Three fabulous exhibits, no pictures?

Ah, to go to NYC and see 3 fabulous art exhibits was a delight, but to learn no photos were allowed in any of them was a huge frustration!  The three exhibits were: Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving at the Brooklyn Museum, Andy Warhol's Endangered Species at the Ukrainian Museum, and Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth at the Morgan Library and Museum.

But I'm gonna tell you about them anyhow, and show you some pics I took in parts of the museums where photography IS allowed....

I know lots of people have been VERY excited about the Frida exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.  And so was I.  It is an extensive collection of memorabilia, including tons of photos, some of her drawings, her clothing, her medical corsets (including plaster corsets that she'd painted herself), a prosthetic leg with red satin shoes, and video clips.  It's a very in-depth look into her life.  But there were only about 1/2 dozen of her paintings, and, while the exhibit was fascinating, I desperately wanted to see more of her actual paintings.  They look very different (so much better!) in person, than in photos.  So - worth going?  It's up to you.  Just don't expect to see an exhibition of her paintings, or you'll be disappointed.

Anyhow, there's so much else to see, while you're at the Brooklyn Museum.  Above is a gorgeous Alfred Bierstadt painting.  If you make the visit, don't miss Judy Chicago's incredible installation, The Dinner Party (pictured below)!

Below, The Virgin by Joseph Stella

There's currently a big Andy Warhol exhibit at the Whitney Museum, but we instead decided to go to the tiny Ukrainian Museum, where his Endangered Species series of prints were on display.  I'd had a set of poster prints from this series in my former classroom, but again, seeing the 'real thing' is so much more impressive!  The exhibit also included some memorabilia from his childhood. 

Elsewhere in the Ukrainian Museum, there are exhibits of costumes and headdresses.  But the exhibit that most intrigued me was RE:CREATE. Christina Saj's Transformative Paintings.  The colorful paintings hung on the walls, and in the center of the room were boxes with a variety of painted shapes backed by magnets, that visitors were invited to use to transform the paintings. I loved the novel concept of this artwork.  I hope other visitors aren't afraid to dig into the boxes and play!  Such fun!

 Below are the 'before' and 'afters' of a couple of paintings that I transformed.

I discovered by accident that there was a J.R.R. Tolkien at the Morgan Library and Museum.  I honestly had never even heard of the Morgan Library, but I'd previously toured and seen exhibits at the New York Public Library (also worth a visit!).  Well... The Morgan Library is a real gem!  And the Tolkien exhibit?  WOW!  I hadn't realized that he was, as well as a writer, also an incredible artist.  And of course he also designed all the maps, and created the languages, too.  If you travel to NYC this spring, the exhibit is there through mid-May, and is definitely worth a visit, even if you aren't a huge fan of The Lord of The Rings books.  (By the way, there's also a fabulous photography exhibit at the Morgan right now, and no photos were allowed there, either.)

The Morgan Library is a gorgeous place, with stunning architectural details.  Above and below, a few pics from the Morgan. Beautiful place!

I also had time for a visit to Mood, the fabric store where the contestants shop for fabric on Project Runway.  Our hotel was only a block away!

Here's a couple of views out my hotel window.

Harry Levine

These drawings were all done by my grandfather, Harry Levine. He was trained (in Vilna) in the art of woodcarving to become a cabinet builder/furniture maker. Once arriving in Brooklyn as ayoung adult, he spent time at the Educational Alliance Art School, where his peers were other Eastern European immigrants such as Chaim Gross and Louise Nevelson. He took art classes at the Alliance and I believe it was a central part of his short life.

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Grandpa's drawings and etchings are as "sculptural" as his busts and other carvings. He also did a few paintings, but color was never really his thing. I believe these drawings were mostly used for etchings. Many of them have what looks like a conte rubbed on the back, which I assume had something to do with a process he used to transfer his drawings onto the etching plates. There's even a backward signature on the woman in the center above, which I believe is another hint that the drawing was used for an etching.

The central photo above is of him, and the photo to the right is a violin (or "fiddle") that he made, carved with a tree of life of its back. One of my brothers has the fiddle.

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Back to the Brooklyn Museum -The Educational Alliance donated two of his sculptures to the Brooklyn Museum. They are now housed in the Luce Center for American Art (Visible Storage - Study Center) on the 5th floor of the museum. This is the Luce Center:

It is very difficult to photo Grandpa's artwork, because the sculptures are displayed in floor to ceiling glass cases. One piece is on a top shelf (left, below) and one is on a bottom shelf (center, below).

Here they are on the Luce Center's computer:

If this interests you at all, I previously blogged about my grandfather and our search for a missing totem pole he carved in Croton-on-Hudson. Those posts, and images of the carvings he did in Croton can be found here:

http://plbrown.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-grandfather-wood-carver.html

and here:

http://plbrown.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-grandfathers-carvings-part-2.html

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Anyone who can offer any info to help with our search, please let me know! The totem pole has not yet been found.

drawing by Harry Levine

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And by the way... we started the morning with a 2 hour delay (ice, ice, baby!!) and I decided to go in early. Halfway there, I got a call telling me school had been canceled. Argghh!! I came home and wrote this post, but am aggravated that I didn't keep going and have the day to get stuff done in my room. I'm setting up a show in the public library on Thursday, and since we've been on vacation all week I haven't even started name-tagging. Oh dear...

The Brooklyn Museum!

Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party at the Brooklyn Art Museum

We didn't explore the floors with Asian or African art - just too much for one day, nor did we even peek at the special Norman Rockwell exhibit, but we saw lots of other stuff. There's a terrific collection of Egyptian artifacts (the blue goddess is Isis, my cat's namesake).

And from another part of the museum is this lovely butterfly gate, that I'd be happy to have by my garden. And this gorgeous sculpture of cast glass with light shining through.

There was a special exhibit called "Tipi - heritage of the great plains", including this Blackfeet tipi (my husband in front). Dig those beaded sneaker cowboy boots!

We spent a bit of time in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, which includes the long-term installation of Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party. Amazing. The piece celebrates the achievements of over 100 women, both actual and mythical, many of whom had been ignored by history until "reclaimed" by feminist scholars. Here's a sample of three placesettings. (A photo of the entire piece is at the top of the post.)

And a couple of other interesting pieces from the Sackler Center:

Now we're home from NYC. I'm tired and my legs ache, but the cat, who was home alone (with daily visits from a cat-sitter) was SO happy to see us! Lots of rubs and hugs and kitty-talk; she slept on my feet (and kept them toasty warm) last night. :-) It was POURING in the Big Apple yesterday morning and I was out walking (shopping at a multitude of bead stores) and got SOAKED. But I bought lots of cool beads and am use them! Then we arrived home to a foot of freshly fallen SNOW. Hubby shoveled for what seemed like hours, in the dark last night, and more again today, and there's still more to do. (He refuses to consider getting a snowblower.) Our snowbanks are HIGH and frankly I'm 'over' winter; I'm ready for spring.

I'll save my grandfather's work for a separate post, as I'm supposed to be doing something else right now. :-)