painting" woven wool and mohair walling, artist Juliet
30. KCEN_150418_221.JPG: Nigeria Handmade carved wooden doors by Lamidi Olonade Fakeye; made from single tree that was 700 years old Lamidi Olonade Fakeye (1928–2009) was born in Ila Orangun, Nigeria. He was a gifted woodcarver who was named a “Living Treasure” by UNESCO in 2006. Fakeye belonged to the Yoruba ethnic group, whose most important art form is woodcarving. He was a fifth-generation member of a celebrated woodcarving family and was given the prophetic middle name Olonade, which means “the carver has arrived.” Fakeye’s career began at 10 when he carved his first piece and began studying traditional Yoruba art under his father. Later, he was apprenticed to a master carver. His career prospered, and in 1973 he received the commission for the African Lounge doors. Later in life, he apprenticed several of his nephews so the Fakeye family’s artistic heritage would continue into its sixth generation.
31. KCEN_150418_252.JPG: Nigeria Hammered aluminum piece reflecting scenes from a Nigerian village
32. KCEN_150418_258.JPG: Senegal The Students Contemporary tapestry by Ansoumania Diedhiou, Ansoumana (1949– ), holds a position as artist-in-residence at the tapestry school in Senegal. His works are distinguished by the treatment and placement of hands.
33. KCEN_150418_264.JPG: Lesotho Wall hanging of wool and mohair by Sugat
34. KCEN_150418_268.JPG: Mali Cotton blanket strip weave woven with geometric multi colored pattern
35. KCEN_150418_277.JPG: Presidential box
36. KCEN_150418_299.JPG: France L'Automne (Autumn) Two sculptures by Henri Laurens for the box tier of the Opera House
37. KCEN_150418_309.JPG: Russian Lounge The lounge was designed by Sergey Skuratov and donated by the Vladimir Potanin Foundation. It contains acoustical wall panels and stainless trim, accommodating up to 200 visitors and is used as a donor lounge and event space. Sergey Skuratov (1955– ), the award-winning Russian architect who designed the Russian Lounge, founded his architectural practice in Moscow in 2002. His designs, mainly apartment complexes and multi-function complexes, use his favorite materials: brick, stone, wood, and copper. Most of the buildings he designed are in Moscow. Ideal Landscape Painting by Valery Koshlyakov, donated by the Vladimir Potanin Foundation. Three panels of tempera paint on line, 25 feet wide. Valery Koshlyakov (1962– ) was born in Salsk, Russia and trained as a theater stage decorator in art college. He later became active in underground art scenes, first in his home area and then in Moscow since 1989. He is considered one of Russia’s major contemporary artists. Koshlyakov is primarily known for his large-scale cardboard paintings, frequently suspended from the ceiling. These flattened box panels often depict iconic monuments (such as the Kremlin or Notre Dame), but more in the manner of street art and as symbols of cultural heritage and politics. His use of cardboard is consistent with 1960 European artists who worked with found objects to redefine painting.
38. KCEN_150418_326.JPG: Argentina Combat of Astro Beings I by Raquel Forner
39. KCEN_150418_328.JPG: Julius Rudel, Music Director for The Kennedy Center, 1968-1975 by Una Hanbury Commissioned by the Kennedy Center in the early 1980s upon the recommendation of a committee headed by former director of the National Gallery of Art, J. Carter Brown Austrian-born Julius Rudel (1921–2014) was one of the most famous and beloved opera and orchestra conductors of the 20th century. He rose to become the General Director of the New York City Opera in 1957, the Kennedy Center’s first Music Director in 1971 (at the request of Jacqueline Kennedy), and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Music Director in 1979. Even as a child, he was drawn to music and often attended Vienna Philharmonic concerts. He began formal musical studies in his native city of Vienna but moved to New York after fleeing Austria when it was annexed by Nazi Germany. He completed his musical studies in New York in 1943 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1944. After graduation, he was hired on the musical staff of the New York City Opera, remaining with that company for 35 years. Rudel loved opera and stated that it was “the most complete art form. It combines music, poetry, design, and movement. Like America, it is a beautiful mosaic.” He was nominated for several Grammy� Awards, winning once.
40. KCEN_150418_338.JPG: France Birds of the Air designed by Henri Matisse
41. KCEN_150418_345.JPG: Sweden 16 Orrefors crystal chandeliers Given a name meaning “the Orre waterfall,” Orrefors is a producer of premium quality glassworks that originated in the Swedish village of Sm�land. Orrefors started producing iron works after Lars Johan Silversparre got permission to build a furnace and smithy in 1726 by the scenic river that flows into Lake Orrenas. When iron production became unprofitable toward the end of the nineteenth century, the industry switched to glassworks. As it advanced, glassworks came to include crystal, sculptures, and more. The company has received several awards.
42. KCEN_150418_350.JPG: Painting of Beethoven by Theodor von Holst Theodor von Holst (1810–1844), born in England to Latvian parents, used theatrical and fantastic themes to visualize emotions. Von Holst created medieval influenced works capturing the spirit of mystery prevalent in the early Victorian era. Unlike more realistic painters of his day, such as Francisco Goya or Eug�ne Delacroix, von Holst’s style tended towards the dramatic and mystical.
43. KCEN_150418_351.JPG: Israeli Lounge Raphael Blumenfeld, designer of the Israeli Lounge Raphael Blumenfeld (1932– ) was born in Berlin but emigrated to Israel with his family shortly after his birth. After studying architecture in England, he returned to Israel where he became president of the Israel Institute of Design. He also served in other public service roles. Blumenfeld has designed many buildings in Israel including universities, hotels, and hospitals.
44. KCEN_150418_357.JPG: African walnut wood and brass panels of Ancient musical instruments by Nechemia Azaz Nehemia Henri Azaz (1923–2008), sculptor, ceramicist, and creator of stained-glass windows, was invited by Yitzhak Rabin in 1972 to carve the wall for this lounge. Azaz used African walnut wood with brass and copper foil and metallic wire to depict forty-three ancient instruments mentioned in the Old Testament. Born in Berlin, Azaz moved to Palestine as an infant. In 1945, he apprenticed with Italian monumental stonemasons in Bologna, Italy. He also apprenticed as a sculptor and stained-glass maker in Amsterdam, later studying art in Paris and ceramic chemistry in Holland. In Israel, Azaz is widely known for establishing the Harsa pottery ceramic art department in the mid 1950s. From the 1960s onwards, Azaz turned his attention to large scale architectural sculpture in a variety of materials such as concrete, wood, metal and stained glass. Azaz’s work adorns public buildings, synagogues, educational institutions and corporate offices in Israel, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.
45. KCEN_150418_375.JPG: Israel Ceiling panels by Shraga Weil These 40 wooden ceiling panels decorated with acrylic paints and 22-carat gold leaf by Shraga Weil (1918–2009), combine images from the present with those of the biblical era. The panels illustrate musical events described in the Old Testament, such as Joshua and his fighters capturing Jericho by blowing their trumpets, causing the city’s walls to collapse. The artwork (including the colors) is reminiscent of Mark Chagall’s work and also contains influences of the art deco period. Weil was born in what was then called Czechoslovakia, where he attended the Academy of Art in Prague. His first graphic works were produced during World War II when he was a prisoner. He escaped the Holocaust despite his Jewish origins. After the war, Weil emigrated to Israel where he earned a living as an illustrator. Weil subsequently furthered his education in graphics by studying in Paris; he also studied mosaic workmanship in Ravenna, Italy. Weil’s works have been exhibited worldwide, and many are on permanent exhibit at Brandeis University, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Los Angeles County Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
46. KCEN_150418_402.JPG: Dimitri Shostakovich by Ernst Neizvestny, 1976
47. KCEN_150418_409.JPG: Luxembourg Ascension sculpture by Lucien Wercollier Lucien Wercollier (1908–2002), one of Luxembourg’s leading modern artists after World War II, searched for the relationship among lines, structures, shapes, and meaning. Wercollier worked in multiple media including stone, bronze, marble, alabaster, and glass. Perhaps the most renowned of Wercollier’s sculptures reflect the Nazi occupation of Luxembourg during World War II. Wercollier’s continual antagonization of the Nazis led to his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in a Luxembourg abbey. Eventually, he was transferred to a German concentration camp where he remained until the end of the war. After being freed from the camp, Wercollier returned to Luxembourg and devoted himself to his work. Today, the abbey where he was imprisoned is home to many of his sculptures.
48. KCEN_150418_412.JPG: Mstislav Rostropovich National Symphony Orchestra Music Director (1977-1994), Conductor Laureate (1994-2007) by Audrey Roll, 2007 Audrey Roll-Preissler is an American artist whose works embrace outdoor painting, portraiture, and humorist satire. Her bust of Rostropovich was commissioned by National Symphony Orchestra Board member Austin Kiplinger and was installed in 2007. Roll-Preissler is particularly noted for her work featuring musicians, including a series of busts of classical composers. Mstislav Rostropovich (1927–2007) was a virtuoso cellist and one of the leading conductors of his time. In 1943 at 16, Rostropovich entered the Moscow Conservatory. By the 1950s, he had won multiple competitions and was touring extensively. In 1956, he became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Rostropovich began conducting in 1968. In 1974, after disagreements with the Soviet regime, he left Russia. He was the director of the National Symphony Orchestra from 1977–1994. During Rostropovich’s tenure at the NSO, he was credited with making the orchestra a world-class ensemble. His passionate style made him hugely popular with audiences, and performances frequently sold out. He was also able to bring in many famous guests to perform with the orchestra. Rostropovich continued to give concerts and conduct leading orchestras around the world. He also recorded great cello works and gave cello master classes. He died in Moscow.
49. KCEN_150418_428.JPG: Painting of Franz Joseph Haydn by C. Gregory Stapko Milwaukee-born C. Gregory Stapko (1913–2006) was a school dropout and housepainter who became the nation’s foremost copyist of famous works. His paintings hang in the White House, Blair House, the Arlington House, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, U.S. embassies, and government agencies. He also painted original portraits of Supreme Court justices, ambassadors, and private citizens. After leaving school in 7th grade, Stapko became an apprentice to church painters who taught him to restore frescoes, imitate marble and woods, paint murals, and apply gold leaf. At 18, he started a house painting business but had to close it when most of the helpers left for the military at the outbreak of World War II. At the urging of Polish artist Eliasz Kanarek, Stapko left Milwaukee in 1941 for Washington, D.C., where his career as a copyist began. Kanarek had operated a studio in Washington and had connections there that led to portrait commissions for Stapko. Stapko began to lug his paints and easel into the National Gallery of Art and set up in front of a painting spending hours perfecting his technique by making a copy. In the 1940s, he was hired by New York publishers of fine art books to make copies of National Gallery masterpieces. At the height of his career, Stapko turned out 50 to 70 works a year, both copies and originals. He also restored damaged paintings, taught oil painting, did gold-leaf work for churches, built furniture, and crafted copies of old frames. In the 1950s, he designed and built a unique house and studio in McLean, VA, also crafting the home’s furniture. He lived there until his death.
50. KCEN_150418_429.JPG: Great Britain Figure by Dame Barbara Hepworth Dame Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975) played a major role in shaping international modernism. She is best known for creating sculptures in wood, marble, alabaster, and bronze that are often influenced by the shapes and contours of nature. During the early 1930s, the forms in Hepworth’s sculptures became more and more simplified. By the end of 1934, she was creating entirely abstract works, regarded as the first completely abstract sculptures made anywhere in the world. In the late 1930s after moving to a small fishing harbor in England’s Cornwall region, Hepworth’s work became influenced by the Cornish landscape. Her sculptures were no longer completely abstract; they contained references to landscape forms and to nature. Hepworth’s work is represented in collections throughout the world, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
51. KCEN_150418_438.JPG: Switzerland Apollo X 1970 Sculpture by Willy Weber Willy Weber (1933–1998) was an iconoclastic metal sculptor who specialized in metal reliefs and architectural and kinetic art. Although Weber began as a painter in 1962, he started working with metal, his preferred medium. He produced his first “explosive” sculptures, part of a larger work composed literally of planned and experimental explosions on steel, Corten, chrome, and aluminum as well as brass and iron. With these sculptures, Weber sought to liberate the material from traditional design principles and painstaking preparation and execution. Weber also sought to express the contrast between life’s polarities, such as the ability of all matter to self-create and self-destruct, the opposites of pleasure and pain, and the shortening and expansion of time. His work shows life as a chaotic evolution with constant movement between two poles.
52. KCEN_150418_449.JPG: Denmark Vibrations Porcelain relief by Inge-Lise Koefoed Inge-Lise Koefoed (1939– ) studied at the School for Applied Arts from 1956 to 1960. Major works can be seen at the Shakespeare Center in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, and in Kors�r, Denmark, where she designed the metal fountain Water Play for an indoor pool.
53. KCEN_150418_457.JPG: Concert Hall
54. KCEN_150418_485.JPG: Norway Seven Hadelands crystal chandeliers Hadeland Glasswerk was founded in Norway in 1762, at an estate near the town of Jevnaker. At first, the factory produced small household glass items like medicine bottles and jars. In 1852, under the leadership of Ole Berg, the company began working with crystal, making wine glasses, bowls, and vases. Early in the 20th century, the company’s designers gained international recognition for the delicacy and sophistication of their work. Today, the factory uses many of the same processes and techniques it used in the 18th century.
55. KCEN_150418_549.JPG: John F. Kennedy by Robert Berks The John F. Kennedy bust, created by Robert Berks (1922–2011), weighs 3,000 lbs. and is 8 ft. high. The cast bronze work rests on a travertine pedestal and contains an additional 700 pounds of steel for internal mounting. The bust was commissioned as the visual symbol of Washington’s sole memorial and created specifically for its present site in the Grand Foyer. Berks said that in creating the sculpture he wanted most to capture Kennedy’s “energy, the tremendous hope, and [his] compelling drive.” The Kennedy family suggested Berks, the sculptor of other presidents including Truman, Lincoln, and Johnson. Berks’s early studies for the bust began in 1963 only days after the President’s assassination. He went to a New York newspaper office and pored over more than 800 photographs, eventually selecting about 60 that captured Kennedy’s appearance from a variety of angles. After studying the images intensively for two days, he began modeling clay. Berks spent five years designing and one year executing the sculpture. Because the memorial would be placed in the Grand Foyer—one of the world’s largest rooms—Berks needed to work out the bust’s size so it would be in scale with the immensity of the space. He wanted Kennedy Center guests to experience an intimacy with the sculpture. Thirteen of Berks’s works are in Washington, D.C., including the Mary McLeod Bethune Emancipation Centennial Monument in Lincoln Park and the 22 ft. Einstein Centennial Monument at the National Academy of Sciences on Constitution Avenue, NW.
56. KCEN_150418_554.JPG: "The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation, is very close to the center of a nation's purpose -- and is a test of the quality of a nation's civilization." -- John F. Kennedy, December, 1962
57. KCEN_150418_556.JPG: Throughout his life, John F. Kennedy had a strong commitment to the arts, believing art to be the highest achievement of the individual and an enduring source of national greatness. During his presidency, he brought the arts to center stage in the nation's life. He was a driving force in creating a national center for the performing arts. Upon his death, the center he helped build was dedicated as the national presidential memorial, a living tribute to his memory.
58. KCEN_150418_560.JPG: "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: Ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." -- John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961
59. KCEN_150418_567.JPG: "All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days, nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, not even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet, but let us begin." -- John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961
60. KCEN_150418_570.JPG: "This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor. To further the appreciation of culture among all the people, to increase respect for the creative individual, to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art -- this is one of the fascinating challenges of these days." -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
61. KCEN_150418_573.JPG: "I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens. And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well." -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
62. KCEN_150418_584.JPG: "I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty. I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit." -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
63. KCEN_150418_588.JPG: Amerika Bronze relief by Jurgen Weber gift of Germany, 1971 Sculptor J�rgen Weber (1928–2007) was self-taught. His panels required more than 200 separate castings to complete, taking him four years to sculpt in plaster and another two years for a foundry in Berlin to cast the pieces. War or Peace shows nude figures in various scenes representing war and peace, ranging from a bombed city with a figure clawing out of a bunker to figures dancing to music of the Greek goat-god Pan. Amerika contains symbols of contemporary science and commerce to show America’s inner contrasts: democratic idealism, the competitive world of science and business, and the inner tensions arising from many viewpoints. Weber’s art strives for stark simplification of natural forms, emphasizing the junctures of movement and emotional expression.
64. KCEN_150418_601.JPG: Don Quixote bronze by Aurelio Teno gift of Spain, 1976 Although as a young boy Aurelio Teno (1927–2013) studied painting and drawing and went on to learn goldsmithing, he described his Don Quixote sculptures as his “life work” and devoted his career to creating them. Many are displayed in several countries. One such sculpture stands on the Kennedy Center east lawn. King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain wanted to present a gift to the United States in 1976 to mark the American Bicentennial. In a competition with Salvador Dal� and Jose De Creeft to create a sculptural gift, Teno won. The 20 ft. stone and bronze Don Quixote depicts Spanish novelist Miguel Cervantes’s character in full armor astride his horse. Both are emerging from jagged Colmenar limestone quarried in Spain. Don Quixote wields a 12 ft. steel lance high over his head; his horse, Rocinante, is charging forward with his head raised, mouth open, and hooves kicking. Teno explained that he did not want to conceptualize Don Quixote as a static figure, as in traditional portrayals. He perceived Don Quixote as a rebellious character, one who strove for justice and peace.
65. KCEN_150418_609.JPG: "Well might the enchanters rob me of my good fortune but never of my spirit or my will." -- "Adventure with the Lions", Chapter XVLI Two, Miquel de Cervantes
66. KCEN_150418_637.JPG: Untitled Black aluminum by Eduardo Ramirez gift of Colombia, 1973 Eduardo Ramirez (1923–2004) created the untitled sculpture installed in 1974 in the Center’s gardens. Ramirez was a sculptor and painter who worked with geometric abstraction, pre-Columbian Incan designs, and post-colonial Hispanic themes. Although he experimented with other materials, he is mostly known for his iron work.
67. KCEN_121022_04.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2012_DC_Kennedy_Center DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (7 photos from 2012)
68. KCEN_091107_02.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2009_DC_Kennedy_Center DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (1 photo from 2009)
69. KCEN_071011_02.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2007_DC_Kennedy_Center DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (10 photos from 2007)
70. KCEN_040816_001.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2004_DC_Kennedy_Center DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (16 photos from 2004)
71. KCEN_040816_067.JPG: Terrace Theater
72. KCEN_021029_05.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2002_DC_Kennedy_Center DC -- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2 photos from 2002)
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