Richard Lee Matheson
Gallery Stroll Assignment
March 2011
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
During Spring Break this semester I had the opportunity to visit a friend in Washington D.C. I
spent a week touring the city and had the opportunity to see some great art. There are many wellknown art galleries in D.C., but I chose to do my gallery stroll in the Freer Gallery; one that I felt to
be a little less well-known but equally impressive. I was amazed at how quiet the gallery was. I kept
looking over my shoulder and asking my wife “are you sure they are open?” It was as if everyone
thought that making even a small sound would knock over the 12th century Chines stone vase or
the 6th century Chinese bell and send it crumbling to the ground.
The Freer/Sackler Gallery is Primarily an Asian art gallery, and possibly the most famous piece on
exhibit there is the Peacock Room; a blue and gold room with intricate peacock designs on the
walls which houses dozens of pieces of ancient Chinese blue and white porcelain. This room was
created by James McNeill Whistler, a famous American artist who lived during the mid to late
1800s. Almost as famous as his Peacock Room is Whistler’s “Portrait of F. R. Leyland”, the man who
commissioned the Peacock Room to store his collection of pottery. It shows Leyland in a royal pose
and was painted while Leyland stood in that pose for hours. Whistler’s intention was to depict
Leyland in his ruffled shirt, which he was famous for wearing, and painted in a tall, thin format used
by Spanish court painters to depict royalty.
All of these works of art, surrounded by dozens of ancient Asian sculptures and paintings of gods
and landscapes, and the utter silence and reverie of the art in general, made the Freer gallery an
unforgettable experience and helped me gain a greater appreciation for those who preserve it.
1 Portrait of F. R. Leyland,
James Mcneill Whistler, Oil
on canvas, H x W 218.5 x
119.4 cm