I took one of my
longer weekend walks recently, poking about downtown DC, peering into, but not
entering, restaurants and shops. Most
were still almost empty of people, despite the recent permissible re-openings,
and the very visible signs proclaiming 60%, 70% off items inside. I’m sorry about this, as retail and
restaurants, especially the smaller, locally owned kind, do need customers. But
I am not yet ready for the indoor experience, and I see that many of my fellow
DC’ers seem to feel the same way. But for me, there is one interior experience
for which I am eager to make an exception: going inside a museum again.
I know that
experience will be very different from the easy-breezy pre-pandemic days. One of the things I loved about most museums
here was my ability to pop in and see Just One Thing. Unlike in other museum-heavy major cities,
many of ours are fee-free (thanks, fellow taxpayers). Often, I would be writing
or working or thinking about some art-related subject and have a compulsive
urge to go and look at a particular painting or sculpture. Wasn’t there a huge Frank Stella piece on the
wall above the staircase to the second floor of the East Wing? What was the exact wording of that Barbara
Kruger statement covering the floors, walls and ceiling downstairs at the Hirshhorn? With so much available to me for free, I
could afford to take out a membership in a couple of the private museums, like
the Phillips or the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and pop in there too,
for my Just One Thing. And then there
were the gift shops. Oh my, fun bits and bobs with an artsy vibe, cool
artist-made jewelry and books and catalogs galore. Add in air-conditioning, a small restaurant, public spaces perfect to rest my feet and people watch, and
of course, bathrooms! There was nothing
more I needed in the world. Most of them
even served those cute little bottles of wine in the lunchroom.
For the moment, all
this is just a memory, as I stalk past the shuttered entrances, making do with
a few al fresco sculptures and the occasional bench in the Enid Haupt
Garden. But soon, hopefully, the museums will reopen, on a limited basis. But the spontaneity of my Just One Thing will
be gone. Entrance must be preplanned,
with timed tickets only obtainable online, as they were for the blockbuster
shows that used to be all the rage, (most of which I missed because every time
I went online, I was too d…late and all dates were already taken, despite my trying at midnight
on the first day!) To digress yet again—I for one will not miss those
blockbusters, impossible now thanks to Covid crowd control measures.
But like with
everything else Covid-related in my life, I will adapt. Just One Thing will
never return, but maybe it will morph into Just One Museum, and my time there
will be more precious than ever because of all the pre-planning that will have
to precede it.
In the interim, here
is an old film about the creation of the East Wing. You can hear the voices of I.M.Pei, Henry
Moore and Alexander Calder! How cool is
that? Here is Calder's mobile and Moore's sculpture, made for the NGA. Art Heals.
No comments:
Post a Comment