I’ve always liked Sundays; especially if I can get my butt in gear early and make something of the day. I’ve always thought of sunday morning as the time when the city belongs to native Washingtonians; the legions who are only here because of the Government are no where to be found.
Eastern Market is one of my favorite sunday destinations; the a bazaar atmosphere with the farmer’s market and vendor stalls is always interesting, and photographic opportunities abound. But I’d been craving dim sum for months, I think I last had some in Seattle about eight years ago, so I went down to Chinatown instead. On weekends many of the restaurants in Chinatown serve dim sum for brunch, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to feed the craving. My housemate Soeren and I had a wonderful couple of hours stuffing ourselves with bite-sized Chinese delicacies at Tony Cheng’s. Afterward, we went over to Starbucks where I had a Chantico — best hot chocolate I’ve ever had; I’m not sure it was worth $3, but it was pretty damn good.
Well satisfied with our brunch efforts, we went down to the National Mall with the intention of checking out an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. There’s a great sculpture of a perspective changing house in the sculpture garden, and we had a chance to sit next to the skating rink and people watch while waiting for my friend Scott to show up.
The main attraction of the day was the André Kertész exhibit at the National Gallery of Art west wing. Kertész, a friend and compatriot of one of my favorite photographers — Brassai, started making photographs in 1912, and the exhibit spans his whole photographic career through his death in 1985. With the majority of the twentieth century documented through his lens, the exhibit is inspiring, but hard on the eyes; some the work, especially the earliest pieces, were made without the use of an enlarger and are only 2-3 inches in size. The result is that the viewer is forced into intimate contemplation of many of the 113 pieces in the collection. Kertész’s quixotic view of the world and his strong compositional sense make the entire experience worth the effort to see the exhibit — both in time and eye strain. The André Kertész exhibition is at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. through May 15, 2005.