ICYMI: Highlights from the Week of December 16 – December 20, 2019
No one can keep up with everything, so let us do it for you. We’ll gather the top Smithsonian stories from across the country and around the world each week so you’ll never be at a loss for conversation around the water cooler.
This week, a porcupine got a name, forgotten art was found and the Secretary named a Deputy.
Art and Design
The Smithsonian Just Opened a Manila Envelope and Discovered Four Yayoi Kusama Paintings It Had No Idea Existed
Christmas came early this year when the works showed up in the museum’s archive.
Artnet News, December 18
Yayoi Kusama. Photo courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai; Victoria Miro, London/Venice; and David Zwirner, New York.
We don’t need to tell you how famous Yayoi Kusama is. You know that people wait for hours to see the Japanese artist’s gallery shows, and to take selfies in her “Infinity Rooms.” You read about how the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden increased membership by 6,566 percent by staging a Kusama exhibition. You might even know that a MoMA curator penned a children’s book devoted to her. Read more.
Renwick Exhibit Brings Nature to Life (Video)
NBC-4 Washington, December 17
Artist Michael Sherrill takes glass, metal and clay and molds them into creations that could make nature long for his gifts. His works are on display at the Renwick Gallery in D.C. through Jan. 5. Watch the video.
This New Exhibition Asks You to Think About How Art Scenes Affect Artists’ Work
“Portraits of the World: Denmark” uses a breakthrough Danish painting to kick off a conversation about rivalries and competition.
Washingtonian, December 13
“Kunstdommere (Art Judges)” by Michael Ancher, 1906. Oil on canvas. The Danish Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle
Michael Ancher’s Kunstdommere (Art Judges) is an important painting in Denmark’s “Modern Breakthrough,” when artists stepped away from romanticism. In the work, which is on loan from the Danish Museum of National History in Hillerød to the National Portrait Gallery from today until October 12, 2020, Ancher depicted four of his contemporaries, all of whom helped the Modern Breakthrough into existence, contemplating a painting we cannot see. Read more.
Science and Technology
Name selected for National Zoo’s newborn prehensile-tailed porcupine
The Washington Post, December 14
Courtesy Smithsonian’s National Zoo
In the wild, animals would seem to have little use for individual names. But in zoos, it’s common to give the creatures on exhibit names the public can use to create a connection and the zoo staff can use to get their attention and cooperation. Read more.
Various Subjects
Washington’s Happiest Moments Of 2019
Don’t look back in anger.
WAMU-American University Radio
Pikachu smiled at visitors to the Pokemon World Championships in August at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
Tyrone Turner / WAMU
Ah, 2019, what a year you’ve been. The highs were high (Beyoncé released “Homecoming”) and the lows were low (the National Zoo released Bei Bei). But we made it through, and now it’s time to repress the bad memories deep into our collective subconscious and celebrate another trip around the sun as it methodically burns up our planet. Huzzah! Read more.
Smithsonian secretary taps former intelligence officer as deputy
The Washington Post, December 16
Meroe Park, acting Director of the CIA, speaks before President Donald Trump at the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va., the day after Trump’s inauguration. (Andrew Harnik/AP)
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has tapped Meroe Park, a former intelligence officer and nonprofit executive, to be deputy secretary and chief operating officer. Park’s hiring is the first major move of Bunch’s tenure. Read more.
The Smithsonian’s Newest Executive Probably Can’t Talk About Her Previous Job Experience (Because She Led the CIA)
Meroe Park won medals at the spy agency. She’ll now ensure smooth operations at 19 museums, plus the National Zoo.
Artnet News, December 17
Meroe Park
Where do CIA bigwigs go when they retire? They don’t usually end up overseeing major museums, but these are strange times we’re living in.
Lonnie G. Bunch III, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, has hired Meroe Park, former executive director and chief operating officer of the Central Intelligence Agency, as Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer. (She was also briefly the agency’s acting director, until Donald Trump’s pick to head the agency, Mike Pompeo, was confirmed.) It is Bunch’s first major hire since his appointment this May as Secretary of the Smithsonian, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and encompasses 19 museums, nine research centers, and the National Zoo. Read more.
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Posted: 6 January 2020
