National Gallery of Art & Few Random D.C. Photographs

Contemplating the cat's presence in Hendrik Goltzius's The Fall of Man, 1616. From the National Gallery's website: "The cat, representing the unjust judge, solemnly reminds viewers not to enjoy what they should condemn, lest they too cause more harm than good."

The back of Leonardo da Vinci's Ginevra de' Benci, c. 1474/1478 ("Beauty adorns virtue").

An unexpected surprise: the Garry Winogrand exhibition at the National Gallery. I viewed many works reminding me of the days spent working at the Center for Creative Photography where his archive is housed. In addition to old favorites (Fort Worth stock yards, Bronx Zoo, streets of Los Angeles) and postmortem prints, I was struck by the objects: contact sheets, Guggenheim letters of recommendation and astonishingly, a letter from his ex-wife outlining his ineptitude with finances.

My favorite painting at the National Gallery: a trompe l'oeil detail of Cornelis Norbetus Gijsbrechts's Hanging Wall Pouch from 1647.

An unfortunate crop of a Sol LeWitt sculpture outside the National Gallery (the sunshine is deceiving as it was 20 degrees).

My great intentions to skip a sliver of Camden Hardy's concrete block in the Reflection Pool were thwarted.

I could not help but feel as if I walked into several dozen Hollywood films when wandering around the Lincoln Memorial, halfway expecting Matt Damon to jump out of a limousine.

I pressed it (with gloves on) and it didn't do anything.

The beauty of spending Spring Break away from the Midwest is seeing the third showing of Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel while staying in Washington, D.C. The Royal Tenenbaums is my highest Wes Anderson standard and this film was the closest to meeting it (though Moonrise Kingdom gives it a run for its money). This slideshow of the model from The New York Times was reminiscent of all the window displays I saw in Prague last summer (on a lesser scale). I am looking forward to watching it again (keeping an eye out for all the strategically placed artwork).

With this, I am officially caught up with Spring Break posts. Thirty days until "summer vacation" (in quotes because it snowed yesterday and it is very difficult to fathom that it is finally spring).