Smithsonian.com

Folio from a Falnama (ca.1550s-1560s). Image courtesy of the Sackler gallery.

ED. NOTE: Please be aware that, due to Smithsonian Institution Internet outages scheduled for this weekend, some of the links given below may not be functional on Saturday, November 21 and Sunday November 22. Please visit our companion site goSmithsonian.com for updates on Smithsonian events and exhibitions.

Friday, November 20: Reel Portraits: Films by John Ford

In conjunction with the exhibition, Faces of the Frontier, the National Portrait Gallery is showing several films by legendary director John Ford. Tonight, it is “Fort Apache” starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple (sans tap shoes and Mr. Bojangles) in a thinly veiled account of Custer’s last stand. A conversation with Frank H. Goodyear III, curator of the exhibition Faces of the Frontier, follows the screening. Free. Portrait Gallery, 7:00 PM.

Saturday, November 21: Facing History: Be the Artist

David Eichenberg’s painting, The Duchess of Toledo, was selected as a finalist in this year’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and, like many works of art, one has to wonder what was going through the artist’s head when they begin to create a work of art. This afternoon, come on out to the National Portrait Gallery for a guided tour of the show and then create your own piece based on Eichenberg’s ideas. For persons aged 10-14 with adult. This event is free, but registration is required. Please call 202-633-8501 to reserve your spot today. This event repeats today at 3:30 for persons aged 5-10. Portrait Gallery, 12:00-2:00 PM.

ImaginAsia: Predicting Your Future

Cootie catchers are a popular means of fortune telling, but their accuracy is somewhat suspect. When in doubt, consult the Book of Falnama—sort of a big honkin’ cootie catcher that commoners and royalty in Turkey and Iran used during the 16th and 17th centuries to consult when they needed advice about the future. Kick off the afternoon by touring the new exhibit Falnama: The Book of Omens and learn about the auspicious meanings behind the images and symbols and then go back into the classroom where you can create an amulet for protection and posterity. Free. Freer, 2:00 PM.

For more information on events and exhibitions at the Smithsonian museums, check our companion website, goSmithsonian.com, the official visitor’s guide to the Smithsonian.

Michael Kirby, from Baltimore, painted a sidewalk image in honor of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's new exhibit "Falnama: The Book of Omens." Photo by Ryan Reed.

Michael Kirby’s stained fingers pull out pastel chalk from a multicolor box. He crawls along the sidewalk, measuring and drawing lines in bright colors. He wears his father’s old mechanic jumpsuit that is splotched with paint from previous projects. His tattered gloves are missing fingers, and the pastel chalk leaves them stained. But his focus is unbreakable. He isn’t distracted by the live feed that streams his every move onto the internet or the passersby that take interest.

Kirby, a 34-year-old muralist from Baltimore, spent last week painstakingly recreating a 3-D image from a work of art that is on view in the exhibition, “Falnama: The Book of Omens,” at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. The process of drawing the lines is the hardest, he says. “I’m kind of the only person right now that knows what this is,” he jokes and he looks at the maze of lines and shapes in front of him. The lines are to establish a viewpoint, so that the final image, once the paint and details are applied, will appear in 3-D if the viewer is standing in the right spot.

Kirby, one of the first street muralists to work in 3-D, started as a teenager in Italy. He needed a job, and saw others painting on the street. He gave it a try and hasn’t looked back since. Originally from Baltimore, he has painted sidewalk murals in London, Berlin, New York, Mexico City, San Francisco and Caracas among others. Kirby founded the Murals of Baltimore studio in Baltimore, Maryland.

When he finished the painting on Friday, Kirby stood on a ladder to fully capture the 3-D effect. The sun image seemed to jump from the pavement, and the careful lettering rose above the book’s pages. The mural won’t last forever, and that is the point of street murals, also known as ephermeral murals. “Eventually, the rain, weather and foot traffic will wear it away.” When asked if he actually expects people to walk over it, he says “Yeah, they’ll walk on it. It’s pavement.”

The sun is regarded as an auspicious sign, but this augury warns the seeker, "know friend from foe, and do not feel secure from the plots of a sallow-faced, short man with a defect on his head or eye." Courtesy of Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul

When the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars.  .  . Now, if I was a fortune teller, I might accurately predict that dozens of readers will be humming that tune all day. Beyond that, I have no idea what the day ahead holds for any of us. But through the ages, the desire to know the future has fostered any number of fantastic divination methodologies from reading tea leaves to consulting astrologists (think Nancy Reagan and Cherie Blair) to playing with that endearing schoolyard devise, the cootie catcher.  (Reminded you, didn’t I, you’re going to want to make one of those today.)

The Sackler Gallery’s huge new fall show, “Falnama: The Book of Omens,” opens this Saturday. The rare 17th-century works of art, pictures of prognostication created at the end of the Islamic millennium, speak to the universal fear of what the future holds and the quest to know the unknown.

The way the book worked–three of the monumental volumes are on view–was not unlike an ancient cootie catcher. The seeker of omens would first perform ritual ablutions and recite certain prayers before opening the over-sized manuscripts to a random page that would answer a question. Is this business deal worthy? Should I make the trip to Istanbul? Should I marry the girl next door? The books were about the size of  the inimitable Times Atlas and possibly required more than one person to properly open them. An image on the left, a joyful depiction of the sun or an ominous portrayal of an evil villain, was the good or the bad augury. The text on the right page was a detailed prognostication in list form, beginning with the words, “Oh augery seeker.”

“The answers are quite mundane,” says Massumeh Farhad, chief curator at the Freer and Sackler. “If you got the sun, that’s a really good omen, but there was no guarantee.” The text reminded the seeker to be prayerful, to be good to their neighbors, or to perhaps go on a pilgrimage. “They are not religious manuscripts,” explains Farhad, “but these are the ideals you were supposed to aspire to.”

The Falnama was likely used in the streets and marketplaces of Isfahan, Iran and Istanbul, Turkey, by fortunetellers entertaining paying customers. But none of those common Falnamas are known to have survived. Only four, created for the monied, affluent class, remain. The three on view in the exhibition have been brought together for the first time ever from the collections of the Topkapi Palace Library in Istanbul, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, the Louvre as well as the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery. The Sackler will be the only venue for the exhibition, which will be on view through January 24, 2010.

Photo Gallery

Sometimes I feel like the only person who’s not into those “celebrity dancing shows.” And no, I don’t “think I can dance,” but I’ll admit it, I’d lurrrrve me some of MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew (ABDC). The amazing, hip-hop-infused moves of the competing dance crews blow my mind every time I watch.

And now Smithsonian’s own Asia After Dark series is bringing some of that flavor to this coming Thursday’s festivities (September 3) at the Freer Gallery of Art.

Boogie Bots, one of the crews from last season’s ABDC (see above video) will be performing! So it’s cocktails and Asian fusion appetizers while I watch Boogie Bots pop and lock. What more could I ask for? Suggested attire for this swank evening is peacock-themed, which, I can only assume, will make it easier for me to hide in Whistler’s Peacock Room. DJ Yellow Fever will be providing the beats, and visuals will come in the form of short films from the DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival. Purchase your tickets in advance here before they’re gone.

This text is written in Kufic script, a style of Arabic calligraphy. Image courtesy of the Freer and Sackler Gallery of Art.

With a steady hand, Oman calligrapher Abdullah al Waili demonstrated how to write in Arabic script to a packed room at the Sackler Gallery of Art.

He and Aishah Holland, a U.S.-based calligrapher, led the ImaginAsia program about Arabic calligraphy, which will be taught again today and tomorrow at 2 PM in the second-floor Sackler classroom.

As al Waili wrote the flowing script, Holland presented a short history of Arabic calligraphy styles. “Most of the letters join, just like English script. Arabic script is very much like music, it has a style and a rhythm to it,” she says.

The rise of Arabic calligraphy as art is closely connected with the Islamic faith. Calligraphy was, and still is, considered a way to represent God by writing the words of the Koran, the Muslim holy text, she adds.

After her presentation, Holland walked around the room helping children and adults alike make the letters of the Arabic alphabet.

This example of Arabic calligraphy from the Koran tells the stories of prophets like Abraham and Noah. Image courtesy of the Freer and Sackler Gallery of Art.

Interested in trying it yourself? Here are five tips for beginning Arabic calligraphy:

1. Use a natural wood pen—in this case, a popsicle stick with shaved nib (tip)—that resembles the reeds and bamboo that calligraphers often use.

2. Put yarn in the inkwell to soak up the ink so that you don’t put too much on the pen.

3. Write on a soft surface. At the workshop, participants were given smooth-sided paper (not from the printer) and placed a thin piece of stiff foam underneath it.

4. Begin by writing dots, which in the Arabic script look more like diamonds.

5. Have fun! While Arabic calligraphy requires patience, the sweeping lines and flourishes make for a one-of-a-kind creative experience.

If you want personal instruction or more tips from al Waili and Holland, check out the program this afternoon or tomorrow!

A Russian chain-mail vest worn by Russian governor of Alaska Alexander Baranov, courtesy of the National Museum of American History.

Russia has a certain mystique with its intriguing mix of old and new, east and west. Influenced by countries in the Middle East and Europe, Russian culture varies from the extravagance of czars to the utilitarianism of dictators.

This summer, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is featuring a fabulous exhibit, “Tsars and the East.” These are the exquisite, almost decadent, gifts that the Russian czars received from Iranian and Ottoman diplomats as they sought political favor from Moscow. Casting our eyes about the Mall, we decided to seek out some  Russian-related artifacts on view, or housed, within the collections of other Smithsonian museums.

The National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian at the National Museum of American History has the largest collection of coins, medals, decorations and paper currency in North America—including a sizable selection of Russian coins and medals. The Russian collection of more than 10,000 coins and 1,250 medals was once owned by the Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich, nephew of Czar Alexander II of Russia.

At the National Museum of American History, a chain-mail vest worn by the Russian governor of Alaska, Alexander Baranov, from 1799 to 1818 brings to life an often-overlooked history of the relationship between the U.S. and Russia. Alaska was then known as the Territory of Baranov or Russian America. In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward approved the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. The vest, which is currently not on view, was given to President Theodore Roosevelt by George Kostrometinov, an Alaskan of Russian descent, in 1906 and has been part of the Smithsonian collection ever since.

Artifacts from the Cold War, a more recent and well-known part of Russia-U.S. relations than the Alaska purchase, are on display in the National Museum of American History. Information about the nuclear arms race and its effects on everyday life in America is presented in the “Science and American Life” exhibition on the first floor of the museum.

Have you ever been to Russia? Tell us about the artifacts you brought home with you in the comments area below.

I was pretty psyched to get a chance to see Sergei Eisenstein’s silent film classic The Battleship Potemkin (1925) this past Friday night as part of Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries’ The Riches of Early Soviet Cinema series. Full of powerful images designed to incite revolution, The Battleship Potemkin possesses one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history (Odessa Steps). I had been thinking about adding it to my Netflix queue, but the prospect of catching it on the big screen at Meyer Auditorium with live musical accompaniment was a tad cooler than watching it in my living room.

Much to my dismay (and more than a few others’), the print of the film lacked English subtitles. Luckily I had brushed up on the plot of the movie beforehand. It’s the age-old story of Russian sailors get served rotten meat, get angry, and then mutiny, thus inspiring a brief people’s revolt against the Czar on a big flight of stairs back at home.

Now, yes, Eisenstein is known as a visually narrative filmmaker, but translations of the occasional Cyrillic storyboard would have greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the movie.

Nevertheless, I was still most impressed by the Odessa Steps sequence (see video above), and it was great to see it on a large screen. Eisenstein’s dramatic switching of perspectives within the action turned the outdoor staircase massacre into seven minutes of brilliance. When viewed today, his techniques aren’t revolutionary, but back in 1925, they were cutting-edge stylistic innovations.

Minimalistic solo piano musings by Burnett Thompson as accompaniment didn’t generate enough power to inspire me to revolt—I think a few more instruments would have been needed for that.

Go experience some more Soviet propaganda this Friday night at the Meyer Auditorium when The Riches of Early Soviet Cinema series continues with Lev Kuleshov’s The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks(1924). Just make sure to brush up on your Russian before attending, however.

The original 11-foot model of the Starship Enterprise used on the original Star Trek television series. Image courtesy of the National Air and Space Museum.

Monday, May 11: Gallery Talk: June Wayne’s Self Portrait

In tonight’s gallery talk, National Gallery paper conservator Rosemary Fallon and Smithsonian American Art Museum curatorial associate Ann Prentice Wagner discuss June Wayne’s technique in this self-portrait. While in the museum, be sure to check out the exhibit Reflections/Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century. Free. Portrait Gallery, 12:00 PM.

Tuesday, May 12: The Safavid Gifts

You think you’re hot stuff when you find that really cute, one-of-a-kind gift for someone special, right? Yeah, well, it’s pretty darn hard to out-gift the Safavids of Iran. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, the Safavids—to strengthen their diplomatic relations with Russia—came bearing some serious bling, which is currently on display in the exhibition The Tsars and the the East: Gifts from Turkey and Iran in the Moscow Kremlin, on view until September 13, 2009. Today, Massumeh Farhad, Chief Curator and Curator of Islamic Art, will discuss the objects on display and how they impacted Russian life. Free. Sackler Gallery. 12:00 PM

Wednesday, May 13: Ask an Expert

We’ve all heard about the starship Enterprise and its five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations and to go where no man has gone before. But how much to you know about the actual starship Enterprise—or rather, the prop used in the groundbreaking original series. Margaret Weitekamp of the National Air and Space Museum’s Space History Division is on deck to talk about this pop culture icon—an iteration of which is sailing through space on the big screen this spring in a brand new movie. Free. Air and Space Museum. 12:00 PM

Thursday, May 14: Come Sail Away with the Conservators of “On the Water”: Meet Our Museum

Come sail away with conservators Mary Coughlin and Michelle Savant who will discuss how they went about conserving the maritime objects to be displayed in the upcoming permanent exhibition On the Water: Stories from Maritime America, which explores life along our nation’s waterways. A question and answer session will follow. Free. American History Museum, 12:00 PM

Friday, May 15: Asian Pacific American Heritage Music and Dance Performance

Come enjoy the School of Indian Odissi Dance Troupe and the Mongolian Dance perform traditional Asian Pacific music and dance. Free. Natural History Museum. 6:30 PM