Liberary Lions Usher in Big Apple Culture (c) By Polly Guerin

Khubilai Khan, Yuan Dynasty
What’s the modern kitchen got to do with design? Plenty and plenty more venues usher in the season with Mark Twain and Khubilai Kahn exhibits, plus Manhattan’s Forgotten Cultural Landmarks. Here’s the Scoop!!!

MARK TWAIN: A Skeptic’s Progress: Samuel Langhorne Clemens, , better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, the quintessential American author, humorist lecturer, essayist and master of satire takes up residence at The Morgan Library & Museum celebrating the 175 anniversary of his birth in 1835. In conjunction with The New York Public Library this joint exhibition explores a recurring theme throughout Twain’s body of work: his uneasy, often critical, attitude towards a rapidly modernizing America. Manuscripts, rare books, letters and key nonfiction works include Life on the Mississippi. Opens Sept. 17th. 225 Madison Ave. (between 36th & 37th Sts.) www.themorgan.org.
THE WORLD OF KHUBILAI KAHN
Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, showcases extraordinary paintings and sculpture, as well as the decorative arts in gold and silver, textile, ceramics and lacquer. A rare opportunity to view paintings and calligraphy of every major artist and school of the period. A magnificent example is the “cloth of gold,” made famous over the world by travelers to Yuan such as Marco Polo. Visit www.metmusum.org to view details of the exhibit which opens Sept. 28th. At the Met, 1000 Fifth Ave.
COUNTER SPACE: Design and the Modern Kitchen explores the twentieth-century transformation of the kitchen as a space of huge symbolic and practical significance. Its centerpiece is an unusually complete example of the iconic “Frankfurt Kitchen,” designed in 1926-27 by Grete Schutte-Lihotzky, the earliest work by a female architect. Her compact and ergonomic design, with its integrated approach to storage, appliances and work surfaces, reflected a commitment to transforming the lives of ordinary working people. Opens Sept. 15 at MOMA, 11 West 53rd St. www.moma.org .
GOTHAM LOST AND FOUND:
Uncovering Manhattan’s Forgotten Cultural Landmarks is a FREE lecture by David Freeland, historian, music journalist, and author sponsored by the Victorian Society in American, Metropolitan Chapter. Freeland will give a visual tour of forgotten cultural landmarks including Bowery Beer Gardens, a Motion Picture studio in Unique Square and Tin Pan Alley with human stories that continue to define us as New Yorkers. At The New York New Church, 114 East 35th St., between Park and Lexington Ave, Tues. Sept. 21, 6 PM.
Ta Ta darlings!!! There’s so much culture abounding in the Big Apple, but Mark Twain tops my list of visits. Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net. Check out my Blogs: womendeterminedtosucceed.blogspot.com and poetryfromtheheartbypollyguerin.blogspot.com.