The Library of Congress just hosted the first of a new lecture series organized in conjunction with the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the contemporary art arm of the Smithsonian Institution. Artist Maira Kalman spoke about, And the Pursuit of Happiness, an illustrated book that documents the author’s visit to Washington DC for the inauguration of President Obama. While in town, the author visited the Library of Congress, where she admired one of the Music Division’s harpsichords.
This casual intersection between art and music is just the tip of the iceberg. The relation between music and the visual arts is one I think about all the time. In the most recent Flickr release of images from the William P. Gottlieb Collection, you can see an image of arranger Ralph Burns, composer Neal Hefti (most famous for composing the Batman theme) and others posing at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in front of a Picasso. Thus was modern art linked to modern jazz at the time.