Events Highlight

Scandinavians Make Jazz Cool

The Nordic embassies in D.C., along with Twins Jazz Club, present the eighth annual Nordic Jazz Festival from June 24 to 29, featuring internationally acclaimed performers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

The artists will present their modern take on Nordic jazz over the course of six concerts to be held at the Finnish Embassy and House of Sweden, as well as Twins Jazz Club.

Nordic jazz emphasizes the natural elements of Scandinavian countries with a modern interpretation that is characterized by improvisation. While the music tends to be experimental, the sound is melodically strong and spacious, with open song structures.

For more information, visit http://usa.um.dk/nordicjazz2014.

EVENT CATEGORIES

ART 

June 4 to Aug. 29

Investing in Women and Girls: A Photography exhibit of winners of the Colors of Life photo contest

This exhibition of winning entries of the Colors of Life International Photo Contest, organized in conjunction with the World Bank Art Program, features international documentary and street photographers tackling issues such as women’s rights and the international movement toward a more just and humane world.

Art Museum of the Americas
F Street Gallery

Through June 6

Sequester

Six Australian contemporary artists working out of New York City and London were selected based on an empirical set of rules. In an act of sequestering the artists, each has adopted a system of constraint to structure their experiments, elucidating the vast complexities of lived experience with a remarkable economy of means.

Embassy of Australia Art Gallery

June 6 to Oct. 12

Total Art: Contemporary Video

The first museum exhibition to focus on women’s impact on the field of video art highlights the inventive processes and compelling subjects that sustain women artists’ position at the forefront of video.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

June 7 to Dec. 31

Cartier: Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Dazzling Gems

One of Cartier’s most important and enduring clients, Marjorie Merriweather Post commissioned some of the most exquisite jewelry sets, fashionable accessories and finely crafted jeweled frames of any American collector.

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

Through June 8

Garry Winogrand

A renowned photographer of New York City and American life from the 1950s through the early 1980s, Garry Winogrand worked with dazzling energy and a voracious appetite. In the first retrospective of his work in 25 years, some 180 photographs in the exhibition and more than 350 in the accompanying catalogue will reveal for the first time the full breadth of Winogrand’s art.

National Gallery of Art

Through June 8

Perspectives: Rina Banerjee

Born in India and based in New York City, artist Rina Banerjee draws on her background as a scientist and her experience as an immigrant in her richly textured works that complicate the role of objects as representations of cultures and invite viewers to share her fascination in materials.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

June 10 to July 31

Octavio Paz: De La Palabra a la Miranda

This display brings together Octavio Paz’s artist books, capturing the Nobel Laureate’s indelible word through the illustration of renowned artists from Mexico and abroad, including Rufino Tamayo, Juan Soriano, Vicente Rojo, Marcel Duchamp, Antoni Tàpies, Robert Motherwell, Balthus and Cy Twombly.

Mexican Cultural Institute

Thu., June 12, 6 p.m.

They Never Update the Lists

This solo photography show by Prague-born, Bethesda-based artist Michael Borek addresses themes of alienation and absurdity as it commemorates the 90th anniversary of death of Franz Kafka. To RSVP, visit www.mzv.cz/washington.

Embassy of the Czech Republic

June 14 to Aug. 17

Continental Drift

This survey of Washington artist Judy Byron invites the viewer to consider the visual and auditory environment that informs identity, acknowledging the artist’s drifting of visual influences among three specific countries: Brazil, China and Ghana.

American University Katzen Arts Center

June 14 to Aug. 17

Passionate Collectors: The Washington Print Club at 50

With almost 150 prints selected from Washington collections, this exhibit reveals a diversity of techniques — from relief printing by celebrated masters Durer, van Dyck, Carracci, Pissarro, Picasso and Chuck Close to monoprints by contemporaries Richard Estes, Ventura Salimbeni, Thomas Frye, Adolphe Appian, Reinhard Hilker and Keiko Hara.

American University Katzen Arts Center

Through June 15

Gravity’s Edge

One of a series of exhibitions drawn from the collection of the Hirshhorn in celebration of the museum’s 40th anniversary, “Gravity’s Edge” offers an expanded view of Color Field painting, which spanned from 1959 to 1978.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Through June 15

Rineke Dijkstra: The Krazyhouse

“The Krazyhouse” is a four-channel video installation by Rineke Dijkstra created in 2009 at a popular dance club in Liverpool that presents a group of five young people in their teens and early 20s dancing and singing.

Corcoran Gallery of Art

Through June 15

Shakespeare’s the Thing

Marking the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, this exhibition presents a miscellany of treasures in the Folger collection from Shakespeare’s 1623 First Folio to modern fine art prints, revealing the Bard’s influence on performance, adaptation, scholarship, printing, fine art and even in mild obsession.

Folger Shakespeare Library

Through June 20

A Vintage Tour of Italy

This exhibit details the history of Italy’s travel posters from the beginning of the 1900s to their peak in the 1960s, considered the golden age of poster art (viewing appointments must be made by emailing iicwashington@esteri.it).

Embassy of Italy

Through June 21

Light Touch

The Cultural Service of the Embassy of France, in partnership with Maryland Art Place (MAP), features the work of five artists who explore aspects of the physical world through the lens of light as both a medium and a resource of value to our natural environment.

BWI Airport

June 23 to July 3

Lily Garafulic: Centenary Celebration

Selected prints, drawings, watercolors, sculptures and a documentary examine the work of Lily Garafulic Yankovic (1914-2012), a Chilean sculptor who was among the 40 Generation artists who drew heavily from impressionism and Fauvism and remained largely removed from the more overtly political work being made at the time.

Art Museum of the Americas

June 28 to Sept. 28

American Metal: The Art of Albert Paley

Spanning a remarkable 50-year career, this first-ever retrospective surveys the art of Albert Paley, one of the world’s most distinguished metalsmiths.

Corcoran Gallery of Art

Through June 29

Marimekko: 50 Years of Unikko

Marimekko, a Finnish textile and clothing design company renowned for its original prints and colors, and the Finnish Embassy celebrate the 50th anniversary of the world-famous Unikko (poppy) pattern, which, since its introduction in 1964, has been seen in a huge range of different colorways and on a large variety of products, from tableware and bags to sneakers and the livery of a Finnair airplane.

Embassy of Finland

Through June 29

Modern German Prints and Drawings from the Kainen Collection

Ruth Kainen’s love of German expressionism, first displayed at the gallery in the 1985 exhibition “German Expressionist Prints from the Collection of Ruth and Jacob Kainen,” will be celebrated with 123 works recently donated to the gallery through her bequest, as well as with a few of her earlier gifts.

National Gallery of Art

Through July 3

AppArtAward – App goes art // Art goes app

Artists have been quick to recognize the creative potential of apps, particularly as a new form of communication and participation in contemporary art.

Goethe-Institut

Through July 3

Search for a New Sound. The Blue Note Photographs of Francis Wolff

Blue Note Records celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2014. Its roots lie in Berlin, where two teenagers, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, discovered a passion for swing music and a strong friendship. They both moved to New York in the 1930s, where Blue Note Records was born in 1939.

Goethe-Institut

Through July 7

Territories and Subjectivities: Contemporary Art from Argentina

This exhibition featuring 33 innovative artists presents a vigorous panorama of fresh trends from various regions of the country, examining the very notion of territory not as an inherent condition of the world that we share, but as something that humans define for themselves through subjective means.

OAS Art Museum of the Americas

Through July 13

Dancing the Dream

From the late 19th century to today, dance has captured this nation’s culture in motion, as seen in photos that showcase generations of performers, choreographers and impresarios.

National Portrait Gallery

Through July 27

Chigusa and the Art of Tea

“Chigusa” tells the story of a 700-year-old ordinary tea jar that rose to become one of the most famous and revered objects in the Japanese “art of tea” — so much so that it was granted a name, luxurious accessories and a devoted following.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Through July 27

Kiyochika: Master of the Night

On Sept. 3, 1868, the city called Edo ceased to exist. Renamed Tokyo by Japan’s new rulers, the city became the primary experiment in a national drive toward modernization. Kobayashi Kiyochika, a self-trained artist, set out to record his views of Tokyo in an ambitious and auspicious series of 100 prints.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Through Aug. 1

American States in Yuan Xikun’s Eyes: Preservation and Transformation

In this collaboration between China and OAS member countries, Yuan Xikun uses cross-disciplinary art and modern context to energize trans-Pacific dialogue.

Organization of American States Sculpture Garden

Through Aug. 17

An American in London: Whistler and the Thames

American artist James McNeill Whistler arrived in London in 1859 and discovered in its neighborhoods and inhabitants an inexhaustible source of aesthetic inspiration. His images of the city created over the next two decades represent one of his most successful assaults on the contemporary art establishment.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Through Aug. 17

An Opening of the Field: Jess, Robert Duncan, and Their Circle

Jess Collins and his partner, the poet Robert Duncan, merged their personal and artistic lives by exploring their mutual interest in cultural mythologies, transformative narrative and the appropriation of images.

American University Katzen Arts Center

Through Aug. 17

Visions from the Forests: The Art of Liberia and Sierra Leone

The exhibition features some 70 artworks from the collection of William Siegmann (1943–2011) — a former curator of African art at the Brooklyn Museum who lived and worked in Liberia for more than two decades — that survey the traditional arts of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

National Museum of African Art

Through Aug. 24

Africa ReViewed: The Photographic Legacy of Eliot Elisofon

“Africa ReViewed” showcases the African photography of celebrated Life magazine photographer Eliot Elisofon and explores the intricate relationships between his photographic archives and art collection at the National Museum of African Art. Elisofon’s images had a huge impact in framing America’s perceptions of Africa and its diverse cultures during the 20th century.

National Museum of African Art

Through Aug. 31

Made in the USA: American Masters from The Phillips Collection, 1850–1970

Following an acclaimed four-year world tour, the Phillips’s renowned collection of American masterworks returns to the museum to tell the story of American art from the late 19th-century to the mid-20th century, when it became a significant global force after World War II.

The Phillips Collection

Through Sept. 2

Peruvian Gold: Ancient Treasures Unearthed

This exhibition journeys through civilizations from 1250 B.C. to 1450, learning through the ceremonial gold, silver, ceramics and textiles created by the complex Andean civilizations in ancient Peru that rival anything made by the ancient Egyptians.

National Geographic Museum

Through Sept. 7

Small Guide to Homeownership: Photography by Alejandro Cartagena of Mexico

This selection from Alejandro Cartagena’s “Mexicana Suburbia” series considers the interdependence of humans and landscape in the face of urban expansion.

Art Museum of the Americas

Through Sept. 14

Bountiful Waters: Aquatic Life in Japanese Art

This exhibition features a selection of prints, paintings, illustrated books and ceramics that depict the Japanese appreciation for the beauty and variety of fish and other species.

Freer Gallery of Art

Through Sept. 14

Meret Oppenheim: Tender Friendships

More than 20 artworks and archival papers by Swiss surrealist Meret Oppenheim (1913-85) explore friendship as a source of support and inspiration, as seen through two 18th-century poets, Bettina von Brentano and Karoline von Günderode.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Through Sept. 21

Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence

A community of women living and working together in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, has developed a new form of bead art — using black fabric as a canvas and different colored Czech glass beads as the medium of expression — to empower local women.

The Anacostia Community Museum

Through Sept. 30

Marco Paoli Photography

Marco Paoli presents large black-and-white photographs from his collection “Silenzio (Silence)” and from his forthcoming monograph on Ethiopia, using his travels as metaphors for an artistic exploration around the concepts of silence, memory, emotion and inner journey (viewing appointments must be made by emailing iicwashington@esteri.it).

Embassy of Italy

Through Oct. 5

Degas/Cassatt

Although Edgar Degas’s influence upon Mary Cassatt has long been acknowledged, the extent to which Cassatt shaped Degas’s artistic production and prepared the way for his warm reception by American audiences is fully examined in this exhibition for the first time.

National Gallery of Art

Through Nov. 14

The First Woman Graphic Novelist: Helena Bochořáková-Dittrichová

Helena Bochořáková-Dittrichová (1894–1980) was a Czech graphic artist whose 1929 novel “Zmého dětství (From My Childhood)” is widely acknowledged to be the first wordless novel created by a woman.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Through Jan. 4

One Nation With News for All

Ethnic newspapers, radio, television and online publications have helped millions of immigrants to America become part of their new country while preserving their ties to their native lands. This exhibit tells the dramatic story of how immigrants and minorities used the power of the press to fight for their rights and shape the American experience.

Newseum

DANCE

June 5 to 22

Puro Tango 2

This dazzling musical revue featuring singers and dancers from Argentina and Uruguay, the birthplace of tango, is an homage to the creators and key figures of tango and to the groundbreaking role of women in tango music. Tickets are $38 or $42.

GALA Hispanic Theatre

Tue., June 10, 7:30 p.m.

La Verbena de la Paloma

“La Verbena de la Paloma (The Festivity of the Virgin of the Dove)” is one of the most popular zarzuelas (Spanish operetta) of all times. Set in Madrid in the late 19th century, the story focuses on sweethearts Julian and Susana, whose love endures the amusing meddling of an old bachelor suitor. Tickets are $40 to $60.

GALA Hispanic Theatre

Sat., June 28, 5:30 p.m.

The XVI Saya Caporal Dance Competition

This year, the Pro Bolivia Committee presents the XVI Caporales Dance Competition celebrating this traditional Bolivian folkloric dance from La Paz that is very popular in national festivities, particularly during Carnival. Tickets are $20.

George Mason University Center for the Arts

DISCUSSIONS

Tue., June 3, 6:45 p.m.

Louisa Lim: Remembering the Legacy of Tiananmen Square

The image of the solitary figure facing down a column of tanks rolling through Beijing’s Tiananmen Square has lost none of its power 25 years after the People’s Army crushed unarmed protesters on June 4, 1989. Louisa Lim, NPR’s China correspondent, offers an insider’s account of this defining event of China’s modern history, from the widespread official hypocrisy and obsession with silence to its impact on the nation’s society and culture. Tickets are $25; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

Wed., June 4, 6:30 p.m.

‘Carabanchel’ Book Talk

This reception and artist talk marks the release of a new book with photographs and text by artist Mark Parascandola about the Carabanchel prison in Madrid, Spain. For information, visit www.spainculture.us.

Studio 1469

Sat., June 14, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Europe 1900: The Golden Ages of Vienna, Paris, and London

The year 1900 found three of Europe’s greatest cities entering defining eras in their historical and cultural development. In a richly illustrated series of talks, Smithsonian lecturer George Scheper explores how the alignment of creative forces shaped three highly distinctive urban milieus. Tickets are $130; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

Mon., June 16, 6:45 p.m.

A Tale of a City: A Bloomsday Celebration of James Joyce’s Dublin

June 16 is the day on which the action of James Joyce’s epic 1922 novel “Ulysses” unfolds, as well as the anniversary of Joyce’s first date with his wife, Nora Barnacle. Coilin Owens of George Mason University offers insights into how the once-controversial novel offers rich and fascinating perspectives on Joyce, his writing and the city he loved. Tickets are $45; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

Sat., June 21, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Glittering in the Sun: Sicily’s Historic Treasures

At the crossroads of Mediterranean empires since antiquity, Sicily boasts a rich cultural heritage visible in its art and architecture. Tickets are $130; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

MUSIC

Thu., June 5, 6:30 p.m.

Aca Seca Trio

With songs written by Juan Quintero and esteemed composers from Uruguay, Brazil and their native Argentina, the Aca Seca Trio’s vocals blend and glide over Latin rhythms to create a thoroughly modern sound that echoes the spirit of their continent’s rich heritage.

Inter-American Development Bank

Enrique V. Iglesias Auditorium

Fri., June 6, 7:30 p.m.

Bergthor Pálsson, Baritone

Since 1991, baritone Bergthor Pálsson has sung at the Icelandic Opera and also appeared as a soloist with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Reykjavik. Tickets are $100 including buffet; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Icelandic Residence

Thu., June 12, 7:30 p.m.

Avguste Antonov, Piano

Avguste Antonov has presented recitals in Bordeaux, France, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee, and he has performed extensively with the University of Kansas Wind Ensemble and the Texas Christian University Wind Symphony. Tickets are $100 including buffet; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Bulgarian Residence

Thu., June 12, 7:30 p.m.

Kevin Deas CD Launch Party

Bass baritone Kevin Deas joins PostClassical Ensemble’s Joseph Horowitz on piano for the launch of his CD and the ensemble’s announcement of its 2014-15 season. Admission is free but reservations are limited; for information, visit http://acfdc.org.

Embassy of Austria

June 14 to 28

Verdi’s La Traviata

The In Series closes its season by paying homage to the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth in producing one of his most beloved and most performed operas, “La Traviata,” which recounts the tragic love story of the frail demi-mondaine Violetta and the well-born Alfredo. Tickets are $44 (a Directors Salon will be held June 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Casa Italiana).

GALA Hispanic Theatre

Through June 15

Jazz Samba Project

The Jazz Samba Project, a celebration of over 50 years of bossa nova in the United States, was inspired by the landmark 1962 Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd “Jazz Samba” album that led to the proliferation and popularization of this Brazilian sound in America, creating an indelible cultural shift in jazz and popular music. The festival includes more than 20 concerts, events, exhibitions, lectures and family activities that coincide with the World Cup in Brazil.

Music Center at Strathmore

Fri., June 20, 7:30 p.m.

A Tribute to Nelson Mandela

The Embassy Series presents a musical evening at the recently renovated South African Residence to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela. Tickets are $150 including buffet dinner; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

South African Residence

RECEPTIONS

Sat., June 21, 7:30 p.m.

Tango a la Turca Benefit

Guests can experience world-renowned Turkish tango instructor Metin Yazir and the Tangueros of the Greater Washington area, dance to the strings of the tango, and taste the delicacies of Turkish cuisine in this benefit for HasNa Inc., which for 15 years has been fostering peace by providing people with the tools to cross physical and psychological boundaries while promoting economic empowerment and sustained cooperation among culturally divided communities in Cyprus, Turkey and Armenia. Tickets are $150 and can be purchased at www.eventbrite.com/e/tango-a-la-turca-celebrating-15-years-of-peace-building-programs-tickets-11571531763?aff=eac2.

Embassy of Turkey 

THEATER

Mon., June 2, 6:15 p.m.

Life is a Dream (La Vida es Sueño)

In this special presentation at the elegant former residence of the Spanish ambassador, Calderón de la Barca’s immortal philosophical masterpiece comes to life in this one-night-only staged reading. When a prophecy toys with the freedom of a Polish prince, and a princess takes on a disguise to find her true love, they begin to question the nature of reality itself. Tickets are $10; for information, visit www.spainculture.us.

Spanish Cultural Center

Through June 7

Henry IV, Part 1

A young prince must decide between tavern roughhousing and the burden of his father’s legacy in the coming-of-age story of heroism, corruption and war, directed by Shakespeare Theatre Artistic Director Michael Kahn and starring Stacy Keach. Tickets start at $20.

Shakespeare Theatre Harman Hall

June 7 to June 29

Healing Wars

Liz Lerman’s newest theatrical piece, featuring Bill Pullman, combines dance and narrative to explore the healers tasked with treating the physical and psychic wounds of battle and how we as individuals and a community experience and recover from war. Please call for ticket information.

Arena Stage

Through June 8

Smokey Joe’s Café: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller

Stuffed with nearly 40 popular hits from the golden age of rock, rhythm and blues, this longest-running musical revue in Broadway history will prove that Smokey Joe’s Café is the place to be. Please call for ticket information.

Arena Stage

Through June 8

Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog)

Still fresh and witty after more than a century, Jerome K. Jerome’s delightful travelogue tells the story of three young men suffering from a severe case of “overwork” who take a boating holiday through the English countryside, getting into one satirically hilarious predicament after another. Tickets start at $35.

Synetic Theater

June 10 to 29

Grounded

When a hotshot fighter pilot’s unexpected pregnancy grounds her, she’s reassigned to fly drones in Afghanistan from a trailer outside Las Vegas in this gripping solo show from London’s Gate Theatre. Tickets are $39 to $49

Studio Theatre

June 14 to July 5

Happy Days

Scena Theater presents the absurdist classic “Happy Days” by the esteemed Irish playwright Samuel Beckett and directed by local acting veteran Nancy Robinette. Tickets are $20 to $40.

Atlas Performing Arts Center

June 17 to Aug. 17

Disney’s The Lion King

Winner of six Tonys including Best Musical, “Disney’s The Lion King” returns with direction and costumes by Julie Taymor and a score by Elton John and Tim Rice that brings the African Pridelands to life. Tickets are $40 to $190.

Kennedy Center Opera House

Through June 22

Cock

John breaks up with his long-term boyfriend. Two weeks later, he’s grateful to be accepted back — and haunted by a passionate and unshakable encounter with a woman that detonates a love triangle of attraction, ambivalence and commitment. Please call for ticket information.

Studio Theatre

Through July 15

Noël Coward’s Private Lives

Noël Coward’s quick-witted comedy opens in a blissful hotel in France where divorcées Elyot and Amanda are on a honeymoon with their new spouses. When the ex-couple discover each other on neighboring balconies, they try to maintain a veneer of etiquette and respectability, but old feelings make matters complicated. Tickets are $40 to $100.

Shakespeare Lansburgh Theatre