Displaying items by tag: dwight d. eisenhower

Fifteen years ago, federal officials approved the idea of building a memorial on the Washington Mall to honor Dwight D. Eisenhower, the general and president, and they later selected one of America’s foremost architects to design it. But the memorial is still far from being built, and congressional critics have come forward in recent days to depict it as just another Washington boondoggle or, in the words of a new report, “a five-star folly.”

In a 58-page report, the House Natural Resources Committee criticized the commission charged with creating the memorial for having already spent $41 million on the task, a third of which, it said, went to the design firm led by Frank Gehry, arguably the country’s most prominent architect.

On March 9, 2013 the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened a sweeping exhibition focused on the work of the widely popular 20^th century painter and illustrator, Norman Rockwell (1894-1978). Rockwell is best known for his archetypical portrayals of American life as well as his cover illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post magazine, a job he fulfilled for over 40 years.

American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell is a traveling exhibition that features 50 original Rockwell paintings as well as the 323 covers the artist created for the Saturday Evening Post. The show features some of Rockwell’s most recognized images including Triple Self-Portrait (1960), Girl at Mirror (1954), and Going and Coming (1947) as well as portraits of presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. American Chronicles includes a number of pieces from Rockwell’s archives such as preliminary sketches, color studies, photographs, letters, manuscripts, and detailed drawings.

The well-rounded exhibition allows visitors a glimpse into Rockwell’s artistic process and illustrates how he came to be the visual interpreter of day-to-day life in post-World War II America. American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell will be on view at the Crystal Bridges Museum through May 27, 2013.