Structure and Memory Two Exhibits Span Centuries of Architectural Paintings by Heather Nalbone Buildings blend with the background in most Western and Asian paintings, serving simply to help set a mood or create some scenery. Although many a photographer has captured architecture, few painters have given it much direct attention. So Sherry Zvares Sanabria receives a lot of attention for her work. In her 25 years as a professional artist, sheís rarely painted a person. ìI stopped putting people in my paintings back in the early 1980s,î Sanabria explained. ìI felt that when people were in the painting, the viewers became the voyeurs just looking at a scene, and that they could not place themselves in the painting.î Between a display of Sanabriaís paintings at the Octagon, otherwise known as the museum of the American Architectural Foundation, and a collection of antique album leaves at the Freer Gallery of Art, thereís plenty of architectural design to examine. The two sets of paintings offer everything from dilapidated Virginia slave quarters to grand Chinese palacesóbut what really sets the exhibits apart from scores of others in Washington is the fact that such structures are central to the featured works. Twenty-six paintings exhibited at the Freer Gallery do include people, but they are often so miniscule that a viewer has to search for them. Prefects dressed in noble robes can be seen strolling down a winding path or holding a conversation inside a faraway window. It seems their presence is there simply to let spectators know the images were commissioned primarily for purchasers of royalty and wealth. From historical palaces to the imaginary dwellings of goddesses, the subjects of paintings in ìPalaces and Pavilions: Grand Architecture in Chinese Paintingî give viewers a chance to inspect the lifestyles of Chinaís imperial people through the buildings they inhabited and those they envisioned. ìThe Hall of Precious Paintings,î for instance, documents in vivid colors one noblemanís private entertainment quarters. Other works, such as ìPalace Ladies of the Cinnamon Hall and Orchid Palace,î used the tiniest of paintbrushes to reproduce entryways and courtyards in extraordinary detail. Artist Qiu Ying, one of the countryís most remembered 16th-century painters, took five years to complete the fortresses nestled in lofty mountains in ìThe Imperial Park.î The exquisitely decorated Chinese palace roofs are a far cry from the chipped painting in Sanabriaís works, but the two collections share a uniqueness in their portrayals of history. Canvases in the appropriately titled ìEchoes of Memory: Paintings by Sherry Zvares Sanabriaî are anything but mere pictorial images. They draw on light and shadows and the angles they create to depict the now-gone lives that once filled old rooms and hallways. Though empty, the buildings and their interiors are ethereal in the way they offer glimpses of the people and events theyíve hosted. Most of the buildings Sanabria chooses to feature are falling apart, abandoned or both. Her paintings focus on grid-like reflections from windows, dreary hallways, and dark shadows falling upon bulging entranceways at midday. And there is always the presence of sunlight, even if itís just through the cracks of a door. ìIím intrigued by the exceptional presence of light and what it can do to a painting,î Sanabria said. ìIt can be sudden and confronting or mysteriously diffused, and I find it magical.î Close to a dozen centuries separate Sanabriaís paintings from the oldest of the Freer Galleryís works of art. Yet the architectural focus of both sets of paintings offers an unhuman timelessness that too many painters overlook. Sanabriaís paintings, all less than eight years old, are for sale. All artworks at the Freer Gallery come from the museumís permanent collection. ìPalaces and Pavilions: Grand Architecture in Chinese Paintingî runs through March 30 at the Freer Gallery of Art, Jefferson Drive at 12th Street, SW. For more information, please call (202) 357-4880 or visit www.asia.si.edu. ìEchoes of Memory: Paintings by Sherry Zvares Sanabriaî runs through Jan. 3 at the American Institute of Architects Headquarters Building, 1799 New York Ave., NW. For more information, please call (202) 638-3105 or visit www.archfoundation.org. Heather Nalbone is a freelance writer in Silver Spring, Md.