Berte Morisot and the National Museum of Women in the Arts

You recall my rave review of the exhibit of Russian painting at the Ripley Center.

I had hoped for a repeat here, but no such luck.

The exhibit is called "Berte Morisot: an Impressionist and Her Circle" and I found it very disappointing.

Berte Morisot was a member of an upper middle class, artistic French family. She married Eduard Manet's brother, Eugene, and died of pneumonia at the young age of 54. Because of her art work, and her family connections, she became very close to most of the French impressionists of the last decades of the 19th century. She was a friend, a fellow artist and a frequent subject. Her brother in law, for example, painted her portrait at least 14 times. Had he not been her brother in law, I wonder how far her career would have taken her.

The exhibit contains about 50 of her paintings, plus a selection by Manet, Renoir, Degas and other well known impressionists. It also includes some paintings by her niece and her sister.

Morisot's paintings were largely, but not exclusively, portraits of women. She also painted some landscapes. She is considered an impressionist, but I would call her an impressionist-lite. With two exceptions, each of her paintings to me looked unfinished, and insufficiently precise (even in terms of impressionistic precision). The two paintings which I liked, one a self portrait painted in 1885 , and one a portrait of her husband, painted in 1875, were two of the four paintings which found their way on to the program's promotional brochure.

Other than those two paintings, whenver I looked at a wall and my eyes were drawn to a particular piece of art, it was always done by someone else. By Degas, by Renoir, by Manet. You get the picture.

The exhibit closes May 8, but I would not go out of my way to see it (unless, of course, you are interested in seeing if you agree with me).

Because I am not a frequent visitor to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, I did go quickly through a large part of the remainder of the museum. And, I am happy to say, I found the permanent collection and other special exhibits much more rewarding than the Morisot, and well worth a visit (or more).

For example, there is a special exhibit of five large abstract works by Sheila Isham, called her Victoria Series. They were painted after her daughter's death from AIDS, and are unrepresentational, but make a powerful statement with their use of reds, blues and purples, and their boldness and sweep. Second, there is a small selection of dry points by Mary Cassatt that have all of the qualities (finish and precision) that Morisot lacks. There is a large room of etchings in sepia, all of which are of top quality, including two large ones by Anna Massey Lea Merritt, and a series by Kathe Kollwitz that are evocative of Germany during the pre-Hitler years.

There are two Frida Kahlo full body self portraits, one of which was dedicated to Leon Trotsky and donated to the museum by Clare Booth Luce. Try to put that one together. There is a large number of 18th French portraits and landscapes, each of which is of very high calibre.

Finally, they have a room with a special Pueblo pottery exhibit. This includes two large bowls, with intricate dark brown geometric patterns that are beautiful. They are from Acoma Pueblo.

Did I ever tell you about the Jewish head of the Acoma Indians? (One day, when things are slow)