Kreeger Museum
The Kreeger Museum is a private art museum in Washington, DC. It is named after the collectors David and Carmen Kreeger and is located in the family's former home. The plans for the building came from the architects Philip Johnson and Richard Foster in the 1960s . The collection includes works of art from the period from 1850 to the end of the 20th century. These include several works by Claude Monet and other impressionist artists , works by Pablo Picasso and works of abstract art . In addition to paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures by European and American artists, the museum shows a group of masks from West and Central Africa.
history
David Lloyd Kreeger was born to Russian-Jewish immigrants. After studying law, he was promoted to management of the company at Geico Insurance within a few years. Together with his wife Carmen he started collecting art in 1959. In the 1960s, the Kreegers came up with the idea for a new house that would serve their representative needs as well as offer enough space for their collection. As a later use as a museum was not initially planned, the couple decided on a 22-hectare property on the elegant Foxhall Road in the northwest of the American capital. The residences of the German and Spanish ambassadors are also located in this quiet residential area outside the city center.
For their new house, the couple were able to win Philip Johnson as architect , who designed the plans with his assistant Richard Foster in 1963. The house was completed in 1967. The elongated three-story building has a modern steel and concrete architecture with travertine cladding and, above all, large glass surfaces at the rear. As the property is on a slope, the house looks like a two-story building when viewed from Foxhall Road. The bottom floor only opens to the sculpture terrace behind the house and the park-like garden behind it. Inside the house, the walls are also mostly clad with travertine, some with teak . The entrance to the house is on the middle floor. The visitor enters directly into the over the second and third floor extending Great Hall ( Great Hall ), to which the other rooms as well as a glass atrium, in which a tree and other plants are to connect. The ceiling of the Great Hall has several flat dome structures lying one behind the other, which, like the textile wall covering of the room, ensure good acoustics. This was particularly important for the builders, as their interests were not only in the visual arts, but also in music, and both played an instrument themselves.
After the building was completed, David and Carmen Kreeger used the building not only as a private residence; her home quickly became a social meeting place in Washington. Souvenir photos on the walls still bear witness to this today, showing, for example, the couple with former presidents Jimmy Carter or George HW Bush . The visitors to the house could not only admire the extensive art collection, but the Kreegers also invited to private concerts. Sun gave Isaac Stern , Pinchas Zukerman , the Tokyo String Quartet , or the Cleveland Quartet house concerts at the Kreegers.
David Kreeger died in 1990. In the following period, the rededication of the house began as a museum, which opened to the public on June 1, 1994. Of the 2,200 m² of usable space in the building, 1,300 m² were converted into gallery space under the direction of Judy A. Greenberg, who has been the director of the museum to this day (2012). For this purpose, almost all the furniture on the middle floor of the house has been removed and additional exhibition rooms have been created in the basement. In the Great Hall there is only one grand piano that is used for occasional concerts in the museum and only the former library gives an impression of the original furnishings of the house. Even after the death of Carmen Kreeger in 2003, the top floor with the former private rooms remained inaccessible to visitors. The museum is only accessible to individual visitors on individual days. In addition, groups can visit the house after registering. In addition to the permanent art collection, which is shown in changing presentations, there are various special exhibitions.
collection
Within 15 years, the couple amassed most of their art collection, which consists of more than 300 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures. The focus of the collection is on French art of the 19th century and international modern art by painters and sculptors of the 20th century. In addition, sculptures from West and Central Africa were brought together. The collection was not put together from a museum perspective, but reflects the personal taste of the collectors, whose portraits Portrait of Carmen Kreeger by Alfred Jonniaux and Portrait of David Lloyd Kreeger by James Anthony Wills are also in the museum.
19th and 20th century art
Among the earliest works by European artists in the museum are works by the Barbizon School . The collection of Charles-François Daubigny includes the river landscape Les Sablières près de Valmondois , Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot depicts a wagon Le chariot d'Arras, and Narcisso Virgilio Díaz de la Peña shows the oriental motif La favorite alongside a Fleur still life you sultan . The museum also owns four works by Félix Ziem . These include the city views of Hagia Sophia with the city wall of Istanbul , The Doge's Palace seen from the Canale della Grazia and the Doge's Palace with the landing stage, as well as the oil study Two Women . This is followed by the academic-style female nude portrait Nu assis dans un paysage by Thomas Couture and another nude La vague by Henri Fantin-Latour .
Eugène Boudin and Adolphe Monticelli are among the forerunners of Impressionism . With Sur la Meuse, the museum shows a port view typical of Boudin, Monticelli's still life Flowers in a copper bowl and the figure image Conversation galante . The collection contains a block of nine Impressionist landscape paintings by Claude Monet . These include several sea views created in Brittany such as Barques sur la plage de Pourville, marée basse , Coucher de soleil à Pourville , Falaises aux Petites-Dalles , L'Aiguille et la Porte d'Aval vues en amont and La Pointe du Petit Ailly, temps gris . In addition to the river landscape of La Seine à Port-Villez, effet rose , the paintings Printemps à Giverny , Prairie à Giverny and Bras de Seine près de Giverny, brouillard, which were created in the vicinity of Monet's house, also belong to the collection. Other Impressionist landscape paintings come from Alfred Sisley , whose Le givre and Lisière de bois belong to the collection. There are also the cityscapes Le Jardin des Tuileries, été by Camille Pissarro and Venise brouillard by Pierre-Auguste Renoir . In addition, Edgar Degas' museum has a depiction of a combed naked woman Femme se coiffant .
The works of Late Impressionism include Paul Cézanne 's landscape painting Maisons et sapins and the still life Le vase bleu sombre, III, and Vincent van Gogh 's two flower paintings Vase with Carnations and Other Flowers and Vase with Zinnias . In addition, there are works of Symbolism with Au fond de la mer by Odilon Redon and Assemblée dans un parc by James Ensor . With Le golfe ou Paysage du midi and Marine, Cannes , the museum is showing two sea views in the style of the Nabis by Pierre Bonnard . Piet Mondrian's early work includes the landscape with the Oostzijdse molen windmill and sunset . Another early work is Mann med hatt sittende på veranda by Edvard Munch . The museum is showing two portraits by Amedeo Modigliani , both of which are entitled Portrait du graveur Weill .
In addition, there are several works of Cubism in the collection . By Fernand Léger , the museum L'enfant à l'accordéon and Georges Braque works L'atelier au vase noir , Le chevalet and Still Life with Vase , the picture on the back Vanitas I located. The Kreegers put together a series of paintings by Pablo Picasso that come from different phases of his work. There is an early café scene Chez le Café de la Rotonde ou L'Hippodrome , a woman's head Tête de femme from Picasso's classicist period, works in the style of Surrealism or Cubism such as Tête de femme endormie , Tête de femme au chapeau , Compotier et verres , Nature morte aux épis , Nature morte avec fruit, verre, et journal and another Tête de femme . Picasso's late work includes Nu assis appuyé sur des coussins and L'homme au casque d'or aprés Rembrandt , a work based on The Man with the Gold Helmet, previously attributed to Rembrandt . Further surrealistic works are Le secret by Paul Delvaux , Le regard de soie by Yves Tanguy and Le chevalier rouge by Man Ray . The area of classical modernism is complemented by the works Relations by Wassily Kandinsky , Composition by Marc Chagall and L'eau dans le gaz and Milady by Jean Dubuffet .
The paintings Playing Children and Green Sea with Yellow Boat by Max Beckmann are the beginning of a series of paintings in the style of Expressionism . In addition to works by American artists such as The Prophet by David Park , Storm Composition No. 2 by Abraham Rattner and Girl with Mirror, as well as Bay by Elmer Bischoff , the collection also includes works by Israeli painters such as Fischerfamilie from Jaffa and Early Morning in Galilee by Reuven Rubin and Ravens over the Valley by Emek Mordecai Ardon . The stock of abstract paintings is also significant. These include pictures such as Homage to the Square: Wet and Dry by Josef Albers , Universal Joint and Mushroom Barricade by Thomas Downing , two works Untitled by Gene Davis , Cape , Graining and Beam by Sam Gilliam and another picture Untitled by Larry Poons . There are also works such as Untitled and Image in Khorkom by Arshile Gorky , Elongation by Hans Hofmann , Bowling Ball Galaxy and Bowling Ball Eclipse by James Rosenquist , Fleurs dans un vase rouge by Nicolas de Staël , Flin-Flon XIII by Frank Stella and Untitled by Clyfford Still .
In addition to the collection of paintings, the Kreegers put together a small number of works on paper. These include drawings, gouaches and pastels by artists such as Eugène Boudin, Edward Burra , Marc Chagall, Paul Gauguin , Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee , Wifredo Lam , Joan Miró , Piet Mondrian, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro, Odilon Redon and Alfred Sisley. There are also prints by George Wesley Bellows , William Christenberry , James Ensor, Adolph Gottlieb , Joan Miró, Jakob Steinhardt and Henry Moore .
The sculptures from the Kreeger Collection can be seen both in the house and in the park of the museum. Among the small sculptures shown in the house, the figure of a seated bear Ours assis no.2 by Antoine-Louis Barye is one of the earliest works. This is followed by a bronze head Il birichino by Medardo Rosso and the female figure Buste de Vénus victorieuse by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The museum owns the two individual figures Eustache de Saint Pierre and Jean d'Aire from the group of figures The Citizens of Calais by Auguste Rodin as well as a bronze head by Honoré de Balzac Tête de Balzac and a male figure L'athlète . Also representational sculptures are Kneeling Figure and Beatrice by Oronzio Maldarelli , Jeune femme agenouillée by Aristide Maillol , Fifth Portrait of Mrs. Jacob Epstein by Jacob Epstein or Head of a Sleeping Girl by Constantin Brâncuși . Significantly more abstract are works such as The Visitors by Kenneth Armitage , Seated Man with Clarinet II by Jacques Lipchitz , and Draped Reclining Figure by Henry Moore . There are also abstract sculptures such as Untitled (Wheat Gift) by Harry Bertoia , Dream Building II by William Christenberry , Celestial Gateway by Masayuki Nagare , Knossos II by Anthony Padovano and Helmholtzian Landscape by David Smith . There is also the Mobile Brunette and Blonde by Alexander Calder .
Asian Art, Pre-Columbian Art, and Ancient Art
The small collection of Asian art includes only stone sculptures. For example, there is a granite god figure of Parvati from the southern Indian kingdom of Vijayanagar . A figure of the goddess Devi and a Vishnu sculpture from the Hoysala dynasty also come from South India . In addition, there is an architectural relief from the 11th century from central India with rich figural decorations. From the ancient region of Gandhara in today's Pakistan there is a Buddha head and a figure of the Bodhisattva from the Kushana period. There is also a double figure Panchika and Hariti from southern Afghanistan , also in Gandhara style . The collection also includes a limestone head (2-3 centuries) of Silenus from the Roman province of Syria in today's Lebanon and the head of a Mayan god from Campeche in Mexico .
African art
The collection of African art consists mainly of mostly wooden face masks. These come from West or Central Africa and are not dated. There are examples of the Bambara in today's Mali , of the Igbo from Nigeria , the Mende in Sierra Leone or the Bwaba and Mossi , both from Burkina Faso . The masks of the Fang and the Bapunu come from the area of today's Gabon . There is also a mask assigned to the Baga or Nalu who live in Guinea . There are other masks from the area of the Ivory Coast from the Baule , Bété and Senufo and from the area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the Kuba , Bembe and the Baluba or Bassonge from the province of Katanga .
In addition to the masks, there is a wooden ancestral figure of the Hemba and a stool with a female sculpture of the Baluba (both Democratic Republic of the Congo) and a religious guardian figure of the Kota or Obamba from Gabon. There are also two standing figures of the Baule from Ivory Coast, a female standing figure with a child from the Ashanti in Ghana, an altarpiece in the shape of a bird and a wooden headpiece for a dancer from the Baga from Guinea and a terracotta head from the Akan from Ghana .
Sculpture terrace and sculpture garden
On the sculpture terrace behind the house there are works by well-known artists such as Hurlou and Torso gerbe by Hans Arp , Hagar in the desert by Jacques Lipchitz, Pomone by Aristide Maillol, Standing Figure: Knife-Edge and Three-Piece Reclining Figure No. 2: Bridge Prop by Henry Moore, Soliloquy by Isamu Noguchi and Ordalia by Francesco Somaini . In addition, some sculptures are placed in the northern garden area. These include Flame of Friendship by Leonardo Nierman, Two Lines Oblique Down, Variation III by George Rickey, and Interpenetration by Lucien Wercollier, as well as some loans from local Washington artists.
literature
- Erich Keel: The Kreeger Museum . Bergamot Books, Alexandria, VA 2009, ISBN 0-9760-9053-8 .
Web links
- Official website (English)
Coordinates: 38 ° 55 '18.7 " N , 77 ° 5' 19.8" W.