Lion at the Corcoran Gallery Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Corcoran Gallery of Art

The Corcoran Gallery located just a few blocks from the White House is the oldest and largest non-Federal art museum in the District of Columbia. It was founded by William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888) to house his private collection of art. Corcoran opened his home to visitors to allow them to view his collection. This led to the commission of James Renwick in 1859 to design a gallery at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street. With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860, Corcoran went to Europe to wait out the war and in his absence the federal government seized his unfinished art gallery. After the war ended, the building was returned to Corcoran and finally opened on January 19, 1874 with 98 paintings and sculptures. This original gallery, now the Renwick Gallery, is owned by the Smithsonian Institution. Corcoran’s expanding collection relocated in 1897 to the current building designed by Ernest Flagg. A new wing designed by Frank O. Gehry was built in 1999-2003 to add another 110,000 square feet of display space.

Today the Corcoran owns extensive collections of 18th, 19th, and 20th century American art as well as a fine collection of European art. Highlights include The Departure by Thomas Cole 1837; Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Wright (1782); American portraitist Gilbert Stuart’s George Washington (1796), the most famous of his 100 plus studies of the first president; The Greek Slave by Hiram Powers (1846); Mrs. Henry White (1883) and The Oyster Gatherers of Cancale (1878) both by John Singer Sargent; and Young Girl at a Window by Mary Cassatt (1883). The permanent collection also includes works by Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Pierre-Aususte Renoir. In addition to collections in the permanent galleries, there are always changing exhibitions.

This sculpture is one of two lions at the entrance Workshop of the Corcoran Gallery.

bakes888, gracious, belido, jaywalker, axiotea, ElAprendiz, Jakab, mikolaj_kawa has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

loic-jaouen (204) 2008-10-20 17:35

don't talk too load. Very nice sculpture, thanks for posting.

Maybe if you had moved a bit on the left you could have more sky as background.

bakes888 (18353) 2008-10-21 0:01

Hi Betty. Nice capture. The angled light has given the lion good definition and the sharpness and detail is superb. A pace or two to the left might have put the lion into “clear air” and given it a little prominence though. Great note and thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Paul.

gracious (20017) 2008-10-21 0:44

Hello Betty,
The bright sunny day makes a great choice to capture the lion in great sharpness, good colour and superb details in the shot!
quite a cute sculpture!
many thanks for the sharing
greeting from NZ
Tony

belido (16877) 2008-10-21 6:39

Hi Betty,

this lion seems to be posing for you :))) Very interesing and realistic artwork. You framed perfectly and the light that comes from the top right brings very nice details on his face. I guess you will post other photos from insde the museum. Well done!
Regards,
Carlos

jaywalker (12308) 2008-10-21 14:47

Hi Betty, I really love this super shot & there is a cute feel to the picture, great detail & texture & the man adds some very good scale, the light & blue sky are a wonderful asset, TFS, kind regards Wilson.

batalay (21205) 2008-10-21 19:13

Hello Betty,

What a pleasure it is to see this superb photograph, and indeed shot with your previous camera in the cold of winter. The portrait of the sleeping/waking lion appears to confirm the centerline principle for human portraits — position the subject so that the centerline of the frame passes right through or within 5% of one eye. The strolling subject pedestrian on the side serves as an involuntary supporting cast. I am embarrassed to say that I had not looked at this lion as closely as I am looking now, despite the fact that many years ago (as a student) I had a job at the neighboring Red Cross Building Lab, and would frequently wonder over to visit the museum. From your note, I also learned about the history of this great private art gallery.

Warm regards,

Bulent

Atousa (3466) 2008-10-21 21:20

Salam Betty,

I think its the first time I'm seeing a statue of a "tamed" lion ..very interesting shot with good clarity and nice details..TFS
Regards, A

mafegan (4505) 2008-10-30 18:19

Hello Betty
This lion has a striking angelic feel about him - good pov. I like how he occupies almost the whole frame with just a person to the side to give perspective. TFS, Marlene

axiotea (16293) 2008-11-07 22:49

Hello Betty
You made a good close up of that Lion for which I like the the texture and sharpness! A well time capture as well of the walking man giving a sense of scale to the sculpture! A good choice of vertical format!
Cheers
Marilyn

ElAprendiz (7370) 2008-11-11 19:49

Hello my friend Betty:

Impressive forefront of this sculpture.

The approach makes the majestic view, seems to be real. Congratulations to the creator of this beautiful work of art, and thank you for making themselves known.

I like friendship by exchanging email, ¿OK?

Greetings from Colombia

John

Jakab (3498) 2008-11-19 2:11

Hello Betty,
what a lovely sleeping lion! It has a special effect to show the power in rest, to show the frightful as pet. An original and appropriate idea for a cultural institution.
I appreciate the really good exposition that enables us to see every detail despite of the hard contrasts.
Best whishes
Laszlo

mikolaj_kawa (31287) 2009-02-03 1:57

Hello Betty! Excellent lion, wonderful sculpture. Good capture. Perfect light and sharp. Original work. Good luck!

sacimar (7694) 2009-03-02 11:51

Betty,

good lion portrait, very interesting the composition, great details, well seen,

Regards

Sergio

danyy (69465) 2009-04-19 23:53

Bonjour Betty,
belle prise de vue.
La photo est nette et d'une exposition parfaite, pas facile de rendre des teintes aussi foncées. Difficile avec cet angle de prise de vue, de se faire une idée de la taille de ce lion,.
Amicalement.
Daniel.

zumoduvas (1974) 2009-05-02 13:09