EVENT CATEGORIES
Art | Dance | ||
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ART
Through Jan. 7
A Celebration of Life
Nigerian artist Stanley Agbontaen’s newest body of work includes 23 oil paintings and seven wood block panels featuring richly colored, vibrant scenes that celebrate Nigeria’s resilient people, the beauty in their daily rituals, and the energy of their bustling urban centers and marketplaces.
International Visions Gallery
Through Jan. 7
A Song for the Horse Nation
The story of the relationship of Native Americans and horses is one of the great sagas of human contact with the animal world, as evidenced by this array of 122 historic objects, artwork, photographs, songs and personal accounts that tells the story of how the return of horses to the Americas by Christopher Columbus changed everything for Indians.
National Museum of the American Indian
Through Jan. 8
Degas’s Dancers at the Barre: Point and Counterpoint
Bringing together about 30 works from some of the world’s finest collections, this exhibition traces ballet in Edgar Degas’s art from the 1870s to 1900, while also celebrating “Dancers at the Barre” as a crowning achievement in the artist’s four-decade career — prompted by discoveries from a recent conservation treatment of the masterpiece, which took 16 years to create.
The Phillips Collection
Through Jan. 8
The Invention of Glory: Afonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries
The Pastrana Tapestries—among the finest surviving Gothic tapestries—will be on view together for the first time in the U.S. and will showcase the recently restored set of four monumental tapestries that commemorate the conquest of two strategically located cities in Morocco by the king of Portugal, Afonso V (1432–1481).
National Gallery of Art
Through Jan. 15
Andy Warhol: Shadows
Created in the last decade of Andy Warhol’s life, “Shadows” comprises 102 silkscreened and hand-painted canvases featuring distorted photographs of shadows generated in the artist’s studio — forms that at once suggest and mock the bravura brushwork of the abstract expressionists.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Through Jan. 15
CHINA Town: Contemporary Ceramic Painting from Jingdezhen
This unprecedented exhibition of porcelain art — the sixth in a series of exhibits organized over the last decade by the Meridian Center’s Art for Cultural Diplomacy program with Chinese partners — highlights objects from Jingdezhen, a city of 1.6 million people that has produced the finest Chinese porcelain for more than 1,000 years, especially the world-renowned blue and white decorative motifs.
Meridian International Center
Through Jan. 15
Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible
Marking its 400th anniversary this year, the 1611 King James Bible still echoes in books, movies, songs, speeches and sermons today. But who translated it? The Folger Shakespeare Library and University of Oxford draw on their deep resources to uncover the little-known story of one of the most widely read books in the history of the English language.
Folger Shakespeare Library
Through Jan. 15
Visions of the Orient: Western Women Artists in Asia 1900–1940
“Visions of the Orient” features 125 prints and paintings by four female Western artists exploring Asian cultures between 1900 and 1940, all of whom trained as painters but, while living in Japan, also designed woodblock prints.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Through Jan. 22
Contemporary Art from Chile
In this dual exhibition, “Traveling Light” features five contemporary Chilean artists who’ve installed site-specific work at the museum, while “Common Place” highlights the evolving subordinate relationship between Latin American housekeepers and their housewife employers.
OAS Art Museum of the Americas
Through Jan. 22
The Graphic and Fine Art of Jerzy Janiszewski
Poland’s most famous graphic artist, Jerzy Janiszewski created the Solidarity shipyard union’s logo in 1980 when he was only 28 years old. This powerful image, together with Lech Walęsa, became a symbol of freedom from Communist rule. In addition to a rare Solidarity poster from 1980, buried underground for seven years to safeguard it from Poland’s secret police, this first exhibition of Janiszewski’s work in the United States will include collages and other fine art never before exhibited.
Charles Krause / Reporting Fine Art
Through Jan. 27
On the Lakeshore… and Other Stories
Photographer Iris Janke’s work treads a fine line between reflection and intuition, between control and chance, as she records her daily experiences in a visual diary from which she selects the images that have the strongest narrative power.
Goethe-Institut
Through Jan. 29
Power/Play: China’s Empress Dowager
Following China’s disastrous Boxer Rebellion, the Grand Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) used photographic portraiture to rehabilitate her public image, allowing a young aristocratic photographer to take elaborately staged shots of her and her court. As the only photographic series taken of the supreme leader of China for more than 45 years, these images represents a unique convergence of Qing court pictorial traditions, modern photography and Western standards of artistic portraiture.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Jan. 29 to May 6
Picasso’s Drawings, 1890–1921: Reinventing Tradition
Through some 55 works, this exhibition presents the dazzling development of Pablo Picasso’s drawings over a 30-year period, from the precocious academic exercises of his youth in the 1890s to the virtuoso works of the early 1920s, including the radical innovations of cubism and collage.
National Gallery of Art
Through Feb. 1
Parallel Worlds by Marcelo Novo
Argentine artist Marcelo Novo creates a series of paintings whose bold grays and strong, strange subjects coexist between two worlds of reality and subjectivity.
Embassy of Argentina
Through Feb. 3
New Visions: A Selection of the Latest Acquisitions from the IDB Art Collection, 2008–2011
The Inter-American Development Bank’s art collection comprises 1,722 artworks that include paintings, sculpture, photography, works on paper, ceramics and handcrafted objects. These works showcase the region’s creativity and highlight the achievements of its distinguished artists.
Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center
Through Feb. 4
Conversación: Photo Works by Muriel Hasbun and Pablo Ortiz Monasterio
In conjunction with FotoWeek DC, this exhibition represents a yearlong collaboration between two artists, one from Mexico and one in D.C., whereby a single photograph was sent by Pablo Ortiz Monasterio as a digital file to Muriel Hasbun, who replied by sending back one of her own. This exchange went on for months, the results of which reveal how photography can probe the possibilities of cultural and visual exchange in a digital age.
Mexican Cultural Institute
Through Feb. 10
Forces of Nature
Investigating the intricacies of land and sea, flora and fauna, 13 acclaimed Australian artists specializing in jewelry and small sculpture reflect on the complex relationship between contemporary Australia and its unique natural environment.
Embassy of Australia
Through Feb. 12
30 Americans
Provocative and confrontational, this exhibition showcases works by many of the most important African American artists of the last three decades, focusing on issues of racial, sexual and historical identity and exploring the powerful influence of artistic legacy across generations.
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Through Feb. 12
Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa
Ingeniously woven from palm fiber, Central African textiles distinguished the wealthy and powerful. Woven art from the Kuba kingdom in particular makes playful use of a language of over 200 patterns. “Weaving Abstraction” is the most comprehensive exploration of this art form to date in the U.S., with 150 objects ranging from small, exquisite baskets to monumental skirts.|
The Textile Museum
Through Feb. 24
Lost Worlds” Ruins of the Americas
Photographs by Arthur Drooker offer a powerful visual narrative of the cultures, conflicts and conquests that forged the New World, spanning significant ruins in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
OAS Art Museum of the Americas
Through March 4
Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley
This international exhibit features more than 148 objects used in a range of ritual contexts, with genres as varied and complex as the vast region of Central Nigeria, that demonstrate how the history of the area can be “unmasked” through the dynamic interrelationships of its peoples and their arts.
National Museum of African Art
Through March 4
Harry Callahan at 100
Celebrate the centenary of the birth of Harry Callahan (1912–99), one of the most innovative and influential photographers of the 20th century, with some 100 photographs that explores all facets of Callahan’s art.
National Gallery of Art
Through March 11
Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro: Are We There Yet?
In the first U.S. exhibition of Australian artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro — and the third exhibition in the “NOW at the Corcoran” series showcasing emerging and mid-career artists — a gallery-transforming installation draws on American history, literature, pop culture, current affairs and the Corcoran’s architecture to explore the symbolism of space exploration and the paradoxes of food consumption.
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Through March 24
The Wild Horses of Sable Island
Photographer Roberto Dutesco reveals the fascinating beauty of a fragile sliver of sand more than 100 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia. Sable Island, known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” is the site of more than 475 shipwrecks since the 17th century. Yet the barren, windswept island is also home to more than 400 wild horses, abandoned there by sailors long ago — a feral herd that has managed to thrive in an unforgiving environment.
Embassy of Canada Art Gallery
Through April 8
Antico: The Golden Age of Renaissance Bronzes
This exhibition is the first in the United States devoted to the Mantuan sculptor and goldsmith Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi (c. 1455–1528), known as Antico for his expertise in classical antiquity.
National Gallery of Art
DANCE
Jan. 17 to 22
Mariinsky Ballet: Les Saisons Russes
Boasting an artistic legacy that spans more than 200 years, St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Ballet returns with “Les Saisons Russes (The Russian Seasons),” featuring three works by Michel Fokine: “Chopiniana,” “Scheherazade” and “The Firebird.” Tickets are $29 to $150.
Kennedy Center Opera House
DISCUSSIONS
Thu., Jan. 12, 8 p.m.
Classic Conversations with Michael Kahn
The Shakespeare Theatre Company presents an evening of in-depth discussion on classical theater and the craft of acting with James Earl Jones joining Artistic Director Michael Kahn for the third installment of the Classic Conversations series held at Sidney Harman Hall. Tickets start at $35.
The Shakespeare Theatre
Tue., Jan. 17, 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Legal Research Seminar for Embassy Personnel
The Law Library of Congress — founded in 1832 — is offering a series of legal research seminars designed specifically for relevant staff at embassies in the United States to facilitate their legal research needs. The seminars include information on how to access U.S. federal laws, administrative regulations, court cases, treaties, and a host of other print and electronic sources and databases. To register, call (202) 707-3812 or visit www.loc.gov/law/opportunities/embassy-form.php.
Library of Congress James Madison Building
Fri., Jan. 20, 8 p.m.
Silence!
The Alliance Française presents this unique, thought-provoking event, “Silence!” — which bends the boundaries of artistic expression and asks the audience to find meaning in the absence of sound. The evening features a silent DJ set where guests are equipped with wireless headphones to hear live performances, a screening of the finest French silent films, a Marceau-inspired mime performance, and a silent poetic interactive performance in French sign language. Tickets are $20; reservations can be made at (202) 234-7911 or www.francedc.org.
Napoleon Lounge
MUSIC
Fri., Jan. 13, 7:30 p.m.
Schubert’s Birthday Celebration
The Embassy Series presents five outstanding artists performing two magnificent piano quintets: the famous “Trout” quintet and the rarely performed “Vaughan-William” quintet, written in 1898. Tickets are $50, including post-concert reception; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.
Embassy of Austria
Sun., Jan. 29, 7 p.m.
Russian Rapture: Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky
Pianist Jeffrey Siegel performs the soaring melodies and sumptuous sonorities of two of the greatest Russian composers of all time, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. Tickets are $19, $30 or $38.
George Mason University Center for the Arts
THEATER
Jan. 4 to 27
The Religion Thing
Theater J celebrates Helen Hayes Award-winning local playwright Renee Calarco with her new comedy about Mo and Brian, a picture-perfect D.C. couple. But when Mo’s best friend announces she’s found Jesus and is putting her career on hold to be a wife and mother, Mo must take a closer look at the harder truths surrounding her own marriage. Please call for ticket information.
Washington DCJCC
Through Jan. 7
Jersey Boys
This Tony and Grammy Award-winning production is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and how a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. Tickets start at $66.50.
National Theatre
Through Jan. 7
Much Ado About Nothing
Everyone can see that Benedick and Beatrice are meant for each other except Benedick and Beatrice in one of the Bard’s most romantic comedies ever written. Please call for ticket information.
The Shakespeare Theatre
Jan. 7 to 22
Barber & Barberillo
The In Series present its first “pocket opera” production of 2012, “Barber & Barberillo,” a double-bill of Samuel Barber and Giancarlo Menotti’s “A Hand of Bridge” (1959) coupled with Francisco Asenjo Barbieri’s “The Little Barber of Lavapies” (1874). Tickets are $40.
Source Theatre
Through Jan. 8
Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies
Woolly Mammoth artists flew to Chicago to work with the Second City’s comedians in this unprecedented collaboration. Their mission? Bring back the most gleeful anti-holiday celebration of doom ever — a mind-bending and hilarious new show exploring the twists of fate that propel our universe. Tickets start at $30.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Jan. 12 to 29
Hedda Gabler
In this classic by Henrik Ibsen, reset by Scena Theatre in 1938 Norway — a tenuous period in Europe — Hedda returns from a long honeymoon bored by her academic husband and fears a life of tedious convention, manipulating the fates of those around her with devastating and tragic consequences. Tickets are $27 to $35.
H Street Playhouse
Through Jan. 15
Ann
Emmy Award–winning stage and screen actress Holland Taylor brings audiences a hilarious, inspiring, and no-holds-barred look at Ann Richards, the unforgettable governor of the Lone Star State. Tickets are $54 to $95.
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater
Through Jan. 15
Billy Elliot the Musical
In this Tony-winning musical with heart and humor, Billy stumbles out of the boxing ring and into a ballet class, discovering a surprising talent for dance that inspires his family and his whole community, changing his life forever. Tickets are $25 to $150.
Kennedy Center Opera House
Jan. 17 to Feb. 12
La Cage aux Folles
Georges (George Hamilton), the owner of a glitzy nightclub in lovely Saint-Tropez, and his partner Albin, who moonlights as the glamorous chanteuse Zaza, are put to the test when their son brings his fiancée’s conservative parents home to meet the flashy pair. Tickets are $65 to $130.
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater
Jan. 20 to Feb. 12
Necessary Sacrifices
Playwright Richard Hellesen explores the two documented encounters between Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln during a period of national crisis, as Lincoln searches for a way to end slavery, while Douglass’s rhetoric and conviction challenges the president to envision a post-emancipation world. Please call for ticket information.
Ford’s Theatre
Jan. 20 to March 4
Red
At the height of his career, Mark Rothko is struggling with a series of grand-scale paintings for the elite Four Seasons restaurant, and when his new assistant challenges his artistic integrity, Rothko must confront his own demons. Please call for ticket information.
Arena Stage
Jan. 24 to March 4
The Gaming Table
The thrills of the gaming table stylishly play out against the eccentricities of English manners in Susanna Centlivre’s comedy as an independent widow with a penchant for gambling leads a nightly card game, which bankrupts some and entertains all. Tickets are $30 to $65.
Folger Shakespeare Library
Sun., Jan. 29, 4 p.m.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Acclaimed British-American touring company Aquila Theatre presents Oscar Wilde’s deliciously witty comedy detailing the escapades of the fashionable British upper crust. Tickets are $24, $32 or $40.
George Mason University
Hylton Performing Arts Center
Through Jan. 29
Hairspray
In 1960s Baltimore, Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, wins a spot on the local TV dance program and, overnight, is transformed from outsider to irrepressible teen celebrity in the Broadway sensation “Hairspray.” Tickets start at $63.
Signature Theatre