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A LETTER FROM WASHINGTON D.C.

Dear reader,

Sometimes the most interesting story begins exactly where we assume we already know the ending. Take the Statue of Liberty. We know the torch, the crown and the view from New York Harbor. But follow her story back to France, and then through generations of American artists all the way to Andy Warhol, and suddenly she becomes something else entirely.



Or consider the American state fair. Perhaps you picture Ferris wheels, livestock and fried food. The Smithsonian would like you to look again. At Washington’s Renwick Gallery, more than 240 works reveal an extraordinary tradition of American making, from quilts and preserves to seed art and, yes, a life-size cow sculpted from butter. The exhibition is part of the Smithsonian’s broader effort to explore the American experience during the nation’s 250th anniversary. 

Then there is a piece of music that waited nearly twenty years to be heard as its composer imagined it.

And a concert that was supposed to happen tonight in Washington, but won’t.

A Question For You

We spend a great deal of time deciding what FQM should bring you next. This week, I would rather ask you.

Reply with just one letter: A, B, C, D or E.

Your answer will help us decide which kinds of stories FQM should pursue more often this fall.

IN CONVERSATION THIS WEEK

MUSIC • ART • AMERICANA • WASHINGTON • CINEMA • HISTORY

MUSIC

The music that waited almost 20 years

What makes a composer hold onto one piece of music for nearly two decades? For Franco-American composer Charles-Henri Avelange, The Fireman’s Prayer became much more than a composition. In an exclusive FQM conversation, Avelange takes us inside the extraordinary journey from an idea written years ago to a symphonic expression of courage, service and gratitude.

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ART

Before she was an American icon, she was a French idea

We have seen the Statue of Liberty thousands of times. But have we really looked at her? A major exhibition at the Amon Carter Museum follows Liberty from Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s French vision through nearly 150 years of artistic reinvention. 

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AMERICANA

Yes, the butter cow belongs in an art museum 

At least, the Smithsonian makes a surprisingly convincing argument. Inside Washington’s Renwick Gallery, the American state fair becomes something very different from the nostalgic world of Ferris wheels and blue ribbons. 

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WASHINGTON

The concert that won’t happen tonight

This story changed while we were preparing it. A World United was supposed to bring international music to Washington’s National World War I Memorial tonight, August 27. The concert has been canceled. But that unexpected turn led us somewhere more interesting. Sometimes the story worth telling isn't the one we expected to tell.



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CINEMA

And then, everyone goes to Venice

On September 2, cinema’s attention shifts to a narrow island in the Venetian lagoon. The 83rd Venice International Film Festival runs September 2–12, bringing international filmmakers, actors and new films to the Lido. But we are more interested in what happens underneath it. Why does Venice still have the power to make the film world stop and pay attention?

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HISTORY

A New Home for African American History Opens in Washington

Inside the “Pearl of Africa”: From Omweso and Ugandan coffee to traditional music and dance, an evening at the Embassy of Uganda revealed how culture can become a powerful bridge between people.

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COMING SOON

In Our Next Newsletter...

Versailles × America 250 — As Versailles continues its exceptional American Season, we explore the surprising places where the story of American independence is still visible inside one of France’s most famous royal settings.

New York Gets Dressed — Fashion Week returns, while Christie’s brings The Devil Wears Prada 2 into the mix with costumes and accessories from the film on public view at Rockefeller Center.

• Paris Design Week — Paris becomes a vast design laboratory as galleries, studios, museums and emerging talents transform the capital into a showcase for the ideas shaping how we may live next.

• France × Mexico: 200 Years — Two centuries of diplomatic relations become the starting point for a new cultural conversation, as French and Mexican artists, institutions and audiences come together this autumn.

• Festival America — American writers cross the Atlantic for Vincennes, where France turns its attention to the United States at 250 and asks what America has become—and where it might be going.



• More America, Seen Differently — From exhibitions and hidden cultural places to food, books and travel, FQM continues looking for the America we don’t always notice the first time.

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