A FASHIONABLE HOLIDAY NEW YORK STYLE (c) By Polly Guerin

Fashion aficionados need go no further than stylish New York venues to view historical designer shows, hear the fashion experts reveal the legendary stories and plan next year’s celebrations. Only in New York, my friends, only in New York. Here’s the scoop!!!

BALENCIAGA: SPANISH MASTER
Spanish-born Spanish couturier Cristobal Balenciaga’s daring innovations influenced by royal costumes , regional dress, and the Spanish flair for flamenco dance line up for review on a mannequin exhibit at the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, through February 19, 2011, at 540Park Ave. Pictured left: Balenciaga's sculpture-like evening ensmble. Curated by Hamish Bowles, Vogue’s European editor at large, many of the pieces have their inspiration from historical royal costumes, Spanish Art and the church while another gallery exhibits the more exuberant side of Spain that inspired Balenciaga, regional design and costumes of the bullfight. Tickets $15. 212.628.0420. www.queensofiaspanishinstitute.org.
THE FASHION INSITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Join Hamish Bowles, curator of the exhibition Balenciaga, Spanish Master for an illustrated lecture about the impact on legendary designer Cristobal Balenciaga of Spain’s cultural and religious history, regional costumes, rich dance traditions, and its great artists, as well as the power and the splendor of the bullfight. Dec. 2, 6-8 pm. Reservations required. Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, 27th St.& 7th Ave.212.217.5970. www.fitnyc.edu.
ALEXANDER MCQUEEN TRIBUTE
New Year Fashion is retrospective. Next spring the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will stage a comprehensive show celebrating Alexander McQueen’s work over two decades. Andrew Bolton, who is spearheading the exhibit said, “McQueen had such a singular voice and he was a remarkable technician.” Themes will reflect the designer’s fascination with Romantic Gothic, Romantic Exoticism and The Savage Mind. A Cabinet of Curiosities will feature many of the designer’s outlandish innovations. Opens May 4, 2011. www.metmuesum.org.
LEONARDO’S LAST SUPPER
Be among the first to see the American premiere of visionary artist and filmmaker Peter Greenaway’s multimedia interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, The Last Supper at the Park Avenue Armory, 67th St. Visitors are immersed in a series of audio-visual environments, starting with a full-scale replica of the dome of Milan’s Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie to Greenaway’s meticulously detailed facsimile of The Last Supper, and finally to an ebullient celebration of the Venetian Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese. $15 general admission, $12 Members, Students,Seniors. Opens Dec. 3 through Jan. 6, 2011.Tickets are required for all programs. www.armoryonpark.org or call 212.933.5812

Ta Ta darlings!!! Balenciaga leads my fashion scoops this week and I’m also off to hear Hamish Bowles at FIT. Please join me. Fan mail always welcome pollytalk@verizon.net. Go to www.pollytalk.com and scroll over to the left hand column list of Polly’s Blogs; just click the one of your choice and Voila!! The link takes you there. Enjoy!!!

Celebrating The Holiday Season in New York (c) By Polly Guerin

I’ll take Manhattan where Home Sweet Home is in its final week; the Holiday train shows up in the Bronx and the yuletide Christmas tree debuts at the MET, Picasso’s guitar sculptures at MOMA. Here’s the Scoop!!!

HOME SWEET HOME

The Scandinavian American Theater Company’s riveting drama may be about a dinner for a Danish comrade recently returned from Iraq, but if truth be told, the play makes Danish sound like an American tragedy. A pleasant evening turns into a fatal encounter when the three characters, Kim and his girlfriend Iben welcome Carsten, recently returned from service in Iraq to their new home for dinner only to reveal the traumatic experience of war in riveting consequences against a film backup that effectively augments Carsten’s anguish. At 9th Space, PS122, corner of 1st and 9th St: Mon./Tue. +Fri. at 7:30 pm, Sat. Nov. 27 at 4:30+7:30 pm, Sunday Nov. 28 at 4:30 pm. Purchase tickets online at: www.9thspace.org or call 212.352.3101.
HOLIDAY TRAIN SHOW

Winds its way through The New York Botanical Garden through Jan.9th. Wrapped in the glow of twinkling lights, model trains pave their way through an enchanted world featuring replicas of more than 140 New York landmarks, including this year’s new addition: JFK Airport’s complete with planes. Catch “The Little Train That Could” puppet show beginning Nov. 30th, and warm up indoors and decorate gingersnaps at Gingerbread Adventure. Bronx River Parkway at Fordham road. Metro North Harlem line to NYBG. For tickets: http://www.nybg.org/hts/#yourvisit.
CHRISTMAS TREE AND NEAPOLITAN BAROQUE CRECHE

A long-standing yuletide tradition in New York the Christmas tree at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Medieval Sculpture Hall is on view from November 23, 2010 through January 6, 2011. The brightly lit, 20-foot blue spruce reflects the spirit of the holiday season with a collection of 18th-century Neapolitan angels and cherubs that hover among its boughs with groups of realistic crèche figures flanking the Nativity scene at its base. Christmas music accompanies the daily lighting ceremonies: Tues./Wed./Thurs/Sun at 4:30 pm; and Fri+Sat. at 4:30, 5:30+6:30 pm. www.metmusuem.org.
PICASSO: GUITARS 1912-1914

Focuses on Pablo Picasso’s cardboard and sheet-metal Guitar sculptures bringing together 70 closely connected collages, constructions, drawings, mixed-media paintings, and photographs assembled from over 30 public and private collections worldwide. The exhibition takes as its point of departure Picasso’s first Guitar construction, a sculpture made in 1912. The artist’s silent instrument resembled no sculpture that had ever been seen before as its creation coincided with Picasso’s embrace of a wide range of what were then unconventional materials. February 13-June 6, 2011. At The Museum of Modern Art, MOMA, 11 W. 53rd St. www.moma.org.
Ta Ta Darlings!!! The Christmas tree at the MET is a “must” on my holiday list. Hope to see you there at one of the lighting ceremonies. Fan mail always welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net. Polly’s Blogs can be accessed at www.pollytalk.com, simply click on the blog link of your choice in the right hand column.

The Big Apple's Holiday Pot Pourri (c) By Polly Guerin

Cultural adventures in the fast lane of the Big Apple present a cornucopia of venues to titillate your holiday meanderings from fashion exhibitions to art opens and a Home Sweet Home play. It’s a pot pourri. Here’s the scoop!!!

HIS & HERS The Male/Female Divide THE MUSEUM AT FIT’S new exhibit explores the changing perceptions of “masculine” and ‘feminine” dress including so-called unisex and androgynous dress with side-by-side comparisons of men’s and women’s clothing highlighting their differences and similarities. A pinstriped navy blue woman’s pantsuit designed by Yves Saint Laurent, will be shown alongside a Saint Laurent man’s suit in velvet. While skirts are generally regarded as “feminine” garments in Western culture, garments such as kilts and sarongs are common attire for men in other parts of the world. Opens Nov. 30th, Seventh Ave. at 27th St. www.fitnyc.edu. Due to the popularity of “Japan Fashion Now” the exhibition has been extended through April 2, 2011.
HOME SWEET HOME: Scandinavian American Theater Company Riveting Performance!!! A pleasant reunion becomes a fatal evening in Andreas Garfield’s play, a timely commentary on a welcome home dinner. Inspired by interviews with Danish soldiers “Home Sweet Home” reveals the traumatic experience of war and the unsympathetic indifference of home as refracted through a Nordic country. English translation by Lisa Pettersson. To order tickets go to www.satcnyc.org. or call 212.352.3101. Evenings at 7:30 pm, Sat+Sun at 4:30 pm. Fri. Nov. 19th at 7:30+10 pm. Run ends Nov. 28.
THE HANUKKAH PROJECT

Three major sculptural installations related to Hanukkah are on view at the contemporary gallery at The Jewish Museum, Nov. 19th to Jan. 30, 2011. View works such as Alice Aycock’s Greased Lightning, a motorized kinetic sculpture featuring an oversized moving dreidel, the small, inscribed top that children play with during the Hanukkah holiday which begins at sundown on Wed ./Dec. 1 and continues until sundown on Thurs./Dec. 9th. These works are presented in conjunction with Daniel Libeskind’s bold and dramatic installation featuring 40 Hanukkah lamps. www.thejeweishmuseum.org/hanukkah2010.

ON LINE, DRAWING THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY

Explores the radical transformation of the medium of drawing through the last century, a period when numerous artists critically examined the traditional concepts of drawing and expanded the medium’s definition in relation to gesture and form. Works of a wide range of artists brings together over 300 pieces that connect drawing to selections of painting sculpture, photography, film and dance. On view from Nov. 21, through Feb. 7, 2011. In conjunction with On Line, five choreographers and performers will stage works with the Museum in January 2011 including Trisha Brown, Ralph Lemon, Marie Cool, Fabio Balducci and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. At MOMA, 11 w. 53 St. http://www.moma.org/.

Ta Ta darlings!!! I’m off to His & Hers at The Museum at FIT with my friend Dickie who will wear a kilt and I’ll don the pants. Fan mail always welcome pollytalk@verizon.net. Go to www.pollytalk.com and scroll over to the left hand column list of Polly’s Blogs, just click the one of your choice and Voila the link takes you there. Enjoy!!!

Photo Opportunities Focus in the Big Apple (c) By Polly Guerin

Photographic treasures by masters of the 20th Century art form headline openings this week while Art for Science’s Sake peaks into dioramas and Material Poetry celebrates works by Irish artists. Only in New York my friends, only in New York. Here’s the scoop!!!


NORMAN ROCKWELL
"Behind the Camera!" Little known fact, beginning in the late 1930s, Norman Rockwell adopted photography as a tool to bring his illustration ideas to life. Working as a director, Rockwell staged his photographs, orchestrating every detail. Behind the Camera presents these photographs alongside his paintings, drawings, and related tear sheets to offer a look at the artist’s working process. Pictured here "Tatoo Artist." Organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, just hop on the train to the Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway. Opens November 19th. www.brooklynmusum.org.
THREE MASTER PHOTOGRAPHERS
Three giants of 20th century photography---Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and Paul Strand---share the spotlight at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, opening November 10th. The diverse and groundbreaking work of these artists will be revealed through a presentation of 115 photographs drawn entirely from the Museum’s collection. On view will be many of the greatest photographic portraits including Stieglitz’s famous portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe. Steichen rivaled the scale, color and individuality of painting in works such as The Pond—Moonrise (1904). Strand incorporated the new language of geometric abstraction into his interest in photographing street life and machine culture. 1000 Fifth Ave. www.metmuseum.org.
ART FOR SCIENCE’S SAKE
The natural history diorama of the early 20th century continues to regale children and their parents at many museum institutions, but leave it to Kevin Avery, associate curator in the Dept. of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Met will shed light on the subject. In a review and illuminated art he will discuss how these dioramas evolved from traditions of both scientific and art entertainment reach back to the late 18th century. FREE Nov. 9th, 6pm. Sponsored by the Metropolitan Chapter of The Victorian Society in America, at The New York New Church, 114E. 35th St. events@metrovsa.org.
MATERIAL POETRY
Irish Eyes Are Smiling at the American Irish Historical Society where an exhibition of Contemporary Objects from Ireland highlights the best of the new wave of design and craft emerging from Ireland. International curator, Brian Kennedy, focuses on Irish makers whose works are infused with a poetic simplicity and a material honesty. Influenced by ancient Irish architectural forms and the majestic Irish landscape the artistic works reveal a deep rooted respect for techniques and a true understanding and love of material in ceramics, furniture, jewelry, glass and wood. At 991 Fifth Ave. Contact: tracy@causeycontemporary.com

Ta Ta darlings!!! Love those Rockwell’s. I can’t wait to see the artist’s photo/painting technique. Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net and visit www.pollytalk.com and select Polly’s Blogs in the right hand column.

Cultural Whirlwind Sweeps Into Town (c) By Polly Guerin

As the chill of winter sweeps into town the whirlwind of cultural events in the Big Apple invites you to hunker down indoors. On the scene: Global Artists, an Ancient Egyptian General, the Inventor of Basketball and Weimar Cinema, but bundle up outdoors. Here’s the scoop!!!

ARTIST TALK: KRISTAPS GULBIS >>>>
As we welcome this year’s group of ArtsLink Fellows to their residencies in the US, they return the favor by giving us a glimpse into their own working methods and the contemporary art scenes in their home countries. Kristaps Gulbis, a Latvian artist and sculptor, (photo above) will discuss his public art practices and recent international projects and tell us about his residency experience at LMCC’s New Arts Center at Governor’s Island where the artist maintains a studio at Building 110 through Nov. 17th. The Artist’s Talk, Free and open to the takes place Thursday, Nov. 4th, 6-8 pm, at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, 125 Maiden Lane, 2nd floor, followed by wine reception.
HAREMHAB, THE GENERAL WHO BECAME KING
One of the most fascinating pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Haremhab was a strong leader in a time of political and religious transition. As commander-in-chief of Tutankhamun’s army, he oversaw important military campaigns and later as the last King of Dynasty 18, he instituted laws that secured the rights of civilians and curbed abuses perpetrated by powerful groups. Haremhab is the inaugural presentation in a series of exhibitions that will spotlight masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of Egyptian art. 1000 Fifth Ave. Opens Nov. 16th.http://www.metmuseum.org.
BASKET BALL INVENTOR
“Sotheby’s to Sell the Rules that invented the game of Basketball.” Sports enthusiasts and historians check this out. The game “Basket Ball” was the invention of a 30-year old physical educator teacher named James Naismith, who in December 1891 posted a two-page typed document comprising a set of 13 rules to a new, game at a Springfield, Mass. YMCA gym to entertain a restless class of students during the winter months. The two-page typescript started it all with more than an estimated 450 million playing Basketball today. The document on view at Sotheby’s, 72nd St. & York Ave. At auction Dec. 10th it is estimated to bring more than $2 million.
WEIMAR CINEMAS, 1919-1933
MOMA presents the most extensive exhibition of Weimar cinema ever mounted in the United State. Daydreams and Nightmares, Nov. 27-March 7, 2011 surveys the extraordinary fertile and influential period in German filmmaking between the two world wars. The 4-month series includes over 80 films, many rare—a mix of classic films and many motion pictures unseen since the 1930s opens with “Into the Blue” (1929). A selection of original Weimar movie posters and photographs augment the film presentations at The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater, 11 W. 53 St., www.moma.org.
Ta Ta darlings!!! By the way if you haven’t seen the movie, “Inside Job,” DO! This riveting movie tells the story of the economic collapse of 2008 with interviews with key players who perpetrated the debacle. Fan mail always welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net. For a list of Polly’s Blogs go to: www.pollytalk.com and in the right hand column find the link to the Blog of your choice.