DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: MVSEVM (by David Beck):
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MVSEVM_120331_001.JPG: MVSEVM, 2006
David Beck
David Beck was commissioned to create this work of art for the 2006 reopening of the renovated Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. MVSEVM references the history of this building when it was the U.S. Patent Office, as well as the development of museums in general. Many details refer specifically to collections now displayed in this building.
MVSEVM_120331_089.JPG: MVSEVM references the early history of this building when it served as the U.S. Patent Office. Twenty-four cases contain objects that "double" as patent models and icons associated with prominent American artists. Look for Wayne Thiebaud's gumball machine, Stuart Davis's eggbeater, and Jasper Johns's lead light bulb.
MVSEVM_120331_091.JPG: Eye miniatures line the insides of two of MVSEVM's doors. They are similar to those created in the nineteenth century as "tokens of affection" for loved ones. Our collection includes several eye miniatures, which are displayed in the Luce Foundation Center for American Art on the third floor.
MVSEVM_120331_093.JPG: Beck depicted President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln dancing at his second inaugural ball, which was held on the third floor of this building in 1865. The figures refer to a famous sculpture by Elie Nadelman, Tango (1919).
MVSEVM_120331_095.JPG: Nineteenth-century museums were filled with encyclopedic collections of objects. Marvels of nature and man-made artistic creations were displayed side by side, as you see them in Beck's MVSEVM. A tiny magnifying glass allows viewers to read his initials, inscribed on a brick fragment from this historic building.
MVSEVM_120331_098.JPG: The latticed canopy of branches resting on "ghost tree" posts commemorates the enclosure of this building's open-air, central courtyard with a contemporary ceiling designed by Norman Foster in 2007.
MVSEVM_120331_100.JPG: Beck included portrait miniatures of important American artists whom he especially admires. His portrait of Franz Kline incorporates one of the artist's signature abstract paintings in the background.
MVSEVM_120331_103.JPG: "Cabinets of wonders," which housed precious objects and exotic specimens from nature collected by well-traveled sea captains and explorers, were the European precursors to modern-day museums. Beck included twelve drawers and filled them with hand-made objects and specimens that mimic those collections of long ago.
MVSEVM_120331_105.JPG: The artist created small cases filled with masks and other objects, recalling artifacts gathered in the Pacific by the Wilkes Expedition (1838-1842), which were displayed in this building in the mid-nineteenth century.
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Description of Subject Matter: MVSEVM
David Beck was commissioned to create this work of art for the 2006 reopening of the renovated Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. MVSEVM references the history of this building when it was the U.S. Patent Office, as well as the development of museums in general. Many details refer specifically to collections now displayed in this building.
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: MVSEVM (by David Beck)) directly related to this one:
[Display ALL photos on one page]:
2022_DC_SIPG_Mvsevm: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: MVSEVM (by David Beck) (4 photos from 2022)
2009_DC_SIPG_Mvsevm: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: MVSEVM (by David Beck) (13 photos from 2009)
2007_DC_SIPG_Mvsevm: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: MVSEVM (by David Beck) (2 photos from 2007)
2012 photos: Equipment this year: My mainstays were the Fuji S100fs, Nikon D7000, and the new Fuji X-S1. I also used an underwater Fuji XP50 and a Nikon D600. The first three cameras all broke this year and had to be repaired.
Trips this year:
three Civil War Trust conferences (Shepherdstown, WV, Richmond, VA, and Williamsburg, VA),
a week-long family reunion cruise of the Caribbean,
another week-long family reunion in the Wisconsin Dells (with lots of in-transit time in Ohio and Indiana), and
my 7th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including side trips to Zion, Bryce, the Grand Canyon, etc).
Ego strokes: I had a picture of Miss DC, Ashley Boalch, published in the Washington Post. I had a photograph of the George Segal San Francisco Holocaust memorial used as the cover of Quebec Francais (issue 165). Not being able to read French, I'm not entirely sure what the article is about but, hey! And I guess what could be considered to be a positive thing, my site is now established enough that spammers have noticed it and I had to block 17,000 file description postings for Viagra and whatever else..
Number of photos taken this year: just below 410,000.
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