Our Library Can Look Like This...

I love to read, as many people who know me know, I'm usually in the middle of at least two books at a time.  It's a constant pleasure, so when art and books intersect it's almost as beautiful a pairing as art and food for me!

We visited Topkapi Palace in Istanbul on the suggestion of a friend and we are so thankful to them for it!  Every room inside is decorated with such detail and almost each one was more impressive than the last.  But when we walked into the library I stopped, turned to my husband and flatly said "Okay, fine, our library can look like this."  A few photos to illustrate:

It did make me think about all of the marvelous libraries around the world, some of which are shown here and here.  But also, what else would I want in a library?  So I pinned it of course.  Here is a board of some amazing home libraries and reading nook ideas that I hope to emulate one day...or at least dream about.  At least we know that I love the word "nook."

Yes, Van Gogh painted all of these

...just not the ones by Gauguin.

The title of this post was inspired by a wonderful conversation I happened to overhear at the Phillips Collection over the weekend.  I was squeezing myself into the Van Gogh: Repetitions show since I really did want to see it before it left and turns out, hundreds of my fellow art lovers were too.  Anyway, there was a dad bravely pushing a stroller around with two other boys tagging along.  I could just make out the voice of the younger brother as he asked if all of the paintings were by the same man and when his father replied that yes, they were all his since he liked to paint and did it all the time the kid very aptly asked, "Didn't he have a job?"  Kids do say the darndest things. 

So Van Gogh painted ALL of the works in the show excepts for a few where the Phillips was giving context.  I do enjoy his colors and the way he applies paint and I love how this show really demonstrates how he wasn't just flinging paint onto a canvas like a mad genius and it just turned into Sunflowers, he was working on and re-working ideas that caught his eye until he got them right.

It was also fun to see the work in person since we just bought an original work of our own...not by Van Gogh, but an homage in it's own right.  One of my husband's friends is a painter and we thought we would commission a piece while we could still afford him and before he forgot us altogether.  He paints "8-bit" paintings, taking the work of your choice and altering the image so that it looks like you're staring at it on a computer from 1979 and then paints it in watercolor.  Here's ours:

Can you tell what it's based on?  You had a hint already.  We aren't huge Van Gogh fans but we both like his work and I will admit, having a Dr. Who episode based on him did not hurt in the decision-making process.  We are incredibly happy to have our own Adam Lister and are rooting for him.  Maybe we'll loan it to an exhibit at the Phillips Collection someday?

Gardners 916-918 (Van Gogh) 918-921 (Gauguin)

St. Joseph's Capitol Hill

We moved into the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. less than a year ago and this year was our first Christmas in our new place.  I was excited but very nervous as we offered to host this year and it was the first time we had ever not gone to a parent's or older family member's house for Christmas.

An important part of my family's Christmas is attending Mass on Christmas Eve, it's our tradition.  We had my sister-in-law, her husband, his sister and her husband all with us on the 24th (did you follow that?) and I was incredibly touched when all four of these non-church-goers offered to stop eating and hanging out and attend Mass at St. Joseph with us.


To try to make it interesting I tried to rattle off a few factoids about the church but realized I didn't know much about it besides how beautiful it is and that Robert Kennedy attended when he was in office.  So I decided to take the opportunity to learn more.

Nave of Cologne Cathedral

When I did my first search I found that it is a popular church for weddings in Capitol Hill!  This is no surprise, it's gorgeous.  Inside there is a beautiful blue ceiling dotted with stars and the columns are reminiscent of a Gothic cathedral.  Do you know why?  It's based off one: Cologne Cathedral.  Although the scale is smaller and the architect simplified the decoration around the arches and columns, if you look at the straight down the nave at the altar, you can see the inspiration drawn from the building in Cologne that took more than six centuries to complete.  This one took less than five years and it's the second version of the church.

St. Joseph's was organized because of the growing German Catholic population in 1868.  When it was changed from a German congregation into an English one around 1886, the building was also changed to the present one.  Maybe to honor the original worshipers or maybe by chance, the architect was from Cologne and they patterned the design off of that amazing structure.  What I found out next, was more surprising.

The cornerstone laying in 1868 was accompanied by a procession of people including...the president.  Andrew Johnson, NOT a Catholic, I might add, was there?  Why?  Well, as I kept reading apparently he was a Catholic sympathizer and actually made a speech to Congress speaking against anti-Catholic acts.  There's an old legend he converted on his deathbed!  Oh Washington scandal!

I'll have to keep looking for more information on this church, does anyone know anything about it?  I'll keep looking since there must be some more stories from its almost 150 years.

Gardner's 523 (Cologne Cathedral)

Ara Guler at the Sackler

I was VERY excited to see that the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery was having an exhibition of works by Ara Guler, a photographer known for his images of Istanbul.  As you may know, we recently took a trip to Turkey and had a wonderful time, wonderful and I thought this would be a great way of reliving our memories of the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, and the Egyptian Bazaar.  Here's our tea while we took a rest from the Grand Bazaar in the tulip tea glasses with the distinctive red and gold saucers.

Guess what, the exhibition is of portraits outside Istanbul, in fact most of them are from the Eastern-most areas of the country, the part we avoided because it borders Syria!  I really should have known, the exhibition is actually titled Ara Guler's Anatolia, but I was so excited by the name I breezed by that detail completely.

Regardless, we did enjoy seeing those parts of Turkey that we didn't get to see and a few reminded us of the rugged hills and unintentional architecture found in Capadoccia so it was worth seeing for us.  I would recommend it regardless, it will be on view until May 4, 2014!  Plan a trip, to the Sackler and to Turkey, both great!

Munch's Christmas Tree

I just had to quickly post that when I was at Union Station yesterday to grab lunch at Chop't with my husband I was able to quickly see the Norwegian Embassy's Christmas Tree!  In addition to Norwegian Flags it's covered with 700 reflective ornaments in the familiar shape of the figure from Edvard Munch's The Scream and it is up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Munch's birth.  I love that I capped our holiday season with this!

Gardner's page 927.