Museum of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery

The Museum of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery are housed in the same building, the same building that used to be the Old Patent Office Building. And what a beautiful building it is.

We were hoping to catch a peek of some conservators hard at work at the Lunder Conservation Center, but alas it was a Saturday and all the art labs were closed. We peeked around at them anyway.

Then we wandered around the Luce Foundation which is essentially an art storage facility that is open to the public. Stumbling upon some cool treasures like a piece from Bauhaus artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy... just hanging out in STORAGE!

And you know, Paul Manship sculptures just hanging out in front of empty classrooms...

Then we moved onto the museum proper, where we saw some cool modern stuff like this horse that looks like it's made of drift wood but it's actually cast iron and a cool and very trippy installation piece from David Hockney.

Grrr, crappy phone pic.

And the Electronic Superhighway did not disappoint...

Clark is always wondering who my favorite artist is and it's impossible to pick just one, but I'd say John Singer Sargent is definitely in my top 15. He makes my heart skip a beat.

Maynard Dixon is probably in my top 30. He's got ties to both Utah (Mt. Carmel, where he kept his studio) and Tucson (where he died). Plus how cool is that painting?