A new crystal clear day awakens in New York’s art world with the literary lions counting up the numerous art openings and vernissages featuring Old Masters and new icons. It’s the Best of New York, my friends, the very Best of Culture right here in the Big Apple.
Here’s the scoop!!!
MING LOYALIST ART FROM THE CHIH LO LOU COLLECTION showcases The Art of Dissent in 17th Century China, a wrenching era which spurred an enormous outpouring of creative energy as many former Ming subjects turned to the arts to express their loyalty to the noble but doomed cause of Ming restoration. The exhibit in the Galleries for Chinese Painting and Calligraphy features more than 60 landscape paintings and calligraphies highlight the intensely personal styles created by the leading artists of that time. Even if you’re not a scholar of the genre, it is fascinating to see how enduring harsh conditions these subjects took refuge in nature and their representations of landscape often project their emotional responses to the radically changed world order. Opens Sept. 7th. www.metmuseumorg.
CELEBRATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF EZRA JACK KEATS’ SNOWY DAY. Award-winning author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats, whose beloved children’s books include Whistle for Willie, Peter’s Chair and The Snowy Day, has a play date at the Jewish Museum opening Sept. 9th. Published at the height of the American civil-rights movement The Snowy Day in particular became a milestone, featuring the first African-American protagonist in a full-color picture book. It went on to inspire generations of readers and paved the way for multiracial representation in American children’s literature. The exhibition features over 80 original works, dummy books to final paintings and collages in which he used lush color and strove for simplicity in his texts. www.thejewishmuseum.org.
INGRES AT THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM Aficionados of the genre can easily recognize the work of the French master of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) who is arguably the greatest portraitist of his time. He was a brilliant draftsman, and his drawings have long been prized along with his paintings. Beginning Sept. 9th, the Morgan will present works that span the artist’s career from his student days in Toulouse to his role as the head of one of the leading Parisian studios of the 1850s. This is a rare opportunity to see an exceptional group of drawings by an artist whose influence was widespread in his day and continued into the 20th century. William M. Griswold, director of the Morgan said, “Ingres was famous for his devotion to a classical style, yet a number of modern artists, such as Matisse and Picasso, were profoundly indebted to him.” www.themorgan.org.
TURKISH TASTE AT THE COURT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE is a dossier exhibit focusing on ‘turquerie,’ the 18th-century French aristocrats’ infatuation with all things Ottoman. Trends emerge from foreign lands, even the French designer Paul Poiret was caught up in the frenzy which was apparently ushered in by the 1776 performance in Paris of Sebastien-Roch Chamford’s tragedy Mustapha and Zeangir, which inspired everything from Turkish robes, tobacco and candy to the more full-on commitment of the Turkish corner in one’s home, the boudoir turc. The show at the Frick Collection features rare and rarely displayed objects from these rooms, whose Thousand and One Nights take on the Ottoman Empire means decorative motifs such as camels, Nubian slaves and palm trees. Not to be missed. Through Sept. 11th. www.frick.org.
PARIS DATELINE: THE ART OF THE AUTOMOBILE. It’s a Guy Thing that I couldn’t resist adding. Fashion designer Ralph Lauren boasts on the world’s greatest collections of classic automobiles, featuring sports cars from the 1930s to today. The Musee des Arts Decoratifs’ exhibit contains 17 exceptional vehicles, from 1929 Bentley to a 1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, as well as films and sound recordings. Catch it a www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr.
Ta Ta darlings!!! Inspired by the Frick exhibit I think I’ve acquired the ‘turguerie’ fever and wearing again my Turkish robe bought in Istanbul. Fan mail welcome at pollytalk@verizon.net. Visit Polly’s Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and in the right-hand column click on the Blog links such as http://www.amazingartdecodivas.com.
