Page 42 - Studio International - February 1969

The Corcoran In this same period there were exhibitions of Since the two galleries merged, only one
the work of Frank Stella, Gene Davis and Ed crisis has arisen and that was quickly patched
Gallery- Kienholtz, suggesting the broad scope of the up. Directly after the merger the Dupont
gallery.
Center staged an exhibition of Czech graphics.
Since the merger, Hopps' policies have been The catalogue essay, written by the Czecho-
Dupont Center maintained and there is no reason to suppose slovak lady who organized the show, had
that this situation will change. The Corcoran's political overtones. The Corcoran administra-
administration has been infused with new tion deleted the essay at the last minute with-
Nina Osnos blood (its Director Jim Harithas and four new out informing its author and against the
staff members are all under 40) and has shown wishes of Walter Hopps. There was a brief
itself to be in harmony with the ideals of its flare-up which received a fair amount of
smaller partner, and Walter Hopps, whose attention in the press, the essay was returned
new title is Director of Special Programmes to the catalogue and calm was restored. Per-
for the joint institution is, in effect, still the haps it was a good thing that a test case arose
Director of the Dupont Center. early in the life of the expanded Corcoran; it
A post-merger show which represents a con- seems to have defined the partners' relation-
tinuation of the policy of local involvement ship for the future. n
was Imagination, art work done by local ghetto
children; it opened with a reception exclus-
ively for children. Along similar lines a photo-
graphy programme was begun in November
and will regularly occupy the third floor
The merger of the established Corcoran gallery space. Many young local, as well as
Gallery of Art and the fledgling Washington non-local, photographers are being given the
Gallery of Modern Art last October has not, opportunity to exhibit their work—many for
as some predicted, stripped the smaller gallery the first time.
of its identity. Had the merger not taken place, The Center's plans for early 1969 have in-
the WGMA—now renamed the Corcoran cluded an exhibition of six large paintings by
Gallery-Dupont Center—would have closed, Paul Sarkisian, a little-known California artist
because the gallery had been in serious finan- remembered by some for the painting he had
cial trouble since it opened in 1962 as virtually removed from the American Express Pavillion
the only repository of contemporary art in of the 1965 New York World's Fair at the
Washington, D.C. The benefits the Corcoran behest of Billy Graham. (In 1963 he had an
derived from the merger, however, were not so entire show dismantled in California on the
much in the way of material assets. What the charge of blasphemy.) Unsuccessful attempts
WGMA had to offer was, in the words of its at pigeonholing Sarkisian's figurative paint-
president, 'an avid interest in what is happen- ings are a measure of the originality of the
ing to art today and tomorrow and a willing- works, which consist of nudes floating in space
ness to take chances, even to make mistakes.' in the allegorical company of such figures as
When Walter Hopps, formerly of the Pasadena Bob Dylan, Picasso and Nadar (of balloon
Art Museum, assumed the directorship in fame). Distance is created between the viewer
September 1967, he introduced a policy of and the paintings not only by the strange,
local participation and experimentation and though familiarly landmarked, positions of the
rocked the boat. His new policy of involving figures in space, but also by the frequently re-
the gallery with the poor and the black was curring obstacles which come between their
bound to meet with some disapproval. So was eyes and ours, such as binoculars, shades and
the policy of challenging the traditional role magnifying glasses.
of the museum as a sacred place in which to Also planned for the new year is a show called
hang paintings and display sculpture. For The Hairy Who, a group of six young Chicago
Hopps brought to the gallery such shows as artists who produce some unlikely works. The
Intercourse, a 152-hour light and sound com- stand they take in their paintings, objects,
position by a local black artist-jazzman, sculpture and graphics is, in the words of
Lloyd McNeill, an exhibition of children's art Walter Hopps, both 'irreverent' and Irras-
from the Adams-Morgan section of the Dis- cible'. Their work, including the comic books
trict of Columbia, and 66 Signs of Neon, art they put out regularly, constitutes an attack
made from the debris of the 1966 Watts riot. on taste. Not even pop art, which they con-
In the same year the WGMA, in conjunction sider tasteful, is spared.
with the Corcoran, staged a concert of the Los A third scheduled show is of the illuminated
Angeles rock group 'The United States of poems of Kenneth Patchen. Patchen, a con-
America', brought to Washington an all-black temporary American poet, who some 15 years
happening performed by Sun Ra and his ago was considered part of the now emergent
Arkestra, and instituted an experimental film underground, is best known for his journal of
programme. In April 1968, a workshop pro- Albion Moonlight and his anthologies Poems of
gramme was inaugurated which provided Humor and Protest and Hallelujah Anyway. The
five local artists—black and white—with grants show will be the first exhibition east of Cali-
of 85,000 and a place to work for a year—a fornia of his fanciful, almost child-like paint-
programme will continue under the merger. ings and painted books.