The Bowery Boys: New York City History
Edward Steichen, The Blue-Green Flatiron (courtesy the Met) The Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s new exhibit on three masters of early 20th Century photography “Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand” says as much about New York as it does the three subjects themselves. And many pictures have nothing to do with the city. Alfred Stieglitz became the maestro of… Read More
No ‘Mad Men Notes’ this week as I’m out of town, but please enjoy this captivating shot of mad men on Wall Street, circa 1885, courtesy the Cornell University Library. The more you look at it, the more interesting details emerge. Click on picture for much greater detail. Trinity Church, at far left, would still… Read More
Howard Carter with his very favorite king (courtesy Life Images) Years after the Steve Martin novelty hit, King Tut mania returns to New York City. The heavily hyped Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs finally opened last week at the Discovery Times Square Exposition, promising rooms of priceless artifacts from the tomb of… Read More
Wealth and elegance mix with Egyptian relics at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 1960 Fashion Ball. Photo by Walter Sanders (courtesy Life Google images) click for larger view It’s Fashion Week! Seventy years older and still looking good. Check out a brief history on the eve of its final performance in Bryant Park. [Slate] Did… Read More
In addition to the Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa and the Spanish apse from San Martin mentioned in the podcast, the Cloisters museum is also made up of parts of cloisters from Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Bonnefont-en-Comminges, Trie-en-Bigorre, and Froville — names I dared not attempt to pronounce on the podcast! The cloister of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert is featured in the picture which leads… Read More
PODCAST The Cloisters, home of the Metropolitan Museum’s repository for medieval treasures, was a labor of love for many lovers of great European art. In this podcast, I highlight three of the most important men in its history — a passionate sculptor, a generous multimillionaire and a jet-setting curator. Equally as fascinating is the upper… Read More
The summer exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art have gone blatantly carnal, from the churning, desolate voids of gore featured in the Francis Bacon retrospective to the pristine glamour of female flesh in the “Model As Muse: Embodying Fashion.” But you’ll have to swing down to the American wing for a bit of New… Read More
Tucked up on the second floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard” gives those colorful rectangular tourist tools their due. Evans, known mostly for his defining photography of the Great Depression, was an avid postcard collector, and the Met fills its walls with his collection. You’ll be straining your… Read More
Hallack reclines under the leafy Central Park mall Frederick Law Olmsted would have preferred Central Park have no sculptures, yet almost from the moment the park opened, monuments to the great men of the day began sprouting up. Yet for every William Shakespeare and Christopher Columbus, there are an equal number of completely forgotten individuals,… Read More