We visited the USA in October, and among many other things, visited Glenstone, an estate outside Washington DC, owned by by a philanthropist, which has been turned into a Museum of modern art. The collection is of contemporary  artists and sculptors post WW2.

The Museum building. Several more are being planned and more sculptures are going to be installed, the following were some of the best:-

Tony Smith. Painted steel.

There are many outdoor sculptures and visitors are able to walk around to see them.

Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker. Beautifully maintained. The flowers need to be refreshed every day. The base is steel with a padding that keeps the flowers fresh. But of course in summer it gets really hot. The ‘split’ is one side a dog and the other a horse.

The Owner’s house, and in the foreground by the lake, an Ellsworth Kelly sculpture.

 The inside of a Richard Serra sculpture.

The Museum was showing the work of conceptual artist, Roni Horn, Born 1955. Photographs, drawings and installations. We were not allowed to take photographs, but there were some ‘highlights’. One installation called ‘Ant Farm’ which consisted of a colony of ants in soil pressed together by two plates of glass so that the visitor could see the channels they were making – a live performance. There was also her ‘bird series’ of photographs of the back of birds’ heads in sharp relief, which I liked,  and her blurred series of photographs of clowns which I did not. The Museum itself was beautifully built and finished, with much attention to detail.  I don’t really rate Roni Horne though, I much preferred the sculptures, which were generally more exciting. I spoke to one of the curators who told me that with the sculptures, the buying policy is more diverse but mostly American. With works of art, apparently it has become acceptable for new Museums to buy up a chosen artist’s entire work, rather than display a range of different works. ie to select an artist rather than collecting various works from a range of artists.

This blue cockerel, ‘Hahn’ by K Fritsch, is owned by Glenstone, but is on loan to the National Gallery, Washington., where we saw it. Much larger than it seems here and on the roof.

The National Gallery, Washington DC.