Sackler Gallery - Smithsonian

I work near the Sackler Gallery, and had been through it quickly on a lunch break stroll a few weeks ago. I remember thinking at the time that it was something the kids might like to see. Turns out I was right.

We arrived around 10:30 on Saturday morning, and we practically had the place to ourselves.

As you enter the gallery, after the cursory back pack inspection, the first (and only) thing you'll see is something that looks a bit like the mirror in the funny house. "Perspectives" by Anish Kapoor, is two pieces of polished steel shaped in an S-curve. At the information desk, we picked up a kids guide for the exhibit, which had some interesting info on Kapoor and some suggestions on how to look at the piece. One of those suggestions was to not only look at the reflective surface up close, but to take a step back and see how the reflection twisted and turned the farther back you stood. The Boy was intrigued by this and had fun finding the point where things went from right side up, to up side down. The Girl enjoyed running circles around the entire thing. Unfortunately, the "no pictures" symbol was prominently displayed, so we weren't able to capture this in pixels.

Down the stairs on the first level you'll find a number of exhibits.

The Tale of Shuten Doji is a display that features long scrolls and large 8 foot tall panels that make up an ancient, huge, Japanese comic book. My favorites were the panels, which told the story in a counter clockwise order. Basically a maiden is stolen by the bad guy, the emporer sends a warrior out to rescue the girl, he travels far across the wilderness to find the girl, finds a monster, cuts his head off and proceeds back home with the maiden and the head of the monster, arriving to cheers from the locals. One neat thing about the panels is that the hero (Shunten Doji) is always wearing the same orange robe, so it's easy to spot him in each scene around the panels. The Boy really enjoyed finding the orange robe in each scene (like a giant Where's Waldo book) and piecing together the story. If you want to see it, make plans to go soon. The exhibit closes September 20!

Tsars and the East is an impressive display of gifts given by diplomats visiting Tsars in the Kremlin. There are 60 items on display, and for many of them, it is their first trip outside the Kremlin since then 16th and 17th centuries when they were originally given to Russian officials. The Boy especially liked the fine selection of sabres, daggers and armor. The Girl enjoyed looking at the ornate canteen that looked like a teapot, and the helmet with a face mask. I thought the descriptions given for some of the items could have been a little bit more informative, but most had enough information to provide some thoughtful insight into what the object was, where it came from and its importance, etc. This exhibit will be gone soon as well. It closes September 13.

In a small exhibition of Sculpture of South and Southeast Asia everyone enjoyed counting the multiple arms on bronze statues of Shiva and marveling at the round belly of the little Buddha.

 

  

  

  

 

Our final stop of the morning was the Arts of China Exhibition. I was struck by how old some of the items on display were. A small metal sculpture of a horse was dated between 200 BC and 300 AD, and several jade carvings were even older than that. One of our favorites was the set of ceramic Tomb Guardians. The Girl was eager to point out that each one featured the same colors of green, orange and white! Maybe I'm just not into furniture, but one room of the exhibit, featuring a huge, old, wooden Chinese wardrobe was a bit on the boring side, but other items throughout the exhibit made up for it.

 

 

 

All in all, we spent maybe 2 hours walking through the exhibits on the first subteranean level of the Sackler Gallery. We also visited the gift shop, which was nice, but I didn't see anything that really jumped out at me as a bargain. We enjoyed the Shuten Doji exhibit so much, I asked if they had a book that told the story and pictures from the scrolls, which, unfortunately, they did not.

Total: $0

Location: 1050 Independence Ave SW, Washington DC. 

Verdict:  Great little museum to check out.

Metro Station: Smithsonian, Independence Ave exit

At the top of the escalator, turn 180 degrees and walk one block down Independence. Cross the street and walk through the large black gate on Independence that leads into the gardens at the "red castle" Smithsonian, take an immediate left, and you'll see the gallery entrance.