Good morning! I hope you had a great week. I had a busy one but a good one. I thought I would send you off to the weekend with some images from another favorite art gallery in D.C, The Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Do you know it? Have you visited it on one of your trips to Washington, D.C? It is a wonderful gallery that was founded to house the collection of William Wilson Corcoran. As his collection grew he began to open his own home to let visitors see his private collection of established American artists.
Eventually he began to plan a public space to house his growing collection however these plans were interrupted by the Civil War. Corcoran was a southern sympathizer and he high tailed it off to Europe to wait out the war, while he was gone the government seized his unfinished building.
After the war was over his building was returned and construction resumed, this building by the way is the current location of the Smithsonian Museum Renwick Gallery, with the gallery opening in 1874 with 98 pieces of art and sculpture.
William Corcoran deeded the building and his collection to a Board of Trustees and asked that two days a week the museum be open to the public for free.
By 1890 the museum had out grown its space and so the building was sold to the government and a new space was built at its current location on 17th and New York Ave.
Since then the collection has grown significantly to include the collection of Montana Senator William Edward Clark and Edward and Mary Walker. The collection now included works by Pissaro, Renoir, Monet and more European arts.
I hope that you have a fabulous weekend! I will be staying in as the weather is going to be terrible. Hopefully I will be baking something scrumptious.
Enjoy!
Artist Spotlight: Ria Krishnan
Artist Spotlight Vikki Chu
Artist Spotlight, Kate Lewis
Silent Sunday 1-12-2014
I really must try to visit Washington, your recent posts have highlighted this exciting city.
We have torrential rain here in Brittany, I am hoping for some better weather when we get back to London next week!
Have a lovely and cosy weekend. Enjoy your baking.
Jude x
Oh, my favorites are the classics…those marble sculptures will never go out of fashion for me. HI ELIZABETH! HAPPY WEEKEND! Anita
I love the art museums in DC and frequent them often! So great to see what's new at the Corcoran-thanks for the inspiration.
xo Nancy
Powellbrowerhome.com
Thank you Elizabeth for your wonderful posts on DC…my daughter is anxious for us to visit so it looks like we will be going down soon.
Enjoy the weekend – I hope you bake something yummy! xoxo
Elizabeth,
What a lovely post to share with us about DC. Great inspiration to see. Have a wonderful weekend.
Love
Kate
xoxo
i know your soul is richer for this museum visit.
i know mine is.
xx
Gorgeous art! Thank you for sharing the pics and about the place!
Such a wonderful tour Elizabeth. There is something about the expression and facial features of folks years ago (as seen in the paintings) that's fascinating to me. The detail in the dress, the hair, and simple (if any) make up. Thank you for sharing your museum visit with us. It certainly brings back memories! I'm looking forward to going back.
xxleslie
So much fun Elizabeth…I felt like I was there with you. Don't you just love time alone in a museum or gallery…a wonderful way to spend a day. Thank you for sharing your visit. Best wishes for a lovely weekend Elizabeth.. xx
What wonderful and eclectic pieces. I marked several as favorites. Thanks for sharing. I do hope the trustees continue to open the gallery those two days with free admittance. Enjoy you weekend.