A visit to the Taft

Friday
This morning we went downtown to the Taft museum, to see their special exhibition, Winslow Homer to Georgia O’Keeffe: American Paintings from The Phillips Collection, an art museum in Washington DC, founded by Duncan Philips and Marjorie Ackerman Philips in 1921. Fifty-five works by American artists, including Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Helen Frankenthaler—span the 1860s through the 1960s. After seeing the exhibition, and enjoying lunch from their cafe out in the sunshine, I spent some time at the front of the museum, taking pictures of their glorious peonies, lining the path up to the front entrance (no longer used), and the wonderful art installation Far Flung by Patrick Dougherty, which I blipped in mono last June. Dougherty used six tons of willow tree saplings and twisted and turned them—with the help of more than 150 community volunteers—into sweeping, whirling shapes. The installation is expected to be up for two to three years.