Art Sparks!

Every facet of life, every gesture, every moment has the potential to inspire. Art sparks something in all of us. Washington, DC has many museums whose collections are a mirror to our lives and an inspiration for beauty, escape and curiosity.

The Art Sparks! project at Art Place brings 30 works of art from 15 world-class museums to the corner of Ingraham St and South Dakota Avenue, NE. Artwork spanning 300 years of history are organized into seven themes. Art Sparks! is presented as a gallery for the community and a reminder of the great institutions we share here in Washington, DC.

Lyonel Feininger

The Bicycle Race, 1912

Medium: oil on canvas; Size: overall: 80.3 × 100.3 cm (31 5/8 × 39 1/2 in.)

Charles Henry Alston

Walking, 1958

Medium: oil paint and gesso on canvas; Size: (unframed): 48 × 64 in. (121.9 × 162.6 cm),

Lily Furedi

Subway, 1934

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.43

Medium: oil on canvas; Size: 39 x 48 1/4 in. (99.1 x 122.6 cm.),

Guy E. Nicholas

Photograph of the launching of the S.S. Harriet Tubman, June 3, 1944

Published by New England Shipbuilding Corporation, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Charles L. Blockson

Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic pager; Size: 8 x 10 inch; Description: Photograph of the liberty ship S.S. Harriet Tubman as it is launched down the slipway and into the Atlantic Ocean, mounted on a black paper page of a bound photograph album commemorating the event owned by Harriet Tubman's niece, Eva Stewart Northrup. 2009.50.29.7

Going
Places

Gliding on the waves, sliding into the slipstream, riding the rails... We are Going Places!

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

Pablo Picasso

Universal Rhythm

Step, move, tip toe and dance. Take a deep breath, be, then bop.

Michele Mattei

Carmen de Lavallade, 2003 (printed 2018)

Mdeium: Inkjet Print; Size: Image: 50.9 × 71 cm (20 1/16 × 27 15/16")

Robert Delaunay

Political Drama, 1914

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Gift of the Joseph H. Hazen Foundation, Inc.

Medium: oil and collage on cardboard; Size: overall: 88.7 x 67.3 cm (34 15/16 x 26 1/2 in.)

Fernand Léger

Child with Accordian, 1952

MEDIUM: oil on canvas, SIZE: 36 3/8 x 28 3/4 inches

Edgar Degas

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, 1893/1894

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Medium: pigmented beeswax, clay, metal armature, rope, paintbrushes, human hair, silk and linen ribbon, cotton faille bodice, cotton and silk tutu, linen slippers, on wooden base; Size: overall without base: 98.9 x 34.7 x 35.2 cm (38 15/16 x 13 11/16 x 13 7/8 in) weight: 49 lb. (22.226 kg)

Lisette Model

Louis Armstrong, c. 1956

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution © The Lisette Model Foundation, Inc. (1983). Used by permission.

Medium: Gelatin silver print; Size: Image/Sheet: 26.7 × 34.8 cm (10 1/2 × 13 11/16")

I dream my painting and I paint my dream.

Vincent van Gogh

Of Myth
and Memory

In our stories and imaginations, there are wonders both fantastical and frightening.

Francisco de Goya

Capricho No. 43, El sueño de la razón produce monstruos, 1799

Library of Congress

Image 43 from the book, Los Caprichos, 1799

Marc Chagall

The Dream, 1939

Medium: Opaque and transparent watercolor and pastel on paper; Size: 20 9/16 x 26 3/4 in.

Henry Fuseli

Macbeth Consulting the Vision of the Armed Head, 1793

Folger Shakespeare Library

Call number: FPa27. Image: 4536, Medium: oil painting on canvas, Size: 167.7 x 135 cm

Constantin Brancusi

Sleeping Muse I, 1966

Medium: Sculpture, Marble, Size: 6 3/4 × 10 7/8 × 8 3/8 in. (17.2 × 27.6 × 21.2 cm)

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly

Langston Hughes

Our Work Tells a Story

It won't be easy, but we'll put our back into it and remember our history.

Gordon Parks

American Gothic, Washington, D.C. government charwoman, 1942

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Medium: gelatin silver print photgraph; Size: sheet 71 x 51 cm.

George Hawley Hallowell

Wissatacquoik River Drive, c. 1920

Gift of the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, American University Museum, Washington, D.C.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 57: The female workers were the last to arrive north. Between 1940 and 1941

Medium: Casein tempera on hardboard; Size: 18 x 12 in.

J. Howard Miller

"We Can Do It!", c. 1942

National Museum of American History

Poster commissioned by the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company distributed by the War Production Coordinating Committee

Winslow Homer

Blackboard, 1877

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Gift of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr., in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art

Medium: watercolor on wove paper; Size: sheet: 50.17 x 32.39 cm (19 3/4 x 12 3/4 in.) support: 54.93 x 38.74 cm (21 5/8 x 15 1/4 in.)

Creativity takes courage.

Henri Matisse

Favorite Pastimes

The games we play, the teams we root for, and the moments we share.

Horace Pippin

Domino Players, 1943

The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1943.

Medium: Oil on fiberboard; Size: 12 3/4 x 22 in.

Pierre Auguste Renoir

Luncheon on the Boating Party, between 1880 and 1881

The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1923

Medium: Oil on canvas; Size: 51 1/4 x 69 1/8 in.

Marjorie Phillips

Night Baseball, 1951

The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Gift of the artist, 1951 or 1952.

Medium: oil on canvas Size: 1521, 24 1/4 x 36 in.; 61.595 x 91.44 cm.,

Mary Cassatt

The Boating Party, 1893/1894

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Chester Dale Collection

Medium: oil on canvas; Size: overall: 90 x 117.3 cm (35 7/16 x 46 3/16 in.) framed: 112.1 x 137.8 cm (44 1/8 x 54 1/4 in.)

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.

Claude Monet

In Nature

Messages in movement or in a mask. Nature speaks to us in so many ways.

Rick Bartow/ Mad River Wiyot

Bear Mask, 1990

Medium: Wood, paint, metal, horsehair, cotton cloth, glass bead/beads, shell/shells, animal bone, raffia; Size: 37 x 46 x 22 cm

Totoya Hokkei

Carp Swimming Upstream, ca. mid-1820s

National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, The Anne van Biema Collection

Medium: Ink and color on paper, Size: H x W (overall): 37.3 x 25.2 cm (14 11/16 x 9 15/16 in), S2004.3.201

Maria Sibylla Merian

Pallisaden-boom, Plate 11

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC.

from the book, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, 1719

Maria Sibyalla Merian

Ceris de Amerique, Plate 7

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC.

from the book, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, 1719

Maria Sibylla Merian

Grenadier, Plate 9

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC.

from the book, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, 1719

Edward Topsell

The Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes, 1607

Folger Shakespeare Library

(London: William Iaggard, 1607), page 589. Call number: STC 24123 copy 2. Image: 3077

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

Edvard Munch

Quick Bites

Moments to take in and savor.

Paul Cezanne

Still Life with Milk Jug and Fruit, c. 1900

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman

Medium: oil on canvas; Size: overall: 45.8 x 54.9 cm (18 1/16 x 21 5/8 in.) framed: 71.1 x 80 x 8.2 cm (28 x 31 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)

John Peto

Breakfast, ca. 1890s

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Medium: oil on academy board Size: overall: 14.8 x 22 cm (5 13/16 x 8 11/16 in.)

Edouard Manet

Oysters, 1862

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Gift of the Adele R. Levy Fund, Inc., 1962.3.1

Medium: oil on canvas; Size: overall: 39.2 x 46.8 cm (15 7/16 x 18 7/16 in.)

Lilly Martin Spencer

Still Life with Watermelon, Pears, and Grapes, ca. 1859

National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

Medium: Oil on canvas; Size: 13 1/8 x 17 1/4 inches

Art should be something that liberates your soul.

Keith Haring

Sculpture

At the intersection of art and community, Art Place is proud to present five important works of sculpture across our campus.

Good Boy, 2017

Ben Foster

Art Place @ Ingraham & South Dakota

Sculpture, Powercoated Aluminum

Planet X, 2015

Joseph Meerbott

Art Place @ Galloway & South Dakota

Aluminium and Auto Body Paint

Meditation, 2014

Seo Young Deok

Art Place @ 4th Street

Stainless Steel Chain

Phoenix, 2017

Susan Chrysler White

Art Place @ The Modern Lobby

Acrylic on Plexiglass with Steel Rod

Anguish 10

Seo Young Deok

Art Place @ Ingraham and South Dakota

Stainless Steel Chain

Sculpture is the art of the intelligence.

Barbara Hepworth

Participating Museums

Washington, DC has many museums whose collections are a mirror to our lives and an inspiration for beauty, escape and curiosity. Our thanks go out to the following. We hope you are able to visit the following Washington, DC-based institutions that have helped make this project possible.