New York - Part II

[mojosmom]

Sunday was most definitely not a day of rest! More museums, natch. I started with the Museum of the City of New York, which I try to visit whenever I'm in NYC. I especially wanted to see the exhibit about the Jewish Daily Forward, still publishing after all these years:


There was also an exhibit called New York Rises, photographs by Eugene de Salignac, photographer for the New York City Department of Bridges/Plant and Structures for thirty years, early in the 20th-century. There's one amazing one of painters, suited, tied and bowler-hatted, lounging about the suspenders of the Brooklyn Bridge!

Then down to the American Folk Art Museum, to see the exhibit Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel, which I had learned about the day before at CultureFest. It was a fascinating and beautiful exhibit of woodcarving by artisans who, on the one hand, designed carousel horses, and, on the other, did torah arks and other sacred carvings. Just outside the museum, there was some local folk art being sold:


I also ran into a street fair, the first of the day:


After that, I went up to the New York Historical Society, which shares a subway stop with the American Natural History Museum. And a helluva subway stop it is, too. A lot of the NYC subways stations have wonderful mosaics, some old and some new, but I am especially enamored of the critters that decorate this one. The Historical Society has some real treasures, case after case of silver and chinaware and Tiffany lamps (of which they have the world's largest collection). There was an exhibit of paintings of the Hudson River School, which I happen to like a lot, as well as the exhibit, Here is New York: Remembering 9/11, photographs and artifacts from that dreadful day. (Did I mention that I was a tiny bit freaked when I found that my room number at the hotel was 911?)

I spent more time at the NYHS than I had expected, so I headed back to the hotel, thus encountering my second street fair of the day as I emerged from the subway station. Half of Broadway in the mid-90s had become a space for vendors of goods and food, and music and revelry. There were some great jazz musicians playing, so I hung out for awhile just enjoying the ambience:

I grabbed dinner from one of the street vendors, and then took a short break at the hotel before heading way downtown to LaMama E.T.C., also still there after all these years! It was cutting edge experimental theatre back when I was in college, and still is. They were doing an experimental "opera", Caravaggio Chiaroscuro ("opera" in quotes because it was really more a play with music. Definitely a work in progress, but with a lot of potential. I was particularly impressed with Duane Boutté, who, in addition to being the composer, played the part of Caravaggio. While the rest of the cast gave creditable performances, his was really noteworthy.

As my plane didn't leave until 5:00 p.m. the next day, I stashed my luggage at the hotel, and went off to probably the only two museums open in NYC on Monday: the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the Jewish Museum. I went to the Cooper-Hewitt

because I wanted to see the Piranesi as Designer exhibit, which was fabulous! Lots of drawings, of course, but also objects from collections around the world, including furniture and chimney pieces. It's interesting that despite how ornate his designs are, they nevertheless have a feeling of lightness that you wouldn't expect.

And speaking of light . . . I am now officially crazy about the work of lighting designer Ingo Maurer, of whom I hadn't even heard before I went to the Cooper-Hewitt. Their exhibit, Provoking Magic: Lighting of Ingo Maurer, was a revelation, and lots of fun! If you had told me that I would covet a chandelier made out of smashed dishes and silverware or a lighting fixture made up of light bulbs with wings attached, I'd have said you were nuts. But I do. Check it out for yourself here or here. Here's my favorite bit, though. You have to know that the Cooper-Hewitt is in a mansion that was built for Andrew Carnegie (it's gorgeous, by the way), and there is a grand staircase going up to where the exhibit was that normally has grand portraits of Andrew and his wife, Louise. Well, the portraits were replaced by photographs, with the eyes and mouths outlined in light, and they talked to each other! "It was time for a change, Louise," says Andrew. A burst of laughter is always a good beginning to a museum exhibition.

The Jewish Museum is a block away, very handy. They were having an exhibit of work by Camille Pisarro, and another of photographs by Bruce Davidson, Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Lower East Side, both of which I enjoyed.

But then it was time to go collect my luggage and head to the airport. So I did, and after an uneventful flight, arrived home safely.