goSmithsonian - June 2008 - (Page 48)

The Peacock Room In 1876 a wealthy ship owner, Frederick R. Leyland, asked James Whistler to advise his architect, Thomas Jeckyll, on a color for his dining room shutters and doors. Jeckyll had designed the room around a painting by Whistler, The Princess of the Land of Porcelain (1836-1865), and the china that Leyland had collected. Embossed and gilded antique leather covered the walls. On the floor was an Oriental rug with a red border. To Whistler, these elements did not go with the colors of the large portrait, so he requested permission from Leyland to make “minor alterations.” In his patron’s absence, Whistler covered the ceiling with Dutch metal, or imitation gold leaf, over which he painted a lush pattern of peacock feathers. He then gilded Jeckyll’s walnut shelving and embellished the wooden shutters with images of four magnificently plumed peacocks. Minor alterations, indeed. James McNeill Whistler’s “Peacock Room” is located on Level 3. Folding screens are one of the most distinctive forms of Japanese art, and the Freer Gallery’s collection of nearly 200, representing many of Japan’s greatest artists and dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries, is one of the most important of its type in the world. Ceramics, simple in form and spare in decoration, have long been an integral part of Korean culture, admired for their distinctive balance of informality and dignity. The Korean Art gallery features tableware, Buddhist cinerary urns, bowls and storage jars from the 3rd to the 20th centuries. FOR CHILDREN: • Activity guides are at the information desk. Children’s programs and activities, listed in the calendar of events, are offered on weekends during the school year, and weekday afternoons and select Thursday evenings in the summer. • Children especially find entertaining the two expressive Kongorikishi warriors at both ends of the corridor on the Mall entrance side of the museum. The big wooden sculptures date to 14th-century Japan. In the “Peacock Room,” children love to search for the colored • stones in the two large peacocks’ eyes on the south wall. EDUCATION PROGRAMS: Teachers can visit www.asia.si.edu/ education or order curriculum materials from the Gallery Shop. For information on teacher workshops, call 202- 633-0458 or e-mail fsgasiaeducation@si.edu. THE GALLERY SHOP: The Freer shop features a unique selection of teapots, ranging from the whimsical to the traditional, as well as limited-edition prints, jewelry from around the world, books and Asian music CDs, sudoku puzzles and origami projects. www.goSmithsonian.com 48 COURTESY OF THE FREER GALLERY OF ART http://www.asia.si.edu/education http://www.asia.si.edu/education http://www.goSmithsonian.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of goSmithsonian - June 2008

goSmithsonian - June 2008 Contents Visitor Information Smithsonian Institution Building—The Castle The S. Dillon Ripley International Gallery Dining Guide Donald W. Reynolds Center Smithsonian American Art Museum National Portrait Gallery National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Discovery Theater, SITES, Folklife Festival and more National Museum of American History Map of the National Mall National Museum of Natural History National Museum of the American Indian Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/Asian Art Freer Gallery of Art/Asian and American Art Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden/Contemporary and Modern Art National Museum of African Art Renwick Gallery/American Art National Postal Museum Anacostia Community Museum National Zoological Park

goSmithsonian - June 2008

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